what is Purgatory?

Answer 1

earth is the purgatory waiting room. ive been waiting so far for nearly 50 years. how long have you been waiting?

Answer 2

Purgatory is an 'old' part of the Heaven/Hell theology of the Catholic church. After the changes the church made in the late 1960s, Purgatory is no longer a 'theological fact' ... but what was it, and how did it work?
According to the 'old' church, while some few (those who are Sainted through the church) go DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN, while most of us would go to Purgatory. Think of Purgatory as a 'summer school' where you can 'do the work you missed' during the 'regular school year' ... only when you 'get out of Purgatory you go to Heaven. Hell is still Hell ... that is where the 'bad people' are supposed to go.
These days, the church believes that while there is still a 'waiting and learning' place, they don't call it Purgatory ... and people can't 'pray for' people in Purgatory to help 'earn them' the right to move on to Heaven. It's actually a 'very small thing' with very LARGE implications ... but that is 'the rest of the story' ...

Answer 3

It's the process (not a place) that people who are on their way to heaven go through in order to remove any last attachment to sin so that they are absolutely purified by Christ upon entering Heaven. One of the analogies used in the Bible regarding this process is people dressing for the wedding banquet -- in purgatory, you get washed white than snow and are clothed in righteousness for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

A few more notes.

(1) It IS Biblical, as noted by quotes provided by a poster above. People who say it's not in the BIble are wrong, because the Bible says we must be made fully righteous to enter heaven, and since we are all sinners (also in the Bible), that absolute and final cleansing must take place after death.

(2) It's NOT where you find out whether or not you go to heaven as some posters above have mistakenly said. Everybody in purgatory is on their way to heaven.

(3) The Church has NOT gotten rid of the concept of purgatory as somebody mistakenly said above. They're thinking of the theory of "limbo," which was a sort of holding place for unbaptized innocents.

(4) It is DEFINITELY still called purgatory and Catholics are DEFINITELY still encouraged to pray for the souls in purgatory, that they will quickly shed the attachment to sin they still feel so they can enter heaven. Not sure where that one person got his information to the contrary, but he's quite wrong.

Answer 4

Matt. 5:26,18:34; Luke 12:58-59 – Jesus teaches us, “Come to terms with your opponent or you will be handed over to the judge and thrown into prison. You will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” The word “opponent” (antidiko) is likely a reference to the devil (see the same word for devil in 1 Pet. 5:8) who is an accuser against man (c.f. Job 1.6-12; Zech. 3.1; Rev. 12.10), and God is the judge. If we have not adequately dealt with satan and sin in this life, we will be held in a temporary state called a prison, and we won’t get out until we have satisfied our entire debt to God. This “prison” is purgatory where we will not get out until the last penny is paid.

Matt. 5:48 - Jesus says, "be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect." We are only made perfect through purification, and in Catholic teaching, this purification, if not completed on earth, is continued in a transitional state we call purgatory.

Matt. 12:32 – Jesus says, “And anyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but no one who speaks against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven either in this world or in the next.” Jesus thus clearly provides that there is forgiveness after death. The phrase “in the next” (from the Greek “en to mellonti”) generally refers to the afterlife (see, for example, Mark 10.30; Luke 18.30; 20.34-35; Eph. 1.21 for similar language). Forgiveness is not necessary in heaven, and there is no forgiveness in hell. This proves that there is another state after death, and the Church for 2,000 years has called this state purgatory.

Answer 5

Purgatory is a belief in Catholocism that before you go to heaven, if you have been a Christian but not a perfect person, you have to wait in order to get into heaven. Think of it as heaven's waiting room. It's part of heaven, but not the good part.

Answer 6

Purgatory is a place of cleansing from sinful inclinations we have on our soul. This must be removed before entering heaven for nothing sinful is in heaven.

Answer 7

Dear zysl4,

Actually, there is no such a place. The catholic church does teach about this "purgatory" which is contrary to Scripture. They (the catholic church) says purgatory is a place where souls fo to cleanse some sins away so that they can enter heaven. This is quite false. Only God can forgive sin and Jesus is the only Savior.

Answer 8

It was one of the places Dante created in 1294 with Dante's Inferno and the church thought it was a good idea to scare more money out of the people. If you were going to hell they couldn't do anything about it. But if you were going to purgatory they you could buy your way out of it by buying indulgences. The church made billions with indulgences.

Answer 9

Purgatory is the place Catholics go after death to aton for their sins and wait till all is forgivin and then we go to heaven.

Answer 10

I understand it to mean hell. But the only place I know to be hell is this planet called earth. It is a place of sorrow, pain and death.
You and I are in hell but because the status is number wise nobody seems to know it.