When was purgatory invented?

Question

After all there was no reference to it by Jesus or the apostles in any of the gospels. I wonder who and when might have introduced this belief?

The new testament teaches the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin 1 John 1:7 Paul taught to be absent in body was to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthans 5:8 also see Phillpians 1:23 Jesus told the criminal on the cross who repented today you will be with me in Paradise. No mention of purgatory by those who knew Jesus best.

Answer 1

Purgatory is a catholic thing, not in the Protestant Church, not in the Bible either, if you are saved then absent from the body is present with the Lord, if you are not, you will go be with people like hitler and stalin in hell.

Answer 2

The following links describe the Roman Catholic belief in Purgatory.

Answer 3

Purgatory is the mercy of God, usually people only believe in Heaven or Hell, Purgatory is a place where if you died in sin, you will be cleansed before you enter into Heaven, it is a form of temporal punishment, a way to pay for the sins you committed while on Earth.

The good thing about purgatory is that, there is only one way out ...Heaven, meaning if you are a sinner and there, you will never go to hell.

If people who sinned had only Heaven or Hell they would surely land in Hell, but by the Mercy of God and his love for us, he gave us a place to cleanse our souls before we enter in to heaven, meaning, we all have a chance.

I have given you links on this topic, so you can find those answers. Some people do not agree with this because Jesus died for our sins, he paid the price for us. I understand that side of the argument, but you wanted to know about Purgatory and this is what I know.

God's Mercy is eternal and he does not want to see anyone damned to Hell, in his love for us, he gave us another chance.

Answer 4

It was obviously a belief of ancient Jews, because in 2 Maccabees 12:38-46, Judas Maccabee clearly orders that sacrifices be offered in the Temple in Jerusalem for slain Jewish soldiers :

"In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (2 Macc. 12:43–45).

The Fundamentalist resistance to the biblical doctrine of purgatory presumes there is a contradiction between Christ’s redeeming us on the cross and the process by which we are sanctified. There isn’t. And a Fundamentalist cannot say that suffering in the final stage of sanctification conflicts with the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement without saying that suffering in the early stages of sanctification also presents a similar conflict. The Fundamentalist has it backward: Our suffering in sanctification does not take away from the cross. Rather, the cross produces our sanctification, which results in our suffering, because "[f]or the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11).

Answer 5

I agree with you regarding purgatory and it's lack of mention in the Bible. I suspect it's something Catholics came up with, no offense intended.
may peace be with you

Answer 6

Father k's lenghty reply contained no Biblical support,just a reference to apocryphal traditions of men with a side helping of fundamentalist christianophobia.or something.

Answer 7

I don't think that "beliefs" are introduced.

Ideas are introduced, and then people believe (or not) in those ideas.

Answer 8

Catholics are not saved Christians. It is the catholic cult headed up by the genocidal Vatican that created this false doctrine of purgatory to further deceive the masses.