Purgatory for 1,902,202 years and 270 days.?

Question

One of the things Martin Luther protested against was selling indulgences. The example below is an example that was taught during the time of Luther. Do Catholics truly believe they will spend that long in purgatory? If not why did doing this get you out of so many years in purgatory?

For example, on All Saint Day, Christians viewing the relics accumulated by Frederick the Wise in Luther's town of Wittenberg and paying the necessary indulgences could reduce their purgatory stay by 1,902,202 years and 270 days.

st.aliaoftheknife - Catholics believe purgatory is for Christians only. They still believe that sinners burn forever.

cristoiglesia - I am sorry you see this as attacking Catholicism. I see it as exposing false doctrine. I try to be polite when doing it because I do not wish to attack.

AMDG - He removed 7 books that were not considered inspired by the early church. Nor were they included in the Hebrew canon decided up by the men of the great assembly. All he did was restore the OT to what it should have been.

wolfeblayde - I am not sniping at Catholicism. I am just pointing out what appears to be a false doctrine. One the I find particularly offensive as it appears to teach that the blood of Jesus was not enough.

orita2004 - I made up my mind and base my salvation on the Word of God. Not on what any man says or teaches.

tur b - go ahead and pick. I agree the idea of purgatory is sickening.

Answer 1

If your not Catholic then you don't have to go there, it only a catholic thing. The rest of us get to go straight to Heaven and greet them when they get out.

Answer 2

Purgatory does not represent a place or time. This is Catholic teaching and not your attacks based on hatred perverting Catholic belief and practices. However, I do believe that some did abuse the payment of indulgences and that there was corruption. Surprise, there are greedy sinful people in the Church. I bet you have some in your church as well.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Edge,

The doctrine of purgatory does not lessen the redemption at the cross. It does not indicate that Christ's Blood was insufficient in any way unless, of course, one follows the Protestant doctrine of a few that says that Christ's blood does not cleanse us but only covers our sin. Most Christians do not follow this lawless soteriology that was introduced by the heretic John Calvin. Even in purgatory it is Christ's blood that prepares us by removing the dross of sin so that we may enter heaven. You must understand that those going through purgatory have already been judged worthy of heaven but are still carrying the residuals of venial sin. So, Christ's blood is sufficient but most, if not all, go into judgment with less than a pure sinless soul at our death due to our temptation to sin in thought, word or deed. This sin or residuals of sin must be removed as the Bible teaches that no sin shall enter heaven in the presence of God. If not for purgatory heaven will be a empty place given man's sinful nature.

Answer 3

Thereis no such thing as "days or Years" in the state of soul(not place of body)of cleansing purification and final stage in the process of conversion that is rightfully called Purgatory.

Days and years were used for indulgences,
which are not the forgiveness of sins as in Confession and Absolution but the praying by the whole Church that the after-effects of sin or "temporal punishment" be removed(which like all actings of grace demands cooperation from the free-willed "ratio-emotional"creature),
because they "stood in" for the long penances that the Early Church gave to serious sinners who sought reconciliation such as 3 years penetential act fasting from Communion or onn vegetables alone,etc.
People in the 4th century often postponed Baptism until late because of the severe penances and indulgences mitigated that.After Vatican II because of the widespread misunderstanding even among practicing Catholics the specific times of penance equivalents were dropped for partial and plenary indulgence(which later is not so easily obtained since it demands real grace-cooperating detachment from sin.)

The connection of indulgences with money-giving was abolished after/during the Council of Trent because of "simonical abuses" even though charitable giving was much encouraged.

I find the concept of Purgatory well-compatible with biblical teachings ,especially on Grace and mercy and holiness

Check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Purgatory and Indulgences.

Go bless and may we all pray for each other.

Answer 4

Only God knows how long anyone is to remain in Purgatory. Not the Pope, or Luther.

But I would be happy in Purgatory, at least I will finally know that I have achieved the salvation that I have prayed for.

and for what it is worth, the Bible is full of references to Purgatory. In fact Luther found so many that he removed entire books of the Bible to eliminate it from his followers.

Answer 5

Most of us if we are lucky will spend an eternity in purgatory...but at least we know which direction we are going. That actually is not very long given eternity. Practices like that were designed to encourage faithful behavior and prayer...Only God knows if we actually get any indulgences...currently we still pray for the souls in purgatory so that they might go to heaven sooner...same answer...

Answer 6

why dont u look up what the Catholic Church teaches about "indulgences" and "purgatory" for yourself?. unless ur okay with trusting your salvation to Martin Luthers opinion.

i can understand how shocking the stories youve heard are re abuse of "selling indulgence". heard them myself as a youngster and i was totally horrified...and theat was only the tip of an iceberg....like father joseph said (see his answer) the Church is made up of sinners. that does not make His Church evil like you are saying and that is arrogance.

it is my catholism that allows me to respect a christian minister/pastor of another denomination....but i aint gonna trust them to explain to me what the Catholic Church teaches...cause they biased obviously

but yourve already made up your mind according to the word of martin luther.

personally i dont care for the divisions in christianity but its a fact that we christians caused it not God..we christians have a lot to answer for when we meet our Creator.

Praise God! and God bless!

Answer 7

hi,

that´s a lot of time.

i wonder whether you have seen the recent Luther movie?
Well He´s comming quickly and has given us the riches of heaven in order to perfect here on earth christian characters which worth in God´s sight. as it´s written:

"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 1 Peter 3.3-4..

So in this wise purgatory is a fake from Satan to deceive those who believe that can have corrupted lives here and perfect them in purgatory, chance which won´t have, zealing their destiny for lack of knowledge...

Kindest regards
Grace be with you
http://www.srac.de

Answer 8

1. No one knows anything about God.

2. Everyone speculates.

3. Relax.

Answer 9

If you ever get tired of sniping at Catholicism, you could always get a quality control job, making sure that every pin left the factory with the right number of angels dancing on it.

Answer 10

I've converted 7 times (great number, yes?) in my life-time...and I've finally found it....finally.

You have to learn to life. (what?) Learning to life is slowing down....smelling the roses...tasteing food slowly....drinking and closing your eyes slowly enjoying the taste....taking the little time to slow down. When you excersize in speed, slow your mind down....slow and relaxed...fluid

it's what everyone religion's morals stated and that has been the biggest reword of all....all the other stuff is just fancy talk from what they all say, because the fancy parts about so-so disagree with each other...and really....hah....hehe.....hahaha.....it's simple....it's very....simple....god is our force....in our mind....and the luck, the blessings are all real...and possibly even the force in our mind (i.e. so-called god) is actually connected as one.... one dies, the force is just merely moved so there is no worry...the force remains...and keeps hold.

Answer 11

I spend a hour with cigarettes and occasional each and every morning. i'm dropping the hour on doing better half and youngsters chores so that's no massive deal. you need to pass to the wellbeing practitioner and locate out what's inflicting it or get distinctive analyzing fabric.