Why would purgatory be such an obstacle to some minds, isn't God a just judge?

Question

Purgatory is just a preparation for heaven, where only pure love will enter.

The blood of Jesus is enough to cleanse the whole world from sin, but we have make avail of of it, and we do in differing ways.

Answer 1

Purgatory was invented by the catholic church as a way of extorting money from peasants.

When a person died, the church would say that a certain amount of money would get that soul to heaven and they would wait in purgatory until it was paid. If it wasn't paid, that soul would go to hell.

Answer 2

Purgatory is simply the place where already saved souls are cleansed of the temporal effects of sin before they are allowed to see the holy face of Almighty God.


Revelation 21:27 tells us that "...nothing unclean will enter [Heaven]."

Answer 3

Purgatory

"For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin" (2 Macc. 12:44-45).
"Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny" (Matt. 5:25-26).
"Each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:13-15).
"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey . . ." (1 Peter 3:18-20).
"But nothing unclean shall enter it [heaven] . . ." (Rev. 21:27).

Answer 4

there is nothing wrong with the teaching on purgatory, the only reason other christians have a hang up about it is because they don't have the fullness of truth found only in catholicism. they see catholic and teaching in the same sentence they run for cover and usually that cover is chick tracts and other anti catholic material with outlandish claims that don't even hold water when one takes the time to research it.

Answer 5

Okay. The idea here is that since purgatory involves suffering, it must somehow infringe on the sufferings of Christ and imply they weren't sufficient.

Wrong!

Remember: Purgatory is simply the last stage of sanctification. Sanctification in this life involves pain, --"For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. . . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant" (Hebrews 12:6, 11), yet no one says that suffering infringes on Christ's sufferings. In the same way, the suffering during the final sanctification in no way infringes on Christ's sufferings or implies they were insufficient.

Quite the contrary! The fact is that the suffering we experience in sanctification in this life is something we receive because of Christ's sacrifice for us. His sufferings paid the price for us to be sanctified, and his sufferings paid the price for the whole of our sanctification -- both the initial and final parts. Thus it is because of Christ's sacrifice that we receive the final sanctification in the first place! If he had not suffered, we would not be given the final sanctification (or the glorification to which it leads), but would go straight to hell. Thus purgatory does not imply Christ's sufferings were insufficient; rather it is because of Christ's sufferings that we are given the final sanctification of purgatory in the first place!


Explicitly, we not only have the witness of passages such as 2 Maccabees 12, but also the witness of passages describing our accounting before Christ in the particular judgment, including the especially vivid depiction of one escaping through the flames in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.

Furthermore, in Matthew 5:25-26, Jesus tells us: "Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny."

Answer 6

I have supplied Bible Believin' Christians with references to Scripture, as well as to the writings of the Apostles and Early Church Fathers, but some Bible Fundamentalists are still stuck in the Middle Ages and associate Purgatory with the abusive selling of Indulgences.

Answer 7

I believe in reincarnation, because I believe there is but one reality, and there is no escaping it to any alternate reality. I believe we have two realms in this reality, the spiritual realm, and the material realm. That the two are constantly interacting with each other, as our body and spirit also interact. I believe that we often leave our body, and travel in spirit form into the spiritual realm, and often connect with other spirits, some of the living, some of the dead. I believe the reason dream can seem so real, is because they often are, but in the spiritual realm. God created the perfect place, to get the most out of human potential, that is in this universe. We need to face and conquer the problems here, like we are suppose to do, rather than thinking of an eventual escape from this reality.

Answer 8

The people who don't have the teaching about purgatory in their church tradition tend to find it hard to believe because "it's not in the bible."

Answer 9

No. God is God. And purgatory does not exist.

Answer 10

I don't know why it's an obstacle either. God is a just judge.

Answer 11

Jesus told the thief he was hanging on the cross with that he would be in heaven with him that day. That doesn't seem like there is a purgatory to me.