If in the Catholic religion there is Purgatory, why is there hell?

Question

In purgatory, it is said that sins are washed away in preparation for Heaven. What is the extent of sin that will make a man fall into hell rather than the purification of purgatory?

Macaw's Wing, my display name is from an episode of Friends where Pheobe changes her name to Princess Consuela Banana Hammock then Mike changes his name to Crap Bag. :)

Answer 1

+ Heaven +

Heaven is eternal life with God; communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the blessed.

Heaven is the state of supreme and definitive happiness, the goal of the deepest longings of humanity.

+ Hell +

Hell is the state of complete and final self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives.

No one really knows what hell is like. It has been described by people who have not been there as everything from flames to a frozen lake (Dante).

+ Purgatory +

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves into perfect beings.

Depending on the amount of change needed by different people this can be an easy or slightly harder process.

Everyone in purgatory is on their way to heaven.

I don't think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1023 and following: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1023

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I comprehend your problem. There are some parishes or perhaps some Bishops who're modernist or liberal. in spite of the shown fact that, that isn't by using 2d Vatican Council. extremely, that's by using attitudes of society often after the 1960's which motivated persons interior the Church. those modernist techniques are very lots against what Vatican II popular. I even have been to complicated parishes, yet I even have additionally been to hassle-free parishes the place the completed coaching of the Church is made sparkling. fortunately, with the no longer difficulty-free artwork of Pope John-Paul II and Pope Benedict the XVI, further and extra parishes are starting to be hassle-free in offering for the religious practise of their congregations. As to the TLM vs. the Novus Ordo, it isn't the Mass which makes the version. it is in simple terms that the only people who decide to do the TLM tend to be very orthodox. So it creates an phantasm that the TLM is larger. relatively, there are a number of very orthodox clergymen who say the Novus Ordo. SSPX is a schismatic team and Catholics could stay removed from them. fortunately, the Holy Father has at present issued a Motu Propio which popular classic Latin Mass anyplace the hassle-free petition to have them in a reasonable style. So the Latin Mass is on the upward push throughout :) i might advise which you're taking a seem on the Vatican web site and spot what the present Pope has been asserting. he's an extremely severe and classic guy.

Answer 3

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]."

That there are temporal effects of sin is obvious when one considers that even those who have been baptized, who have a deep and intimate relationshp with Jesus, who are the "elect" or "the saved/being saved," or what have you, are subject to pain, work, death and sickness.


Purgatory is His way of ensuring that Revelation 21:27 is true and that nothing unclean will see Heaven. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that we are shown this mercy! It is Christ and Christ alone Who allows us access to the Father.


It's isn't in the Bible, but neither are the words "Trinity," "abortion," "lesbianism," and "cloning" (or "Rapture," for that matter), and it doesn't matter whether you call the process of purgation "purgatory" or the "Final Theosis": the concept of a "final cleansing" or "purgation" for those who require it is very evident in the Bible, in the writings of the early Church Fathers, and in the Old Testament religion whence Christianity sprang.

Daniel 12:2, Matthew 12:32, 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Hebrews 12:14, Hebrews 12:22-23, 1 Peter 4:6 and Revelation 21:10, 27 all speak of Purgatory in their telling of the need for purification, prayers for the dead, Christ's preaching to the dead, or how nothing unclean will see God.


Archaeology also indicates the antiquity of the Christian belief in Purgatory/the Final Theosis: the tombs of the ancient Christians were inscribed with words of petition for peace and for rest, and at the anniversaries of deaths, the faithful gathered at the graves of the departed to make intercession for those who'd gone before.

Orthodox Jewish practices, which branched off from the Old Testament religion, to this day reflect belief in this "place" of final purification which they call Gehenom: when an Orthodox Jewish person dies, a ritual called the taharah is performed by the "Chevra kaddisha -- gmilat khessed shel emet," the "Holy Society" or "Burial Society" of Jews knowledgeable in these traditional duties. They cleanse and prepare the physical body and recite the required prayers (Chevra Kadisha) which ask God for forgiveness for any sins the departed may have committed, and beg Him to guard and grant eternal peace to the departed. For eleven months after the death of a loved one certain members of the family pray a prayer called the Mourner's Qaddish (or Kaddish) for their loved one's purification.

Jews, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox have always proclaimed the reality of the final purification for those who need it. It was not until the Protestant Reformers came in the 1500s that any Christians denied the idea of a final purgation before seeing the face of God.

Answer 4

Everybody who is in purgatory is on their way to heaven.

But everyone is not on their way to heaven because there are some people who despise God and want nothing to do with Him.

A unrepented mortal sin disqualifies you from heaven, and thus purgatory. So if a person were to commit murder with no regret, say, then they would not be able to go to heaven, nor purgatory. If they committed murder and did regret it and repent of it, they would be destined for heaven, and purgatory will enable them to become completely cleansed by the Blood of Christ.

Answer 5

Catholics rightly understand that a loving God will not send anyone to hell that might still be saved, by some process or another.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

1475 In the communion of saints, "a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things." In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.

Answer 6

I'll answer this question when you tell me where the heck you got that name.

(I missed that episode XD)

The answer then, is there is no "if". Do you think everything is black and white? I don't. A child knows things aren't black and white. There are always extenuating circumstances. The sinless person will constantly call upon God for help and strength. Very often we weak humans seem to think that "I can do this myself" Life is difficult, then you die. It is better to suffer here on Earth than later on in purgatory or hell.

Hell is reserved for disobedient stubborn unforgiving souls. And they are out there. Time is limited. People are saved and go to heaven for the smallest act of tolerance and kindness, and to have time to regret, even say a person who jumps off of a bridge (mortal sin worthy of hell) has time, in that split second before hitting the bottom, to regret their action....has a time for redemption. However, that being said, there is payment exacted from us for every wrong and neglect, and our souls are agreeable to this payment. Justice must be perfectly served.

Clear as mud?

Answer 7

If a person is serious about following the Bible then they would have a big problem with the teachings of purgatory and hellfire.

These things are simply NOT taught in the Bible.

They are teachings of men and are from pagan origins.

For more info on what the Bible really teaches please feel free to email me.

Answer 8

Purgatory is not for atonement of mortal sin, only venial sin. Hell is for mortal sin.

Answer 9

Purgatory is for those who will eventually go to Heaven. Hell is for the damned.

Answer 10

That's a problem of theirs. They deny that the sacrifice of Jesus was enough.

Boy they have made God angry at them. I hope that many people can get out of the RCC before it's too late! And I am telling the truth.