Does anyone know what an indulgence is not?

Question

To facilitate explanation, it may be well to state what an indulgence is not. It is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power. It is not the forgiveness of the guilt of sin; it supposes that the sin has already been forgiven. It is not an exemption from any law or duty, and much less from the obligation consequent on certain kinds of sin, e.g., restitution; on the contrary, it means a more complete payment of the debt which the sinner owes to God. It does not confer immunity from temptation or remove the possibility of subsequent lapses into sin. Least of all is an indulgence the purchase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory. The absurdity of such notions must be obvious to any one who forms a correct idea of what the Catholic Church really teaches on this subject.

Answer 1

The scriptures say that when a person dies, he or she must undergo a purification before he can enter heaven. This is because when we sin and tell God we are sorry, we are immediately forgiven, but we will have to suffer some temporary punishment for the sin. The punishment is this purification. The purpose of the indigence is to lessen the amount of purification needed.

Answer 2

"it means a more complete payment of the debt which the sinner owes to God."

Hence the problem with RCC theology, you don't believe that Christ's work on the cross was complete and full. You believe we need to do something to add to it, or complete it, hence, works based salvation and another gospel.

Col 2:12 being buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from among the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in the deviations and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all the deviations,
Col 2:14 blotting out the handwriting in the ordinances against us, which was contrary to us, even He has taken it out of the midst, nailing it to the cross;
Col 2:15 having stripped the rulers and the authorities, He made a show of them in public, triumphing over them in it.

Heb 10:11 And indeed every priest stands day by day ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Heb 10:12 But He, offering but one sacrifice for sins, "sat down" in perpetuity "at the right hand" of God,
Heb 10:13 from then on expecting "until His enemies are placed as a footstool" of His feet. (Psa. 110:1)
Heb 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected in perpetuity the ones being sanctified.

The Bible contradicts the RCC's beliefs concerning salvation and justification.

Gal 1:6 I wonder that you are so quickly turning back from the One having called you by the grace of Christ to another gospel,
Gal 1:7 which is not another; only there are some troubling you, even determined to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Answer 3

After Martin Luther railed against the sale of indulgences (exemption from certain forms of punishment for sin), the Roman Catholic Church outlawed the practice in 1562. But Vatican official Pedro Albellan stressed recently that the teaching on granting indulgences remains “unrenounceable and immutable.” A revised Roman Catholic manual on indulgences shows that the Vatican has harnessed this ancient belief to modern technology. According to The Times of London, bishops can now “grant a full indulgence to their faithful by radio or television three times a year when they impart a blessing in the name of the Pope.” However, there is a restriction. “It’s got to be a live transmission,” says Luigi De Magistris of the Vatican’s Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the office that deals with indulgences. “Watching a replay is not sufficient.”
But whether sold or given in person or by TV, are indulgences Scriptural? While Jesus, at times, freely forgave sins, he said nothing about the need of indulgences. Neither did the apostles. “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin,” the apostle John wrote. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Answer 4

You are correct, but you must also understand how the concept of indulgences had been perverted in previous generations.

Answer 5

I find your question confusing.