Exactly what is purgatory and who is it for?
Thanks Marg, I think this question may be one for the theologians. Purgatory must be mentioned but in an indirect way perhaps.
it is a roman catholic invention, based on the theology that everyone goes to Heaven, it is like a hell between heaven and hell and you serve out the apprpriate sentance there before moving on to heaven, as a result no one ever goes to eternal punishment
Well you could be right Hannah and Martin. But I'm thinking if it's an invention why would the Catholic church say it. So I'd like more facts as to what they base their belief in it on.
I wonder if Luke 16
(Lazarus, and the rich man in a type of waiting place until Jesus had died on the cross, then the people of faith of the old testament could follow Jesus in His resurrection) is why they think there is a place called Purgatory?
Even though they were people of faith in God, and placed the blood of the lamb on the door post, but Jesus the lamb of God had not yet been born or died yet. (if you know what I am trying to say)
I agree that Purgatory is not a biblical truth.
To my limited understanding... Pergatory was made as a ways to make money.. you could buy your dead relatives salvation which is totally against what the bible says..the bible says very plainly after you die you will be judged..... no middle place where you have an opportunity to find salvation..
The catholic church had a lot of doctrines made up by popes and priest ect they even considered their writings of more authoratative than gods word... hence thats why the great reformation came about with martin luther who challenged these doctrines which were not god breathed and not found in the bible but man made doctrines....
Luther stood against a number of things such as pergatory, the devotion to and praying to mary, the sacraments.. to name a few....
the big one is that we are saved by faith alone because of what Jesus did,not by works or buying someone out of pergatory.. Jesus died and rose from the dead and made us justified in Gods eyes .. we take on his righteousness or if you like clothed in his righteousness.. its not what we do or how much we pay or how many hail marys we say or the confessions of our sin or by any other thought up way... salvation is by trusting in Jesus alone that he died and rose from the dead to cover our sins... out of that we will have new desires and walk rightly... we cannot earn anything of ourselves other wise it was foolish for Jesus to die.
hope that helped some......
Cate various faiths make up their own rules for various reasons....as a christian you are best guided by the word of God and not what other people say or how they interpret it.
There is no get out of jail free card such as purgartory - if so, what was the point in Jesus' death and resurection? That was all in vain if everyone has a second chance anyway.
Thank you for your very interesting comments. I have a huge respect for the Catholic faith and reading a little online, I realise that Catholics have complete belief while some others seem to completely disbelieve in purgatory. Where is Purgatory in the Bible? by Jon Jakoblich highlighted some interesting points of reference as did Scripture Catholics and the information I read has made me realise that this isn't straight forward but complicated to fully comprehend.
Hi Cate,
I just had a quick read to see what he was saying on the subject and his doctrine is really screwed up.
He says this "You see, the majority of people are neither so free from sin as to merit immediate entrance into Heaven, nor so bad as to be punished forever in Hell."
The above is totally wrong....
the bible pretty much says this in a nutshell Cate..... there in no good or bad people there is Jesus and sinners. none of us not one deserves to go to heaven we all are sinners and rightfully deserve to go to hell all of us.
We are all represented by the first adam...(adam and eve) and are under the curse of sin and death. the only way to have that curse broken is to be represented by the second adam(Jesus) who freely gives us an amazing gift called grace so whomever believes in Jesus will be saved.
You need to make a decision to whos team your on Cate do you believe in Jesus and who he said he was or do you believe in another doctrine. lie or false god..... it is straightforward the bible brings clarification your confused because your reading into lies that were made to deceive.
Jesus was perfect and because he now represents those who trust and love him it makes them perfect in Gods eyes. we are justified. which explains that revelation scripture they quote....
The bible does not talk about a purgatory anywhere.....................
I pray the spirit of God will open your eyes to the truth.....
In Christ,
Ash
Ash, I don't know that it's all lies, a different interpretation perhaps. For instance, Catholics believe in the Catecisms, whereby they believe that if they die with unconfessed mortal sin, they will go to hell. They aren't believing in a different God however and I think a lot of what they are about makes sense. Anyhow, I'll put this issue by my dad sometime since he's an Anglican priest.
Cate they can believe whatever they like, doesn't make it truth though. Just as other faiths have misguided doctrines the catholic faith has a lot more invented beliefs than others.
What some call misguided doctrines others call right and vice versa. While a Baptist or an Anglican may find praying to the Mother Mary or going to confession not a necessity, Catholics value it and I say so be it. Yet while there is a them and us mentality and we believe that only we are the only right ones, I think we are wrong. Righteousness is not about denomination or one-sided interpretation of the Gospel but about living the Holy Word and reflecting the Holy Spirit. I think that is evidential of the Truth.
Before reading an article today about purgatory, I have to admit that I thought it was a second chance place for sinners, yet it seems to be a purification stage between earth and heaven. Can any Catholics or any others who know, please share information on where purgatory is mentioned in the bible, it's purpose and is it where all Christians will go initially before heaven or just the very naughty ones (lol) !!?