“Suffering in this life is necessary in order to follow the example of Christ.” What do you think Penance is? It is doing the will of God. Not just having the right thoughts or the right intentions, but actually doing. Our actions might not be heroic, like the Italian mother, but what we do must be the right things. If not, well, as Catholic saints or Puritan divines alike told us, we may be on the road not to heaven but perdition.
My point, Robby, is that purgatory is a fictitious invention of man, not something God made. It doesn’t exist.
Our (i.e. pertaining to believers not unbelievers) suffering here and now is NOT to pay for our sins. It is to learn holiness and to set an example to others so they can see Christ in us.
No penance or self-affliction or other human effort will ever pay for, purge or redeem us from sin. These are ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY accomplished by the blood of Christ through faith in His blood.
Prayers, fastings, watchings, and spending time in quiet solitude communing with God can be beneficial to put our hearts in tune with God. These are worthless if there is any hint of doing them to earn forgiveness. We must do them BECAUSE of the great debt we have already been forgiven, IF WE HAVE INDEED BEEN FORGIVEN.
If anyone seeks forgiveness from God, let him first and only flee from God’s wrath through the blood of Christ. There will be no second chance after this life because it is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment.