Does Purgatory Deny the Sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice?

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ^ | Matt Slick

[prolifefirst]

Did you hear there is an election in 5 days?

[Gamecock]

Ping

[Gamecock]

I did indeed.

That is why we have a News Forum, isn’t it?

[Alex Murphy]

Jesus said, "It is finished," (John 19:30)

Darn those lousy subcontractors! Looks like Jesus will have to work through another weekend!

[Natural Law]

Although there is considerable historical and even biblical reference to purgatory, the working Catholic belief since Vatican II is that this is a temporal condition between death and judgment. All except saints (those who ascend directly to heaven) will spend time in purgatory.

[Petronski]

No.

But it sure turns seems to make the anti-Catholic fetishists go all Yosemite Sam.

[Natchez Hawk]

“It was finished.”

Yet here we are.
Placed on earth to do good works, as God intends.

[militant2]

The concept of Purgatory has always been a difficult one for me. Having grown up in the Catholic faith, we were taught that basically Purgatory was no different from hell, in terms of the actual amount of suffering, and that we may need to spend several hundred thousand years there before we get to go to Heaven. That makes no sense to me!

Is there a place in the bible that actually describes the type of suffering in Purgatory, or is that a “bogeyman” approach to make Catholic kids behave? Is it possible that Purgatory is simply a cleansing period and that the actual suffering is the inability to be with God for whatever amount of time that takes?

I don't know...it's always been a point of confusion for me.

Militant

[Gamecock]

Yup.

[magisterium]

Short answer: No. Because without the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, Purgatory, both as a place and with regard to its purpose, would have no effect.

Christ's Sacrifice is the engine which makes Purgatory go. But I think it likely that the rather disingenuous author of this article already knows that.

[woollyone]

I actually believe in a pre-pergatory.

It's kind of like a foyer, or anteroom.
Sort of like how condominiums are sort of pre-burial vaults.
In a way, like how liqueur is a pre-embalming fluid.

But different.

[shadeaud]

My understanding is that those who truly have faith in God and his mercy will go to Heaven. Those who practice their faith( charity, love toward fellow man etc) will have a higher position in Heaven, but will not know the difference. Those that have accepted the responsibility of preaching the word of God have a greater depth of responsibility in order to achieve that higher position. All of which leads me to believe that the atrocities committed by the pedophiles in the Church may have a lot more to atone for( but again that is up to Almighty God)

[Claud]

Purgatory is the burning fire of God’s love dissolving the ash and the imperfection in your soul. If you don’t understand that, of course the juridical aspects of it aren’t going to make any sense.

Make it all about law and satisfaction and you forge a religion of pure iron.

[Quix]

Without a hint of justification in Scripture . . .

it has functioned as designed . . .

a very clever way to increase the donations into the coffers of the hierarchies around the world.

[kidd]

Rev. 21:27

[Pyro7480]

As Ronald Reagan once said, “There you go again.”

[Titanites]

it has functioned as designed . . . a very clever way to increase the donations into the coffers of the hierarchies around the world.

[Claud]

Is it possible that Purgatory is simply a cleansing period and that the actual suffering is the inability to be with God for whatever amount of time that takes?

Yes! Purga-torio, the place of purgation.

You know when you've been in a dark room for so long and you walk out into the sun? The sun burns your eyes, it hurts.

Likewise, it is excruciatingly painful to gaze into the pure heart of God knowing how ungrateful you have been to Him all your life. You would die with shame. So you hold back a bit. You accustom yourself to the light little by little, bearing the blinding pain until you can stand fully in His Glory once and for all.

Purgatory is the pure love of God burning off your imperfections until you, too, are pure enough to stand before him without suffering. Without that suffering though, you simply cannot stand to look at His face.

[Campion]

a very clever way to increase the donations into the coffers of the hierarchies around the world.

Yeah, those $10 Mass stipends (one per day, except on Sundays and holydays) add up to a lot of money.

It's almost enough to keep a priest fed and wash his clothes.

Yes, these Papists are certainly very, very clever.