Posted on 10/26/2012 2:28:43 PM PDT by NYer
Your kidding.....right?
Dear Lord Jesus
Amen. Thank you for posting this wonderful article.
I think we all have died, and are in purgatory right now.
It explains the ‘world’ around us much better.
Where in the Holy Scriptures is Purgatory described, or mentioned?
Sometimes I think this too..and how well we accept or fight the boulders placed in our path...some of us have a heavier load of troubles than others..Maybe we have been here before and if we have less troubles than others, maybe we have been better at perfecting ourselves...less griping and just taking on whatever hand is dealt us to the best of our ability..
Shortly after my mom’s death, my dad lost his leg. Yet he never said negative things, he didn’t complain, was not bitter that his “ golden years” have been trashed. When I asked him about this, how it is he was not angry with God, he said, “ No I am not angry with God. I see all of this as God’s way of fitting me for heaven.” I have not forgotten that though I don’t do quite as well has he did as I soldier on with my husband who has Alzheimer’s Disease along with other health issues and have no help from family as there is none nearby.
You have hit the thumb on the nail. The conspicuous absence of this and other “traditions of men” promulgated by Rome is the reason the whole enterprise of Rome is a cult. The message of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith is non-existent in the RCC.
"In Purgatory, you willingly undergo the quality and quantity of pain and suffering that is uniquely prepared for you so that you may enter Heaven unblemished."
What strikes me immediately is the inference that somehow the efficacy of Christ's blood is not quite enought to cleanse from all unrighteousness! I mean, if the saved have to go to purgatory in order to be 'finished' then God's perspective on Time is limited. Whereas, The God WQho Created all has a temporal perspective which includes all of time, past, present, and future, so the inference that somehow when one is saved God can only cleanse from past sin is, in my honest opinion, blasphemous! But of course, such teachings make the Catholic Church even more powerful, almost the 'thing' God has to have in order to be 'omni'.
But the Catholic Church has been adding stuff to the Bible teachings for twenty millenia, so this is just that much more dross to be burnt away at the final judgement, where every man's deeds will be tried as if by fire.
Oddly, I've never had a Catholic, priest or otherwise, able to explain how it is that those who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord will be'purgatoried' if they are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump? If believers need Catholic purgatory in order to be made perfect enough, how does that work at the last trump, when the dead in Christ bodies rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up into the clouds to meet the Returning Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with The Lord???
Thank you very much for posting this article.
I do understand the story and will work to understand it even better.
Here’s a way to view it.
For the redeemed, the current earth is the closest to hell we are ever going to be.
For the lost, the current earth is the closest to heaven they are ever going to be.
Depends on your perspective.
Unchristian and according to Scripture of no benefit. One of those forms of a mock humility. (Col. 2:23)
But then so is the idea of purgatory, monasteries, priests, the lot.
And some think Mormonism is a humorous religion..
The RCC has some very strange memes of it’s own..
Not any less humorus than the Mormon Angel “Moron-i”..
However the death cult of Islam takes the cake..
A brief visit to latin america will raise your eyebrows..
Extremely stange rites and practises of the RCC down there..
The Copts and Maronites have their surprises as well..
It's quite enough. All Catholics know that and would never question it.
Here is a simple simile to help you understand Purgatory:
Think of Our Lord's Blood tragically flowing down the upright of the Cross, from the wounds in His Feet/Ankles.
When the Holy Blood comes to a prominent knothole, it flows around the edge, like an island diverts a stream. Even though The Lord is quite capable of causing His Blood to flow right through the obstruction, He allows it to be temporarily displaced on its way to the bottom of the Cross, for the useful work that can be completed during the diversion. That island is like Purgatory.
I am not a theologian or even rhetoritician, so I won't attempt to explain the concept further.
Then a rich man can buy his express ticket through Purgatory by paying people left behind to perform penance, fasting, prayer, rosary, novenas and masses? Isn’t that like buying indulgences?
I suppose a rich man could pay people left behind to pray for him, but in reality all prayers to God should come from a true heart with humbleness, faith and love. Without that I don’t think prayers would really work. Afterall, God knows our heart’s real motivations and our true intentions.
Same place as the Internet and beer in a can.
(...If believers need Catholic purgatory in order to be made perfect enough, how does that work at the last trump, when the dead in Christ bodies rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up into the clouds to meet the Returning Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with The Lord??? )
I think those in Purgatory would still be “with the Lord”. Going through a purification process doesn’t mean the Lord isn’t with you. It’s a temporary place and God is with you there too as He was during your earthly time. My earthly parents may have punished me from time to time as a sort of discipline, but they were certainly still with me in every sense, and never abandoned me.
....Some Protestants, even those who are Purgatory-friendly, have raised an objection to this account. They argue that, if undergoing the pains of Purgatory is necessary for a soul’s purification, then wouldn’t the assistance of the living impair that purification?
"Some Protestants" have raised this as an objection? Really? This third-rate argument? The biggest objection that I've ever heard raised (bigger even than "where's that in the Bible") and would like to see addressed is this one:
Which sins or offenses are not covered under Christ's shed blood, that cause post-death "pain and suffering" to be created for and endured by the presumptive purgatory denizen?
"Having read [Francis Beckwith]’s book, I am appalled at the blatant misrepresentation of both the Reformed teaching as well the teaching of Roman Catholicism. His lack of knowledge on historical issues is forgivable, given his ignorance, but to misrepresent and caricature the Reformed faith and to misrepresent the salvation teachings of Rome is simply irresponsible and dishonest..."
-- from the internet article Why Scripture and the Facts of History Compel Me, a Former Roman Catholic, to Remain a Committed Evangelical Protestant
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