you wrote:
“Except that there’s no such thing as purgatory.”
Yes, there is.
“Not one verse of Scripture supports the doctrine.”
Actually a number of verses do.
“On the contrary, Paul says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and in Hebrews, that it is appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment.”
One of the problems Protestants have when discussing Christian doctrines is their own ignorance about them. I can’t tell you how many times Protestants have attacked doctrines they clearly do not understand. You’re doing it right now.
1) St. Paul was right for what he was speaking about to whom he was speaking. That in no way negates the reality of Purgatory. Go back and read verse 1 of that passage and you’ll see St. Paul is talking about the glorified body we will receive after death (”For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”). He’s not denying Purgatory. He’s affirming the Resurrection.
2) The idea “that it is appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment” also in no way negates the reality of Purgatory. We are judged and, if Purgatory is necessary, we undergo it.
“I suppose that when many Catholics are suffering torment in hell, they’ll need to console themselves that it is only temporary even though it’s not.”
I suppose that when many Protestants are suffering torment in hell they’ll fail to console themselves with the claim that they didn’t really know they were attacking Christ’s Church.
2Co_5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
You're going to have to abandon that verse for one of your purgatory proof texts...
While when Christians are absent from the body they are present with the Lord,
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
And no, Paul wasn't addressing just those in front of him...Paul was addressing Christians for all time...
Somehow, your religion misses all the revealed mysteries in the scriptures...
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Paul was NOT speaking of a glorified body any one gets after death, because no one gets one UNTIL the last trump of the trumpet...That's why Paul said, 'absent from the body', glorified or otherwise...
Your dead body drops off your soul and is buried in the ground to rot or is burned and spread in the wind...Your soul immediately goes up, or down...
When God decides to blow the trumpet, the bodies OF CHRISTIANS which are in the ground or scattered will be gathered together and become changed, Glorified, and reunite with the souls who belonged to those bodies...So what are your other purgatory proof texts???
You will be judged by the Final Authority - God's Word.
"There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My Words; the very Words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day." John 12:48
So, yes, catholics and all their leaders will burn and it is final. For they were told GOD'S WORD is the final authority and they believed not. The throne of satan/Vatican - pride and disobedience - gone forever!
The price of believing 'man' before God. Adam/Eve's example in God's Word was fruitless to man-made believers, catholics, mormons, muslims, buddishts, etc. etc. - 'man'/satan deceived them, also.
Sola Scriptura LIVES FOREVER as do those who believed on JESUS The Word ONLY - for they Heard and Obeyed ONLY HIM!