souls from Purgatory. Here is an excerpt:
We need to abide by God’s Word and not live by man-made ideas. We know there
are two options after death…. I am not Catholic and although there are many
things about the Catholic faith that I greatly admire, there are others that
greatly concern me. This is one of them. We must never develop our own ideas as
truth. I can’t imagine where this Catholic teaching comes from. It concerns me
greatly.”
adequate. So, I will invite my commenter to this new article, just for her.
straight to heaven because he is saved.
You are either saved or not.
According to them, sins are no impediment to heaven because Jesus covers
our soul with His precious blood and makes it acceptable for heaven. Catholics believe we are responsible for the
state of our own soul, and we must repent of our sins. The only time the Bible mentions covering
sins refers to one man forgiving another.
Between us, we can overlook sins, but only God can forgive them.
the deceased has reached heaven. “We
know he is in heaven with god right now, and you can have this assurance too,”
were the words of one minister at a funeral service. Since Catholics believe that those in the
state of grace but who have not made reparation for venial sins, are not pure
enough to enter heaven, we pray for our dead–just in case.
heaven. Since the writings on the
catacombs (tombs of the very early Christians) give evidence that the dead were
being prayed for by their Christian friends, we have historical confirmation
for our beliefs and practices of today.
for souls after their dead. We can cite
the same Scripture from which Jesus read and taught to defend our practice of
praying for the souls in purgatory: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome
thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Mach.
12:46).
Bible, even though it was part of the Scripture used by Jews during the time
Jesus walked the earth. The book of Maccabees
has always been a part of the Bible accepted by the Catholic Church as divinely
inspired.
book gives historical evidence that this was a practice among the Hebrew people
during the second century B.C. and is still done among Jews today. Since Protestants do not have the book of Maccabees
in their Bible, I will use some books we share in common.
age or in the age to come” (Matt 12:32).
This statement of Jesus refers to forgiveness in this age and
forgiveness in the age to come. There
are two different times of forgiveness given in His statement.
1:18). St. Paul is praying for his
departed friend, Onesiphorus.
purgatory, a place of purification, where we are purged from our sins, where we
pay our debt–every last penny.
unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits
in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days
of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all
were saved through water” (1 Pet. 3:18-20).
condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in
the estimation of God” (1 Pet. 4:6).
righteous souls. St. Peter is writing
about souls that were disobedient, but eventually saved. (The word purgatory is not used in Scripture,
just as the Trinity and Incarnation are not.
But a third place, the prison, referred to above, has been called
Purgatory–a place for purging of our debts.)
Believing in Christ does not protect us from ever sinning again. Neither would “covering” our sins cleanse us
of them. Covering a dirty wall with
wallpaper does not clean the wall.
Therefore, if we are not completely pure upon our death, we need to be
cleansed of our sin:
or tells lies” (Rev. 21:27).
known. Sometimes we were just barely
acquainted with them, but we realize that it is possible they are in purgatory
with no one to pray for them. It’s a
great way to show love for our neighbor.