A Protestant Purgatory?

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Hmmm…I’m quite intrested in this, I’ve just recently gotten it as a e-mail. And whats odd about it is that I was shcocked to see that there was such a Protestant Purgatory.

Anywho, it goes like this:

Recently I was shocked to discover a book describing a type of Protestant purgatory that superseded anything ever taught by the Catholic Church.

This doctrine has been proclaimed for over 100 years and promoted by 300 famous Protestant leaders and theologians.

The punishment Protestants supposedly experience is far greater and longer then the Catholic description of such a place.

When is one placed into the Protestant purgatory?
How long does one remain there?
Where is it located?
Why do Protestants enter this place of fire?

Protestant theologians deal with this seldom discussed subject within the rank of Protestantism and then moves ahead with the accurate Biblical truth regarding the Bema Seat Judgment for rewards and crowns.

Well the e-mail doesnt say what book it was or anything in specific, though does anybody has an idea what this might be?
 
lunarknight said:
Hmmm…I’m quite intrested in this, I’ve just recently gotten it as a e-mail. And whats odd about it is that I was shcocked to see that there was such a Protestant Purgatory.

Anywho, it goes like this:

Recently I was shocked to discover a book describing a type of Protestant purgatory that superseded anything ever taught by the Catholic Church.

This doctrine has been proclaimed for over 100 years and promoted by 300 famous Protestant leaders and theologians.
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  • When did this 100 years begin ?
  • Who are the theologians ?
  • Are they from one single country or many ?
  • From one Protestant church, or many ?
    Those are some questions that could usefully be asked. I don’t believe this: there is no place for Purgatory in Protestantism.
Don’t believe every thing you read 🙂 ##
The punishment Protestants supposedly experience is far greater and longer then the Catholic description of such a place.

When is one placed into the Protestant purgatory?
How long does one remain there?
Where is it located?
Why do Protestants enter this place of fire?

Protestant theologians deal with this seldom discussed subject within the rank of Protestantism and then moves ahead with the accurate Biblical truth regarding the Bema Seat Judgment for rewards and crowns.

Well the e-mail doesnt say what book it was or anything in specific, though does anybody has an idea what this might be?
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lunarknight said:
Well the e-mail doesnt say what book it was or anything in specific, though does anybody has an idea what this might be?
Click to expand...
NOT any mainstream Protestant denomination I know of.

WARNING: A lot of data makes its way into the Internet. But…

Data is not information
Information is not knowledge
Knowledge is not wisdom

@@@@@@

HOWEVER, the old Universalism Association (now merged with the Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association) might have something like that. Universalism is the dogma that all are saved. It denies a PERMANENT hell. But they might have a sort of purgatory for the really naughty people (and you know who you are:rolleyes: )
 
I can’t get to that link but the email sounds like something someone made up. If they don’t have any references, names of theologians, denominations or other specifics, I’d just disreguard it. No protestant church I’ve ever been around believes in purgatory. It causes problems with the doctrines like Justification by faith.

You will hear protestants preach on the Judgement day and having to answer to God for your life. Some of those sermons can be scary. :eek:
 
Lunar Knight,

Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta, wrote a book called Eternal Security that was excerpted in Catholic Answers once in a very short piece titled “Purgatory in All But Name.” You may want to search for that on this site.

C.S. Lewis also had some very choice words about Purgatory. He believed very seriously in its existence, though he didn’t particularly believe the specifics that were being preached by some Catholic preachers in times past.
  • Liberian
 
Every Protestant I ever spoke with laughs at the idea that we believe in Purgatory.
 
C. S Lewis was a Protestant (Anglican), and he clearly argued for the reality of Purgatory. He even said that if there we no Purgatory then we would surely ask for it! (Letters To Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chapter 20, paragraphs 7-10, pages 108-109).

I would guess that some people equate “Protestant” with “Evangelical in the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition”. This is an understandable mistake because these types of evangelicals are indeed the majority in the United States. However, they are actually a minority worldwide. The vast majority of Christians are of other flavors: Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, or Lutheran.
 
The teaching of purgatory is one of the reasons I left the Catholic Church. Believing in purgatory is not believing that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was “enough”. How can we ever add to the redemption of the cross? Jesus said, “It is finished”, His work was complete. No fire can purge my soul, only the precious blood of Our Lord and Savior.
There are so many wonderful truths in the Catholic faith, but I’m unable to fathom some of their teachings, including purgatory.
 
Hi, you said you left the Catholic faith, what faith do you practice now?

I thought myself that very thing, that after all the suffering, scourging, bloodshed and hanging on the cross until he died for all our sins was his ultimate passion for us. That Purgatory is our own sorrow and anguish for the sins we made Jesus suffer for. I didnt hear anything about Purgatory when Jesus was dying on the cross to the theif. He just said “this day, you will be with me in Paradise”

However, I really need to find my old Chatecism book and brush up so I am not so confused. It is very easy to delude ourselves into thinking we are going to get off easy for our sins. And worse yet, to justify some of them. Regardless of what faith you turned to, I will say prayers all of us find the Truth.

God bless you in any path you walk…
 
Thank you for the reply and for lifting our search for truth in prayer. I want to serve God faithfully and for my life to somehow give Him pleasure. I have to believe that all sins that we repent of, are forgiven without the threat of purgatory. We belong in “time”, but God does not. When I seek forgiveness, it’s for anything that comes between Him and me, now or ever.
God understands our humanness and we will never be able to add to His mercy and grace. That to me is what makes Him so awe inspiring.
The Bible says to seek and we will find, that’s encouraging. It makes me wonder how so many truthseeking, intelligent people end up with beliefs that are so radically different.
God bless you too.
 
Eimile said:
The teaching of purgatory is one of the reasons I left the Catholic Church. Believing in purgatory is not believing that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was “enough”. How can we ever add to the redemption of the cross? Jesus said, “It is finished”, His work was complete. No fire can purge my soul, only the precious blood of Our Lord and Savior.
There are so many wonderful truths in the Catholic faith, but I’m unable to fathom some of their teachings, including purgatory.
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You still have to repent of your own sins though. You can’t be a Hitler and say “I believe Jesus died for me, think I’ll burn 6 million Jews and I’m covered no matter what lalala.”

So I think purgatory is there for people who need more time to repent, and if they won’t, then they go off to the Lake of Fire.

Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
 
Of course, a honest repentence is absolutely necessary. But purgatory doesn’t work as a place for people who need more time to repent, we stand before God when we die; we either loved Him and accept Him as our savior or we didn’t. We can have total confidence in God’s grace but only a fool would ever play games with sin and repentence. God knows our most inward secrets.
 
Eimile said:
Of course, a honest repentence is absolutely necessary. But purgatory doesn’t work as a place for people who need more time to repent, we stand before God when we die; we either loved Him and accept Him as our savior or we didn’t. We can have total confidence in God’s grace but only a fool would ever play games with sin and repentence. God knows our most inward secrets.
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What about a child who is raped by a priest or imam or whatever and is totally turned off of God or Jesus and becomes atheist in reaction to the trauma. Don’t they deserve a chance to see that there is really a God, and to have time to work that out in a purgatory?
 
That is where faith comes into it. I believe that God will reach out to them as well with the truth . We all have trauma in our lives, life is difficult, without a doubt. The Holy Spirit is always pulling us toward God. That is why forgiveness helps the victim even more than the perpetrator. (By the way, our forgiveness is not their exoneration, it doesn’t make the wrong someone did right.)
There have been a lot of people throughout history and only God can find a way to tug at each of their souls. I believe He does, indeed! Anything less would be unfitting a merciful God.
 
Eimile said:
That is where faith comes into it. I believe that God will reach out to them as well with the truth . We all have trauma in our lives, life is difficult, without a doubt. The Holy Spirit is always pulling us toward God. That is why forgiveness helps the victim even more than the perpetrator. (By the way, our forgiveness is not their exoneration, it doesn’t make the wrong someone did right.)
There have been a lot of people throughout history and only God can find a way to tug at each of their souls. I believe He does, indeed! Anything less would be unfitting a merciful God.
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I think Jesus was telling us that there was a purgatory when he compared his being dead for three days to Jonah in the fish. Jonah was conscious and repenting to God for his fear of warning Nineveh of destruction, inside of that “belly of hell.”

And if the fish was a sea serpent as some say, it would relate to Satan/Serpent being cursed to eat dust and go on its belly, and Adam returning to dust in death, being swallowed up by Satan into the belly of hell, which is purgatory.
 
That’s a theory, but not enough to convince me.
Perhaps during that time Jesus was in paradise showing Himself and His plan to those who lived prior to His birth and death on the cross. There was obviously something going on, but we weren’t given all the details.
Purgatory indicates our own redemption though fire/sacrifice or pain, and I don’t think we could ever cleanse ourselves. We are only made pure by the sacrifice of Chist, the Lamb of God.
 
FYI
  1. Protestants do not believe in purgatory.
  2. Universalists believe:
God wants everyone to be saved
God gets what He wants because God cannot fail
…therefore everyone - including satan - will go to heaven

Jesus died on the cross so everyone would believe and be saved
those still reject God go to hell (the second death) to be tormented into submission until they agree to believe - THEN they go to heaven, also

The duration of time spent being tortured is dependent upon how long they resist.

In other words God cannot fail, but His first plan for ALL to be saved did failed, and only some people believed and were saved.
Since not everyone was saved on the first try, God had to come up with a second plan (hell) to saved those He failed to save thru Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. :rolleyes:
 
Wow, that’s far out thinking. All I can say is that’s NOT anything I’ve ever heard of before, and most protestants do not believe all ends well for everyone.
That’s too big of a topic for me to delve into in this setting. I conclude you don’t believe in free will? So, why give us choices in the first place if God’s going to force his plan on us ultimately anyway?
 
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