A Protestant Purgatory?

  • Thread starter Thread starter lunarknight
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I was reading up lately on what ‘It is finished’ might be.

zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~vgg/rc/aplgtc/hahn/m4/4cp.html

It’s interesting reading that the Passover tradition involved partaking of 4 cups and Jesus’s actions at the last supper passover.

It seems Jesus was saying ‘it is finished’ after taking the wine offerred to him on the cross as the final 4th cup to end the (new) passover. He rejected wine on the way to Galgotha, and asked in Gethsemane if the CUP could be taken from Him and said after the 3rd cup at the Passover that He would not drink again until i drink it new in the Kingdom of God.

So ‘it is finished’ probably refers to fulfilling the kingdom of God (new Covenant) rather than our redemption as He still had to die and be ressurected.

In this life i think we are called to come close to God and ‘abide in Him’ and ‘run the race’ and ‘take up our cross’ etc.

This points to a process rather than an event although events of course make up process. It makes sense to me that at death people will be at different points in that process, hence purgatory is there to continue the process started here on earth.

For the thief on the cross, well it’s up to God to decide what happens. Sharing the agony of the cross with Jesus is i hope a lot worse than what will be waiting for me in purgatory.
 
The cups at Passover would be an interesting topic to study.
According to what I’ve been taught, the Last Supper was during the time of preparing for, or leading up to the Passover, but was not a Passover meal.
I agree we are at different stages in our journey, but again, if we’re walking the walk and have repented and have accepted the salvation of Christ, that’s it, we’re in God’s good graces.
My Catholic teaching was that purgatory is as bad as hell only not eternal. How can we suffer enough to cover any sins? The Lamb of God had to be spotless, and sacrificed. Not one of us is spotless, which is why Jesus died for us.
 
Liberian said:
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.
Click to expand...
Who?
Liberian said:
Lunar Knight,
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.
Click to expand...
Well C.S Lewis was not the first Anglican to disagree with the 39 Articles and he wasn’t the last. Purgatory is not a tenet of Anglicanism.

Have you got any Protestant theologians of any significance who believed in Purgotory?
 
FaithofAbraham said:
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.
Click to expand...
God made the fish for that purpose. Three days in the belly of the fish was symbolic of Jesus being in the belly of The EArth (Hell) for three days in our place.
 
Hi Eimile,

I think Purgatory is not like Hell at all. Hell perhaps (i haven’t been there) might be a seperation from God whereas purgatory is a non-fullness of God, but since the goal is to be completely with God i suppose it is also a process where we get closer and closer to God, which doesn’t sound like hell at all.

Yes, it is not true that we can atone for our sins where Christ cannot, but we have Christ on our side (hopefully) and it is through Him that we are made perfect.

I think the difference between Catholics ‘made perfect’ and some Protestants is that Catholics see it as a process with Jesus and not an event because of Jesus. IMHO.

Best wishes.
 
I appreciate your thoughtful answer. I hope you’re right about the place called purgatory, if there is such a place.
Protestants believe in santification, which is the growing toward holiness or rightousness, our “journey”. The initial acceptance of Christ can be an event, but sometimes is gradual too.
The difference between Catholics and Protestants isn’t always a huge leap, … but it is sometimes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top