Do most souls go to Purgatory?

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HabemusFrancis

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I have been entertaining a theory lately, perhaps I am the only Catholic who entertains it.

My theory is that most people are ultimately saved, but most of those people spend varying degrees in purgatory.

Sadly, I do not believe in “universal salvation” or that “Hell does not exist.” I personally believe a sillier variation of this idea is that “Hell exists, but it is empty/unpopulated as of now.” I get this funny mental image of Satan tapping his cloven hoof or looking at a wristwatch in frustration :rolleyes:.

I find the latter silly because it would mean there is zero danger of anyone alive today of going to Hell. I suppose some danger would exist, but it would be statistically impossible that you’d go there.

Anyway, back to my main point. Based on what I have seen of most people, most probably will go to purgatory (instead of most being damned.) I don’t know exact numbers, but most people in my life seem to will “the good” so to speak and are sincerely sorry for their failures and shortcomings but just aren’t “there” yet.

Does anyone subscribe to my theory? It would be quite nice (ultimately) if it turns out most people aren’t bound for hell so to speak, but a duration in purgatory instead?

It just seems to me it takes a special kind of person to be damned/hellbound: a person utterly unrepentent and satisfied with their grave defects of character and choices. Almost a refusal to be sorry or desire to serve the good/make up for failures they commit.

It almost seems you have to be as mean/selfish/unremorseful as “sin” to be damned. I believe that is likely an unfortuantely high number of people… but perhaps not “most” souls?

As an afterthought… I might be a “glutton for punishment” but if purgatory is my immediate afterlife fate…I will be sad yet satisfied. I will have “won” in the long term so to speak, since heaven will be my ultimate fate and am unable to lose that fate.

As for the pains in purgatory I would suffer if I were there… I suppose I’d try to deal with them in good grace…but for now hope I can undergo my purgation in this life:blush:
 
Anyone who dies while being in the state of mortal sin go to hell, unless they made an Act of Perfect Contrition before.

If you have venial sins on your soul and die with these venial sins before Confessing them you will go to Purgatory, or so my high school religion teachers have taught me, unless I’ve forgotten what they’ve said and I’m misquoting their lectures. The only way to avoid Purgatory would be to die in a state of no sin, where one would go to Confession, say the required Penance and then die with no sin on their soul.

Of course one does not know the hour of their death, so they cannot possibly know when they will die, so that they can go to Confession a few minutes before death. Since most people don’t know the hour of their death, I’d assume they’d have a few venial sins on their soul.
 
I would say yes, most people are bound for purgatory. Unless a person completely and utterly rejects God, I would imagine that He would want to bestow His mercy on as many souls as possible, taking into account everything they ever did and not just zeroing in on a few really bad actions.

I dunno. It’s a theory.
 
No one knows, and it’s pointless to speculate. We need only concern ourselves with the state of our own souls. It’s folly to think everyone’s going to get a pass.
We need to just try our hardest to stay in a state of grace…pleasing to the Most High.
 
pianistclare said:
No one knows, and it’s pointless to speculate. We need only concern ourselves with the state of our own souls. It’s folly to think everyone’s going to get a pass.
We need to just try our hardest to stay in a state of grace…pleasing to the Most High.
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👍
 
We all deserve that, if not worse.

Like an old buddy said, we think we deserve good coffee, but all anybody **deserves ** is to go to Hell!!!
 
Red_James said:
Anyone who dies while being in the state of mortal sin go to hell, unless they made an Act of Perfect Contrition before.

If you have venial sins on your soul and die with these venial sins before Confessing them you will go to Purgatory, or so my high school religion teachers have taught me, unless I’ve forgotten what they’ve said and I’m misquoting their lectures. The only way to avoid Purgatory would be to die in a state of no sin, where one would go to Confession, say the required Penance and then die with no sin on their soul.

Of course one does not know the hour of their death, so they cannot possibly know when they will die, so that they can go to Confession a few minutes before death. Since most people don’t know the hour of their death, I’d assume they’d have a few venial sins on their soul.
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Confession does not remit temporal punishment (Purgatory). Only Baptism does that. Confession does, however, restore grace to our souls. Pretty much, the only way to guarantee to go straight to Heaven without stopping by Purgatory first is to die immediately after Baptism through no fault of one’s own. So just about everyone that is going to Heaven makes a stop in Purgatory.

As for Hell, we really don’t know how many people are in Hell. It could be any number of people - from no one is there to everyone who hasn’t been at least beatified by the Church is there. We don’t know. But it’s our job to stay in a state of grace.
 
I like your theory. It is quite positive. Maybe the world is good after all.
 
Hopefully, Hell really **is **in Michigan, and Purgatory in Colorado.
 
One more reminder to pray daily for the souls in Purgatory . If nothing else, do unto others as you…
 
HabemusFrancis said:
I have been entertaining a theory lately, perhaps I am the only Catholic who entertains it.

My theory is that most people are ultimately saved, but most of those people spend varying degrees in purgatory.

Sadly, I do not believe in “universal salvation” or that “Hell does not exist.” I personally believe a sillier variation of this idea is that “Hell exists, but it is empty/unpopulated as of now.” I get this funny mental image of Satan tapping his cloven hoof or looking at a wristwatch in frustration :rolleyes:.

I find the latter silly because it would mean there is zero danger of anyone alive today of going to Hell. I suppose some danger would exist, but it would be statistically impossible that you’d go there.

Anyway, back to my main point. Based on what I have seen of most people, most probably will go to purgatory (instead of most being damned.) I don’t know exact numbers, but most people in my life seem to will “the good” so to speak and are sincerely sorry for their failures and shortcomings but just aren’t “there” yet.

Does anyone subscribe to my theory? It would be quite nice (ultimately) if it turns out most people aren’t bound for hell so to speak, but a duration in purgatory instead?

It just seems to me it takes a special kind of person to be damned/hellbound: a person utterly unrepentent and satisfied with their grave defects of character and choices. Almost a refusal to be sorry or desire to serve the good/make up for failures they commit.

It almost seems you have to be as mean/selfish/unremorseful as “sin” to be damned. I believe that is likely an unfortuantely high number of people… but perhaps not “most” souls?

As an afterthought… I might be a “glutton for punishment” but if purgatory is my immediate afterlife fate…I will be sad yet satisfied. I will have “won” in the long term so to speak, since heaven will be my ultimate fate and am unable to lose that fate.

As for the pains in purgatory I would suffer if I were there… I suppose I’d try to deal with them in good grace…but for now hope I can undergo my purgation in this life:blush:
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This is a perfectly tenable position, though an equally valid (and time-honoured) view is that the lost exceed the saved. My own view is somewhere between yours and theirs. 😉
 
I read all the theories of the Church Fathers who say that most are damned and that is the few that make the narrow path. I believe in a more loving Creator than many of these great writers.
I am a simple man. I see all of us born into a world with a short, almost minuscule life time in the scope of eternity. The world teaches us nothing of the supernatural. We have the most silent God seemingly reluctant to act against the most obvious evil of this world, leaving most of His creation in poverty and with an innate nature towards evil. He expects us to fight this internal temptation all our lives with increasingly difficult moral decisions to make within a sadly institutionalised immoral society. He gives us a demand for Faith against considerable reason not to have that Faith. Many of us live from wage to wage even in the affluent West, whilst we spend our resources bombing the poverty stricken Middle East and warring over eons. And then we are told most go to Hell.
Well, stuff that!! I really believes that there is a loving God. I have no idea why He is so silent, seemingly impotent in the face of our ceaseless prayers. But if we all go to Hell, I will be very very disappointed in Him. I believe He saves all who cry to him for forgiveness and fortitude. I believe he is very very reluctant to let one sheep lose itself and will search for it until the end.
 
powerofk said:
Confession does not remit temporal punishment (Purgatory). Only Baptism does that. Confession does, however, restore grace to our souls. Pretty much, the only way to guarantee to go straight to Heaven without stopping by Purgatory first is to die immediately after Baptism through no fault of one’s own. So just about everyone that is going to Heaven makes a stop in Purgatory.

As for Hell, we really don’t know how many people are in Hell. It could be any number of people - from no one is there to everyone who hasn’t been at least beatified by the Church is there. We don’t know. But it’s our job to stay in a state of grace.
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I just wanted to expand on your first paragraph: we can reduce or eliminate our time in Purgatory by accepting our sufferings and by penetential acts (prayer, fasting, alms giving). A lot of people seem to not know about this.
 
St_Francis said:
I just wanted to expand on your first paragraph: we can reduce or eliminate our time in Purgatory by accepting our sufferings and by penetential acts (prayer, fasting, alms giving). A lot of people seem to not know about this.
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I have a question. Can we reduce or eliminate time spent in Purgatory, by doing the things you mentioned, for a loved one? In my case, I would hope to be able to do what I can to reduce time spent in Purgatory, for my son who died two years and three months ago.
 
GEddie said:
We all deserve that, if not worse.

Like an old buddy said, we think we deserve good coffee, but all anybody **deserves ** is to go to Hell!!!
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Hehe that made me have a good laugh, thank U! I’ll remember that next time I have a bad coffee 🙂
 
In the old creed it use to say

" He was crucified dead and buried
He descended into Hell
On the third day he rose again …"
If this is what happened to Jesus then we can expect no less.
 
Our Lord Jesus Christ descended to what we call the Limbo of the Fathers. It was not the hell of the damned…it was a holding place where all the righteous were waiting for their redemption.
 
Jesus speaks of a narrow gate. I’m not opposed to a wider one, but I’m not sure I’d preach it based on the gospel. When we look around and see “good people” we’re thinking in human terms. I think everyone seeks to do good (pretty much), but there’s more to it than that. We need repentance of our sinful nature and to seek reconciliation with God through Christ.

If God does take so many more into heaven, then all the better. But I have a hard time reconciling that with the gospel. We’ll see, and I’ll follow the Church, as she knows so much better than me. I’ll just try to increase on my own sanctification and to spread the good news.
 
Agree with poster “chris62” on matthew 7.13. “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it.” 😦
 
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