beachieca:
I’ve posted on here before, and I have another question. I’ve recently had the reason to question my faith and some of the beliefs we have as Catholics. Something that I need clarification on is this: Why is it that years and years after the Bible, the Catholic Church defined the existence of Purgatory in the Decree of Union drawn up at the Council af Florence in 1439, and again at the Council of Trent? If it is something that is true and something that is so important, that Jesus wants us to know, why did it not happen until 1439? I know that the Catholic Church does not “make things up” so-to-speak, and that whatever we believe there is back up for. But on this, i’m confused. I’m also aware that there are things non-Catholics think Catholics believe, but sometimes they are mis-informed of our faith…but I don’t think this is a piece of mis-information. Any help on this would be GREATLY appreciated.
**This verse clearly says that everything is NOT in the Bible, and that understanding and discernment by the Church will increase over time. **
John 16:12-13, "Many things yet I have to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. BUT WHEN HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, HAS COME HE WILL TEACH YOU ALL THE TRUTH. FOR HE WILL NOT SPEAK ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY, BUT WHATEVER HE WILL HEAR HE WILL SPEAK, AND THE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME HE WILL DECLARE TO YOU."
The following is from an encyclopedia of religious knowledge by Philip Schaff a Bibical Historical scholar whom is not a Catholic.
“PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: Existence among the Jews in the second century before Christ is proved by II Mace. xii. 43-45, in which passage it is stated that not only prayer but sacrifice for the dead was offered by Judas, and the manner of statement shows that the deed was not unusual and was reckoned praiseworthy.
There can be little question that from Judaism the practise passed over to the Christian Church. Attempts have been made to justify the custom by reference to the teaching of Jesus in such passages as Matt. xii. 32, but such inferences are regarded as strained. A more secure scriptural basis is afforded by the famous passage I Pet. iii. 19-20, cf. iv. 6, which is, however, sometimes brought into a forced connection with Zach. ix. 11. Combined with the vogue given by Jewish custom and the affection and hope which reached beyond the grave, this passage gave sanction to the practise in the early Christian Church. Tertullian is the earliest Christian writer who makes reference to prayers for the dead as customary (De exhortatione castitatis, xi.; De anima, Iviii.; De monogamia, x.; De corona, iii.; Eng. transls. in ANF, vols. iii. iv.). Similar testimony is given by Amobius (Adv. gentes, iv. 36), Cyprian (Ep. i. of Oxford ed., 1xv. in ANF, v. 367), Cyril of Jerusalem (Mystagogikai catecheseis, v. ? 7), Augustine (“City of God,” xxi. 13; De cura pro mortuis, i. and iv.), Chrysostom (Commentary on Phil., hom. 3), Dionysius the Areopagite (Hierarchia ecclesiastics, last chap.), and Apostolic Constitutions, VIII., ii. 12, iv. 41 (where the liturgical form is given). By some of these Fathers the custom was regarded as of apostolic institution. That the practise was strengthened by the idea of the solidarity of the Church as including the living and the dead is not unlikely, and a lingering influence of the classical Hades (q.v.) as a sort of middle state may have had its influence. The general practise of the early Church is further evinced by mortuary inscriptions in the earliest Catacombs. In view of all this it is not surprising that the prayer for the dead entered the liturgies, appearing in those of St. Mark, St. James, the Nestorian, Ambrosian, and Gregorian, and the Gallican. The development of the doctrine of Purgatory (q.v.), which in order of time followed the custom, fixed more firmly, if possible, the custom, and there developed in the West the Office (or Mass) for the Dead and the Missa de sanctis, The offering of these prayers was from the earliest times particularly connected with the Eucharist. At the Reformation the practise fell into disrepute among Protestants, largely on the initiative of Calvin, and practically the entire Protestant Church rejects the custom. The Book of Common Prayer retains traces of the practise, which has not been expressly prohibited in the Anglican Church, and is indeed followed in certain parts.”
