Indulgances

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NolePaul2005

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My roomate posed this question…we are all Catholic in this house…Where did indulgences come from? How does the Church know how long we are going to be in purgatory? Are indulgances scriptural?
 
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NolePaul2005:
My roomate posed this question…we are all Catholic in this house…Where did indulgences come from? How does the Church know how long we are going to be in purgatory? Are indulgances scriptural?
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Here is a couple of things on indulgences, they come from the power to forgive sins and from the power of binding and loosing.

catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/0910-96/article9.html

staycatholic.com/indulgences.htm
Strictly speaking, the granting of indulgences is not the forgiving of sins. "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven" (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1471). Thus indulgences may be applied to the souls in purgatory by way of prayer. This was taught by the early Church as evidenced by Tertullian, who wrote: “We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries” (The Crown 3:3, 211 AD).

"An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus (Matthew 16:19), intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins" (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1478). The granting of indulgences is the logical extension of the Church’s ministry of forgiveness (John 20:21-23).
 
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NolePaul2005:
How does the Church know how long we are going to be in purgatory?
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I wonder about this particular aspect from two perspectives.

First is the Bible says something like to God “a thousand years is but a moment and moment a thousand years.” So who knows what state of time Purgatory even exists in?

Second is since God knew us before He made us, He also knew what prayers and indulgences we were going to offer for what people before they even died. So He can apply those to that person’s soul before we even think of doing it.

So I am thinking about not worrying about the details of how long we, or anyone else, may be in Purgatory. Just go ahead and offer your prayers, and leave the rest to God.
 
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