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ukdal1
Guest
I have read and read and still dont get what they are or their purpose:shrug: …maybe I’m just stupid
Please help!!! Thanks
Please help!!! Thanks
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scylla
Guest
Here is an easy way to understand them, this is simplistic but a proof that even non-catholics have to approve of or else sin doesn’t matter.
(some do believe that sin doesn’t matter but we are Catholics so we believe it offends God and must be avoided)
Let me make some quick points to explain.
Sin matters for Catholics it will make us ashamed when our lives are shown to God as we are judged.
This means we will feel bad after we die and suffer loss.
The more good we do will lessen the amount of evil we do. We will suffer less loss.
The good we do that is done in the name of Christ is what makes us suffer less loss.
That is what indulgences do, they make us suffer less loss and further our own holiness through Christ.
Did I explain that all right?
Scylla
(some do believe that sin doesn’t matter but we are Catholics so we believe it offends God and must be avoided)
Let me make some quick points to explain.
Sin matters for Catholics it will make us ashamed when our lives are shown to God as we are judged.
This means we will feel bad after we die and suffer loss.
The more good we do will lessen the amount of evil we do. We will suffer less loss.
The good we do that is done in the name of Christ is what makes us suffer less loss.
That is what indulgences do, they make us suffer less loss and further our own holiness through Christ.
Did I explain that all right?
Scylla
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Pax
Guest
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LilyM
Guest
It doesn’t seem to be that hard to me :shrugs: I’m not saying that to boast, I have the God-given advantage of a good Catholic education.
Indulgences are a way of specifically applying the value of the prayers that you say now in order to lessen or remove whatever punishment you (or a soul already in purgatory) have to suffer in purgatory.
Or is it that you don’t have a full grasp of the concept of purgatory yet?
Indulgences are gained under certain conditions, which are specified for two reasons - 1) so that we know we’ve gained one! and 2) because the nature of what an indulgence is - a remission of punishment in purgatory - in and of itself demands certain things, such as that we be in an optimal state of grace (hence confession and communion and detachment from sin).
Indulgences are a way of specifically applying the value of the prayers that you say now in order to lessen or remove whatever punishment you (or a soul already in purgatory) have to suffer in purgatory.
Or is it that you don’t have a full grasp of the concept of purgatory yet?
Indulgences are gained under certain conditions, which are specified for two reasons - 1) so that we know we’ve gained one! and 2) because the nature of what an indulgence is - a remission of punishment in purgatory - in and of itself demands certain things, such as that we be in an optimal state of grace (hence confession and communion and detachment from sin).
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ukdal1
Guest
Thank you guys so much!!! (Great link Pax!) I think I get it now!!! So it means that all the things that we do now such as praying or reading the Holy Bible or going to Eucharistic Adoration, etc…help us in the future after our death if we have to go to purgatory, right???
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LilyM
Guest
By George I think he’s got it!
Better than that, we can use 'em to help release souls who are in purgatory NOW - that way we’ll do a really great thing and have some awfully keen intercessors in heaven on our behalf right now
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ukdal1
Guest
…But how does the Church know about what these indulgences do? I know that the Church has the authority, but how do they know what the indulgences do? I’m not doubting it, but now that I know what it means, I don’t understand that part of it Sorry 
Sorry
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LilyM
Guest
It’s one of those ‘guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth’, ‘what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven’ kinda things…But how does the Church know about what these indulgences do? I know that the Church has the authority, but how do they know what the indulgences do? I’m not doubting it, but now that I know what it means, I don’t understand that part of it
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awalt
Guest
I have heard this discussed on CA Live many times.
The Catholic Church has a “treasury of merit” which holds the possibility of mitigating some or all of a believer’s purgatorial sufferings. This treasury consists of the “over-and-above” good works that were done by Christ and unusually faithful men and women throughout history. The saints who performed works of “supererogation” (ie. more than they themselves needed to get out of purgatory and into heaven) have deposited their extra merit into this treasury.
The Pope can disburse this accumulated merit as he determines to whom he determines. An indulgence, granted by the Pope, draws on this extra merit in order to reduce the number of years which the recipient must spend in purgatory before he is released to heaven.
The treasury of merit works something like a huge bank account held in trust, with the Pope being the sole trustee. If you owe a $10,000 debt and fulfill the application process, the Pope has the authority to draw on this account and grant to you enough money to pay your debt. Thus, based on the merits of others your sins are indulged and you can escape at least some of the punishments of purgatory.
One other clarification, Lily spoke of purgatory as “punishment”, the Church does not call it that - it is a cleansing. The word Purgatory comes from the word “purgation”.
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LilyM
Guest
Purgatory isn’t a place of punishment because it probably isn’t a PLACE, not because there’s no punishment there!
Otherwise indulgences would be a ‘remission of cleansing’ not a ‘remission of PUNISHMENT due to our sins’, which is how the Church DOES describe it.
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Randy_Carson
Guest
Okay. I’ll try an analogy. I hope I am right…I have read and read and still dont get what they are or their purpose:shrug: …maybe I’m just stupid
Please help!!! Thanks
Johnny hits a baseball through the neighbor’s window. It’s a big, expensive, bay window costing hundreds of dollars. He apologizes, and the neighbor forgives him. (This is forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus.)
Although he is forgiven and his relationship with the neighbor is restored, he still has to pay for the window, and he may need to mow lawns for several weeks to earn the money. (This is temporal punishment which we must accept during this life and in purgatory.)
However, the other kids in the neighborhood who were also playing in the ball game agree to take up a collection and mow lawns to help pay for the window even though they did not actually hit the ball that broke it. (This is the Church’s treasury of merit that can be applied to each of us.)
Thus, Johnny’s debt is paid off more quickly because of the sacrifice of others.
Hope this helps (and that it’s correct!). :tiphat:
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Tomster
Guest
An indulgence is an outgrowth of the necessity of performing works of satisfaction. An indulgence is not the remission of sin nor permission to commit future sin, but the taking away by the Church of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. It is an exercise of the Church’s power to loose sins just as her imposition of penances is an exercise of her power to bind. An indulgence is the act of a merciful Mother making easier the entrance of her children into eternal bliss.I have read and read and still dont get what they are or their purpose:shrug: …maybe I’m just stupid
Please help!!! Thanks
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savedsinner
Guest
That article is in Jimmy Akin’s book salvation controversy, which is a good book to see the Catholic view of salvation compared to the Protestant view.
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Pax
Guest
The amount of time described does not refer to days, weeks, months, or years spent in purgatory. It instead refers to the time that would otherwise be spent in pennance while still on earth. The Church has not defined the time spent in purgatory or its intensity. There may or may not be duration in purgatory as we understand it.
I hope this helps.
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