Is Sheol "Purgatory"

  • Thread starter Thread starter holy_wood
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

holy_wood

Guest
If there are any Jews here I would like to know if you know of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and if it conforms with your beliefs in Sheol.

Catholics and Protestants can are welcomed to comment as well and contribute an explaination.
 
holy_wood said:
If there are any Jews here I would like to know if you know of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and if it conforms with your beliefs in Sheol.

Catholics and Protestants can are welcomed to comment as well and contribute an explaination.
Click to expand...
I’m afraid that my understanding of Catholic doctrine is not sufficient to comment in any depth, instead I can offer a link to Sheol in the Jewish Encyclopedia:

jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=614&letter=S

I get the impression that Christianity has a much more ‘developed’ view of the ‘afterlife’ than we do - it isn’t an issue that Judaism tends to dwell on.
 
Kaninchen said:
I get the impression that Christianity has a much more ‘developed’ view of the ‘afterlife’ than we do - it isn’t an issue that Judaism tends to dwell on.
Click to expand...
True. In Jesus time Jewish clergy and theologians (as we’d call them today) were not in agreement that the afterlife even exists. No Christian, however, would ever have doubts about that, though (except maybe in the very beginning of Christianity, as St.Paul implies).
As a Christian I would say that just as Christians have much clearer understanding about the Messiah than Jews, Christians have also much clearer understanding about afterlife (including purgatory).
 
andzy said:
As a Christian I would say that just as Christians have much clearer understanding about the Messiah than Jews, Christians have also much clearer understanding about afterlife (including purgatory).
Click to expand...
Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you! 😛
 
Kaninchen said:
Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you! 😛
Click to expand...
Yes, of course. 🙂 But I didn’t even mean “clearer” as in “right vs. wrong”, but in the way that Christians have a more clear idea (if you wish) that after this life there’s a Purgatory (unless you’re a Protestant, of course) and Heaven or Hell. In Purgatory you get purified, in Heaven you’re truly united with God (as much as a creature can be), and in Hell you’re truly cut off from God (with whatever consequences it brings). This is clearly revealed in the New Testament.
I don’t know much about details of Judaism, but from what I’ve heard and read in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), Jews don’t have as clear of and idea of what the afterlife is (not that Christians can claim to know any specific details, either).
 
To answer the OP, no, they are not the same. Everything is this world is different since the Transfiguration. Just as Mass is Passover Transfigured, so is Purgatory Sheol Transfigured. In Sheol were the souls of all who died whether they were bound for salvation or damnation. This was because the gates of Heaven (and hell) had not yet been opened. The Messias did this when He came. Purgatory is for those who have won the crown; but, still must undergo the pruifying fires.Jesus, during the period of His death, descended to the dead and those who were bound for hell received thier judgement and were dispatched. For those bound for Heaven the gates were opened. Sheol no longer exists in the same sense that Passover no longer exists, at least not in the same way.
 
andzy said:
I don’t know much about details of Judaism, but from what I’ve heard and read in the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), Jews don’t have as clear of and idea of what the afterlife is (not that Christians can claim to know any specific details, either).
Click to expand...
As in most things Jewish, there’s a lot of ‘opinion’ (inevitably, opinion is what we do). To me, the ‘afterlife’ seems to be part of the central dynamic of Christianity which it isn’t to us - one of the chasm-differences between the two religions perhaps.
 
andzy said:
True. In Jesus time Jewish clergy and theologians (as we’d call them today) were not in agreement that the afterlife even exists. No Christian, however, would ever have doubts about that, though (except maybe in the very beginning of Christianity, as St.Paul implies).
As a Christian I would say that just as Christians have much clearer understanding about the Messiah than Jews, Christians have also much clearer understanding about afterlife (including purgatory).
Click to expand...
I’m not sure that’s correct. While there is little dogma in Judaism regarding what the afterlife consists of, it is an article of our faith that it exists. While you can generally find a sage that holds an adverse opinion to anything, I think belief in the afterlife was the norm, even in the time of Jesus.
 
Valke2 said:
I’m not sure that’s correct. While there is little dogma in Judaism regarding what the afterlife consists of, it is an article of our faith that it exists. While you can generally find a sage that holds an adverse opinion to anything, I think belief in the afterlife was the norm, even in the time of Jesus.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think “mainstream” Judaism in the 1st century (our calendar, not the Jewish one) was much stronger on the Pharisee (there is an afterlife) than the Sadducee (no afterlife because it’s mentioned only vaguely in the five books of scripture they accepted) view.
 
So if I undersand this correctly, Purgatory, is the new Sheol.

Do Jews believe in prayer for the dead or a purification after death.
 
holy_wood said:
So if I undersand this correctly, Purgatory, is the new Sheol.

Do Jews believe in prayer for the dead or a purification after death.
Click to expand...
We say a prayer called kaddish for 11 months when an immediate family member has died. It is meant to be a kind of petition to God to forgive their sins.
 
holy_wood said:
If there are any Jews here I would like to know if you know of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and if it conforms with your beliefs in Sheol.
Click to expand...
Are you asking if Jew’s beliefs need confirmation from Catholic belief?
holy_wood said:
Catholics and Protestants can are welcomed to comment as well and contribute an explaination.
Click to expand...
Oops! I’m Orthodox. I’ll bow out now. :o
 
“Mourner’s Kaddish” has to do with one’s continued influnce on earth. Basically, if a person influnced other towards good behavior while on earth, that chain of good behavior is counted towards the person who died. If he had an influnce towards evil while on earth, that evil influnce continues after he dies. The “Mourner’s Kaddish” serves the purpose of putting a positive influnce in place where there is none. But, if the evil influnce is evil enough, not even a Kaddish can overcome it.

jewishencyclopedia.com/search_results.jsp?searchType=1&pageNum=1&art_id=611&art_letter=P&search=prayer+dead&searchOpt=0
 
holy_wood said:
If there are any Jews here I would like to know if you know of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and if it conforms with your beliefs in Sheol.

Catholics and Protestants can are welcomed to comment as well and contribute an explaination.
Click to expand...
No.

Purgatory is not Sheol. Sheol and the NT Hades are the exact same thing. All the dead went down to Hades at death, not just some.

Purgatory is not Sheol or Hades.

…
 
Atemi said:
No.

Purgatory is not Sheol. Sheol and the NT Hades are the exact same thing. All the dead went down to Hades at death, not just some.

Purgatory is not Sheol or Hades.

…
Click to expand...
So Jews believe every person good or bad is still in Sheol?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top