Judgement!

[dcanderson]

I am confused about the judgement of where we go when we die! In the catichism, it says we go to Heaven, purgatory or hell immediatly, when we die! but also in the catichism, it says that when Christ returns all dead or alive will be judged! So those that have died will have to come back from Heaven , purgatory or hell, to be judged again? need help with this one.

 

[thistle]

I am confused about the judgement of where we go when we die! In the catichism, it says we go to Heaven, purgatory or hell immediatly, when we die! but also in the catichism, it says that when Christ returns all dead or alive will be judged! So those that have died will have to come back from Heaven , purgatory or hell, to be judged again? need help with this one.

When we die we immediately have the Particular Judgement which sees us saved (Heaven direct or Purgatory first) or condemned to Hell.

The Final Judgement is for both the living and the dead. Those already dead (and judged at the Particular Judgement) simply have their judgement confirmed (i.e. if you are in Hell you stay there and if you are saved you remain saved). However we are reunited with our bodies (in what form I don’t know).
For those still living at the Final Judgement they find out if they are saved or not.

 

[Fidelis]

When each of us dies, our souls are immediately taken to the presence of God and judged. This is called the Particular Judgment. At this point we begin our eternal destiny. If we are going to hell, our souls go directly there. If we are deemed worthy of heaven, our souls will go directly to heaven, or if we are going to heaven but are in need of purification, we may go to Purgatory first for a while (everyone in Purgatory will eventually go to heaven). Whatever our fate, our souls will stay there (heaven or hell) until the end of time, at which time the Second Coming will occur.

At the Second Coming at the end of time, those Christians still alive will be taken to heaven (what some Protestants think of as of the rapture). Then will occur the General Judgment. At that time the souls of the living and the dead will be reunited with their bodies and brought together in God’s presence and judged before all. Those who have already been judged in the Particular Judgment will be brought from wherever their souls were -heaven, hell or Purgatory-- and have their judgment confirmed before all, so that both the justice and mercy of God will be manifest to all.

After this, time and Purgatory will be no more and all will enter with their souls and bodies into their eternal destiny, either hell or heaven.

This is an extremely bare-bones sketch, so if you want to get the details, see the five articles I linked below:

rosary-center.org/ll57n1.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n2.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n3.htm
rosary-center.org/ll57n4.htm
rosary-center.org/ll49n6.htm

 

[drafdog]

When you die, you enter a state which is without time. Thus from that side all judgments appear to happen at once - a “final” judgment. From this side of death each of us appears to be judged at the moment of death - a particular judgment. Thus there is only an appearance of two judgments due to the perspective of the viewer.
As a comparison the Jews believe in the Messiah who suffers and then triumphs over temporal powers. The prophecies of the old testament give us both a suffering servant and a triumphant temporal ruler, but the Christ event shows us only the crucified Christ. The dichotomy cannot be resolved without the perspective of Christianity which looks to a second coming to give us a triumphant ruler Messiah.

Matthew