Purgatory and Protestants

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Nelka

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I was having a debate at work when purgatory came up.

As usual they asked where in the bible, I first mentioned Maccabees however as protestants they do not have this book and they said the old testament was no longer needed.

I mentioned Jesus saying you will be in prison until the last penny has been paid but they didn’t understand.

They believe that because they believe in Jesus they are saved regardless of how they live their lives now.

Please could you help, I looked at many threads about this but so many had dead links.

Thanks.
 
First off Protestants have a faulty belief system in private judgment. There is no huerarchy to lead them. Even if there were protestantism is based on private judgment so the superiors words might not even be taken seriously.
 
We have a saying here in the south: You can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink.

All you can do is lovingly give them the truth of the Catholic church and not get into a hair pulling contest.
 
Nelka said:
I was having a debate at work when purgatory came up.

As usual they asked where in the bible, I first mentioned Maccabees however as protestants they do not have this book and they said the old testament was no longer needed.

I mentioned Jesus saying you will be in prison until the last penny has been paid but they didn’t understand.

They believe that because they believe in Jesus they are saved regardless of how they live their lives now.

Please could you help, I looked at many threads about this but so many had dead links.

Thanks.
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You do not have to believe in Purgatory to end up there. That is why we pray for all the souls in Purgatory, not just all Catholic souls.
 
Nelka said:
I was having a debate at work when purgatory came up.

As usual they asked where in the bible, I first mentioned Maccabees however as protestants they do not have this book and they said the old testament was no longer needed.

I mentioned Jesus saying you will be in prison until the last penny has been paid but they didn’t understand.

They believe that because they believe in Jesus they are saved regardless of how they live their lives now.

Please could you help, I looked at many threads about this but so many had dead links.

Thanks.
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Check out this blog post I wrote in response to a Protestant blog denying purgatory. Hope it helps.

CS Lewis Believed in Purgatory. Rightly So. findingthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/2013/02/cs-lewis-believed-in-purgatory-rightly.html?m=1

Part 2. What about Temporal Punishment? findingthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/2013/03/purgatory-part-2-what-about-temporal.html?m=1
 
really it don’t make sense if it does not existed. you do bad stuff, you need to repay it, either in this life or in the other.

or just by saying sorry at the end of your life, would cover all the evil stuff you did over 80 years?
 
DMC12 said:
really it don’t make sense if it does not existed. you do bad stuff, you need to repay it, either in this life or in the other.

or just by saying sorry at the end of your life, would cover all the evil stuff you did over 80 years?
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They don’t even say that.

They say if you pray the magical incantation called the sinners prayer, that you have a get out of hell free card. Aka license to sin.

Once you have that card, you can do whatever you want with your life.
 
Jon_S said:
They don’t even say that.

They say if you pray the magical incantation called the sinners prayer, that you have a get out of hell free card. Aka license to sin.

Once you have that card, you can do whatever you want with your life.
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We all know that is wrong. Any Bible reading person knows that Jesus said we must keep the commandments!
 
KrazyKat said:
You do not have to believe in Purgatory to end up there. That is why we pray for all the souls in Purgatory, not just all Catholic souls.
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Excellent thought. I will have to remember that for future use. The OP has posted very good questions about this important topic.
 
KrazyKat said:
We all know that is wrong. Any Bible reading person knows that Jesus said we must keep the commandments!
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Yes and most evangelical types would agree. They don’t teach from the pulpit, but it comes out from time to time. Funerals being one.

But it’s more of a logical conclusion of the people after hearing all the once saved always saved preaching.
 
Jon_S said:
They don’t even say that.

They say if you pray the magical incantation called the sinners prayer, that you have a get out of hell free card. Aka license to sin.

Once you have that card, you can do whatever you want with your life.
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Who is ‘they’ again? Just trying to follow!
 
cheezey said:
Who is ‘they’ again? Just trying to follow!
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My sister-in-law said the Jesus saving prayer from a TV Evangelist, was not baptized and was sure she was going to heaven. She died last year in this belief.
 
This is a tract from Catholic Answers about Purgatory. You may find it helpful.

catholic.com/tracts/purgatory

For the record, I’ll tell of my experience regarding my old Protestant pastor, a very wise, prophetic if sometimes discouraging man.

Not long before he died, he said to me in his office “I sometimes wonder if Protestants get into heaven.” Not exactly what you expect a Protestant pastor to say.

I won’t go into his arguments, but after he died, I had a brief vision where he “appeared” and simply said “We’re not in heaven. We’re all in Purgatory. Oh, we’re not suffering any pain, so you don’t have to worry about that. In fact it’s pretty good around here.” (and here he looked somewhat impressed).

But then he repeated, “But we’re not in heaven”. Then he just disappeared.

As far as I’m concerned, Purgatory is more about character cleansing. I had the experience of my own father appearing in my room the night he died. I’ve never forgotten the hideous scream just before he disappeared again. I think he’s in Hell.

But suppose he’d made a death bed confession, and been absolved of his sins by a priest. God would have been obliged to forgive him by His own promise. But he would still have been the same man he was before he died ie. deliberately cruel, bad tempered and vindictive, and stupid. In fact, one of things he said during the exchange before he disappeared again was “I can’t believe how cruel and stupid I’ve been!!”

Since he’d done absolutely nothing to clean up his character before he died, he’d have had to do something after he died, “as one escaping through the fire”.

NOTHING but perfection gets into heaven.

Hebrews 12:22-24
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, **and to the spirits of just men made perfect, **and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel. "
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Bob_Crowley said:
This is a tract from Catholic Answers about Purgatory. You may find it helpful.

catholic.com/tracts/purgatory

For the record, I’ll tell of my experience regarding my old Protestant pastor, a very wise, prophetic if sometimes discouraging man.

Not long before he died, he said to me in his office “I sometimes wonder if Protestants get into heaven.” Not exactly what you expect a Protestant pastor to say.

I won’t go into his arguments, but after he died, I had a brief vision where he “appeared” and simply said “We’re not in heaven. We’re all in Purgatory. Oh, we’re not suffering any pain, so you don’t have to worry about that. In fact it’s pretty good around here.” (and here he looked somewhat impressed).

But then he repeated, “But we’re not in heaven”. Then he just disappeared.

As far as I’m concerned, Purgatory is more about character cleansing. I had the experience of my own father appearing in my room the night he died. I’ve never forgotten the hideous scream just before he disappeared again. I think he’s in Hell.

But suppose he’d made a death bed confession, and been absolved of his sins by a priest. God would have been obliged to forgive him by His own promise. But he would still have been the same man he was before he died ie. deliberately cruel, bad tempered and vindictive, and stupid. In fact, one of things he said during the exchange before he disappeared again was “I can’t believe how cruel and stupid I’ve been!!”

Since he’d done absolutely nothing to clean up his character before he died, he’d have had to do something after he died, “as one escaping through the fire”.

NOTHING but perfection gets into heaven.

Hebrews 12:22-24
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Thank you so much for sharing that info, Bob. Pretty interesting and amazing about the Protestant pastor experience. Wow. This entire thread is fascinating.
I’m very sorry to read about your Dad and what he and you went through - and the day he passed away. I do find it encouraging, though, that he said he couldn’t believe how cruel and stupid he had been before he died. Seems like Purgatory would be a very logical place for him to continue further on that thought and how it had affected others in his life – and toward his eventual full repentance, hopefully, and cleansing to perfection before complete peace in Heaven.
God’s blessings always, and I’m saying a prayer right now for his soul.
 
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