Purgatory

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denwiles

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OK I Believe in pugatory, but does anyone actually knows what takes place there? Some make it sound as a place of peace and well others make it sound kida of scary. Personally I have allways been afraid of the thought of it. I was hoping to go straight to Heaven LOL!!!
 
Congratulations!!!

You’ve won an
EXTREME MAKEOVER!!!”

And the winners are overcome with joy, with tears and much gladness! Such is the popular TV show most of us are familiar with. The winners are chosen from those who cannot afford the luxuries that modern medicine can offer them.

A plastic surgeon cuts and slices the face, liposuction is done, chin implants, nose jobs, various other implants, followed by weeks of painful recovery.

Lasers are fired into the eyeballs to get rid of unwanted eyeglasses. Fitness trainers shape muscles with all manner of physical exercises, plus rigid diets for weight loss.

Dental surgery is done, teeth may be pulled, jaw bones re-shaped.

The nation’s top celebrity hair stylists and wardrobe designers do the finishing touch sparing no expense, and then…

The prizewinners are escorted by limousine, all done and beautiful. The family and friends await the grand entrance with much anticipation. With shock and awe, the transformed contestant is embraced by all the loved ones, with tears of joy, and much exaltation.

That’s my take on purgatory. It’s a prize from a loving Father, not a torture chamber from a mean, angry god.
 
kepha1 said:
Congratulations!!!

You’ve won an
EXTREME MAKEOVER!!!”

And the winners are overcome with joy, with tears and much gladness! Such is the popular TV show most of us are familiar with. The winners are chosen from those who cannot afford the luxuries that modern medicine can offer them.

A plastic surgeon cuts and slices the face, liposuction is done, chin implants, nose jobs, various other implants, followed by weeks of painful recovery.

Lasers are fired into the eyeballs to get rid of unwanted eyeglasses. Fitness trainers shape muscles with all manner of physical exercises, plus rigid diets for weight loss.

Dental surgery is done, teeth may be pulled, jaw bones re-shaped.

The nation’s top celebrity hair stylists and wardrobe designers do the finishing touch sparing no expense, and then…

The prizewinners are escorted by limousine, all done and beautiful. The family and friends await the grand entrance with much anticipation. With shock and awe, the transformed contestant is embraced by all the loved ones, with tears of joy, and much exaltation.

That’s my take on purgatory. It’s a prize from a loving Father, not a torture chamber from a mean, angry god.
Click to expand...
LOL!!! 😃

I love your dramatic take on this! Definitely not how I would have pictured Purgatory before…
 
I was with the OP until I read the “Extreme Makeover: Purgatory” analogy. Tha will be my new view! Thanks!
 
denwiles said:
OK I Believe in pugatory, but does anyone actually knows what takes place there? Some make it sound as a place of peace and well others make it sound kida of scary. Personally I have allways been afraid of the thought of it. I was hoping to go straight to Heaven LOL!!!
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Great post, kepha1.

He’s actually not that far off.

In purgatory, you are cleansed of the aftereffects of, or any remaining inclinations to sinful desires from your life. You’re going to heaven, definitely, but it’s like being on the front porch, all muddy from playing outside, while God’s attendants take a water hose to you to remove every single bit of mud from everything.

Karl Keating, on CAL, summed it up nicely for me. Purgatory is like being a child that spilled a glass of milk. We say, “I’m sorry” to the parent, and the parent forgives us. But **someone **has to clean up the mess left behind. 🙂

I do believe that the process of purgatory is not totally pleasant. Things worthwhile seldom are.

ScriptureCatholic has some Scriptural references (particularly the famous 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Maccabees 12 verses that form our doctrine) in case you need them.
 
I too like kepha’s response. Very interesting.
For a biblical reference one might consider what St Paul wrote:
I Corinthians 3:10-15 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—13 **each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. **

Basically my take on it is this.
Christ calls us not just to “believe” and “Have faith” but to be “perfect as our Heavenely Father is perfect”. Strive as we might, Even with God’s abundant grace, most of us will not achieve this Godly level of perfection in before death. Therefore, at death, knowing we are unworthy, we reach out to God’s mercy and He, In His Love, completes in us that perfection that was not achieved during our sojourn on earth.

Peace
James
 
denwiles said:
OK I Believe in purgatory, but does anyone actually knows what takes place there? Some make it sound as a place of peace and well others make it sound kinda of scary. Personally I have always been afraid of the thought of it. I was hoping to go straight to Heaven LOL!!!
Click to expand...
I think of it in much the way as Isaiah experienced his purgation.
Isaiah 6 Verses 1 to 8


  1. *]1] In the year that King Uzzi’ah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
    2] Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
    3] And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”
    4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
    5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
    6] Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
    7] And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
    8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
 
I cant remember who the Priest was, but he was giving a talk on purgatory, and his take what that we will be so ashamed at the ugliness of the effects of our sins when we are before God at our judgement that we want to be purged of all last effects so it is a pain that we desire. I would liken it to exercise, people are so discontent with their state of unhealthiness that they willing put their bodies through the stress of rigorous exercise in order to be healthy.
 
Church_Militant said:
I think of it in much the way as Isaiah experienced his purgation.
Isaiah 6 Verses 1 to 8


  1. *]1] In the year that King Uzzi’ah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
    2] Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
    3] And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”
    4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
    5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
    6] Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
    7] And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
    8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Click to expand...

  1. TY Bro for the scripure helps alot!!!
 
kepha1 said:
Congratulations!!!

You’ve won an
EXTREME MAKEOVER!!!”

And the winners are overcome with joy, with tears and much gladness! Such is the popular TV show most of us are familiar with. The winners are chosen from those who cannot afford the luxuries that modern medicine can offer them.

A plastic surgeon cuts and slices the face, liposuction is done, chin implants, nose jobs, various other implants, followed by weeks of painful recovery.

Lasers are fired into the eyeballs to get rid of unwanted eyeglasses. Fitness trainers shape muscles with all manner of physical exercises, plus rigid diets for weight loss.

Dental surgery is done, teeth may be pulled, jaw bones re-shaped.

The nation’s top celebrity hair stylists and wardrobe designers do the finishing touch sparing no expense, and then…

The prizewinners are escorted by limousine, all done and beautiful. The family and friends await the grand entrance with much anticipation. With shock and awe, the transformed contestant is embraced by all the loved ones, with tears of joy, and much exaltation.

That’s my take on purgatory. It’s a prize from a loving Father, not a torture chamber from a mean, angry god.
Click to expand...
Very Interesting, pratical, and infomative way of stating it. Thank you for the post, helps alot. God Bless
 
Spencerian said:
Great post, kepha1.

He’s actually not that far off.

In purgatory, you are cleansed of the aftereffects of, or any remaining inclinations to sinful desires from your life. You’re going to heaven, definitely, but it’s like being on the front porch, all muddy from playing outside, while God’s attendants take a water hose to you to remove every single bit of mud from everything.

Karl Keating, on CAL, summed it up nicely for me. Purgatory is like being a child that spilled a glass of milk. We say, “I’m sorry” to the parent, and the parent forgives us. But **someone **has to clean up the mess left behind. 🙂

I do believe that the process of purgatory is not totally pleasant. Things worthwhile seldom are.

ScriptureCatholic has some Scriptural references (particularly the famous 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Maccabees 12 verses that form our doctrine) in case you need them.
Click to expand...
Awesome ty!!!
 
Purgatory is a place of purification. If one dies in the friendship of God but yet isnt ready to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, their soul is sent to purgatory. In purgatory it said that those their suffer. BUT REMEMBER: IT IS ONLY TEMPORARY.
When Our Lord appeared to St. Gertrude the Great, Our Lord tells Gertrude that he longs for someone to ask Him to release souls from purgatory, just as a king who imprisons a friend for justice’s sake hopes that someone will beg for mercy for his friend. Jesus ends with:
Code: 
"I accept with highest pleasure what is offered to Me for the poor souls, for I long inexpressibly to have near Me those for whom I paid so great a price. By the prayers of thy loving soul, I am induced to free a prisoner from purgatory as often as thou dost move thy tongue to utter a word of prayer."
In another vision she was given the Prayer which Our Lord told her would release 1000 Souls from Purgatory every time it is said with love and devotion. “Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus Christ, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, those in the Universal Church, in my home, and in my family.”
 
=denwiles;6528202]OK I Believe in pugatory, but does anyone actually knows what takes place there? Some make it sound as a place of peace and well others make it sound kida of scary. Personally I have allways been afraid of the thought of it. I was hoping to go straight to Heaven LOL!!!
Click to expand...
CCC# 1031 "The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come."

**CCC # 1472 **"To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain. "

PURGATORY from Father Hardons Catholic Dictionary
“The place or condition in which the souls of the just are purified after death and before they can enter heaven. They may be purified of the guilt of their venial sins, as in this life, by an act of contrition deriving from charity and performed with the help of grace. This sorrow does not, however, affect the punishment for sins, because in the next world there is no longer any possibility of merit. The souls are certainly purified by atoning for the temporal punishments due to sin by their willing acceptance of suffering imposed by God. The sufferings in purgatory are not the same for all, but proportioned to each person’s degree of sinfulness. Moreover, these sufferings can be lessened in duration and intensity through the prayers and good works of the faithful on earth. Nor are the pains incompatible with great peace and joy, since the poor souls deeply love God and are sure they will reach heaven. As members of the Church Suffering, the souls in purgatory can intercede for the persons on earth, who are therefore encouraged to invoke their aid. Purgatory will not continue after the general judgment, but its duration for any particular souls continues until it is free from all guilt and punishment. Immediately on purification the soul is assumed into heaven. (Etym. Latin purgatio, cleansing, purifying.)”
 
Greetings!

You can also check out The Doctrine of Purgatory by St. Francis de Sales (Doctor of the Church):

“We agree that the blood of Our Redeemer is the true purgatory of souls; for in it are cleansed all the souls in the world …] [H]ere we take Purgatory for a place in which after this life the souls which leave this world before they have been perfectly cleansed from the stains which they have contracted since nothing can enter Paradise which is not pure and undefiled-are detained in order to be washed and purified. And if one would know why this place is called simply Purgatory …] it is because in that place nothing takes place but the purgation of the stains which remain at the time of departure out of this world …]; whence the name of Purgatory has been limited to that place in the other world which, properly speaking, is for no purpose but the purification of souls. And agreeing as to the blood of Our Lord, we so fully acknowledge the virtue thereof, that we protest by all our prayers that the purgation of souls, whether in this world or in the other, is made solely by its application:─more jealous of the honour due to this precious medicine than those who so highly value it that they undervalue the using of it. Therefore by Purgatory we understand a place where souls for a time are purged of the spots and imperfections they carry with them from this mortal life.”

If you’d like to get into more of the details of the 1 Corinthians passage, you can listen to Tim Staples vs. James White - 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and the Doctrine of Purgatory.

You’ll want to allow a minute for the download. Thanks to Alpha & Omega Ministries for hosting this debate.

My responses to this debate, collected into a single post, can be found here.

I hope you have a blessed day!

With the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pete
 
From St. Faustina’s Diary No. 20 (The Vision of Purgatory)
“One day I asked the Lord, “Lord who else should I pray for?” Jesus said that on the following night He would let me know for whom I should always pray.
The following night I saw my Guardian Angel who asked me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail,for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea”. She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave.We went out of the prison of suffering (I heard an interior voice) which said MY MERCY DOES NOT WANT THIS BUT JUSTICE DEMANDS IT. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls.”
St. Faustina Pray for us
 
“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:8
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” Heb 9:27
"By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” 2 Cor 13:1

After 25+ years, I am still trying to find this concept in the Bible, specifically in the New Testament. Purgatory does not seem to be Biblical.
 
hotdjdave said:
“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:8
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” Heb 9:27
"By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” 2 Cor 13:1

After 25+ years, I am still trying to find this concept in the Bible, specifically in the New Testament. Purgatory does not seem to be Biblical.
Click to expand...
Hi.

This is a common question. Like the word “Trinity,” the word “purgatory” isn’t to be found in Scripture but its concepts are seen in both Old and New Testaments.

This web site shows over 15 specific instances in Scripture regarding purgatory, that shows that there is a cleaning that the righteous dead must endure before entering into the kingdom of God. The strongest support is found with St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:15.

Catholic.com also has a summary which may be helpful.

Note that some references aren’t to be found in a Bible you likely have because long ago, one man, a dissenting Catholic priest, took it upon himself to declare that seven books of the Bible were not inspired–a book that had changed not a bit for at least 900 years prior. These books were eventually not found in King James Version-based books. That version is likely what you have, and it is sadly incomplete.

You should ask yourself, to charitably counter your questions on purgatory, “Where in the Bible does it say that *everything *about being a Christian has to be in the Bible?” 🙂
 
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