Questioning the Need for Purgatory

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burn baby burn. The worst Christians will be tortured the worst. Saved as through fire. Jim Morrison was right. Comon baby and light my fire.
 
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Tom:
Why do we go thru mental gymnastic trying to justify something that exists? Purgatory exists because God created it. We don’t need to justify it. There are ample Scriptural references to the “purging” although the word “purgatory” does not exist in Scripture, it’s simply a man made term to express an actual condition which God has created.
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However, unlike the teaching on hell where scriptural references are far more explicit and numerous, and thus there is hardly any dispute about its existence, the existence of purgatory on the other hand tends to be far more contentious, despite the scriptural passages that alludes to or points to its existence, simply because the term itself is not found in scripture. Thus we justify and defend the teaching not really for the sake of Catholics, who already accept it, but for Protestants and other non-Catholics who don’t.

Gerry 🙂
 
If anything is needed besides the sufferings and sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross then I’m all for it. I’m certain I need purification, wherever it comes from, the sooner the better.
 
C.S. Lewis, the great Protestant writer says:

Of course I pray for the dead. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him? I believe in purgatory. Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist’s chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn, a voice will say, ‘Rinse your mouth out with this.’ This will be purgatory.
(Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107-109)
 
Although techinically a protestant, Lewis was an Anglican with theology very akin to Catholic theology. So I’m not sure why you say “the Great Protestant” as though he embodies protestant theology.

-Mike
 
Mike Veronie:
Although techinically a protestant, Lewis was an Anglican with theology very akin to Catholic theology. So I’m not sure why you say “the Great Protestant” as though he embodies protestant theology.

-Mike
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The way I understood this remark was that Lewis was great and he was a Protestant. The first point is arguable, while the second is not.

As far as his (or any Protestant’s) remarks embodying Protestantism, it is impossible as there is little coherency in Protestantism to embody. For every Protestant that holds X there is another that holds Y, and they both have the Bible to back them up-- each can say “I’m right and you are wrong” and there is no standard outside the Bible to which they can both refer to settle the matter. Thus, as the Buffalo Springfield once sang, “Nobody’s right, if everybody’s wrong.”
 
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Juxtaposer:
Purgatory is for sanctification and punishment, correct? Since Christ died for us, why do we need to be punished?
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Sorry for jumping late into the conversation, I just wanted to through in my answer to the original question:

Justice!
 
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rarndt01:
There is not one church father who quotes the apostles as speaking of purgatory. Not one. Paul said, speaking as a Christian, that to be absent from the body IS to be present with the Lord. Further he said, that all believers were NOW citizens of heaven. For he said our citizenship is IN heaven.
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Paul never said that. You state an untruth about what is written in New Testament scripture, whether intentionally or out of ignorance. It is a popular misconception, however. What Paul actually said was “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” If I said that I would prefer to be absent from the United States, and to be present in Germany; would you take that to mean that to be absent from the United States IS to be present in Germany? Of course not.
 
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