M
mercygate
Guest
I have been rightly taken to task off list for my posts 33 and 34 on this thread. I thank my fellow forum member for the correction and apologize to John Mazar.
That is an example of an assertion, IMHO.Oh dear. The idea that Purgatory detracts for the once for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross is a common misconception.
Your scenario does not essentially contradict the position of the Church, which has never magisterially defined the circumstances of Purgatory despite the picturesque descriptions that have come down to us.It is a matter of* faith*, mercygate. If you accept
infallibility, fine. Once that is accepted, “the Church
says” [and she cant’ be wrong, because she’s
infallible] becomes a circular argument.
Purgatory may or may not exist.
. . . .
I’ll “speculate” for a moment:
What if, at death, Christ let’s each of us see,
in a nano-second, the effects on others, of our
actions or inaction?
Really let’s us see and* experience* the pain,
caused to another, by our hurtful words, our irresponsibility,
the moments we failed to care for another who
*needed *care? Our pride, our arrogance, and the
pain that caused others?
What if that were the “cleansing”? What if that
nano-second caused us to realize, fully, what He has done
for each of us? Taken the burden of our sin on
Himself.
No beloved relative, “pining” in "purgatory.
Love, mercy, forgiveness…and heaven…all in a nano-second.
The harrowing caused, by seeing the effects of our
sins on others, would be a gift from Christ, in a
spiritual sense.
No question of Christ’s work not being sufficient,
in this “speculation.”
If one accepts infallibility, one can then accept the definition
of purgatory.
It is a matter of faith, to accept one scenario over another.
reen12
You know, you’re right!So even the nanosecond you propose may be “too much time.”
An excellent point, I think.Your scenario does not essentially contradict the position of the Church, which has never magisterially defined the circumstances of Purgatory despite the picturesque descriptions that have come down to us.
To save this from the realm of assertion, it would,Purgatory is really the antechamber of Heaven…
It’s taken me 59 years to recover from them!Took me 40 years to come to terms with the usual suspects of Catholic Dogma.
Well, John, you are proof that education and wisdom are not the same thing. I have a pretty good education myself (B.A. and M.A. in psychology and a J.D. in law). So I think pretty analytically but I don’t agree at all with your positions - including the one on purgatory.I am a Catholic and I do not believe all Catholic doctrine and one of the doctrines that I have dispensed with is Purgatory because I am a college graduate who thinks logically and analytically. And thus I am able to ascertain which doctrines are logical and should be adhered to and which doctrines are illogical and should be dispensed with.
Any Catholic who is a college graduate and who thinks logically and analytically should do what I do and ascertain for themselves which doctrines are logical and should be adhered to and which doctrines are illogical and should be dispensed with. Only someone who is not well educated would follow the illogical doctrines.
I don’t see that argument as circular. It is of faith, however.It is a matter of* faith*, mercygate. If you accept
infallibility, fine. Once that is accepted, “the Church
says” [and she cant’ be wrong, because she’s
infallible] becomes a circular argument.
Purgatory
From: “Purgatory” by James Akin
ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/PURGATOR.htm
I’ve dialogued with many Protestants who also teach that when we die, we undergo a final process which makes us holy, worthy of God’s presence. Of course, you won’t often hear “purgatory” or “purgation” in their discussion, however, this is the same concept. Why do Protestant, Catholics, and Orthodox believe that such a process takes place? This teaching is implied by Sacred scripture.A fundamental truth of the Christian faith is that we will not be sinning in heaven. Sin and final glorification are incompatible. Therefore between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven we must be made pure. Between death and glory there is a purification.
It is God’s desire that we be perfected in Christ
Mt 5:48 -be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect
Without holiness, we cannot see God
Heb 12:14- strive for that holiness w/o which cannot see God
Even unto death, we may fall short from that holiness
Jam 3:2 -we all fall short in many respects
Nothing unholy will enter heaven
Rev 21:27 -nothing unclean shall enter heaven
The wages of sin is death, however, not all sins are deadly
1 Jn 5:16-17- degrees of sins distinguished
Jam 1:14-15- when sin reaches maturity gives birth to death
Even after sins are forgiven, temporal punishment remains
2 Sam 12:13-14- David, though forgiven, still punished for sin
Mt 5:26 -you will not be released until paid last penny
Mt 12:36- account for every idle word on judgment day
Not all sins are forgiven
Mt 12:32 -sin against Holy Spirit unforgiven in this age or next
Pain of purgation implied by Paul
1 Cor 3:15 -suffer loss, but saved as through fire
Praying for the dead an ancient Jewish teaching
2 Macc 12:44-46 -atoned for dead to free them from sin
Akin further explains …
I believe that when we die, all of our sins from our life will be made known to us, all the forgotten sins, all the opportunities to love passed by, as well as the further “ripple effect” our sins had on the lives of others. I believe this realization will be a painful process of coming to understand the mistakes of our lives. It is the pain of this process which I believe to be the pain of purgatory.The doctrine of purgatory, or the final purification, has been part of the true faith since before the time of Christ. The Jews already believed it before the coming of the Messiah, as revealed in the Old Testament (2 Macc. 12:41-46) as well as other pre-Christian Jewish works, such as one which records that Adam will be in mourning “until the day of dispensing punishment in the last years, when I will turn his sorrow into joy” (The Life of Adam and Eve 46-7). Orthodox Jews to this day believe in the final purification, and for eleven months after the death of a loved one they pray a prayer called the Mourner’s Qaddish for their loved one’s purification. Jews, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox have always historically proclaimed the reality of the final purification. It was not until the Protestant Reformers came in the 1500s that anyone denied this doctrine. As the following quotes from the early Church Fathers show, purgatory has been part of the Christian faith from the very beginning.
Some imagine that the Catholic Church has an elaborate doctrine of purgatory worked out, but basically there are only three things that are essential components of the doctrine: (1) that a purification after death exists, (2) that it involves some kind of pain, and (3) that the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings of the living to God. Other ideas, such that purgatory is a particular “place” in the afterlife or that it takes time to accomplish, are speculations rather than doctrines.
I also believe that God blesses some for the faithfulness of others. If this is so, then praying for those that have died is a holy practice which may bring God’s blessing upon those loved ones who have passed away, if that be God’s will.
(theologyreview.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1294&postcount=3)
The Apostles died, Dave. The Church calls itWhere’s the circle? It seems like a straight line to me, called apostolic succession.![]()
And both, together, are better, still.Logic is a wonderful characteristic. But integrity is much better
Reen,An assertion, to those
outside the RCC. It is a matter of faith.
Yes, and even Protestants call it apostolic succession.The Apostles died, Dave. The Church calls it
Apostolic Succession.
This claim was no different than that found in 1st century documents, such as that of AD 80, written by Clement of Rome a contemporary of the apostles:We hold, with the Church in all ages, that, when our LORD, after His resurrection, breathed on His Apostles, and said, “Receive ye the HOLY GHOST,—as My FATHER hath sent Me, {2} so send I you;” He gave them the power of sending others with a divine commission, who in like manner should have the power of sending others, and so on even unto the end; and that our LORD promised His continual assistance to these successors of the Apostles in this and all other respects, when He said, “Lo, I am with you,” (that is, with you, and those who shall represent and succeed you,) “always, even unto the end of the world.”
And, if it is plain that the Apostles left successors after them, it is equally plain that the Bishops are these Successors. For it is only the Bishops who have ever been called by the title of Successors; and there has been actually a perpetual succession of these Bishops in the Church, who alone were always esteemed to have the power of sending other Ministers to preach and administer the Sacraments." (John Henry Newman, “On Apostolic Succession in the English Church”, tract 15, *Tracts for the Times, *Vol I, 1833-1834)
“Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry” (*Letter to the Corinthians *42:4–5, 44:1–3 [A.D. 80]).
If one uses the same principles historians use to ponder the evidence left by our ancestors, then even one without faith ought to reasonably conclude that the Catholic Church (and that of Orthodoxy) have a direct historical succession from the apostles. The evidence of history speaks for itself. Now they may not like that conclusion, but the conclusion itself is compelling, given the evidence before us.
You’re right on this, Dave.quote: itsjustdave
That conclusion doesn’t require faith to believe, but it does require good sense.
I agree that many within the Church hierarchy, even popes, lost their sensus fidei. But from my view, the true Reformation was internal, and the true Reformers were such saints as Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Sienna, and Ignatius of Loyola, who continue to hold as had been in all ages that the Bishop of Rome presides. They implemented the reformation without rejecting Heb 13:17 (like Luther), which was in essence the sin of Korah’s rebellion (cf. Num 16, Jude 11).What required additional good sense, was the realization
that those successors had lost touch, in large part,
with the Original Event, and message - with the glorious
exeption of the Mass, as sacrifice.
That realization was called The Reformation.
If you means scattered throughout the catholic world, universally, then of course it is. Yet it is full of both wheat and tares, just as it has been from the very start. It seems your disappointment is in God’s will to allow tares to make the Church appear as though it has fallen away. Yet, God always planned it that way. He places lampstands by his Church and only he can remove them. In Catholic (and Orthodox) theology, the true particular Church is present wherever the true Eucharist is celebrated. Yet the true universal Church is that which holds fast to the chair of Peter.The flock is scattered.
As a convert, I must ask how you are using “leaven” here.originally posted by reen 12
I keep maintaing that it is the converts, and those
who are returning to the faith, who will be the
leaven.
This stubborn insistence brought to my mind what the Lord Himself insisted upon:There was much confusion in the newness that appeared; some insisted that the old paths were the only paths along which men should walk.
Oh, good grief… no!As a convert, I must ask how you are using “leaven” here. Surely you do not mean the ‘leaven that spoils the whole loaf’???