Nate,
If what you said were all that the Catholic Church taught on Purgatory I wouldn’t have a problem with Her teachings. Read what Thomas Aquinas had to say about Purgatory here: newadvent.org/summa/600205.htm
Tell me how the old understanding of Purgatory fits with the current understanding of Purgatory.
I read Thomas’s comments on purgatory and found no reason to change my understanding of it. The “debt of punishment” he speaks of consists of the pain of realization for the evil temoporal consequences of sins we have committed.
Approaching everything from the point of view of Scholastic philosophy is not always the best way to gain insights into theology. We have pretty much abandoned the physics that was current in the thirteenth century, and if Thomas final view of his own writings was that of “so much straw,” perhaps we can do some reinterpretation of his comments.
The official teaching of the Church on purgatory allows a pretty wide interpretation of its meaning. We must acknowledge that it exists, and is temporary, and involves some unpleasant experience, which has been traditionally symbolized by fire. The views I expressed meets those conditions, and is consistent with Scripture and other Church dogma, as well as common sense, so I hope they are of help in thinking about this subject.
A man who does not believe in Purgatory probably believes he has no sins. It is that or else he is an Atheist.
On another thread I have used PMs to converse with an evangelical ( he spells it with a lower case “e”). He says that he instructs Catholics in Catholocism. Yes he said that! But he will not attempt to refute Purgatory with me. I gave him some preliminary reasons for the existance of Purgatory. Those Protestants who have read extensively have a “gut-feeling” that Purgatory exists from a purely rational level.
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