When good protestants die and are in purgatory, will they understand where they are?

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Lloydy:
Is Purgatory needed? Is the sacrifice of Christ not enough? I am forgiven of my sins I don’t see why I have to pay for them in purgatory. Purgatory is saying that Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough to remove your sins, which i don’t understand. Jesus paid it all, that is enough.
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The problem here is that Protestants have only one concept of Salvation. Catholics understand that there is both eternal salvation and temporal salvation. Purgatory deals with the temporal consequences of sin, not the eternal ones.

Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin deals with this very well in his book Salvation Controversy, and there is already plenty of information right here on the Catholic Answers site. Please have a look around.
 
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DavidFilmer:
When good protestants die and find themselves in purgatory (but they knew nothing about purgatory in their earthly life), will they understand where they are and what is happening?

Remember, there is no basis for believing we will automatically acquire spiritual insight simply because we die.
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Shoot! I was hoping for enough spiritual insight to understand algebra…:confused:
 
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Lloydy:
Is Purgatory needed? Is the sacrifice of Christ not enough? I am forgiven of my sins I don’t see why I have to pay for them in purgatory. Purgatory is saying that Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough to remove your sins, which i don’t understand. Jesus paid it all, that is enough.
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Hi Lloydy
Excelent point, Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is more than sufficiant for those who follow his commands. This is where the problems that I have with the catholic church are, not FULLY relying on Christ, praying to others, purgatory, Marien devotion, etc.
Thanks
 
I voted “won’t have the faintest idea” and started to giggle.

Jeff
 
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DavidFilmer:
My idea of purgatory has always been that we are isolated there (like solitary confinement).
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**Isolated? I think you’re getting some doctrines mixed up. Isolated would be more like “Limbo,” which is part of hell just with natural paradise. That’s not an official doctrine of the Church, at least not yet.:hmmm: **
 
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GerardPaul:
I voted “won’t have the faintest idea” and started to giggle.

Jeff
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I understand the temptation to do so, giggle I mean. But I know so many kind and sincere Protestants that I can only hope that they understand what is happening to them. I don’t believe that it would serve GOd any purpose to confuse them.
 
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jsussvsus:
Hi Lloydy
Excelent point, Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is more than sufficiant for those who follow his commands. This is where the problems that I have with the catholic church are, not FULLY relying on Christ, praying to others, purgatory, Marien devotion, etc.
Thanks
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I often think that the concept of purgatory is not understood by Protestants. I know that I didn’t understand it myself until recently. Could you tell us what **you **believe that the Catholic concept of purgatory is? It might help us be able to discuss purgatory with you .
 
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Lloydy:
Is Purgatory needed? Is the sacrifice of Christ not enough? I am forgiven of my sins I don’t see why I have to pay for them in purgatory. Purgatory is saying that Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough to remove your sins, which i don’t understand. Jesus paid it all, that is enough.
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I am a newbie to Catholism, so I hope that this explanation helps and doesn’t confuse.

I had purgatory explained this way to me( maybe on this site). Imagine that your son broke a window. You have him apologize. The neighbor accepts the apology and forgives your son.

Using the Protestant thinking. Your son would then run off and play never having to worry again about breaking that window. Hey, he was forgiven right?

Not so with Catholics. Your son still has to pay for the damages, even though the neighbor forgave him. That is purgatory!!

Jesus forgave our sins but we still suffer from the effects. Because we aren’t perfect, we need to be refined before we get to heaven. It is actually a very merciful concept.

I have also heard purgatory explained in this way.(Again, maybe on this site) Imagine that you are very poor. For no reason at all, a king sends you an invitation to his castle. You walk many miles and arrive filthy and sweaty and wearing your only ragged suit. You are taken to a special room, bathed and clothed. Does it take away from the invitation because the king wanted you clean before you entered his presence? SHould you refuse the new clothes and warm bath because you have an invitation and that is all that counts? Of course not, you’ll very happily take the bath, put on the beautiful garments and comb your hair before you meet the king. The king’s invitation isn’t lessened because you were cleansed first.
 
surf(name removed by moderator)ure:
I know some Catholic apologists who disagree with you, but that is a different topic for a different thread.
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(They’d have to disagree with scripture, then.)

All, you can reduce your time in purgatory while you still are alive here on earth.
 
catholic2 said:
(They’d have to disagree with scripture, then.)
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No, they’d just have to disagree with one person’s interpretation of Scripture, given context, other Scripture, and Church teaching.

Anyone can pick a proof text and build an entire doctrine on it. That’s why we have the Magisterium, thank God.
 
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jsussvsus:
Hi Lloydy
Excelent point, Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is more than sufficiant for those who follow his commands. This is where the problems that I have with the catholic church are, not FULLY relying on Christ, praying to others, purgatory, Marien devotion, etc.
Thanks
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To both of you,

Since this is not the topic of the thread, I would suggest starting one in either the Apologetics or the Non-Catholic Religions forums. Most likely you will find a recent one there already. It’s a hot topic! You will get many more answers to your questions there, since we’re trying to stick to the specific topic (will Protestants in Purgatory know where they are?) of this thread.

Welcome to the forums!

sur
 
surf(name removed by moderator)ure:
To both of you,

Since this is not the topic of the thread, I would suggest starting one in either the Apologetics or the Non-Catholic Religions forums. Most likely you will find a recent one there already. It’s a hot topic! You will get many more answers to your questions there, since we’re trying to stick to the specific topic (will Protestants in Purgatory know where they are?) of this thread.

Welcome to the forums!

sur
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I am guilty too. SOrry.😛
 
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DavidFilmer:
When good protestants die and find themselves in purgatory (but they knew nothing about purgatory in their earthly life), will they understand where they are and what is happening?
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On what basis would a protestant achieve salvation? There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, so such a person would either not truly be a protestant or would not be saved.
 
Assuming they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit they would at least have original sin and previous mortal sins forgiven, but without confession (post-baptism) they have no way of removing mortal sins from their soul and wouldn’t even be able to get to purgatory. This world is so full of sin…I don’t know how they’re gonna make it. :hmmm:
 
Lloydy. , you mentioned: “Is Purgatory needed? Is the sacrifice of Christ not enough? I am forgiven of my sins I don’t see why I have to pay for them in purgatory. Purgatory is saying that Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough to remove your sins, which i don’t understand. Jesus paid it all, that is enough.”

Lloydy. Atheists could assert the same thing to us as Christians. They could say, “Wasn’t Christ’s sacrifice enough? Didn’t Jesus pay it ALL? Why do you Christians still have to die?” (You know the answer. As an account for sin).

Remember Jesus’ word in Matthew 12. “We pay an account for EVERY wrong word we utter.” How much more for every wrong action.

Now someone might say “we could never pay a full account for our sins!” and they’d be right. But we don’t claim to be paying a FULL ACCOUNT for our sins. Jesus suffered and died for us yes. But the question is how does this get applied to us?

The fact remains that Jesus Himself said we will pay an account. When Moses was forgiven for striking the rock twice he still had a temporal account to pay. He could not enter the promised land in this life. And he didn’t. When King David murdered his friend Uriah the Hittite after committing adultery with Uriah’s wife, he was repentant and forgiven. But he still had an account to pay. His first born son (with Bathsheba) was to die. And he did die!

Yes Jesus work IS enough, and it is enough to cleanse us of our sins. The issue is HOW does He do it. Purgatory is the work of Christ. Yes there are many other works of Christ too but the fact still remains Purgatory is the work of Christ.

Hopefully this helps.
 
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deb1:
I am a newbie to Catholism, so I hope that this explanation helps and doesn’t confuse.

I had purgatory explained this way to me( maybe on this site). Imagine that your son broke a window. You have him apologize. The neighbor accepts the apology and forgives your son.

Using the Protestant thinking. Your son would then run off and play never having to worry again about breaking that window. Hey, he was forgiven right?

Not so with Catholics. Your son still has to pay for the damages, even though the neighbor forgave him. That is purgatory!!

Jesus forgave our sins but we still suffer from the effects. Because we aren’t perfect, we need to be refined before we get to heaven. It is actually a very merciful concept.

I have also heard purgatory explained in this way.(Again, maybe on this site) Imagine that you are very poor. For no reason at all, a king sends you an invitation to his castle. You walk many miles and arrive filthy and sweaty and wearing your only ragged suit. You are taken to a special room, bathed and clothed. Does it take away from the invitation because the king wanted you clean before you entered his presence? SHould you refuse the new clothes and warm bath because you have an invitation and that is all that counts? Of course not, you’ll very happily take the bath, put on the beautiful garments and comb your hair before you meet the king. The king’s invitation isn’t lessened because you were cleansed first.
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I just wanted to commend you for a very clear and understandable way of looking at Purgatory. For a newbie, you have a great understanding of this very important teaching.😉
 
Kyenta said:
I just wanted to commend you for a very clear and understandable way of looking at Purgatory. For a newbie, you have a great understanding of this very important teaching.😉
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Thank you!
 
Purgatory is just a name for a process God uses to refine our souls through fire. Since we will be with our soul we will each feel the warmth of God love for us as He burns away our sins with His grace. (The ‘saved’ go through the process we call Purgatory after Jesus judges them. Noone is ‘saved’ in the future sense till after judgment by Jesus. All this is in Scripture.😉 )

Jesus decides who passes His judgement. I cannot judge anymore then my old Baptist preacher can (though he claimed opposite this). Of course, when Jesus gave the Pope His keys to His kingdom on earth He gave the authority to bind and loose to the Pope. This is also in Scripture as St. Peter was the first Pope.

To understand Scripture is to become Catholic.
 
This thread has so much “stuff”, may add a little more?

1st John 1- 9. God will for give you if you confess. I have heard from a few famous Priests that when we confess, God wipes the slate clean and FORGETS our sin that was confessed.

This throws a “monkey wrench” into Purgatory in a way. I believe Purgatory is where most Catholics will go. But hey, if our sins are forgiven (at death) whats the deal?
 
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