Where would dead people go

[Sam_777]

Reference to the below diagram, and with my limited knowledge in Catholicism, I understand that every soul in the past and future will go to the Purgatory to be purified then after that to Heaven, my questions are:

1. If the Christian person dies, is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory?
2. Will Christian souls after purification go to Heavens before the judgement day?
3. If the non-Christian person dies (e.g., Jew, Muslim), is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory or it has to wait till the judgement day.

Thanking you in advance.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Purgatory4.png

 

[Chipper]

Reference to the below diagram, and with my limited knowledge in Catholicism, I understand that every soul in the past and future will go to the Purgatory to be purified then after that to Heaven, my questions are:

1. If the Christian person dies, is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory?
2. Will Christian souls after purification go to Heavens before the judgement day?
3. If the non-Christian person dies (e.g., Jew, Muslim), is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory or it has to wait till the judgement day.

Thanking you in advance.

1. There are plenty of people in purgatory right now. Padre Pio is a great testament to this fact.
2. Padre Pio also states that many have been released right now and are in heaven. Many more are still there.
3. The non-Christian will only go there if he/she is innocent.

Judegement can still take place rather or not you are in purgatory or in heaven.

 

[Nita]

Hi Sam,

The diagram is accurate, but your verbal points need a little clarification.

Reference to the below diagram, and with my limited knowledge in Catholicism, I understand that every soul in the past and future will go to the Purgatory to be purified then after that to Heaven, my questions are:

1. If the Christian person dies, is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory?

We believe that immediately after death every soul is judged privately in God’s presence. (We refer to this immediate individual judgement as the “particular judgement”.) If further cleansing is needed, the soul then proceeds immediately to Purgatory. (Souls that do not need further cleansing proceed immediately to heaven; unrepentant souls guilty of mortal sin proceed immediately to hell.)

1. Will Christian souls after purification go to Heavens before the judgement day?

Some will, some may not. A soul enters heaven when the cleansing is complete - or at the time of the general judgement at the end of the world.

1. If the non-Christian person dies (e.g., Jew, Muslim), is the soul immediately goes to the Purgatory or it has to wait till the judgement day.

The non-Christian would experience the same procedure as the Christian - that is, an immediate particular judgement after which they would proceed immediately to heaven, hell, or purgatory.

We do not believe Purgatory will exist after the general judgement which takes place at the end of the world. All cleansing will have been accomplished at that time. After the general judgement souls will exist for all eternity in either heaven or hell.

You can read about the Particular Judgement in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1021 and #1022. Here is a website link to those paragraphs:
vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#I

I hope this helps.
Will keep you in prayer Sam,

Nita

 

[CentralFLJames]

Reference to the below diagram, and with my limited knowledge in Catholicism, I understand that every soul in the past and future will go to the Purgatory to be purified then after that to Heaven, my questions are:

I understand that every soul in the past and future will go to the Purgatory to be purified then after that to Heaven.

This is the only part you have wrong. At death those that have mortal sins go straight to hell - there is no more hope for them and they can never be forgiven.

Those that only have venial sins are forgiven of the eternal debt those sins automatically by God simply becuase they shared in the same death as Jesus and that trauma of experiencing their death pangs God rewards them His forgiveness of these sins.
There are also those who have not repented enough for past forgiven sins - these too go to purgator.

All the souls that go to purgatory are “holy souls” that have no unforgiven sins. These are souls who were forgiven of all their past sins during their life or at death but still have to be purified of the “memory” of those sins that they have not removed by prior penance.

Sin creates 2 kinds of debts. 1) Eternal Debt for the offense to God and 2) the temporal debt which is the debt for the effect one’s forgiven sins had on another person, on one’s self and on creation itself. This 2nd debt leaves a “memory” or a desire to sin again called concupiscence which must be removed since no desire for sin can enter heaven. Heaven is ultra pure - only pure holiness can bear to stand before God’s magnificent holiness without fear and shame.

Forgiveness of sin - clears the first debt to God.
Purgation - “burns away” all memory of sin and desire to ever sin again.

The double nature of sin’s debts is what most people do not understand. Once one sins its like a poison. Even when forgiven by God it still has a bad influence on us. God removes this influence by spirituality burning it away like impurities are removed from gold in the refinery.

James

 

[ConservativeOne]

This one’s for Chipper. I’ve thought long and hard about St. Padre Pio - since his words (when alive) were to the effect that he would not enter Heaven until all his spiritual children were there…(correct me, if I’m wrong on that).

Padre Pio was canonized years ago - which means the Church acknowledges his sanctity, and therefore, that he’s in Heaven…Does that mean all his spiritual children are in Heaven, too? Just a curiosity question since you mentioned St. Padre Pio. My Mom had been a spiritual child - but died after his canonization…so???

 

[Sam_777]

Thank you all for your detailed explanation.

(Souls that do not need further cleansing proceed immediately to heaven; unrepentant souls guilty of mortal sin proceed immediately to hell.)

Okay, but will those souls be called from Heaven or Hell upon the final judgement day?

 

[Nickkname]

Christians are not superhumans. A sin is a sin and grace is grace. God will not judge us based on our faith but on our love.

If a soul is separated from the body and has sanctifying grace, than it is has chosen to love God and needs no purification, so it will go to Heaven.

If a soul is separated from the body and has venial sin, than it has chosen to love God, but needs purification, so it will go to Purgatory.

If a soul is separated from the body and has mortal sin, thhan it has chosen to reject God, so it will go to Hell.

However, God is immune to rules and needs, and His Mercy is infinitely greater than all the sins in the world. So He can save souls from the eternal flames and the temporal flames - indeeed, He wills to! Hence, what I’ve spelled out to you in regards to the final destination of all souls is but the eternal consequences of the choices souls make now while on Earth and not a blueprint of eternity. In fact, there is no blueprint of eternity. All we have are the truths as known by the Church, and we know them to be true, for the Church is infallible. Finally, I ask you to please check my words against the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 

[Mannyfit75]

Christians are not superhumans. A sin is a sin and grace is grace. God will not judge us based on our faith but on our love.

God will judge us according to our deed.

If a soul is separated from the body and has sanctifying grace, than it is has chosen to love God and needs no purification, so it will go to Heaven.

No problem there. Nothing unclean can go into heaven.

If a soul is separated from the body and has venial sin, than it has chosen to love God, but needs purification, so it will go to Purgatory.

Correct.

If a soul is separated from the body and has mortal sin, thhan it has chosen to reject God, so it will go to Hell.

Correct also.

However, God is immune to rules and needs, and His Mercy is infinitely greater than all the sins in the world. So He can save souls from the eternal flames and the temporal flames - indeeed, He wills to! Hence, what I’ve spelled out to you in regards to the final destination of all souls is but the eternal consequences of the choices souls make now while on Earth and not a blueprint of eternity.

God is love. He desires us to be obedient to him and his commandments. God does not want the death of a sinner to die in his sin.

In fact, there is no blueprint of eternity. All we have are the truths as known by the Church, and we know them to be true, for the Church is infallible. Finally, I ask you to please check my words against the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Um, what do you have against the Catechism of the Catholic Church? It is a summary of our Catholic faith based on Sacred Scripture, Church Councils, and Fathers of our Church for 2,000 yrs?

 

[Nickkname]

Um, what do you have against the Catechism of the Catholic Church? It is a summary of our Catholic faith based on Sacred Scripture, Church Councils, and Fathers of our Church for 2,000 yrs?

My apologies, I must have not communicated what I wanted to say properly. What I meant was that it would be a very, very good idea to check what I’ve said, to see if it is in line with the teachings of the Church, and the Catechism is the best resource on the Catholic Faith - indeed, it is a systematic presentation of the Faith based on Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church.

As for love: Yes, we will be judged based on it. It is in the Catechism.

 

[richard377]

Purgatory is for those who die in God’s grace but need to make repartition for venial sins they’ve committed however there is no salvation for those outside the Church.

 

[Sam_777]

Purgatory is for those who die in God’s grace but need to make repartition for venial sins they’ve committed however there is no salvation for those outside the Church.

CCC#841:
841 *The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”