disciple Clint
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- Mar 26, 2018
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Catholic theology causes several questions. Since it on one hand recognizes salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, it goes on to require works. If the sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient, why do we need the sacrament of reconciliation? If I have repented then my sin has been covered by the blood of Jesus. I have no need to confess my sin to be forgiven. Then beyond that not only would the Catholic Church require me to confess to a priest but I must also complete a penance, at that point I am assured that my sins are forgiven and then even that is insufficient because I then have to spend time in Purgatory to atone for the same sins. It is not called atonement but functionally that is exactly what it is even though it is referred to as changing my spirit to conform more closely with what it should be. Now I am familiar with the explanation used for Purgatory that if my wife forgives me, I am forgiven but I should still bring her flowers. Attempting to correlate Purgatory with buying flowers is not convincing. Regarding entering Heaven without being pure, let me point out that if I accept Jesus as my savior I am covered by His blood and I have His righteousness. That should be more than sufficient I would think. Once I am in Heaven and have received the Beatific Vision I have perfect salvation, I am as pure as I am ever going to get. Then there is the somewhat questionable history of Purgatory, trying to link it to the Jewish pre Christian Hades seems to fail the test since Jesus liberated those who believed in the Messiah and awaited Him. There is also the changes in description of Purgatory in Church doctrine, initially it was much like hell but only lasted a limited period of time, then indulgences were sold by the Church to reduce the amount of time of suffering in Purgatory, you could buy them for yourself or for loved ones, when the Church got called out on this practice by Luther and others, the doctrine changed to not being like hell and not being for a specific period of time reducible by the donations of cash or property. I am writing an editorial here without specific citations but I would welcome discussion of other views. Please understand I have no problem or issue with Catholics or the Catholic Church but I do have a few issues with Catholic Theology.So i would like see scriptures considering this subject. Are there any scriptures which clearly tells us that this place exist?
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