Purgatory

[JJM]

"Lets say Bob commits sin A (not giving it a title because the actual sin is irrelevant). He doesn’t know A is a sin so he commits it so much it becomes a habit. Well when he dies he would still commit this sin. What happens if God lets him into heaven and he does it again while in heaven? Uh oh there is sin in heaven well there can’t be sin in heaven. So what does God do? Before God lets him into heaven he gets rid of the habit. That time, Process and place where the habit is loss is Purgatory. It has nothing to do with being forgiven for sins. It has to do with the Sins he could commit in the future."

Is this a good explanation of Purgatory?

 

[Atomagenesis]

Yeah that's a good way of looking at it! But it is also working off sins that you have already committed like lets say mortal sin A. Christ has forgiven us our sins by dying on the cross obviously right? Well yes he has forgiven us our sins but we still have to make up for them, this is where indulgences come in. Now the whole idea behind indulgence is that you can take off time in purgatory by doing approved prayers by the church, we really dont know in reality the actual amount of time we will be taking off but some is better than none, you can do these for other people as well. I think it was Saint Catherine who actually told Jesus that she would go to purgatory to work off the sins of her family so they could all instantly go to heaven. Beautiful isnt it? Glory to God in the highest!

In Christ

 

[Rising_Suns]

yes, that is a great way of explaining it.


Here is how I explain it....

The Nature of Purgatory​

All Christians can agree that sin cannot exist in heaven; nothing impure can enter into heaven, but as we stand now, we live in a sinful nature. Even after we have surrendered our lives to Christ and are washed clean by His blood, we still sin. Even though our salvation may have already been granted, we still continue to falter. Therefore, there must exist some sort of process that cleanses us of our sinful nature before entering heaven. And this is all purgatory is; a purging process for the elect after death.

Some may argue that purgatory somehow takes away from the sacrifice Jesus made, but this is a completely false assertion. Jesus is most definately the source of our justification. Purgatory is simply the means by which Christ’s plan of salvation is in part, carried out. It is an essential element of the redemptive plan that Christ institued, and a clear reflection of God’s perfect justice and perfect mercy. To us, we cannot even fathom how it is possible for perfect mercy and perfect justice to coexist, but through His perfect mercy, unworthy sinners such as oursevles can still be united with God in heaven. And through His perfect justice, we are still accountable of the sins we carry to death, and must suffer for a time in this state while our unrepented sins are made known and purged from us.

" the work of each will come to light, for the day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire."--1 cor 3:11​

"All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned"—(Catechism of the Catholic Church 1030–1).​

 

[JJM]

I thought Indulgences where supose to get rid of Temperal punishments. (the punishments that we receive on earth for our sins.)

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

my simple way,

The path to heaven runs through a muddy field

you can get traped in the mud and ask for no help and stay there (unrepented mortal sin)
you can get traped in the mud and ask for help and be pulled out (repented mortal sin)
you can dip your toes in the mud but not go all the way in (venial sin)

But no matter what your most likely going to get dirty

Now you can clean the mud off at the mat out side the door to heaven (acts/works/faith/penence in this life)
Or you clean the mud off at the mat inside the door (purgortory)

But you can't track mud into the house of god

 

[Rising_Suns]

I thought Indulgences where supose to get rid of Temperal punishments. (the punishments that we receive on earth for our sins.)

right, one cannot simply do an "act" and automatically remove the punishment of imortal sin. There must be an innner conviction to repentance, and sealed with forgiveness through confession.

 

[Aaron-Aggie]

I thought Indulgences where supose to get rid of Temperal punishments. (the punishments that we receive on earth for our sins.)

purgourtoy is a temporal punshiment it will end at some point and you will end up in hevean.

indulcance are more of a unit then anything.

They let you compare the effects of one act with the effects of another act.
The benifit comes from the act not the indulgence, just as the dollor bill realy dosn't have a value but repesents the amount of work you put into earning it

 

[Rising_Suns]

my simple way,

The path to heaven runs through a muddy field

you can get traped in the mud and ask for no help and stay there (unrepented mortal sin)
you can get traped in the mud and ask for help and be pulled out (repented mortal sin)
you can dip your toes in the mud but not go all the way in (venial sin)

But no matter what your most likely going to get dirty

Now you can clean the mud off at the mat out side the door to heaven (acts/works/faith/penence in this life)
Or you clean the mud off at the mat inside the door (purgortory)

But you can't track mud into the house of god

That's a wonderfull analogy.

 

[ZeroTX]

Do Catholics not believe that the cause of sin is two-fold....1) our weak nature and 2) temptation from Satan... Presumeably in heaven, #2 is not present.

Is the Catholic belief different?

Thank You,

Michael

 

[Rising_Suns]

Do Catholics not believe that the cause of sin is two-fold....1) our weak nature and 2) temptation from Satan... Presumeably in heaven, #2 is not present.

Catholics believe that in heaven, neither exist since we have been "made perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect."

but yes, there are two sources of our sin, as you said...

1) our weak nature
the stain from original sin leans us towards evil; this is our weak nature, through which we are guilty.

2) Temptation from Satan
Then there is also the direct temptations of Satan and his followers, who also try to get us to sin, through which we are also guilty.