Read The Purgatory – Part 01, before continuing.
Purgatory is a shelter for souls, rather than a place of punishment. There they get a lot of insights and knowledge. The souls get to know about all the secrets of God’s love and His ways. There they become aware of the importance of giving first place to God while on Earth and about salvation of souls. They also realize that life on earth is so transient and they should have done a lot of good and how little they have done etc. They realize that the spiritual treasures they achieved during life on earth were far far precious than their earthly treasures.
The souls understand that after this purification, they will become stronger and they will be freed from sins and temptations. They rejoice at being in purgatory as they know that after all these pains, they will receive god and His love forever. A soul, after going through this purification, clears all the debts of sins and receives in full God’s love, accepts it and gets ready to fulfill His will.
A person gets the gift of eternity according to how much love he had for God, at the time of his death. Remember what St. John said while on cross : “You will be tested according to your love at the end of your life.”
The soul, which gets clear knowledge about God and His love, is purified in the fire by the earnest desire to be with God. As we know, in purgatory it does not have the physical body it had on Earth. By the burning fire of purification, we mean the agony which they experience as a result of their inability to be with God and not being able to love Him completely. Even though the above said purifying fire is not like ordinary fire and smoke, the pain that this fire causes to the soul is far greater than the pain that the ordinary fire causes to one’s physical body. For e.g. the pain that a wounded heart feels will be much more than the pain when one’s leg is broken, right? The pain in the first case also takes a much more time for alleviation.
A soul in purgatory wishes to complete the purification as soon as possible and to join God and love Him at the earliest. The thought that it could have avoided all these pains, makes the pain all the more severe for the soul. Also the soul sadly admits the fact that it could have destroyed the HARD CRUST (refer The Purgatory – Part 01) made by its selfish love, if it had loved, prayed and done deeds of penance and deeds of generosity during its time on Earth.
Ah, why these souls have to bear these pains in the fire in purgatory? Who is responsible for these pains? What is God’s scheme? Wait for the answers, next week in The Purgatory – Part 03
If there is a “purgatory” as this blogpost claims, where will you find its description, or even the mention of it in Scriptures?
I was a Catholic, born and raised in a strictly Catholic setting, but having found out a lot of lies concocted and fed to me by my Catholic upbringing made me realize that there is only one way to discern truth from the lies – by reading and investigating through the Bible and depending fully on what is written on it. After all, don’t the Catholics share the same belief that the Bible is the Word of God? I left the Catholic flock after learning about their false teachings. It’s sad, but I had to choose and I chose my Lord, the God of the Bible, and I have been living a peaceful and fulfilling life eversince. There is not a mention of purgatory in the Bible, but there sure is a lot of information about hell. You may want to check that out for yourself.
A catholic’s life and beliefs are not based solely on The Word. Teachings of the Church should also be taken into consideration.
Matthew 15:2 states thus, ” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
Matthew 15:6 “…So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.”
Just like the Pharisees, the Catholic church made up traditions such as the veneration of Mary and the saints, purgatory, the misconception about the Trinity and so forth. Catholics have become so concerned with keeping with these traditions that they have completely turned away from the true gospel – The Word of God.
Would you agree with the preceding text?
Revelation 22: 18-19 – ” I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
Or would you rather remain faithful to the Catholic traditions?
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
Scripture is sufficient because it is the Word of God. To say that we need more than just what is written in the Bible is blasphemy, it is rebellion against him. It is synonymous to saying that God is not sovereign enough.
I came to know about Christ and the scriptures through the Catholic Church. And I believe in the teachings of the Church. I usually do not go into the logic of my beliefs.
that is true Hazel, all we need is the word of God as all other grounds are sinking sand.
We need to know that only the bible is unchanging, traditions come and go base on different backgrounds, different culture and different ideals. traditions are man made. and man are fallible. even the Catholic Catechism has undergone numerous version and updates. an e.g. earlier catechism states that you can only be saved throught the church, and now the latest update is saying you need not be.
So to be on the safe side, stick to the scriptures and do work out the logic of our faith, why and what we believe so that as Peter states, we can be prepared to give an answer when ask about our beliefs
after reading etc I really don’t know what to believe – I was raised a methodist then became catholic later in life and now at the end of my time here on earth I really don’t know where I stand (I have been saved more than once) I would really like to know where I can find the true Word in what bible can you help me?
-Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment Hebrews 9-27
It doesnt say that we will be in purgatory.
Revelation 20:10-15
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The Judgment of the Dead
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Word of God is not the Scripture. the Word of God is Christ. The written words are just the way of human expressions and God did not wrote it by Himself. instead God used human hands, human hearts, human feeling and minds, among others to express What he wants us to hear. Those people who limit themselves with the Bible, please listen now. God did not say that the Bible is enough to save you. but he said that the Word is enough, because God refers the Word to Christ alone. The Bible is not Christ and Christ is not Bible!The Bible cannot save you but Christ can!
Imagine if God did not inspire those people who wrote the Scriptures! What are we going to react at our time?nothing! Christ revealed himself in human form. He is the word of God, the Gospel enfleshed as man. We cannot do away tradition, because it is older than the Scriptures. Before the Bible was written, there was tradition first among the first christians. how can they write if they were persecuted under the Roman rule? the scriptures especially the New Testament, were written many years after christ ascended into heaven. the apostles, disciples scattered according to the missions designated to them by the Holy Spirit.