Posted on 11/02/2015 6:56:55 AM PST by Salvation
All Souls’ Day by Jakub Schikaneder, 1888
I have blogged before on Purgatory. Here is a link to one of those blogs: Purgatory – Biblical and Reasonable. I have also written more extensively on its biblical roots here: PDF Document on Purgatory.
On this Feast of All Souls, I want to reflect on Purgatory as the necessary result of a promise. Many people think of Purgatory primarily in terms of punishment, but it is also important to consider it in terms of promise, purity, and perfection. Some of our deceased brethren are having the promises made to them perfected in Purgatory. In the month of November we are especially committed to praying for them and we know by faith that our prayers are of benefit to them.
What is the promise that points to Purgatory? Simply stated, Jesus made the promise in Matthew 5:48: You, therefore, must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. In this promise is an astonishing declaration of our dignity. We are to share in the very nature and perfection of God. This is our dignity: we are called to reflect and possess the very glory and perfection of God.
St. Catherine of Siena was gifted by the Lord to see a heavenly soul in the state of grace. Her account of it is related in her Dialogue, and is summarized in the Sunday School Teacher’s Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism:
The Soul in the State of Grace– Catherine of Siena was permitted by God to see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace. It was so beautiful that she could not look on it; the brightness of that soul dazzled her. Blessed Raymond, her confessor, asked her to describe to him, as far as she was able, the beauty of the soul she had seen. St. Catherine thought of the sweet light of that morning, and of the beautiful colors of the rainbow, but that soul was far more beautiful. She remembered the dazzling beams of the noonday sun, but the light which beamed from that soul was far brighter. She thought of the pure whiteness of the lily and of the fresh snow, but that is only an earthly whiteness. The soul she had seen was bright with the whiteness of Heaven, such as there is not to be found on earth. †My father,†she answered. “I cannot find anything in this world that can give you the smallest idea of what I have seen. Oh, if you could but see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace, you would sacrifice your life a thousand times for its salvation. I asked the angel who was with me what had made that soul so beautiful, and he answered me, “It is the image and likeness of God in that soul, and the Divine Grace which made it so beautiful.†[1].
Yes, this is our dignity and final destiny if we are faithful to God.
So, I ask you, “Are you there yet?†God has made you a promise. But what if that promise has not yet been fulfilled and you were to die today, without the divine perfection you have been promised having been completed? I can only speak for myself and say that if I were to die today, though I am not aware of any mortal sin, I also know that I am not perfect. I am not even close to being humanly perfect, let alone having the perfection of our heavenly Father!
But Jesus made me a promise: You must be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. And the last time I checked, Jesus is a promise keeper! St. Paul says, May God who has begun a good work in you bring it to completion (Phil 1:6). Hence, if I were to die today, Jesus would need to complete a work that He has begun in me. By God’s grace, I have come a mighty long way. But I also have a long way to go. God is very holy and His perfection is beyond imagining.
Yes, there are many things in us that need purging: sin, attachment to sin, clinging to worldly things, and those rough edges to our personality. Likewise most of us carry with us hurts, regrets, sorrows, and disappointments. We cannot take any of this with us to Heaven. If we did, it wouldn’t be Heaven. So the Lord, who is faithful to His promise, will purge all of this from us. The Book of Revelation speaks of Jesus ministering to the dead in that he will wipe every tear from their eyes (Rev 21:4). 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 speaks of us as passing through fire in order that our works be tested so that what is good may be purified and what is worldly may be burned away. And Job said, But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold (Job 23:10).
Purgatory has to be—gold, pure gold; refined, perfect, pure gold. Purgatory has to be, if God’s promises are to hold.
Catholic theology has always taken seriously God’s promise that we would actually be perfect as the Father is perfect. The righteousness is Jesus’ righteousness, but it actually transforms us and changes us completely in the way that St. Catherine describes. It is a real righteousness, not merely imputed, not merely declared of us by inference. It is not an alien justice, but a personal justice by the grace of God.
Esse quam videri – Purgatory makes sense because the perfection promised to us is real: esse quam videri (to be rather than to seem). We must actually be purged of the last vestiges of imperfection, worldliness, sin, and sorrow. Having been made perfect by the grace of God, we are able to enter Heaven, of which Scripture says, Nothing impure will ever enter it (Rev 21:27). And again, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the souls of the just made perfect (Heb 12:22-23).
How could it be anything less? Indeed, the souls of the just made perfect. How could it be anything less if Jesus died to accomplish it for us? Purgatory makes sense based on Jesus’ promise and on the power of His blood to accomplish complete and total perfection for us. This is our dignity; this is our destiny. Purgatory is about promises, not mere punishment. There’s an old Gospel hymn that I referenced in yesterday’s blog for the Feast of All Saints that says, “O Lord I’m running, trying to make a hundred. Ninety-nine and a half won’t do!â€
That’s right, ninety-nine and a half won’t do. Nothing less than a hundred is possible because we have Jesus’ promise and the wonderful working power of the precious Blood of the Lamb. For most, if not all of us, Purgatory has to be.
You are excused. If you actually believe you could be my teacher given your condition steeped in the religion of catholiciism blasphemies rather than Christianity, then we really have no basis for discussion. I would not be a child before an agent of dissonance. You are excused, we need go no further, pseudo-master.
I have asked more than once for a catholic to tell me after being born from above in this life (as the New testament shows openly is the case), what sin could you commit that would take God by surprise? Not once has there been an answer to the question, perhaps because to answer honestly would require casting aside the non-Christian notion in catholiciism that somehow we who are born from above by God have to complete that which only God can accomplish. ... And they presume to teach us ... require that we crumble as children before their arrogant blasphemies!
French historian Jacques Le Goff states,
“It then becomes clear that at the time of Judas Maccabeus - around 170 B.C., a surprisingly innovative period - prayer for the dead was not practiced, but that a century later it was practiced by certain Jews.†— Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory, p. 45, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
What I can’t fathom, Mr. Rogers, is how someone can read Hebrews and not get that the Levitical priesthood God established was also DISMANTLED by Him through Jesus. No more need for those priests doing their service “day after day” when you have a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek doing his service ONCE FOR ALL.
“But, by the time we get old enough to think of death, MOST humans stop committing mortal sins. I have.”
I feel for the bruised reeds and dimly burning wicks who have been oppressed by Rome’s theological death machine, yet lack your delusional “I have” to help them make it through the night. But God hears the cries of the needy.
Purgatory is one entrance to Heaven, necessary for some, yes.
Verse 9: you are God' s building
Verse 16: Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
So, yes, the building allegorizes the man. Every man. Also, the work is every man's work, not just ministry.
Verse 13: the fire shall try every man' s work, of what sort it is
This cannot be read other than individual judgment on every man.
Verse 16 is in a different context that verses immediately preceding it? And preceded by "you are God' s building" in verse 9? And followed by yet another admonition not to "violate" the temple? I can't take that seriously.
We is not the same as you
Why, do you think, St. Paul repeat variations of "every man" a dozen times in this passage?
We are saved by grace through faith, and our sins are forgotten by God. OR we are only partially saved, and imperfectly purified
That is a false dichotomy that does not rise from the nature and purpose of Purgatory where, as 1 Cor. 3:15 says, man is saved. Not "partially saved", and not "imperfectly purified". The Christ work in him is complete and perfect, and he is pure as white snow.
No, but that is how the religion of catholiciism teaches its adherents to think. The Bema Seat of Christ happens IN HEAVEN, not to get into Heaven. catholoic thinking is still seeking to earn something that God Grants by His Grace not your merits ... and yes, catholics, enduring purgatory would be ‘earning’, creating a deficit which the god of catholiciism must honor, honoring the eaner.
“We’ve been over this before and more than once. You are obfuscating the text, and it can’t be unintentional...”
No. That is why I quote the text so often - because it IS plain.
“So, yes, the building allegorizes the man. Every man. Also, the work is every man’s work, not just ministry. “
Not when Paul directly contradicts you: “After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God’s servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant...There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. 9 For we are partners working together for God, and you are God’s field.”
There is absolutely no doubt that the man working the field is NOT the field and it NOT the fruit.
“You are also God’s building. 10 Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it...”
YOU are the building, and SOMEONE ELSE is now working on it. It is not and cannot be Paul working on himself.
“erse 13: the fire shall try every man’ s work, of what sort it is / This cannot be read other than individual judgment on every man.”
No. It cannot be read that way, since the work is the ministry: “After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God’s servants...Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do”.
And “And the quality of each person’s work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it.” - The quality of each man’s work in building the church of Christ will be exposed.
Nothing to do with sin. And nothing to do with the Satanic doctrine that we pay for our own sins:
“These must be expiated [”to atone for; make amends or reparation for”] either on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and calamities of this life and above all through death,[3] or else in the life beyond through fire and torments or ‘purifying’ punishments...” - Pope Paul 6 repeating the lie of Satan - that WE pay the punishment and ‘atone’ for our sins.
“Verse 16 is in a different context that verses immediately preceding it?”
Nope. He is continuing to discuss the divisions in the church and using the collective - 16 continues the argument, culminating in: “No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you: 22 Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future—all these are yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
He continues to rebuke them for their pride and their divisiveness in Chapter 4:
“6 For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, “Observe the proper rules.†None of you should be proud of one person and despise another...
...18 Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you. 19 If the Lord is willing, however, I will come to you soon, and then I will find out for myself the power which these proud people have, and not just what they say.”
In Chapter 5, he changes course and starts to discuss specific sins and issues:
“Now, it is actually being said that there is sexual immorality among you so terrible that not even the heathen would be guilty of it. I am told that a man is sleeping with his stepmother!...But should you not judge the members of your own fellowship? As the scripture says, ‘Remove the evil person from your group.’”
Chapter 6 starts with discussions of lawsuits against fellow believers, and then - THEN! - turns to a discussion of sexual immorality (and others):
“12 Someone will say, ‘I am allowed to do anything.’ Yes; but not everything is good for you. I could say that I am allowed to do anything, but I am not going to let anything make me its slave. 13 Someone else will say, ‘Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.’ Yes; but God will put an end to both. The body is not to be used for sexual immorality, but to serve the Lord; and the Lord provides for the body. “
But nothing in chapter 3 addresses individual morality. It is dedicated to discussing divisions in the church, and the Corinthians desire to follow individuals instead of God - something that later snared Rome...
That’s that thin veneer I was talking about. Seems like a lot is left up to “interpretation” of the individual.
That’s that thin veneer I was talking about. Seems like a lot is left up to “interpretation” of the individual.
That IS losing your salvation.
But, by the time we get old enough to think of death, MOST humans stop committing mortal sins. I have.
Guess again. It's the HEART that counts. And God doesn't distinguish between mortal and venial. Adam and Eve only took a bite of fruit.
God's children CHOOSE hell. We DO have free will. We choose God or Satan. You remember your catechism.
God's children get heaven. They made their choice and are NOT going to hell. If they go to hell, they're not God's children.
"No" ? All of First Corinthians is one epistle y the Apostle to the Gentiles. The chapter divisions introduced later by a Catholic. Either your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit or it is not ? Do you believe your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit ? What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
First Corinthians, Catholic chapter six, Protestant verse nineteen,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered;but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Yes, it can. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren,be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Phillipians, Catholic chapter two, Protestant verses twelve to eighteen,
Phillipians, Catholic chapter three, Protestant verses thirteen to seventeen,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
bold and underline emphasis mine
There are few less convincing ways to set the context of a sentence than by pulling sentences out of another letter. Your quote has NOTHING to do with Paul’s argument in 1 Cor 3, and NOTHING to add about who is the builder and who is the building, or who is the planter and who is the field being planted.
But then, it doesn’t take much context to understand 1 Cor 3, since a hired hand planting a field is NOT the field itself, and the architect of a building is not the building itself. That is just excruciatingly obvious. To deny it is to fly off into La-La Land.
But according to the much hashed over I Cor. 3 passage, EVERY believer goes through the judgment seat of Christ and receives rewards or loss of rewards for their works. If this were truly a prooftext for Purgatory, then how will some escape this “entrance” as NOT necessary?
It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s catholiciism. The magicsteerignthem tells them what to think so it doesn’t require consistency even.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.