If everyone in purgatory is COMPLETELY forgiven, then what the heck are they in purgatory for?
Purgatory is only for people who are NOT completely forgiven.
If you are completely forgiven, there is no payment or accountability left for sin.
The slate has been wiped clean.
It's gone.
Done.
Never to be remembered again.
That's what forgiveness is.
If there's any atonement, accountability, payment, anything one has to do for something that was done, then it is NOT forgiven.
This is completely true for sins done before one entered into the salvific covenant at conversion, and one is forgiven as a contrite believer who acknowledges/confesses and his known sin with a repentant heart (Proverbs 28:13 -though he can be struggling with one: Heb. 12:1), and such repentant faith justifies one despite sins he is ignorant of. But to refuse to acknowledge sin once one is convicted of them is a denial of faith. (Heb. 6:1-10)
However, there is chastisement in this life in order to bring about repentance, (1Co. 5:5; 11:32) as well as for a result of one's sins he has repented of, in order to correct the character which led to it, and or to correct damage done and to manifest to others that there is a cost to sin, and deter others.
For when we sin we affect others, directly or indirectly, and thus God can manifest correction. God forgave king David the second he acknowledged his sin with a repentant heart, (2 Samuel 12:7-14) yet he suffered chastisement, not in order to be forgiven, but because others need to see God hates sin, and thus correct them for what they said.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. (2 Samuel 12:13-14)
In the NT, pastors who sin are to be publicly rebuked/shamed (1 Timothy 5:20) and that they are of repentant heart will not exclude them from this. Our disobedience, though we confess it with a repentant heart, can mean we lost a position and not be used by God they way we could have been.
Your kid may wreck the family car by negligence, and result in bodily hurt to themselves and or to others, and you can forgive such, yet the effect is still with them, even though God can undo any such effects. And you
And you may require the child you forgave for wrecking the family car by negligence to pay for damages, as a matter of principal, and which is a form of chastisement
And God does remember our positive and negative behavior as Christians in both rewarding our work (which manifests our character) and or suffering the loss of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ at His return, (1 Corinthians 3:8ff; 4:5; 2 Timothy. 4:1,8; Revelation 11:18; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Peter 1:7; 5:4) as heretofore substantiated. .
And again, the burning up of corrupt works is not in order that one may be with the Lord, which is where he went at death, (Lk. 23:43 [cf. 2Cor. 12:4; Rv. 2:7]; Phil 1:23; 2Cor. 5:8 [we]; 1Cor. 15:51ff'; 1Thess. 4:17) but one is saved despite this loss, not because of them. (1 Corinthians 3:15)
And also gain, the next transformative experience after this life that is manifestly taught is that of being like Christ in the resurrection. (1Jn. 3:2; Rm. 8:23; 1Co 15:53,54; 2Co. 2-4)
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)
Thus Catholicism is not wrong in recognizing there is a cost to sins that are forgiven, however, the doctrine that this means postmortem "purifying punishments" commencing at death, and in order to make one good enough to be with God, is plainly erroneous. As is that the act itself of baptism, without the required personal wholehearted repentant justifying faith, (Acts 2:38; 8:36,37) makes one actually good enough to be with God.
Thus those who trust their paedobaptism made them children of God and never had their "day of salvation" in casting all their repentant faith on the risen Lord Jesus to save them by Hid sinless shed blood, (Rm. 3:25) will not than awaken in purgatory after death, but - sadly - in Hell fire, to their eternal horror!
If everyone in purgatory is COMPLETELY forgiven, then what the heck are they in purgatory for?
Question of the thread.