"I knew my brother was suffering." ~ Ancient Roots of the Doctrine of Purgatory, Part I

Gloria Romanorum ^ | Florentius

[Elsie]

Where did the souls of the holy people of ancient Israel go after they died?

Daniel 12:2
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

[Elsie]

How would it change your life if you learned that purgatory does not exist?

Likewise...

How would it change your life if you learned that purgatory DOES exist?

[Elsie]

For example, if you have a beaker containing a liquid that’s half water and half oil, there will be a separation layer between them that’s neither oil nor water.

Really?

What IS it then??

[Elsie]

...or just sock puppets?

[ealgeone]

And how does God cleansing us of our last remains of our sinful inclinations diminish Christ's sacrifice for us? Rather, it fulfills the purpose of that sacrifice. Our redemption is more than just from the punishment of sin. It is our redemption from our sinful nature itself. Protestantism is a return to the legalistic view of the Pharisees that sees our relationship with God solely on the basis of law and external actions. It is contrary to all that Jesus actually taught.

The problem for the RC is not understanding what Christ has done for us.

He has cleasend us from all unrighteousness. All of it.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NASB

The Greek word for all conveys the following meaning:

3956 /pás ("each, every") means "all" in the sense of "each (every) part that applies." The emphasis of the total picture then is on "one piece at a time." 365 (ananeóō) then focuses on the part(s) making up the whole – viewing the whole in terms of the individual parts. https://biblehub.com/greek/3956.htm

[Antoninus]

How would it change your life if you learned that purgatory does not exist?

I don't have to consider that. I know that Purgatory exists. And I know that my prayers for the deceased are efficacious. How? Because I have experienced instances where those souls have asked me for them. And I know that the origins of such experiences aren't demonic because the prince of this world doesn't encourage Christians to pray to Jesus or attend Mass.

[Antoninus]

Simply a pagan belief Catholicism added.

Is that why Perpetua was venerated as a saint for 1,300 years -- even to the point of being mentioned at every Catholic Mass -- until the "reformers" decided that her witness was false and worthless?

[Antoninus]

The church fathers agree far more with the Reformers.

You have to tell yourself this, even though you know in your heart that it is not true. As St. John Henry Newman said:

"To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant."

[Antoninus]

Now get ready for the anti-Catholic rhetoric.

Let it come. So long as they read the works of the Fathers and know that what their own sect teaches is novel and contrived.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Is that why Perpetua was venerated as a saint for 1,300 years -- even to the point of being mentioned at every Catholic Mass -- until the "reformers" decided that her witness was false and worthless?

Yes. The pagan practice of venerating the dead and making them into demigods and demigoddesses, like the Greeks, was not Apostolic.

No Apostle ever taught us to worship departed saints, nor is ever recorded doing likewise.

Thank God the reformers took us back to the writings of the Apostles!

[aMorePerfectUnion]

"To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant."

To be deep in Scripture is to cease being Catholic.

[Antoninus]

Unfortunately, what you just described isn’t in Scripture, and is contrary to the meaning of the atonement which is the Gospel.

In part II of this article, you will read some of Pope Saint Gregory the Great's thoughts on Purgatory, written in the early 7th century AD and the development of the Catholic doctrine on Purgatory. Gregory quotes the following passage from Scripture, saying:

“…It is plain that in such state as a man departs out of this life, in the same he is presented in judgment before God. But yet we must believe that before the day of judgment there is a Purgatory fire for certain small sins: because our Savior says, “That he which speaketh blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come [Matthew 12:32].”

How does one a protestant explain our Savior's words? Or does he just conveniently ignore them?

[Antoninus]

Yes, I agree, purgatory is paganism, but what motivated them to introduce paganism?

Recall that the "reformers" saw paganism under every rock. In doing so, they had to trash practically every ancient Father and Mother of the early Church. This explains why protestants do their utmost not to read the works of the early Church. Sadly, without doing so, your understanding of Sacred Scripture will, of necessity, be deeply flawed.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

in the early 7th century AD

600 years after the Apostles!

"And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the one about to come. (literal Greek Translation from Wuest)

The rest of your quote is totally made up and not something the Savior said.

In this instance, since He said it would never be forgiven, the false doctrine of purgatory would do no good anyway.

[Zionist Conspirator]

How does one a protestant explain our Savior's words? Or does he just conveniently ignore them?

I guess the same way Catholics explain (or ignore) "for six days G-d created the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh day," or all those mythological chronologies in Genesis and Chronicles.

But the house of Lareto really did fly. We know because no "redneck" discredits this "miracle" by believing in it.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Recall that the "reformers" saw paganism under every rock.

Not to mention all paganism out in the open in Catholicism

This explains why protestants do their utmost not to read the works of the early Church.

You could not be more wrong. We recognize they are historic information, but not inspired, nor even agree with each other.

[Antoninus]

To be deep in Scripture is to cease being Catholic.

To falsify Scripture by imposing one's own personal opinion on it is to cease being a Catholic.

Fixed it for you.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

To falsify Scripture by imposing one's own personal opinion on it is to cease being a Catholic.

That is the very definition of Catholic Bible Study methods.

[Mark17]

This explains why protestants do their utmost not to read the works of the early Church. Sadly, without doing so, your understanding of Sacred Scripture will, of necessity, be deeply flawed.

Flawed or not, Purgatory is false doctrine. You can believe whatever you like, but I am not going to accept Purgatory. By the way, I have been to Purgatory. Good skiing there. 😁

[aMorePerfectUnion]