Why Purgatory Is a Dangerous Doctrine

Some people are taught to deal with their guilt by placing confidence in the doctrine of "purgatory." I suppose you could compare it to a student working on a project to gain "extra credit" to make up for some bad grades. Unfortunately, the doctrine of purgatory provides false hope because it is based not in fact, but in fantasy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," and is for those who are said to be going to heaven but are nevertheless "still imperfectly purified." (CCC 1030) According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, purgatory is "a place or condition of temporal punishment" for a Christian after death. The punishment and purification process in purgatory is said to "purge" away certain sins that still require cleansing.

So what's the problem with this theory? Well, the problem is that this doctrine is not rooted in Scripture. And on top of that, it invites sinners to assume the blood of Jesus and the cross of Christ are not enough to make a believer completely holy in God's sight. Man needs "more" purification, or so goes the misguided line of reasoning.

In reality, every believer is already completely holy in God's sight as a result of the Savior's sacrifice on the cross 2000 years ago. This complete cleansing flows from the miracle of the cross. (1 Peter 2:24,25) Thankfully, every Christian is already "seated with Christ in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 2:6) The complete purification of a sinner's soul occurs the moment the new birth takes place (John 3:6,7) in a person's heart through faith in Christ. (John 1:12; John 3:16)

"We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:10)

report this ad This astounding declaration is not man's opinion. It is God's Word on the matter, period.

Now either the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has the power to make a believer completely holy in God's sight, or it doesn't. And if it does, then who do you suppose would be interested in trying to water down the biblical doctrine of justification through faith? (Gal. 2:16) Does that sound like something God would do, or is the doctrine of purgatory more in line with doctrines the devil would likely spout?

Since Satan is "the father of lies," (John 8:44) our invisible adversary tells unbelievers: "You're good enough to get into heaven by your sincerity and your morality." Meanwhile, he uses a different line of deception when accusing believers: "You're not pure enough! You know you're a terrible person. And you call yourself a Christian...ha...what a joke!"

report this ad The devil hopes to take our eyes off Jesus and the cross where our redemption was earned "once for all." (Romans 6:10) If the prince of darkness can't convince you to reject the cross, his minions work overtime trying to get you to "add to the cross." Satan knows that when it comes to a person's approach to salvation, "Jesus plus something equals nothing." Adding to the cross is just as deadly as rejecting the cross, and no one knows this fact better than the devil himself.

Remember, Satan is an individual angel who has been manipulating a team of evil angels (demons) for thousands of years. And so he has had plenty of time to refine his craft. The devil doesn't want you to know the truth, whether you are a believer or an unbeliever. Either way, Lucifer's bag of tricks and seductive lies are lined up and always ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons....they forbid people to marry, etc." (1 Timothy 4:1,3) And of all the dangerous doctrines that have been conjured up over the centuries, the doctrine of purgatory is a real doozy!

The Holy Spirit certainly did not invent the doctrine of purgatory. The third Person of the Trinity will never guide you to add something to the cross in your quest to be completely purified.

report this ad The reality for the believer is that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7) so that we are now "holy in God's sight, without blemish and free from accusation." (Colossians 1:22) This is the case regardless of a believer's religious label, be it "Catholic," "Protestant," or something else.

Everyone who has been converted through faith in Jesus is instantly forgiven, saved, justified, born again, and redeemed on the front end of their relationship with God. The miracle of conversion is available to man because of the perfection of Christ's sacrifice 2000 years ago, as well as the power of Christ's holy blood that was shed on the cross for our sins.

Believers don't need any "more" purification in order to be holy in God's sight. And the idea that man could somehow be punished or purified in purgatory as a way of preparing his soul for heaven is foreign to the Bible. In fact, this doctrine stands opposed to the teaching of the Gospel and to the biblical message of grace.

Here is a helpful acronym to remember the meaning of G-R-A-C-E: "God's Riches at Christ's Expense."

report this ad The doctrine of purgatory, on the other hand, could be summed up this way: S-P-A-C-E, or "Special Punishment a Christian Earns."

GRACE or SPACE? Which approach will you rely upon for complete purification before God? Christ being punished unto death in your place, or you being punished after death to merit some extra purification for your sins?

The Bible provides us with the only way a sinner is purified before Almighty God: "By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:14) Could it be any clearer?

The focus in the New Testament is always on the punishment Jesus endured for our sins, and not on some supposed punishment a Christian receives in "purgatory." Such a diabolical doctrine strips the cross of Christ of its glory, while ignoring the full atoning power of the Savior's blood to completely wash away the sins of a believer.

report this ad Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Christ's crucifixion, "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." (Isaiah 53:5) Rather than giving us the punishment we deserve, God took the punishment upon Himself in order to redeem us from sin, death, and the devil.

And so today, you either have complete forgiveness through Christ alone, or no forgiveness whatsoever. The forgiveness of sins is not given out in parts. Every converted person is purified completely today; right now; prior to their death. If you are waiting until after you die to have all your sins washed away, you will be waiting a very long time to say the least.

Purgatory is nothing more than a seductive and deceptive myth. If truth be told, this doctrine is "all talk" and "no action," no cleansing, and no purging away of sins.

And where does that leave a person who has gone to their grave while relying upon the false promises of purgatory? When it comes to life, death, and eternity, there are no do-overs.

report this ad "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

Aside from Scripture, we wouldn't know what happens to a soul the moment a person dies. Only God's Word correctly informs our mind and our conscience on such lofty matters.

One biblical passage that has been used in attempting to defend the doctrine of purgatory is 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. But those who do so misinterpret the true meaning of this text. I wrote about the real meaning of this passage in an article entitled, "The Biblical Distinction Between 'Gift' and 'Reward."

At the end of time, a believer's works will indeed be tested with fire to see if the works were done with the right motives. That is to say, were they done by someone trying to shine the light and focus on himself; or instead, trying to shine the light on Christ and keep the focus on the Savior?

report this ad Regarding the works of a believer on that day..."his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." (1 Cor. 3:13-15)

Did you catch that? It describes the man who gets into heaven because he received the free gift of eternal life, and so he was saved; and yet, he "suffers loss" of certain rewards that he would have received if his motives had been different in his service for Christ. He will still of course enjoy a fantastic life in heaven forever, and he will not be even slightly jealous in heaven of anyone's else reward. (Jealousy and the like are only found on earth, and not in heaven.) Before the believer enters heaven, however, the work he completed on earth will be tested with fire to see how much of it was noble, selfless, and Christ-centered.

Eternal life in heaven is a free gift and cannot be merited by man's efforts, either in this life, or in the fictional realm of "purgatory." Rewards, on the other hand, are taught in Scripture as a way God has chosen to bless His children for their works on earth. But if you are not in the family of God through faith in Christ, then the promise of heavenly rewards does not apply to you. It only applies to God's children.

The apostle Paul wrote these words to believers reminding them of the way they entered God's eternal family: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (Eph. 2:8,9)

Once the gift is received through faith, salvation is secure. There is no need for any further purification in order to be justified before God. And this explains why the theory of purgatory is so dangerous. Purgatory is a pernicious man-made doctrine that contradicts Scripture and opposes the cross of Christ.

There is nothing man can do to add to what Christ accomplished on the cross. Any attempt to add to the Savior's sacrifice is doomed to fail, and will lead a person to place a measure of faith in something other than the finished work of Christ on the cross.

When those in Galatia were being goaded by the Judaizers to add circumcision to the basis of their eternal hope of salvation, Paul warned them sternly: "That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 'A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.'" (Gal. 5:8,9)

In other words, the moment you attempt to add something to Christ's sacrifice on the cross as the basis of your justification before God, you are on the verge of losing everything.

Paul went so far as to inform the folks in Galatia: "You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." (Gal. 5:4)

And so the bottom line is this: What am I relying upon in order to be pure in God's eyes? Am I trusting Christ alone and the blood He shed on the cross for my sins? Or am I planning to bear some punishment myself after I die in order to be "purified" to the point of complete perfection?

If so, be careful what you wish for. Those who are determined to receive punishment for their sins should realize that the only people who are punished after death are those who will be punished in hell forever. (Matthew 25:41)

And I know you don't want to receive eternal punishment, correct? So don't dabble with the diabolical doctrine that spews forth the following concept: "A little bit of punishment after death is good for the soul." Yeah right. Don't believe it for a second.

Amidst all of its rotten fruit, perhaps the most offensive aspect of this dangerous doctrine is simply this: The teaching of purgatory is a slap in the Savior's face because it proudly proclaims to do something that only the blood of Jesus has the power to accomplish. (Revelation 1:5)

“Your understanding is very shallow. When James wrote his letter it was the first New Testament writing. The Gospels had not even been written yet.”

I think you are confused friend...James is part of the Gospels they had not been combined with other books to make the New Testament (along with the Old Testament) until the late 4th century when the Catholic Church put the true bible together with divine help. If you disagree with this, then you cannot be able to believe that the bible is divinely inspired. It doesn’t work...

The Bible speaks of each Christian’s works being tried “by the fire and those that are of Godly nature last thru the fire and those that aren’t are burned away...often called the judgment seat of Christ for the Christians in which various crowns are handed out but in the end all crowns earned are cast at the feet of Jesus...the worst of us get in “by the skin of our teeth” and the best of us will only earn a “C minus”. I think the erroneous concept of Purgatory comes from that.

The judgements are instantaneous but involves the works done by the Christian who just by being at the judgment seat of Christ shows the salvation of his or her spirit. He or she won’t lose their salvation but they will get kudos or stinkos depending on their works while alive. In the end it won’t matter since the rest of eternity will give rise for many opportunities for growth in ways we can’t begin to fathom in our present states.

As stated, you knowledge is very shallow. James wrote his letter while Jerusalem Christians and Damascus Christians were under persecution from Saul of Tarsus. He wrote to fellow Christians on how to make their ‘dead faith’ active. As a Catholic, you have been manipulated to not learn any things beyond what the ORG approves for your consumption. Paganizations like the notion your priests can hocus pocus bread into the flesh of Jesus are hallmarks of a very well designed cult, not Christianity, or elevating the Mother of Jesus to demigoddess status as a ‘co-redemtrix’.

One point I make about the apocrypha to folks is the lack of its everyday use even amongst those who claim it to be truly divine.

Just a quick survey glance at various missals, religious tomes, spoken massess,homilies, preachings and teachings will show you that the apocrypha is rarely taught or referred to or represented in the aforementioned. Oh sure one might find a reading here and there from Tobit or Wisdom or some such and 1 Maccabees is said to be accurate historically but 99 percent of the teaching examples that I survey from time to time that are in everyday use still derive from passages in the 39 main OT books and the 27 in the NT.

That is because the Holy Spirit is active and he is going to inspire messages from those works that the Spirit regards as true! It is the Spirit that searches out the deep things of God and then reveals them to our hearts.

Thank you daniel. You saved me the trouble of looking it all up again.

As for you, Wpin, YOU made the assertion that Luther removed books from the Bible without any evidence of your accusation. The burden of proof is on your head, not mine.

But I am so looking forward to your rebuttal now that the trap has closed. I predict that you’ll just call it all lies again without offering any proof of your claims.

I spent over fifty years as a Protestant...Methodist then American Baptist. You have only truly paid attention to learn about the true faith from those who are anti-Catholic. Studying Catholic catechist and the basis from the doctrines and theology as well as the doctors of the Church swayed me to realize just how shallow and lacking Protestant beliefs are. You are blind to simple concepts such as the one we are talking about here about good works and faith. One cannot have true faith, true bond to Christ and not do good works...it didn’t matter who James wrote his letter to, it is a universal concept. Jesus Christ himself was the one who stated that this is His body and he was not being metaphoric, indeed he later clarified. You are probably not aware that there have been numerous Eucharistic miracles where the wafers and wine have turned to the true flesh of Jesus (heart muscle under duress) or blood (type AB) over the centuries. Kind of like the Shroud of Turin. There is no magic involved, it is recognition and having the authority from Jesus himself that the Priests have power to do these things. We are Christianity bud, you are at best incorrect in important theological/doctrinal aspects or at worst heretical. Mary is not a demigoddess as you probably like to pretend. Mary is recognized in the Catholic Church as Jesus wants us to. Indeed, there is archeological evidence from the 1st century for Protestants to ignore. It is only in recent (lost few hundred years) that so many have lost the true faith and believe as you do. If your faith was true you would be true theologically with the bible and recognize the truth of tradition as Jesus commanded us to. But, those do not fit into Protestant thinking where you decide how God fits into your religion rather than fitting into God’s. That is the shame and danger of Protestant thinking. Each of you has equal weight in deciding what is God’s word...each are a true interpreter of God in any way that you desire. And you mock us? Grow up and get some actual learning...

I am 75. I have been born again since 1972. I have been in The Word longer than you can imagine. The Church Jesus spoke of when Peter respond that Jesus is The Christ, the son of The Living God is a spiritual body of Believers, also known as the Bride of Christ.

The Roman Catholic religion (and it is so far from Christianity that it is indeed as Paul described an other religion') well Romanism is not Christianity for ONLY God can reconcile a dead spirit to Himself by imputing Christ's righteousness to that one so that one can even approach The Holy God. You are not born with righteousness nor can you be trained to righteousness UNTIL God reconciles you to Himself. The is no works exchange program by you that starts, or completes what ONLY God can do.

Did you know that The Word of God says we born agains will be priests and kings to our God? Being born from above is solely by the Grace of God by faith alone in Christ alone.

As a practicing catholic you have a belief that your priesthood can perform magic via magical incantation which requires Christ to come from the Throne Room to hundreds of thousands of Catholic altars to feed His flesh and blood to your adherents. That is a pagan notion incorporated into the early Christian faith by men who were carnal and not spiritual so they did not understand the spiritual Remembrance Jesus instituted the night He was betrayed.

That Passover celebration is not connected to the sarcasm Jesus used as shown in JOhn 6, but the Roman Catholic religion asserts the connection so as to empower the heretical priesthood of your religion.

My concern is your spiritual state. If you were born again sometime in the past, before being inculcated by Romanism, then you are destined to be Raptured in the near future with ALL the Church of Jesus Believers.

The concept of the three tenses or phases of Salvation might help you, if you will seek truly to understand what The Grace of God in Christ means to your spirit, for believing on Whom God has sent for your Salvation is an immediate imputation BY GOD ALONE to your dead spirit, imputation of the righteousness of Christ and God's seed within your come-alive spirit (1 John 3:9).

Yes, I believe once saved always thereafter saved. Why? Becuase ONLY God can transform your spirit from deadness to alive forever more, and He does that for believers because it glorifies The One Whom H sent, not you or me.

You are looking at the hole, not the Donut.

If Yeshua has meant Peter, the person, Yeshua would said “you ‘Petros, but Yeshua did not say “you” or “Petros”. Petros, a named derived form “petra” or “rock” but being a person NOT “a rock”. Petros (not petra) was a person, not a thing, not a “this”.

And what Yeshua said was “on this rock (petra”; not “you Petros”.

And “this rock” refers as Yeshua directly pointed out was Peter’s (Petros) answer, not Peter. And Peters answer was the correct answer the question from Yeshia - who do you say I am.

That answer was “that you are the Christ”, and THAT the answer (the belief and faith that Yeshua is the Christ”< is the “that rock” (that “petra” not ‘you Petros”) THAT Yeshua said was the foundation of His Church. That belief, not Peter.

Applying your metric then.. and anecdotal witness of frequency of use as it relates to "inspiration" from my experiences... one could also assume many Christians incorrectly place the value and creedence of St. Paul's epistles Above that of the Gospels of the Apostles who actually lived and walked with Christ...and where Jesus own words are given us. So I think your method is too subjective in that regard.

Given the uncertainty...and controversy of determining an established Jewish Canon between the differing sects of ancient Jews- and combined with how the Dead Sea Scrolls prefigure a Messianic Christ to come...and in yhose same Scrolls contain content from Tobit and Sirach.... I think these books that have been eliminated from your Bible- possibly based on some post-Temple destruction Jewish aversion to Christianity ought to be re-thought by all who seek that Truth. Do you agree...or is it settled "science"?

"I would say you are one of those who did not understand the Catholic doctrine. Indeed, your misunderstanding is very clear on this subject regarding Purgatory. You were born again at Baptism...but, let’s not argue semantics. Your admission to believing in false theology is worrisome. How in the hell (literally) did you get where you are? Come home Daniel1212, come back to the true faith."

You have now descended into more blatant false accusations as well as irrationality. Rather than any misunderstanding at all being clear on this subject, you have utterly failed to show any at all on my part while it is I who has substantiated both Catholic as well as Biblical teaching on Purgatory.

And as for born again at baptism, that is not Scriptural since Scripture teaches and shows that it is the faith which is expressed in baptism and following the Lord that appropriates the washing of regeneration, "purifying their hearts thru faith" (Acts 10:43-47; 15:7-9) and infants (which id when most Catholics are baptized) cannot and need not repent and believe with all their heart, which are the Scriptural requirements for baptism. (Acts 2:28; 8:36,37)

Moreover, the idea that such Catholic effects regeneration makes a mockery of Scriptural regeneration with its profound basic changes in heart and life (such as I realized, praise God) considering that this is not what baptized Catholics manifest, as instead your church is overall spiritually dead. As I found out experientially.

And as "Your admission to believing in false theology is worrisome," it is your cognitive dissonance (or lying) that is worrisome, since the only admission to believing in false theology was to being a Catholic. And which I was prayerfully led out of and into evangelical fellowship by seeking to obey and serve the Lord of Scripture, thanks be to God!

Thus the call to you is to come back to the true faith, that of the NT church in which distinctive Catholic teachings are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed.

"Just a quick survey glance at various missals, religious tomes, spoken massess,homilies, preachings and teachings will show you that the apocrypha is rarely taught or referred to or represented in the aforementioned. Oh sure one might find a reading here and there from Tobit or Wisdom or some such and 1 Maccabees is said to be accurate historically but 99 percent of the teaching examples that I survey from time to time that are in everyday use still derive from passages in the 39 main OT books and the 27 in the NT."

Indeed, and Purgatory is not what is even taught in 2 Mac., as shown. Meanwhile according to the research by a RC cited before (Todd Easton: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3418790/posts?page=51#51) , Obadiah is never read during the 3-year RC cycle, even if one includes weekday masses, while Judges, Ruth, Esther, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Nahum, and Haggai are utterly missing in the Sunday cycle, and only 1% of Leviticus, Numbers, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and Daniel are read.

I think from your mindset and age that finding truth has long gone from you. Well, you best hope God has given you the opportunity to cleanse your soul of sin to purify it to be in His presence. Just magically clicking your heels together and saying Jesus forgive me all my unstated sins that I don’t really repent of but command you to forgive me...no, that won’t do it. Jesus did give power to Priests through the lineage from the apostles down all the way to today. But, you are never going to be able to understand that anymore than you can understand the bible. Baptism cleanses us from original sin, that is the main purpose of it. Then, we are born again at the second stage of baptism...confirmation. That is all biblical and indeed there is not one thing I have been able to find that Catholics have wrong in their doctrine. I cannot say the same about Protestantism...indeed, the truth is with over 20,000 different theologies of protestant thinking...it is a perversion of God’s Church at best.

At this point we are going to go around in circles as you continue to spew false doctrine based upon limited experience and thinking by Protestants many of whom have a primary purpose of trying to refute Jesus Church. Well, God Bless you...

Why don’t you learn what Catholic doctrine is on baptism and other theological matters from true Catholic sources before you spew out weak attempts of intellectualism by spewing out opinions of anti-Catholics on what we believe. Catholicism is the equivalent of upper level college while Protestantism is equivalent of grade school. Get curious, learn what truth it not some hodgepodge of blathering originating literally from a lunatic who had no real touch on reality.

You obviously did not learn about Catholic doctrine if you are unaware that baptism cleanses us from original sin and confirmation is our born again moment...both are intertwined perfectly to bring people to God as God created the sacraments to be. Heck, Protestants don’t actually believe in an active heaven where spirits interact with earthly spirits...it’s lunacy. Come home to the true faith daniel1212. Get well...

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