These people as you stated were purging the flesh...They purged to get the rot of disease off their bodies...And you equate their plight to the plight of modern day Catholics...
There is no way to purge our bodies of sin until Jesus does it in the resurrection...
We Christians are separated from our bodies...There is absolutely no reason to purge our fleshy bodies after we die...
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Our soul does not need purging...We are separated (from our flesh) onto Jesus Christ...
This seems to sum up your entire understanding of the issue...Mediterranean purging practices...God doesn't care about your purging practices...No matter how much you purge in Italy, Turkey or your supposed purgatory, your corrupted body is still going into the ground...
Your intellectual knowledge of historical hygiene in the Middle east has nothing to do with God, Salvation or eternity...
You would do well to dwell on Romans 8:9 and figure out what to do with it...
Hello, you apparently missed the first six words of NL’s post: “Theological purging is a common theme.”