Luther's bogus song and dance about Christ sprinkling a bit of snow on a dung heap which the Father then winks at is itself a pile of dung that needs disposed of, not covered with something to hide it. Nothing impure will enter Heaven, not something hidden under some snow, not something with a Harry Potter invisibility cloak, nothing. That means those who die in less than a state of perfection need to be purified.
Given the frequency with which those who side with Luther mention that we're all still sinners and how often so many people take Luther's advice to sin boldly, there's no way such folks can even claim we're all pure when we die. The rare individual may be, but nearly everyone is still going to have a sinner's mind and frame of reference on things they haven't dealt with during their lifetime. How can anyone who claims to believe in Scripture, Scripture that says we're to be perfect even as the Father is perfect argue that when Paul said we would be purified as if by fire he wasn't serious and explaining that we need to be refined prior to moving on to Heaven?
Most of those who want to argue about Purgatory are arguing straw-men and their own misunderstanding of what Purgatory is. I know, I did that myself most of my life. If you open your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you, though, Purgatory and everything else the Church teaches is right there in front of you in Scriptures. The only thing in your way are the self imposed scales on your eyes.
If you die and are not dropped into Hell, you're in Paradise because you know you're destined for Heaven, you know nothing can keep you from getting there, and you know that Jesus Christ is waiting for you with open arm. If you have to undergo a process of purification before you get there it may be painful in some way but you'll still be far happier than you've ever been during your lifetime in spite of your grief over having offended God so much when you were alive.
I agree that many do, although I know nonCatholics who agree with the basic concept. I think JimRed summed it up quite nicely when he said, "God looks upon the heart."
What a beautiful way to express why we (well, at least me!) need purgatory. What are my sins if not a failure to love God in the way I should?
We know from scripture that sinners do not inherit the kingdom. If I sin then I am not yet ready to enter the kingdom even if I have accepted Jesus paid for all my sins. Purgatory isn't an acknowledgement that Jesus' blood was insufficient payment for my sins. It's acknowledgement that I don't yet love God as I should and my sins are evidence of that failure to love. If my love for God were perfect, I would never do the slightest thing to offend him or any of his other children.
Purgatory is where those last bits of me that resisted sanctification before death get cleansed away, allowing me to enter into God's glory able to love him in the way he wants me to love him. It's not about limitations on God's action. It's about my inability to love as God desires me to in his kingdom. I can't remove these obstacles on my own. I had a lifetime to do it and I failed. Finally in purgatory they get removed and I will at last be able to love God at the very deepest levels that he desires from me. "God looks upon the heart." Yes, I like that sentence very much :) Thanks, JimRed.
Peace be with you.
Whenever I see or hear a Catholic go to a bible to dig up some religious proof text, I get a vision of giving a cat a bath...A cat will get close enough to the water to take a drink but will scram at any threat of getting dunked...And you've given a classic example...
Paul said we would be purified as if by fire
Now Paul didn't say that at all, did he??? Paul said 'our works' would be put thru the fire, but, BUT, BUT we, shall be saved...We will be saved because those bad works don't survive the fire and are burned up...
So why do you misquote scripture and distort it to promote a fallacy???