Purgatory
Matthew 12:32: And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age [world] or in the age [world] to come. (Some sins can therefore be forgiven after death.)
1 Corinthians 3:13-15: . . . each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
2 Maccabees 12:45-46: (This is one of the Old Testament books omitted from the Protestant Bible). But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
Revelation 21:27: Nothing defiled can enter Heaven.
While many Protestant critics reject Purgatory because the word does not appear in the bible, the actual reason is that such a teaching would make their view of justification by faith alone untenable. This Catholic teaching sustains our understanding of intercessory prayer for the dead, meritorious works done in Christ in reparation for sin, the temporal punishment due to sin, and transformation over imputation in Christ. Our justification is not a mere juridical rendering from God, but the elect are made into a new creation. They are changed. Purgatory allows this transformation to come to completion. The Scriptures uphold such a teaching, despite the protestations of so-called bible-Christians. The bible teaches that some sins are forgiven in the world to come, on the other side of death. We are not talking here about mortal sin that damns the soul. The Scriptures also indicate that some, although not all, are saved in the next world by fire. Literally the fire of God's love purifies his own and makes them ready for heaven. In addition, the value of intercessory prayer for the dead is advocated by the bible. Like a bride who wants to look her best before meeting her bridegroom, Purgatory allows us to undergo a cleansing or purgation of any residual stain-- venial sin, the temporal punishment due to sin, and the tendency (habit) to sin.
posted by Father Joe Jenkins | 9:36 PM
3 Comments:
PURGATORY
Matthew 12:32: And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age [world] or in the age [world] to come. (Some sins can therefore be forgiven after death.)
Again, private interpretation. Go back one more verse. (31)
"Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men."
How do you get that there will be "some sins can be forgiven after death?" You just called Jesus a liar, for Jesus said ALL MANNER OF SIN AND BLASPHEMY SHALL BE FORGIVEN.."
There's only ONE exception.....except those who blaspheme against that Holy Ghost.
No where in the Bible does it state that there are some sins that can be forgiven after death. Produce the Scriptures, please. The Bible says, "....it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:' not a special time for forgiveness. (Heb. 9:27)
Matthew states, "And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
It's clear there is only ONE sin that will not be forgiven in "THIS WORLD" and in the "WORLD TO COME."
Again, comparing Scripture with Scripture (without private interpretation), the "world" is described throughout the Old and New Testament as the coming Millennial reign of Christ, ON EARTH (Matt. 13:39; 13:49; 24:13; Mark 10:30), which will have literal rulers (Matt. 19) and literal transformations in nature (Isa. 11, Rom. 8). So the "this world" is at the time when Jesus was on the face of this earth, and the world to come is the next time He is on the face of this earth RULING for one thousand years. (See Rev. 20)
But this isn't the end! This sin of blasphemy (often called the "unpardonable sin") is defined as SPEAKING. In Mark 3:30, the Holy Spirit defines what the unpardonable sin is.
"Because they SAID, He hath an unclean spirit." (see vs. 30 and 31 together).
So at the time Jesus is saying this, He says that sin will not be forgiven in THIS WORLD (at the time he was on the face of this earth), and in the WORLD to COME (the future Millennial Reign when He will be back on this earth.). So if somebody is to commit this sin, they would have to do it by SPEAKING, just as they did when He was here at the first Advent.
1 Corinthians 3:13-15: . . . each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
This has nothing to do with the fanciful invention of purgatory.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ, sins are not are judged, it's WORKS that are judged. Did you ever hear "good job" and "bad job?"
Let's compare Scripture with Scripture.
"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." - 1 Cor. 3:13-15
"....For we shall al stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. 14:10)
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10)
"Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water" (Num. 31:23).
This has nothing to do with "burning in a fictitious placed called purgatory. The person's salvation is not even in question (If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved)!
The fire never even touches him! Sir Jenkins, do you remember Lot? He was "saved by fire" i.e. the fire never touched him. In the context of Baptism, remember Noah and his family? Noah and his family were dry and stayed alive; it was the wet ones who died outside the protection of the ark.
Note that what is being tested by fire are "works," not people! No person has to be purged by fire to be cleansed from sins. The purging of sins is done by blood not fire. (Heb. 1:3; 9:14)
2 Maccabees 12:45-46: (This is one of the Old Testament books omitted from the Protestant Bible). But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
The support for purgatory comes from the Apocrypha. It is not considered Scripture by both Bible Believing Christians and the Jewish people. It is also a fact that no serious Jew or born again Christian gave two cents worth of consideration about the Apocryphal books, only the Roman Catholic Church did, who added the books to the Bible by the Council of Trent in 1546 A.D.
The word "apocrypha" itself means, "not genuine; spurious; counterfeit," the definition of the word declares the nature of the books.
For that matter, even Jesus doesn't recognize the Apocrypha. He never quoted it, never read it, never defended it, and never called it Scriptures. I can prove to you he only recognized the Hebrew Old Testament, written in Hebrew. The Hebrew Old Testament contains three sections. They are:
the "Torah,"
the "Nabhim,"
and the "Kethubim."
Each of these sections are called"
"the Law,
the Prophets,
and the Writings (Psalms).
The books contained in these three sections are:
(The Torah) Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
(The Nabhim) Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, , Amos, Obadiah, Johan, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Haggai, Habbakuk, Zechariah, and Malachi.
(The Kethubim) Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
This is the Canon of Scripture the Holy Spirit has fixed concerning the Old Testament. Whenever Jesus referred to anything written, he was referring to those Scriptures.
Now, over in Luke 24:44, Jesus makes His canonical statement when referring to those Scriptures, ".....all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the LAW of Moses, and in the PROPHETS, and in the PSALMS, concerning me."
It is obvious Jesus had no use for the Roman Catholic Apocrypha.
The inspiration of Scripture had ceased from the ending of Malachi until Matthew. During that time there were no prophets from God to declare His word. In fact, the book of Maccabees itself declares there were no prophets, and therefore the inspiration of Scripture had ceased. It states, "There had not been such great distress in Israel since the time prophets ceased to appear among the people" (1 Maccabees 9:27).
But then again, I can find this truth in the Scriptures. The prophets ceased with Zechariah. Jesus speaks of his death in Matthew 23:35 as closing the prophetic era (from righteous Abel to Zacharias), thus the four hundred silent years begin. The canon of the Old Testament Scripture ends with the martyrdom of Zechariah.
However, the teaching of purgatory is supposedly supported by 2 Maccabees 12:46, as you stated above. "It is holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from their sins."
This is interesting considering that the passage is in reference to those who were guilty of idolatry! "But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear (2 Macc. 12:40). The men for whom prayer was offered had died because they were idolaters, and according to Roman Catholicism, idolatry is a mortal sin which would send them to Hell, not purgatory, but yet the verse is used to prove we are to pray for the dead to shorten their time and degrees of suffering in purgatory by using those guilty of idolatry!
The Apocrypha not only contradicts our God-given Scriptures, it contradicts itself. For example, in the two books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes dies three different deaths, and not in the same places!
The Bible mentions nothing about purgatory. Romans 6:23 says, "the wages of sin is death," not a limited time spent in purgatory.
In the Bible, the soul is cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, when he is alive, not dead. Once death comes, then judgment, not an undefined limited time getting cleansed from sin or forgiveness of sins. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Heb. 9:27)
Nowhere does Scripture say a person is cleansed by "purifying fire." Fire has to do with Hell. Rather, a person is cleansed by His BLOOD. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Furthermore, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Thus, cleansing doesn't come by "purifying fire," but only by the "blood of Jesus Christ."
No sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as their Saviour will have to undergo any further purging. Jesus said "It is FINISHED." It is finished because Jesus already did the PURGING, "when he had by himself PURGED our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). If you are a born again believer, your sins have been purged. If you are a born again believer and die, you will be in the presence of the Lord," To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8), not undergoing a man made purgatory fire!
Revelation 21:27: Nothing defiled can enter Heaven.
Read, read, read. Why don't you quote the whole verse?
"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." -Rev. 21:27
I don't know about you, but my name is written in the "book of life" (Phil. 4:3). The Bible reference you quote is to those who come out of the Tribulation and Millennium. And the reason for that is because those who come in, come in to get what will give them eternal life (Rev. 22:14). They must eat from the "tree of life" to get eternal life. They finally obtain what was forbidden to Adam in Genesis 3:22-24. The Christians are already there, the church, the "Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9) and they already have eternal life, they don't need to eat from the "tree of life" (1 John 5:12). Thus, the passage refers to people on the earth in eternity who go into New Jerusalem to finally partake of the "tree of life." It's all right there in black and white if you'll take the time to read it and believe what you read.
WORD PURGATORY NOT IN BIBLE SO PROTESTANTS REJECT IT
No, the reason why the Roman Catholic Church made up and introduced a place called Purgatory in the year 593 A.D. and declared it an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 A.D. is because they could not accept the fact that the Bible teaches that for anybody alive can have eternal salvation as as a free gift! "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Eph. 2:8,9). "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:23).
CATHOLIC TEACHING ABOUT INTERCESSORY PRAYER
I notice you cannot give scriptural proof text for your above statement. What you say is just what it is, "Catholic teaching," not "Bible teaching."
Justification IS a judicial act of God whereby He declares the sinner to be righteous (Rom. 3:26). Even in the Book of Galatians Paul says, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
In this same Book it says, "And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would JUSTIFY the heathen THROUGH FAITH..." (Gal. 3:8)
In this same Book it says, "But that NO MAN is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH" (Gal. 3:11; cf. Rom. 4:2, Gal. 2:16).
Christ paid the full penalty for our sins, and those who are born again are completely justified. (Rom. 5:9, 5:18; Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 3:24; Hebrews 9:26; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:20; Rom. 3:28; Rom. 5:1; Gal. 3:24, etc. etc.)
Just because you are not sure about your eternal life and standing before God does not mean you must make everybody else unsure.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13)
Jenkins: "The bible teaches that some sins are forgiven in the world to come, on the other side of death."
This has already been addressed.
Jenkins: "We are not talking here about mortal sin that damns the soul. The Scriptures also indicate that some, although not all, are saved in the next world by fire. Literally the fire of God's love purifies his own and makes them ready for heaven."
Again, you have no Scriptures to confirm YOUR belief. Again, see comment above. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, sins are NOT addressed, it's his WORKS that are judged.
Jenkins: "In addition, the value of intercessory prayer for the dead is advocated by the bible."
Where? I thought so. Only in the Apocrypha, but not in the Scriptures.
PURGATORY CLEANSING
Scriptures say nothing about having to undergo a cleansing or purgation of any sin after death. It's already been done. Praise God!
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you ALL trespasses;" -Col. 2:13
"For by ONE offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." -Heb. 10:14
"But this man, after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOR EVER, sat down on the right hand of God;" Hebrews 10:12
"In whom we HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the FORGIVENESS OF SINS, according to the riches of his grace;" -Eph. 1:7
Praise God!
When the jailer asked Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" they did not answer by saying, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but because Christ did not forgive all punishment for sin on the cross, chances are very high that you will end up in purgatory where there needs to be further purging of your sins by fire. You see, once you are saved by being sprinkled with Jericho water, you must pray so you won't spend a long time in the purgatory fire. You must pray to Mary, that's Jesus' mother, and pray for the dead so they can get out too. We are not yet sure how many prayers it will take, so be faithful to pray the rosary every day, and you must ask Mary to intercede for you. Also remember that you should abstain from eating meats on Fridays, go to a Catholic priest for confession on Saturdays, attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and make sure you fast one hour before Mass before you eat Jesus' body and blood. If you make the sign of the cross, you are granted an indulgence of three years. If you make the same holy sign with blessed water, you may gain an indulgence of seven years.[2] Oh! Indulgences are also granted for visits of the faithful to various Catholic shrines. Don't forget to pray for the pope while you are at it. If you are faithful in all I say and the many things I tell you in the future, under proper conditions, indulgences will also be applied to the dead in purgatory for the reduction of the degree of suffering and the length of time it must be endured. Don't forget that you can also BUY ($$$) indulgences to get some poor soul out of purgatory." Etc. Etc. Etc.
What did Paul and Silas answer? They simply said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:30-31 It is that simple!
The previous two posts were reposted for SANDY HOOPER
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