11 Fun Facts about Christmas for Catholics
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I was asked about the Catholic teaching of Purgatory recently by a friend who could not see its basis in the Bible. Here is my answer to them, which I decided to share:
Purgatory is the modern way the Church expresses the ancient Biblical concept of “the place of the dead”, Sheol in the Old Testament Hebrew, and Hades in New Testament Greek. After the Church had converted the pagan Roman Empire, Latin became the official language of the Church, and that concept was expressed in Latin as Purgatory. The word ‘purgatory’ is not seen in Sacred Scripture because it is a teaching tool to explain this biblical concept, just as the word ‘trinity’ never appears in the Bible either, it is just used to explain God’s triune nature. For example, in the Apostles' Creed, we say "Christ descended into hell (Hades in the original Greek)." He did not really descend into the hell of eternal fire; he descended into Sheol.
Here are some verses of Sacred Scripture which illustrate the teaching. There are more, but I stayed in the New Testament for this discussion, since many of the Purgatory references in the Old Testament were taken out of the Protestant bibles after the Reformation:
Matt 12:32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
(this shows that there is a place of forgiveness in the afterlife. Not Heaven, don’t need forgiveness there; not Hell—there is no forgiveness there.)
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago.
1 Cor. 3:15 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 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. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
(so, a person’s ill deeds are burned away in the afterlife, and they are saved in that fire—cannot be the fire of Hell, no one gets out of Hell—that cleansing is what The Church calls Purgatory)
Matt 18:23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' 30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
(so, there is a prison we go to after death from which we are released after all our debt is paid—cannot be Hell—no one gets out of Hell—therefore: Purgatory)
