Home › Forums › All Things Catholic › purgatory › Reply To: purgatory
Question from the article “where is purgatory in the bible by Jon Jakoblich
He begins by stating, “The Bible does not mention the exact word “purgatory,” but instead it makes reference to a place. To claim that it does not exist because of this is a cop out.
You might as well even deny that there is a book called the Bible because no such name is found in the inspired writings.”
Then ends with, “So, why do non-Catholics reject a teaching so full of consolation? My guess is that they want to believe that the merits of Christ applied to the sinner who trusts in Him, will remove all sin; hence the believer will go at once to Heaven (also known as the belief called Sola Fide or faith alone).
Nowhere in the Bible does it say faith alone. This is un-Scriptural, since Christ tells us that to enter into life we must keep the commandments, hear the Church, do the will of His Father and much more with faith. Yes, actions plus faith.”
See the problem here? Believe in Purgatory even though it isn’t mentioned directly, but don’t believe in Sola Fida because it isn’t mentioned in scripture.
But my real question is this. What sins were forgiven by Christ’s death on the cross? How many of our sins can we be forgiven of before we die? Which sins can’t be forgiven until we die? What do we do with the faith statements of Paul in the new testament? Statements like:
To live is Christ, to die is gain
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by [c]sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
Rom 5:8 Jesus died to pay the penalty for all sin
1 Jn 2:2
Or how about Jesus himself, saying to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven”
To the woman at the well, Go and sin no more, implying she was forgiven
Paul we are free from sin
Jesus telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus, who died and immediately went to heaven?
I am not coming to start a fight, I just don’t know how Catholics or those who believe in purgatory respond to these scriptures, or what to do with them.