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Does the Bible say purgatory exists?
Roman Catholic Christians who believe in purgatory interpret passages such as 2 Maccabees 12:41–46, 2 Timothy 1:18, Matthew 12:32, Luke 16:19–16:26, Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 3:11–3:15 and Hebrews 12:29 as support for prayer for purgatorial souls who are believed to be within an active interim state for the dead …
When did purgatory exist?
According to the French historian Jacques Le Goff, the conception of purgatory as a physical place dates to the 12th century, the heyday of medieval otherworld-journey narratives and of pilgrims’ tales about St. Patrick’s Purgatory, a cavelike entrance to purgatory on a remote island in northern Ireland.
Can you be in purgatory on earth?
According to the church, only God knows the exact amount of time a person must spend in purgatory before attaining a state of purity. This temporal punishment can be served either on Earth—through confessor-assigned penance or by obtaining an indulgence—or in purgatory.
Who created purgatory?
Jacques Le Goff
The most prominent modern historian of the idea of Purgatory, Jacques Le Goff, dates the term purgatorium to around 1170; and in 1215 the Church began to set out the actual length of time in Purgatory required of souls.
Can I pray for someone to go to heaven?
To get to heaven what must happen is that each person repent of their sins and become born again as described in John ch. 3. Jesus alone took the place of guilty sinners, and it is in him that we have salvation. So no you can not pray anyone else into heaven.
Does the Catholic Church still believe in Purgatory?
Most Catholics and a few scattered denominations believe in Purgatory as being real. Most evangelical or Protestant Christians do not. There is no record in the history of the early church that this doctrine was ever taught.
Why do people believe in Purgatory?
Catholics believe that purgatory evens the score and fulfills justice while accommodating mercy. They believe that purgatory isn’t a place but a spiritual state of the soul in which it’s purified before entering heaven. Known as the Church Suffering, the souls in purgatory are definitely and absolutely going to heaven, just not yet.
Where in the Bible does it say Purgatory exist?
Purgatory isn’t found in the Bible. It’s based primarily on a passage in 2 Maccabees 2:46: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” Maccabees may be considered part of the Bible by Catholics, but neither the ancient Jews nor the early church considered them inspired Scripture.
Is Purgatory the same thing as hell?
As nouns the difference between hell and purgatory. is that hell is (countable|hyperbole) a place or situation of great suffering in life while purgatory is (theology) in catholicism , the stage of the afterlife where souls suffer for their sins before they can enter heaven.