1. Session 6 – Purgatory
In this session we will finish our discussion on the Roman Catholic Church and the vital differences between Catholics and Christians doctrinally
Before we look at the final week of this class, we will be reviewing the previous classes so we have a final, overall picture of Catholicism

2. We started off week one talking about the protestant reformation
We looked at the most influential reformers and what the big issues were for them
Titus 3:5A: “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”
Next we looked at the Papacy and what the Catholic church believes regarding the Pope

3. On this third week we looked at the topic
Acts 16:31: “So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
On this third week we looked at the topic
of Sola Scriptura
2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”

4. Week 4 we looked Marian Dogmas
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;”
On week 5 we looked at the Roman Catholic Mass and Justification
1 John 2:2 "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world,"

5. The Doctrine of Purgatory
Now let’s get to the new material
The Doctrine of Purgatory
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they teach that:
"All who die in Gods grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."

6. The Second Vatican Council, p. 63, says
The Second Vatican Council, p. 63, says, "The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. Gods holiness and justice inflict them. Sins must be expiated. This may be done on this earth through the sorrows…

7. What exactly is involved in this purification process of purgatory?
miseries and trials of this life and, above all, through death. Otherwise the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments."
According to the Catholic Church, this place is called Purgatory, and is not a place of punishment, but purification
What exactly is involved in this purification process of purgatory?

8. The nature of this purification, according to different Catholic theologians, ranges from an extreme awareness of loss to an intense, excruciatingly painful "purifying fire."
They do not believe purgatory is for everyone. Baptized infants who have died prior to the age of accountability and Catholic saints who lived such holy lives are excused from the "purifying fires."

9. The length of time that someone must suffer in this state of purgatory is never known, but it is considered to be proportional to the nature and severity of the sins committed (good people spend less time)
It could be anywhere from a few hours to millions of years depending on who you are

10. What is the support for purgatory?
2 Maccabees 12:39-45
We read of a group of Jewish fighters all of who were idolaters, they carried Pagan idols with them and God strikes them down for their idolatry .
“On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to…

11. …bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers. Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out…

12. And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen…

13. would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 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 Priest then prays for those who are dead. That proves praying for those who have passed and are in purgatory?

14. But idolatry is a mortal sin and they would be in hell according to Catholic church
Plus the book we are looking at doesn’t even belong in the Bible! But we will come back to that in a moment
Other evidence
Prayers for the dead by the early church are cited as evidence for purgatory, but these prayers contradict purgatory

15. When you look at these prayers though they use terms about heaven and the joys of the world beyond the grave etc. not referring to some purgatory of pain after death.
Catholics will admit that this teaching is not based on scripture (the Bible) but is instead based on tradition
But if tradition is on the same level of authority as the Bible, there really isn’t a difference between the two

16. This was an early church debate
By the time of Tertullian (2nd century) “As often as the anniversary comes around, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honors... If you look in Scripture for a formal law governing these and similar practices, you will find none. It is tradition that justifies them, custom that confirms them and faith that observes them.” de. Cor. 4.1, ANF Vol. 3, p. 94.
This was an early church debate

17. Where does the idea of purgatory come from in the first place?
The Apocalypse of Peter & Paul present this type of afterlife derived from Greek thinking that influenced some of the early church
Council of Florence (15th Century) is when the dogma of purgatory was defined
Despite being based on tradition, they do
try to claim the Bible supports it

18. Matthew 12:31-32: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Can sins be forgiven in the “age to come” by a process of purification?

19. First thing we need to look at is if there is a parallel passage that sheds light on this
Mark 3:28-29: “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”
This verse shows that the other verse is referring to blaspheming the Holy Spirit

20. Let’s look at another verse that is often used to “prove” the idea of purgatory
1 Corinthians 3:8-15: “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it…

21. But let each one take heed how he builds on it
But let each one take heed how he builds on it.  For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.  If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures…

22. he will receive a reward
he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
In context, Paul is talking about ministers in the church and the foundation he has made in his ministry
Each leaders “work” not “souls” are tested, nothing here about punishment of sin

23. It’s the quality of their work that is tested
(not punished) in this passage
The fire reveals “Of what sort” is their work (What was their motivation, why did leaders do what they did)
The fire reveals (does not purge) and is used on all (and therefore can’t be in purgatory)
To suffer loss is to lose reward, not to suffer the punishment of atonement

24. Biblical case against purgatory
There is a vast difference between conforming us to the image of Christ, and punishing us for our sins.
The denial of the all sufficiency of Christ
is the problem
1 Peter 2:24:  ”who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

25. Substitutionary atonement is what the Bible teaches about Christ death
2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Substitutionary atonement is what the Bible teaches about Christ death
Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

26. What about the early church?
Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
What about the early church?
Polycarp ( ), “…This do in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are now in their due place in the presence of the Lord…

27. The Bible says the same thing:
with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead." (The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, 9)
The Bible says the same thing:
2 Corinthians 5:8: “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

28. The Bible says Jesus purged our sins!
Hebrews 1:3: “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

29. The Bible makes it clear, there is no need for purgatory to exist
1 John 1:7: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
The Bible makes it clear, there is no need for purgatory to exist

30. The idea of purgatory became a money maker for the Catholic church
It created the system of indulgences
For example: If you want to help a dead relative in purgatory make it to heaven, you need to have Masses said for that person. How do you have Masses said? Pay them.

31. Catholics are also taught that if they don’t suffer enough in this world, they will have to in purgatory.
Which is why some Catholics throughout history participated in self inflicted pain and lived in poverty
The teaching of purgatory is not scriptural, and undermines the work that Christ did on the cross to pay the debt for our sins

32. Added to the Bible by the Catholics in 1546
The apocrypha books
Added to the Bible by the Catholics in 1546
These books are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch.
There are many reasons why we do not believe these books belong in scripture, and we have a whole class to cover this topic. One issue was historical an theological problems in the books:

33. There is false/weird teaching inside this book
The Book of Tobit 
There is false/weird teaching inside this book
Salvation by works:
Tobit 4:11 , "For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness."  
Tobit 12:9, "For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and
life everlasting."

34. Tobit 6:5-9: “The angel said to him, “Cut open the fish and remove its gallbladder, heart, and liver and keep them with you, and throw away the guts. Its gallbladder, heart, and liver are useful medicines.” So Tobias cut open the fish and gathered up the gallbladder, heart, and liver. He cooked the fish and ate it; and the remaining part of it, which he salted, he put aside. Then they both journeyed together until they approached Media. Tobias asked the angel, “Brother Azariah, what medicine is there in the fish’s heart, liver, and gallbladder?”

35. Raphael replied, “If you burn the fish’s heart and liver in the presence of a man or woman under attack by a demon or evil spirit, the spirit will flee and never bother that person again.  As for the gallbladder, if you smear the gall on a person’s eyes in which white spots have appeared, and then blow on the white spots, the eyes will heal.”
There’s a new formula for spiritual warfare! The problem is it’s wrong and unbiblical

36. It contains a horrible historical error
The book of Judith 
In this book, a Jewish Hero named Judith deceives Nebuchadnezzar's general, Holofernes, and assassinates him, saving Jerusalem from certain doom
It contains a horrible historical error
Judith 1:5, "Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him."

37. There is much more we could say about these books, but time does not allow
There are many other topics and difference between Catholics and Protestants that we could discuss, but these are the major issues and differences
We will close with a quote by Martin Luther that really summarizes the reformation and the resulting protestant faith

38. “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen."

39. Memory verse
Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”