शुद्धीकरण, क्षमा, परिणाम

… or, What the Heck is Purgatory?

परिणाम? There Are Always Consequences!

Purgatory is not an alternative to heaven or hell. It is a temporary state through which some souls must pass to receive a final purification before entering heaven (See the प्रकटीकरण पुस्तक 21:27). As the Second Vatican Council taught, purgatory exists becauseeven when the guilt of sin has been taken away, punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated or cleansed” (Indulgentiarum Doctrina 3).

तसेच, the कॅथोलिक चर्चचा कॅटेसिझम राज्ये, “All who die in God’s 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” (1030, p. 268). “In purgatory,” writes apologist Karl Keating, “all remaining love of self is transformed into love of God” (Catholicism, p. 190).

The Church takes seriously Jesuscommand in मॅथ्यू 5:48 to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” and holds fast to The Letter to the Hebrews’12:14 that teaches, “Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

शिवाय, the Church accepts the biblical truth that spiritual perfection is required for admittance into heaven, for per our above reference to the Book the Revelation (21:27), “nothing unclean shall enter it.”

खरं तर, God’s refusal to allow Moses to cross into the Promised Land as punishment for his infidelity is consistent with this belief (पहा व्याख्या 32:48).

त्याचप्रमाणे, one of the more stinging stories in scripture well illustrates this notion forgiveness and consequences. It is the story of Kind David and the prophet Nathan as they discuss David’s misdeed with Bathsheba in the Second Book of Samuel, 12:1-14:

2 सॅम्युअल 12

12:1 मग परमेश्वराने नाथानला दावीदाकडे पाठवले. आणि जेव्हा तो त्याच्याकडे आला होता, तो त्याला म्हणाला: “दोन पुरुष एकाच शहरात होते: एक श्रीमंत, आणि इतर गरीब.
12:2 श्रीमंत माणसाकडे खूप मेंढ्या आणि बैल होते.
12:3 पण बिचार्‍याकडे काहीच नव्हते, एक लहान मेंढी सोडून, जे त्याने विकत घेतले होते आणि पोषण केले होते. आणि ती त्याच्यापुढे मोठी झाली होती, त्याच्या मुलांसह एकत्र, त्याच्या भाकरीतून खाणे, आणि त्याच्या प्याल्यातून प्या, आणि त्याच्या कुशीत झोपतो. आणि ती त्याच्यासाठी मुलीसारखी होती.
12:4 पण जेव्हा एक विशिष्ट प्रवासी श्रीमंत माणसाकडे आला होता, स्वतःच्या मेंढ्या आणि बैल घेण्याकडे दुर्लक्ष, यासाठी की तो त्या प्रवाशाला मेजवानी देऊ शकेल, जे त्याच्याकडे आले होते, त्याने गरीब माणसाची मेंढरे घेतली, आणि त्याच्याकडे आलेल्या माणसासाठी त्याने जेवण तयार केले.”
12:5 तेव्हा दाविदाचा त्या माणसावर प्रचंड राग अनावर झाला, तो नाथानला म्हणाला: “जशी परमेश्वर जिवंत आहे, ज्याने हे केले तो मरणपुत्र आहे.
12:6 तो मेंढरांना चौपट पुनर्संचयित करील, कारण त्याने हे शब्द केले, आणि त्याला दया आली नाही.”
12:7 पण नाथान दावीदाला म्हणाला: “तू तो माणूस आहेस. असे परमेश्वर म्हणतो, इस्राएलचा देव: ‘मी तुला इस्राएलचा राजा म्हणून अभिषेक केला आहे, मी तुला शौलाच्या हातातून सोडवले.
12:8 And I gave the house of your lord to you, and the wives of your lord into your bosom. And I gave the house of Israel and of Judah to you. And as if these things were small, I shall add much greater things to you.
12:9 त्यामुळे, why have you despised the word of the Lord, so that you did evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. And you have taken his wife as a wife for yourself. And you have put him to death with the sword of the sons of Ammon.
12:10 या कारणास्तव, तुझ्या घरातून तलवार मागे हटणार नाही, अगदी कायमचे, कारण तू माझा तिरस्कार केला आहेस, आणि तू हित्ती उरीया हिची बायको घेतलीस, जेणेकरून ती तुझी पत्नी होईल.'
12:11 आणि म्हणून, असे परमेश्वर म्हणतो: 'बघ, मी तुझ्यावर तुझ्याच घरातून दुष्टाई उठवीन. आणि मी तुझ्या बायकांना तुझ्या डोळ्यासमोर नेईन, आणि मी ते तुझ्या शेजाऱ्याला देईन. आणि या सूर्यासमोर तो तुमच्या बायकांसोबत झोपेल.
12:12 कारण तू गुप्तपणे वागलास. पण हे वचन मी सर्व इस्राएल लोकांसमोर पाळीन, आणि सूर्याच्या दृष्टीने.''
12:13 दावीद नाथानला म्हणाला, “मी परमेश्वराविरुद्ध पाप केले आहे.” नाथान दावीदाला म्हणाला: “परमेश्वराने तुमचे पापही दूर केले आहे. तू मरणार नाहीस.
12:14 तरीही खरोखर, कारण तू परमेश्वराच्या शत्रूंना निंदा करण्याची संधी दिली आहेस, या शब्दामुळे, तुझ्यापासून जन्मलेला मुलगा: मरताना तो मरेल.”

Forgiveness and Consequences

The story of Bathsheba and David and Nathan tells us a great deal about the nature of sin and the mercy of God. डेव्हिड, who is the Lord’s beloved king and could seemingly do no wrong, committed a horrible sin. God was eager and willing to forgive and restore, but there had to be consequences.

Consequences for sin and the effects of sin are often debated among Christians. We may wonder, what exactly are the effects and consequences if, खरं तर, all sin was atoned on the cross? Every sin that has ever been committed by humans was atoned by the sacrifice of Christ himself, but that doesn’t mean that the effects of sin are negatedcertainly not in this life. Think of any number of sins (and crimes) like murder, arson and assault. They all have very long-lasting earthly implications. तर, forgiveness then, does not necessarily mean that the consequences are removed.

क्षमा, yet Punishment

To understand how punishment could remain even after one’s sins have been forgiven, it is necessary to distinguish between eternal आणि temporal punishment.

eternal punishment for sin is hell. One is saved from this punishment by God when hethe sinnerrepents and confesses those sins. Yet even after a person is forgiven, temporal punishment may remain which also must be expiated.

Consider, उदाहरणार्थ, the husband who is unfaithful to his wife. Feeling remorse, he resolves to change his ways and confess what he has done. His wife, in her goodness, forgives him, तथापि, it may be a long time before she will trust him again. He will need to regain her trust, to heal the wound he has caused in their relationship. When we sin we hurt our relationship with God and others.

These wounds must be healed before one enters into heaven. Of course, this healing occurs by the grace of God through the merits of Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross. शुद्धीकरण, तरी, as well as the penances we do on earth, are God’s ways of allowing us to participate in the healing process as we take responsibility for the wrong we have done.

To be clear, Purgatory has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sin because the sins of the souls in purgatory have already been forgiven. तर, it is false to claim the Church’s teaching on purgatory involves earning God’s forgiveness. पुन्हा, these souls are saved, but their entry into heaven is delayed. As Saint Paul noted in his First Letter to the Corinthians, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” “For the Lord disciplines him who he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (see the Letter to the Hebrews 12:5-6 आणि 5:8-9).

Carl Adam perhaps gave the most succient description of purgatory as follows;

The poor soul, having failed to make use of the easier and happier penance of this world, must now endure all the bitterness and all the dire penalties which are necessarily attached by the inviolable law of God’s justice to even the least sin, until she has tasted the wretchedness of sin to its dregs and has lost even the smallest attachment to it, until the perfection of the love of Christ. It is a long and painful process, “so as by fire.” Is it real fire? We cannot tell; it’s true nature will certainly always remain hidden from us in this world. But we know this: that no penalty presses so hard upon the “poor souls” as the consciousness that they are by their own fault long debarred from the blessed Vision of God. The more they are disengaged gradually in the whole compass of their being from their narrow selves, and the more freely and completely their hearts are open to God, so much the more is the bitterness of their separation spiritualized and transfigured. It is homesickness for their Father; and the further their purification proceeds, the more painfully are their souls scourged with its rods of fire…

Purification and Cleansing

While every Christian considers himself a sinner, at the same time he believes he will be free of sin (and even the inclination to sin) in Heaven. त्यामुळे, a purification process must exist after death, by which the soul prone to sin is transformed into a soul impervious to it.

There are many Scripture passages that allude to a form of expiation of sin after death.

The Notion of Purgatory in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament there is the account of Judas Maccabeus whomade atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (see the Second Book of Maccabees 12:46).

Book of Sirach, 7:33, राज्ये, “Give graciously to all the living, and withhold not kindness from the dead.Both the Second Book of Maccabees आणि सरच are included among the seven deuterocanonical books, which many non-Catholics reject. Yet even if one does not believe these books to be inspired by God, he should at least consider the historical witness they provide. They affirm the ancient Israelitespractice of praying for the souls of the deceased. This is substantiated by Second Book of Samuel 1:12, which tells us David and his menmourned and wept and fasted until evening for (the soldiers of the Lord) because they had fallen by the sword.

In the New Testament

Paul utters a prayer for the dead in his तीमथ्याला दुसरे पत्र, saying of his deceased friend Onesiphorus, “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord that Day” (1:18).

The most explicit Scriptural reference to purgatory also comes from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:

3:11 For no one is able to lay any other foundation, in place of that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus.
3:12 But if anyone builds upon this foundation, whether gold, silver, मौल्यवान दगड, wood, hay, or stubble,
3:13 each one’s work shall be made manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And this fire will test each one’s work, as to what kind it is.
3:14 If anyone’s work, which he has built upon it, remains, then he will receive a reward.
3:15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer its loss, but he himself will still be saved, but only as through fire.

Verse 13 refers to Judgment Day, when our works will be made known. The gold, silver, and precious stones in verse 12 represent meritorious works; the wood, hay, and stubble, imperfect works.

Both cases involve a Christian building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. In the first case, the work the Christian has carried out in life survives judgment and he goes directly to his heavenly reward, म्हणजे, verse 14. In the latter case, the Christian’s work does not survive and hesuffer(s) loss,” तरी, by God’s mercy, is not himself lost but savedas through firein verse 15.

मध्ये मॅथ्यू 12:32 Jesus seems to imply there is reparation for sin beyond death: “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come(emphasis added). See Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Dialogues 4:40 and Saint Augustine, The City of God 21:24 for related material.

Elsewhere, Jesus implies that some of the deceased shall undergo varying degrees of temporal punishment (पहा लूक 12:47-48).

Early Christian References to Purgatory

Inscriptions found at ancient gravesites such as the Epitaph of Abercius Marcellus (ca. 190), उदाहरणार्थ, beg the faithful to pray for the deceased.

Awaiting martyrdom in a dungeon in Carthage in the year 203, Vibia Perpetua prayed daily for her deceased brother, Dinocrates, having received a vision of him in a state of suffering.

Shortly before her death, it was revealed to her that he had entered into paradise. “I knew,” she remarked, “that he had been released from punishment” (The Martyrdom of Perpetual and Felicitas 2:4).

Most profoundly, we see the early Christian practice of offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice on behalf of the dead. Tertullian (d. ca. 240), for instance, revealed how the devout widow prays for the repose of her husband’s soul, आणि कसे “each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice” (Monogamy 10:4).

त्याच्या Sacramentary, dating to the mid-fourth century, Serapion, the Bishop of Thmuis, beseeched God, “on behalf of all the departed,” करण्यासाठी “sanctify all who have fallen asleep in the Lord (Apoc. 14:13) and count them all among the ranks of Your saints and given them a place and abode (जॉन 14:2) in Your kingdom” (The Sacramentary, Anaphora किंवा Prayer of the Eucharistic Sacrifice 13:5).

So Where Does that Leave Us?

Some might ask, “If one must be perfect to enter Heaven, who then can be saved?” When the Apostles posed the same question to Jesus, त्याने प्रतिक्रिया दिली, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (मॅथ्यू पहा 19:25-26).

As Catholics, we would argue that possibility exists through Purgatory.

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