Posted by
Jesse "The Mind" Norman on Monday, August 03, 2009 3:15:00 AM
In a word, no. Don’t worry, I’ll elaborate. Purgatory was invented by men to do one thing: increase money to the church. If you donate enough money, your stay in purgatory will be less than if you didn’t. This is another power taken away from God by some churches and put into the hands of men. Always when men take powers away from God, they invent something that is not written anywhere in the Bible.
There is no evidence of a purgatory in the Bible, and I’ve looked. Those that came up with purgatory claim it’s to purify souls before reaching heaven. The soul has no need of purification because it’s already out of this sinful human flesh. The soul is pure already. Whether that soul is worthy of heaven, everlasting life, or punishment is up to One. Nobody else. Either way, once the soul has been loosened from this human prison it goes straight to the Maker. From there God chooses whether that soul goes with Abraham and Lazarus or on the other side of the gulf with the rich man. There is no pit stop on its way.
One should ask themselves if a person makes the right choice and lives their lives honorably why God would make them suffer through something called “purgatory”. It’s just another manmade creation to make those that believe in it to give more money to the churches that have purgatory as part of their doctrine.
Paul said to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Does that sound like there is a stop at something at purgatory? On the rare occasion when someone dies and are brought back to life, the common thing seen is a tunnel of white light. If you imagine yourself travelling through space with stars, galaxies, and other heavenly objects flying by you many times the speed of light, what would you be seeing? A tunnel of white light. Does that sound like there is a purgatory?
Men do such wicked things in the eyes of God by inventing things of God that do not exist for the sake of their own cause. This is the silliest and least biblical example possible. I dare any theologian, priest, cardinal, pope to find me biblical evidence of purgatory. They can’t do it because it doesn’t exist. Men should be careful about inventing things to take power away from God and putting power into their own hands on such matters because God just may invent some things right back of His own. This is one of those things that angers me personally. I find it insulting when men invent things of God with no backing from God’s word. I issue a challenge to those that believe in purgatory. Find me biblical evidence. Not logic of why there might or should be a purgatory. Not who came up with it. Not it’s purpose. Find me biblical evidence of it. There is no such thing as purgatory. Take that to the bank.