The Frightening And False Teaching Of Purgatory

I return today to the question of hell awaiting those who reject Christ. How does one reconcile the reality of hell with the Biblical teaching of a God of love as revealed in Christ and his suffering, death and resurrection?

In this connection you may be interested to hear and read the testimony of Bill Wiese who says that he was given a 23 minute vision of hell. His website (Soul Choice) features his book and a video among other items. He quotes extensively from the Scriptures. He says he was given this vision so that he might share his experience and warn us not to ignore what God has revealed about salvation and judgment. Do your own study and draw your own conclusions.

There are many passages from the Bible that we all must consider. Before exploring them, however, I believe it is critical that we explore the question of hell's duration and the idea of purgatory, that place between heaven and hell where supposedly even believers must go to be purged and cleansed in preparation for entering heaven. Here I focus especially on the Roman Catholic teaching. Here's a quote from the Catholic encyclopedia about it. Read the entire article for their more extensive treatment.

That temporal punishment is due to sin, even after the sin itself has been pardoned by God, is clearly the teaching of Scripture. God indeed brought man out of his first disobedience and gave him power to govern all things (Wisdom 10:2), but still condemned him "to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow" until he returned unto dust. God forgave the incredulity of Moses and Aaron, but in punishment kept them from the "land of promise" (Numbers 20:12). The Lord took away the sin of David, but the life of the child was forfeited because David had made God's enemies blaspheme His Holy Name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). In the New Testament as well as in the Old, almsgiving and fasting, and in general penitential acts are the real fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 17:3;3:3). The whole penitential system of the Church testifies that the voluntary assumption of penitential works has always been part of true repentance and the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, can. xi) reminds the faithful that God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, and this doctrine involves as its necessary consequence a belief that the sinner failing to do penance in this life may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God.

According to this teaching, sinners must be purged and cleansed by punishment and pain before they can be admitted into heaven's glory and peace. This is a very frightening teaching. It openly takes away from the work of Christ and transforms salvation and eternal life into something we sinners obtain through our works of repentance, suffering, punishment and prayers in addition Christ's suffering, death and resurrection. In so teaching these teachers have changed radically the Biblical teaching of grace and mercy in Christ. Consider Jesus' word as quoted by the Apostle John.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. - Jhn 5:21-29 ESV

Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath. The Jews who opposed Jesus claimed this was a work done on the Sabbath, something clearly forbidden by God. Beyond that Jesus claimed to be God's Son since he called God his own Father. In their eyes Jesus was claiming to be equal with God—the greatest form of blasphemy. So they looked for a way to kill him. These views were behind Jesus' statement quoted above.

Notice carefully what Jesus says about those who hear his word and believe in him.

• He, God's Son, is indeed equal in dignity and honor to the Father. By honoring him you honor the Father. Fail to honor the Son and you fail to honor the Father. 
• All judgment is now given to the Son.
• To hear and believe Jesus' word is more than merely hearing it as sounds in your ear. To hear him is to comprehend, to understand and to put your trust in what he says. Then you build your life and your future upon that word, just as Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:24). 
• So what does Jesus say in his word? He says plainly that we who believe him already have eternal life. We will not come into judgment ! We have already here and now, before the death of our physical bodies, passed into life, the life that is Christ. He is our life, as he and his apostles teach over and over again. 
• Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Jhn 14:6 ESV
• For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. - (The Apostle Paul in Phil 1:21 ESV)
• The Scripture clearly teaches that only the blood of Christ cleanses and purges us from sin. John speaks about this in his epistle: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1John 1:7 ESV 

The concept of a place of purging between heaven and hell is, as noted, a very pernicious and dangerous teaching. It robs us of the comfort of the Gospel. It puts the burden upon us, our suffering as well as the prayers and good works of others on behalf of those deceased. It turns us away from the wondrous and completely undeserved gift of salvation in Christ.

Instead I urge you to take comfort from the word Jesus spoke to the thief dying beside him on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. 

And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." - Luk 23:43 ESV

Hear Jesus' word and be at peace. Your sins have been taken away: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Rom 8:1 ESV