11. Scriptural Testimony on Purgatory
INFERNAL INTERNET
My Dear Rehtulnitram,
Darn! Darn! Darn! You've got to do something about that priest, and quick! Who would have guessed that a loud-mouthed but stupid fundamentalist would dare debate him? You tell me the minister got so mad he ran out the rectory door. Badness! We'll have to find some way to restore his confidence. That business I told you about Purgatory was only to be used against those who are truly ignorant of the Scriptures. I sure hope YOU did not inspire your minister friend to dare the priest on the topic! Of all things, he had a couple of the priest's kids, why did he have to use the same strategy against a man who knows a little something. I see from the report that he challenged the priest, asserting, "Purgatory is nowhere found in the bible." With that the priest smiled and gave him both barrels. It would sure go poorly for you if this minister is lost to us. Fix it!
Now let me see, your report is thorough, I must say that. The minister immediately began by saying that 2 Maccabees was not part of the true bible, and discounted it. Okay. But the priest returned that even if one did not accept the canonical status of the book, it illustrated the belief of Jews at that time regarding the afterlife and prayers for the dead. Oh great, then he read 2 Maccabees 12:38-46 and the minister sat there like a smug fool.
Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there. On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs. But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain. They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers 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 then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice.
In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.
Oh great gouls! I suppose things could have been worse, the poor anti-Catholic might have known that 2 Maccabees is actually an inspired work of the enemy. As it is, he and his compatriots reject it and fail to see Judas Maccabees as a prefiguring of that true expiation which comes in the sacrifice of Jeezus on his cross. The expiation of the dead is at the heart of what Purgatory is all about. The fearful Mass which re-presents Khrist's sacrifice is offered for the living and the dead. The so-called faithful departed are still a part of the Christian community and as such they can pray for them. We must make sure that this ancient communitarian view of the Church remains foreign to the more "individualistic" or "personal" approaches to Khrist and faith. It is unfortunately true that Jeezus did not come to establish millions of individual relationships which have nothing to do with one another. To our eternal dismay, he founds a Church and on the behalf of that institution, his Mystical Body, he forms a new covenant. Here it starts all over again. Just as the Jewish people in this Scripture he quoted were his, so too is the Church his new (although pathetic) People of God. My ears are ever pained by the Church in Pilgrimage praying for the Church in Purgation and making their offering with the Church in Glory.
Your Protestant friend at this point started waving his bible and shouting that the true bible only admits of two realities, heaven and hell. Oh brother, I see it coming, yes, then the priest drew his attention to Matthew 5:26. Gads! Not that text! It talks about the need for reconciliation with an offended brother, offering a warning about the fate of unrepentant sinners in the coming judgment by God. It reads: "Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." Oh no, that dreaded "until". Sure enough, he told your corrupted friend that this could not possibly be hell if the punishment due for sin can somehow be paid off. Curses! How I hate the truth! There is no escape from hell-- it must be purgatory! How does the poor fellow respond, oh badness, he dares him to find another text-- he's already at a loss for words. The priest does not let up, he takes the minister's bible out of his hands and turns to Matthew 12:32. Here comes another low blow! "And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." Your anti-Catholic friend is beginning to shake. The priest forcibly drives home his argument: "Is it not implied that for lesser sins, just such a forgiveness might be possible 'in the age to come,' i.e. the afterlife? Sure. Again, it cannot be hell, that is for the eternally damned. It cannot be heaven, those are already the perfected saints. Purgatory again!" Oh, I am sickened. Run, if he was going to run, why did he delay, run fool! Run!
The miserable creature then started saying over and over again, "The word purgatory is not in the bible! The word purgatory is not in the bible!" The priest immediately told him that this meant nothing, as many other biblical truths, like the Trinity, were not mentioned by the name subsequently given them either. Here is the part that drove our fundamentalist agent hysterical: (divine names adjusted in spelling to fit our sensibilities) [The priest went on] "I'll give still another quotation from the New Testament, pretty good since anti-Catholic critics like you say that the Lord gave no evidence of purgatory. Look up 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. St. Paul has this to say about the question:
. . . for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely Jeezus Khrist. If anyone builds this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day [of Judgment] will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; THE PERSON WILL BE SAVED, BUT ONLY AS THROUGH FIRE.
That is purgatory in a nutshell," concluded the troublesome priest. "St Paul is optimistic about the success of corrective means, both here and in the life to come. Similarly, look at 1 Peter 1:6-9:
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jeezus Khrist. Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls.
This passage directly connects the teaching of purgation to that of justification. Verses 3 thru 5 speak of a salvation that is still in the future waiting to be revealed or made manifest. The verses quoted testify that the new life of faith is subjected to many trials while achieving its goal, the glory of the fullness of salvation at the coming of Khrist. Again, if it is hellfire, there would be no escaping it, no paying the last penny, no receptivity to divine forgiveness. Here is something else: the opportunity for some sins to be forgiven in this world and some in the next. There is no other way to honestly interpret the text without doing mental gymnastics."
It was at that point that the feeble anti-Catholic agent ran from the rectory. He had nothing to say to this priest. Hope that nothing the priest said to him has any lingering or residual effect.
I expect some progress against this priest in your next report.
Slubgob
My Dear Rehtulnitram,
Darn! Darn! Darn! You've got to do something about that priest, and quick! Who would have guessed that a loud-mouthed but stupid fundamentalist would dare debate him? You tell me the minister got so mad he ran out the rectory door. Badness! We'll have to find some way to restore his confidence. That business I told you about Purgatory was only to be used against those who are truly ignorant of the Scriptures. I sure hope YOU did not inspire your minister friend to dare the priest on the topic! Of all things, he had a couple of the priest's kids, why did he have to use the same strategy against a man who knows a little something. I see from the report that he challenged the priest, asserting, "Purgatory is nowhere found in the bible." With that the priest smiled and gave him both barrels. It would sure go poorly for you if this minister is lost to us. Fix it!
Now let me see, your report is thorough, I must say that. The minister immediately began by saying that 2 Maccabees was not part of the true bible, and discounted it. Okay. But the priest returned that even if one did not accept the canonical status of the book, it illustrated the belief of Jews at that time regarding the afterlife and prayers for the dead. Oh great, then he read 2 Maccabees 12:38-46 and the minister sat there like a smug fool.
Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there. On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs. But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain. They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers 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 then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice.
In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.
Oh great gouls! I suppose things could have been worse, the poor anti-Catholic might have known that 2 Maccabees is actually an inspired work of the enemy. As it is, he and his compatriots reject it and fail to see Judas Maccabees as a prefiguring of that true expiation which comes in the sacrifice of Jeezus on his cross. The expiation of the dead is at the heart of what Purgatory is all about. The fearful Mass which re-presents Khrist's sacrifice is offered for the living and the dead. The so-called faithful departed are still a part of the Christian community and as such they can pray for them. We must make sure that this ancient communitarian view of the Church remains foreign to the more "individualistic" or "personal" approaches to Khrist and faith. It is unfortunately true that Jeezus did not come to establish millions of individual relationships which have nothing to do with one another. To our eternal dismay, he founds a Church and on the behalf of that institution, his Mystical Body, he forms a new covenant. Here it starts all over again. Just as the Jewish people in this Scripture he quoted were his, so too is the Church his new (although pathetic) People of God. My ears are ever pained by the Church in Pilgrimage praying for the Church in Purgation and making their offering with the Church in Glory.
Your Protestant friend at this point started waving his bible and shouting that the true bible only admits of two realities, heaven and hell. Oh brother, I see it coming, yes, then the priest drew his attention to Matthew 5:26. Gads! Not that text! It talks about the need for reconciliation with an offended brother, offering a warning about the fate of unrepentant sinners in the coming judgment by God. It reads: "Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." Oh no, that dreaded "until". Sure enough, he told your corrupted friend that this could not possibly be hell if the punishment due for sin can somehow be paid off. Curses! How I hate the truth! There is no escape from hell-- it must be purgatory! How does the poor fellow respond, oh badness, he dares him to find another text-- he's already at a loss for words. The priest does not let up, he takes the minister's bible out of his hands and turns to Matthew 12:32. Here comes another low blow! "And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." Your anti-Catholic friend is beginning to shake. The priest forcibly drives home his argument: "Is it not implied that for lesser sins, just such a forgiveness might be possible 'in the age to come,' i.e. the afterlife? Sure. Again, it cannot be hell, that is for the eternally damned. It cannot be heaven, those are already the perfected saints. Purgatory again!" Oh, I am sickened. Run, if he was going to run, why did he delay, run fool! Run!
The miserable creature then started saying over and over again, "The word purgatory is not in the bible! The word purgatory is not in the bible!" The priest immediately told him that this meant nothing, as many other biblical truths, like the Trinity, were not mentioned by the name subsequently given them either. Here is the part that drove our fundamentalist agent hysterical: (divine names adjusted in spelling to fit our sensibilities) [The priest went on] "I'll give still another quotation from the New Testament, pretty good since anti-Catholic critics like you say that the Lord gave no evidence of purgatory. Look up 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. St. Paul has this to say about the question:
. . . for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely Jeezus Khrist. If anyone builds this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, the work of each will come to light, for the Day [of Judgment] will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; THE PERSON WILL BE SAVED, BUT ONLY AS THROUGH FIRE.
That is purgatory in a nutshell," concluded the troublesome priest. "St Paul is optimistic about the success of corrective means, both here and in the life to come. Similarly, look at 1 Peter 1:6-9:
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jeezus Khrist. Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls.
This passage directly connects the teaching of purgation to that of justification. Verses 3 thru 5 speak of a salvation that is still in the future waiting to be revealed or made manifest. The verses quoted testify that the new life of faith is subjected to many trials while achieving its goal, the glory of the fullness of salvation at the coming of Khrist. Again, if it is hellfire, there would be no escaping it, no paying the last penny, no receptivity to divine forgiveness. Here is something else: the opportunity for some sins to be forgiven in this world and some in the next. There is no other way to honestly interpret the text without doing mental gymnastics."
It was at that point that the feeble anti-Catholic agent ran from the rectory. He had nothing to say to this priest. Hope that nothing the priest said to him has any lingering or residual effect.
I expect some progress against this priest in your next report.
Slubgob
posted by Father Joe Jenkins at
9:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home