Doctrine of Purgatory

Dane E. Lalsen
UWRT 1103-019
October, 2014
Doctrine of Purgatory
Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery
lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Unlike heaven, hell is most hated place in the
bible; believers pray constantly to god to save them and their deceased loved ones from that
damned place. The goal of almost every Christians is to have the uncorrupted faith and live
righteously, so that they may reach the holy land; which is filled with riches that are beyond the
material processions of man, such as eternal joy, love, and glory. In some faiths, the souls are
willing to go great lengths, such as going through purgatory to make themselves perfect in the
sight of god.
One faith, but many denomination and many more views; same could be said about the
Christian faith about eternal salvation. Most conflicts in many Christian denominations originate
from different interpretations of the bible and how it contradicts with other prominent church
leaders teachings. Thus there are different Christian faiths that advocate different theories about
attending eternal life in the holy land. Christians live in hope of reaching heaven after death;
however, there are various theories on how and when the souls enter the kingdom of God. For
instance, in Catholicism all dead soul would ultimately end up in either heaven or hell; but
before reaching heaven the imperfect souls would have to go through a torturous purifying
process involving fire, to pay their debt to god, called purgatory. Throughout this paper we will

Comment [DL1]: Ashlyn: The annotated

bibliography should not be a straight copy
and paste into the body of your
paper. Using the themes you designed for
homework response nine, you should
organize your summaries into cohesive
paragraphs with the bibliographic
citations. Please see my example paper in
the Word doc form for a model. You also did
not include the works cited page, or any
other parenthetical documentation such as a
page number or a year; let me know what
citation style you are using and I can help
you with the parenthetical citations.

Doctrine of Purgatory

explore the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and discuss other Christian doctrines in regards to the
final judgment.
Before we continue, I would like to present my interpretation of the issue at hand.
Coming from an Orthodox faith, I always believed that Jesus sacrifice on the cross alone is
enough to save a person from Gods wrath against human sins and imperfection. Thus proving
gods unconditional love for us; he sacrificed his only son for us to attain the heavenly kingdom;
so that we have eternal life with him. By believing in Jesus and accepting Holy Spirit, we close
the gap between God and the people; then God the ever forgiving master look past our
imperfections and accept us in to heaven.
Annotated Bibliography
Purgatory: Catholic & Biblical [Motion picture]. (2013). United States.
According Karlo Broussard, a fervent catholic believer, soul is judged to go to heaven or hell
based on the seriousness of his sins; a person who committed mortal or a very serious offence
against god is condemned to hell, while a person who only has committed a venial sin can reach
heaven. However, the souls of who committed venial sins have to go through purgatory to reach
heaven; goal of the process is to purify the soul by fire so that the soul will be perfect by the time
it reaches heaven. This process is a blessing in disguise, if your soul reach purgatories then you
are guaranteed a spot in heaven.
The Divine Guarantee of an Eternal Salvation [Motion picture]. (2014). United States.
Unlike Mr.Broussard, Priest John McArthur taught that salvation can only be reached through
faith and grace alone, not through human works. He is teaching that the salvation is God grace

Comment [DL2]:
Kayla Durkin: In the beginning of the paper,
your intro is well put together. One thing you
may want to consider is going further into
explaining the quote that is your hook. You
jump right into things directly after your quote,
which is good, but also not so good in the sense
you leave the quote just hanging there.
Jasmine T: After your introduction, you put your
annotated bibliography and then a literature
review. Your literature review should be
cohesive paragraphs of your annotated
bibliography grouped by your related sources. I
would cut out the annotated bibliography and
clearly state what the topics of each of the
paragraphs are discussing.

Doctrine of Purgatory

given humans, who accepts Jesus and Holy Spirt, because of his unconditional love for us. His
grace and Jesus sacrifice allows him to look past our sins and accept us into heaven during the
final judgment day. Jesus closed the gap between human inequities and Gods Holiness by taking
our sin on the cross; all we have to reach the father almighty is by believing Jesus and his
teaching.
Zellar, G. (2008, May 1). Lordship Salvation - Saved By Grace Alone. Retrieved October 25,
2014, from http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/sbgrace.htm
Like John McArthur, Zeller also states that salvation is attained by Gods grace and the
individuals faith; but he also states that by believing in Jesus we innately stay away from sins
and do good works. He also emphasizes that salvation is not based upon what man does for God;
it is based on what God has done for man. So believing Jesus and accepting the Holy Spirit is the
key to Heavenly Kingdom.
Vogel, H. (n.d.). The Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body. Retrieved
October 25, 2014, from http://www.wlsessays.net/files/VogelImmortality.pdf
Mr.Heinrich talked about two topics in his paper: soul and living body being two entities that
completes a human; and the resurrection of the dead. He states that at death the soul leaves the
individual body and enters a place which is neither hell nor heaven, while the body returns to
dust; then on judgment day the dead rise from the grave and soul is reunited. He is mentioning
the victory of Jesus over death and ascending into heaven; because Jesus won, his followers can
also rise from death to have eternal life in kingdom of God.

Doctrine of Purgatory

Bonsu, R. (2012). Purgatory: A Study of the Historical Development and Its Compatibility with
the Biblical Teaching on the Afterlife.
Bonsu, in his study of the doctrine of Purgatory, explored three ideas: nature of purgatory;
medieval and church fathers teachings of purgatory; and Bibles mentions of Purgatory. He gave
a detailed account of what church fathers thought of purgatory and when it was officially
instilled in the catholic faith. He was thoughtful in mentioning that Bible did not explicitly talk
about purgatory rather it is theory from ancient wisdom and church input from various
interpretation of bible words.
Newman, J. (2011). Purgatory. An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. Retrieved
October 25, 2014, from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35110/35110-h/35110-h.htm
Newman mentions six points in his report on purgatory. First he distinguishes between to the two
types of sin and expands on how souls who committed mortal sin cannot enter heaven. He then
digs deeper into venial sins and the need to go the purgatory; God is just and perfect, so anything
imperfect cannot be in his presence. He also talks about time in purgatory is proportional to
deeds; good deeds and relatives intersessions can reduce a souls time in the Purgatory.
Akbas, M. (2010). Human Nature And Life After Death In Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved October
25, 2014, from
https://www.academia.edu/879986/Human_Nature_And_Life_After_Death_In_Thomas_Aquina
s

Doctrine of Purgatory

This article focuses of the teaching of a prominent Catholic Church patriarch during the medieval
times, Thomas Aquinas; he wrote many books on the doctrine of purgatory and life after death.
According to Thomas Aquinas, the soul and body makes up a human being; soul is the principle
of life and the body carrying out the physical needs. After death the soul knows, where it should
go until the final judgment.
The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical
books : New Revised Standard Version. (1989). New York: Oxford University Press.
Unlike all my previous sources, bible gives a person the closest accounts on Lords revealing
about the kingdom of God through apostles. It is a primary source and does not have
philosophers opinions within it. However, Bible could be very vague on the accounts of how
heaven is like and can be interpreted differently. There are scriptures mentioning what happens
to soul and what heaven is like.
Observation 2. Dane Lalsen. September 15, 2014.
Although I did not gain a lot of knowledge from this conversation, I understood this was a hot
topic in the catholic faith. Derek mainly argued that purgatory is necessary for the soul to be
perfect in front of God; so it can enter heaven. In many areas in the bible it mentions how perfect
is the God and his intolerance to anything imperfect; but it is also said that faith alone in Jesus is
enough to enter the heavenly kingdom. Anup disagreed Derek on accounts of Jesus sacrifice
allows the Lord to look past our sins and accepts us into heaven.

Doctrine of Purgatory

Literature Review
To say that the doctrine of purgatory is complicated would be an understatement; not only it
is a controversial concept, but also something that is hard comprehend. In the Roman Catholic
Faith, the souls of the dead goes here to purify themselves and pay for the debt of sins they
committed before entering the heaven. It is believed that souls of death go to three places: the
hell, if they committed mortal or very serious sin against the god; the heaven, if the soul is
already paid its debt and perfect in sight of god; purgatory, if the soul is destined to go heaven
but has not paid the debt for crimes done after baptism (Newman). There are two types of crime
that can be committed in human life: mortal sins, these are most serious crime against God, the
one that can condemn a person to eternity in hell; venial sins, are less serious crimes that can be
removed after spending time in purgatory (Broussard).
In Purification, the souls go through a purification of that soul by fire; fire is not destructive
like the one in hell, rather a pervading fire that passes the soul (Newman). According to the
church, purgatory is not a torture chamber, but a purifying process that gets the soul ready to
enter heaven (Bonsu). The souls voluntarily go to purgatory because the souls in purgatory have
already received salvation; as soon as the soul is purified it ascends into heaven (Akbas). Ones
time one spends at purgatory depends on the nature of their sins. However a souls time purgatory can be
reduced by doing various pious and laborious works in this life and living relatives interception on their
behalf. It is said to located in the upper part of hell; a trial by fire (Bonsu). Unlike heaven or hell, the
purgatory will not exist after final judgment; Jesus will raise all remaining souls to heaven on that day
(Broussard). The only souls that would not have to go through purgatory would be saints and infants

dying after baptism, they are directly raised to heave (Newman).

Comment [DL3]: Jasmine T: In my faith, I

never learned the difference between a bad sin
and a really bad sin. So, even though you gave
definitions of mortal sin and venial sin, I didnt
completely understand the difference. I think it
would be helpful if you gave examples of each.
Kayla: Literary review is very good! there is no
need for your annotated bibliography. This
section was just to help you prepare for the
literary review. So you should consider taking it
out seeing it is not apart of the final assignment
two guidelines.
Kayla Durkin: Like I stated before the bulk of
the literary review is very good and flows very
nicely. One thing you may want to consider is
adding a short conclusion at the end of it. This
will help tie all the sources together.

Doctrine of Purgatory

Entering the conversation

The doctrine of purgatory is a difficult concept to understand; even within the catholic
faith there are doubts about the existence of purgatory. It is very difficult for people to believe
when it is not mentioned in the Bible. Sure many church fathers argue that there are implications
of purgatory in the bible, but there are loosely constructed and idea is more built on traditions.
Also there are more scriptures in bible that mentions faith is good enough to enter the heavenly
kingdom. It is very controversial subject all round; it is also very unwelcoming idea when
Christianity based on the values of forgiveness, grace, and love. I think the catholic faith should
reconsider having doctrine of purgatory as part of their faith.
Purgatory originated from early Judaism and interpretations of early medieval church
fathers. Mishnah, written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions, talks about righteousness is
achieved through human merits; and ones judgment is based on weight of his merits over
transgressions. It also adds that suffering has a purifying effect and three ranks of souls after
death: everlasting life; everlasting contempt; and a division for evenly balance scale. The
last representing the purgatory, they suffer until they received healing. Infact, the bible has never
explicitly mentioned purgatory as it has with heaven and hell; purgatory is built on loosely based
connection from bible (Bonsu). One of the main arguments for the purgatory is that God is holy
and he cannot be in presence of something unclean or imperfect; thus a souls need to purify itself
with fire to make it worthy of the presence of god (Karlo Broussard).
In Roman 5, we can find many evidence apostle Paul addressing the importance of
having faith in Jesus Christ, because only people faith and Gods grace can save a person from
eternal hell. No human effort can achieve a spot in heaven; rather it is a gift from God to us. He
sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sins on the cross. All he requires of the people are to accept Jesus

Comment [DL4]: Jasmine T: In the entering

the conversation section, you say you think the
catholic faith should reconsider have doctrine of
purgatory as part of their faith. This is a very
strong opinion. Even if you do believe this, I
think you should further explain why you think it
should no longer be a part of that faith.

Doctrine of Purgatory

to have access to his everlasting grace. He will continue to shower his grace upon us as long as
we believe the word of God; thus proving his unconditional love for the fallen human race.
When believing, we are allowing the holy spirits to reside within us, essentially giving up a part
of himself to us. Thus he cant let us go, again proving his love.
Having the doctrine of a purgatory instilled into to faith when it contradicts with many
principles of that faith have a negative connotation. A newcomer or college student who is
coming into the catholic faith will have second doubts when they learn of these aspects of faith.
Granted these are not the first topics to discuss with new-baptized Christian, but leaving this
subject would almost cheating the believer; they oath to know what they are signing up to.
Becoming a Catholic, then figuring out the doctrine of purgatory to cause the believer to doubt
important aspects of the faith; which could eventually make the believer abandon the faith and
not trust the church.
More than often, it is these controversial traditions that lead to the divisions among the faith
or catch the mistrust of believers within the faith. God sent his only son to earth to get rid of
untrue traditions and talk about the merciful and loving God. Apostle Paul, in many of scriptures
talks about how faith in key to heaven, and all we have to do is believe in Jesus as the savior.
Purgatory undermines the limitless grace of god by saying that souls have to go through fire until
they are cleansed before entering heaven. It also undercuts Jesus Christ sacrifice on the cross for
redeeming us from our sins. Having a concept that weakens the large picture of Christianity
makes the religion seem contradictory.
Purgatory is not a word that you encounter every day; rather it is a foreign concept to people. This
paper explored the doctrine of purgatory and other Christian doctrine in regards to final judgment.
Purgatory adds an interesting twist to the attaining salvation for the Roman Catholic Faith; it requires the

Doctrine of Purgatory

soul to be purified by fire before entering the kingdom of god. Although the principle is not entirely
biblical, it was added in to the faith during the medieval times. I think that catholic faith should reconsider
its disposition on purgatory; since it undermines bibles teaching on salvation. Not only this concept, adds
a measure for Gods grace and love of his people; it also undervalue Jesus sacrifice on the cross.
People are limited in skills, knowledge, and wisdom compared to god; jumping into conclusions
about the existence of purgatory or other doctrines is defying Gods teachings. Apostle Paul said Acts that
anyone any doctrine than we knew is cursed in churchs sight; thus reminding the people that other
doctrines can develop. To a Christian their fervent faith is everything; it is their faith on God and his only
son that keeps them grounded. So anything that taints the word of god and his promise of salvation to the
faithful should be questioned. Though bible does not write about the existence of purgatory, it does talk
about waiting until the final judgment for the body to resurrect. Does this say that there is a waiting place
for the souls or do the saved immediately go to heaven?

Comment [DL5]: Jasmine T: I like the ending

of your conclusion. Leaving the reader with
something to think about after giving us many
opinions of others instead of just ending with a
bold statement. This is something that I will
probably add to my paper; instead of just ending
with my opinion, I will let the reader form their
own.
Jasmine T: I was a little confused at the end,
because I didnt know where the entering the
conversation section ended and the conclusion
began. I think you should title every section,
because it just helps the paper flow a little
easier. Although every section is there, it might
be hard for the reader to know.
Kayla Durkin: For your paper all the
components are there and thoughtfully put
together. However, the way you set up the
paper, structurally-wise it is a little hard to tell
which parts are which. For example where
exactly does your conclusion start?
Kayla Durkin: You are missing a reference
page. this is part of the major sections on the
guidelines. So I highly suggest you add the
reference page which is just a list of your
sources cited!