Penance, Hope, and Avoidance
Why do I frame this post in such a manner? For me, these topics have been an issue most of my Christian life. I was raised in a Roman Catholic home; I attended a parochial school, attended church every week, served mass as a alter-boy or an acolyte since I was eight until I entered the military service with the U.S. Navy at the age of eighteen. In the service I was the ships Catholic lay leader where I was permitted by the church to hold Sunday services and distribute the sacraments. I did this until I was twenty-four and then left the church after I returned from Vietnam in 1973. What I was raised with was the notion of purgatory where I would pay for those sins that I did not pay for prior to my death. It was a hidden hope that no matter what I did there was a chance for me to atone for those things I did that offended the Lord. Then, after my return I listened to Pat Robertson of CBN explain that Jesus paid the price for my sin (all of my sins), past, present, and any future sins that I may commit if I just received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and believed with confessed my mouth and believed with my heart that Jesus died for my sins, that he is the Son of God, that He rose from the dead on the third day, sits at the right hand of the Father and is coming again to gather His followers to be with Him for all eternity. I did this and everything changed. It was as if the me before that day no longer existed and I was a new person. Well, none of that took hold until five years later when on a lonely street in Virginia Beach when walking home and a thunderstorm suddenly began and I was brought to my knees and heard, I baptize you by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Talk about feeling new! I sure did, and I saw things in a much different light. Even though I have been writing and studying the scriptures for many years, that day changed my understanding of what I was reading and writing. From that point forward I still looked at the issue of purgatory and the new doctrine called rapture as a means of hope and a means of escaping all the violence mentioned in the new covenant. I have a vastly different philosophy concerning those issues today which is counter Christian culture and mainline church understanding. Before I begin the remainder of this post let me say that any understanding of these issues that are extra biblical will not be accepted, I will only accept what the Holy Spirit reveals in the Scriptures and not anything created by man in the form of institutional doctrine which places their teaching in line with Apostle Paul’s rebuke in 1 Corinthians 1:10-20 (NIV) and then continues in chapter four of first Corinthians.
Purgatory as a Roman Catholic doctrine that removes God’s grace; forgiveness of sin by Jesus on the cross of calvary. What this doctrine accomplishes is a works-based doctrine that is antithetical to sound doctrine bequeathed to us by the Apostles. From what I gather this doctrine is based on several scriptures such as: Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV); Revelations 21:27 (NIV); Maccabees 12:39-56; Matthew 5:25-26 (NIV); 1 Peter 3:19 (NIV), and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NIV). None of these verses has anything to do with working off your sin. You see, the physical body never enters heaven, or be in God’s presence 1 Corinthians 15:50 (NIV). So, the flesh does not enter the spiritual domain at all, and when Jesus rose from the dead in bodily form, He had an ethereal body, a new body and one that can be both on earth and in heaven. Did you ever wonder what no one recognized Jesus after His resurrection until He told them who He was and revealed in His body the marks of His sacrifice? One interesting passage that could be seen as purgatory or hade in Luke 16:19-31 (NIV): This is the story of the rich man in a place of torment where there was no paying for your sins so you can get to the other side and be with the Lord of glory; oh no, this passage has to do with paying for your unbelief until the great day of judgment. So, to me purgatory is a catholic rescue plan of false hope just like the protestant doctrine of the rapture, which is also a false, shallow, and selfish hope. See the history of the rapture by clicking here.
We followers of Christ Jesus are told to occupy until He returns, Luke 19:13 (NIV), endure until the end, Matthew 14:13 (NIV): Either in the length of your mortal life or until the end of the age, and be prepared to be with the lord of glory, Matthew 25: 1-46 (NIV).
Here is what I understand concerning those two doctrines: Pay no attention to them. Believe in, and trust on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hamashiach). To understand what Jesus’ name means click here.
Have a great life with the very present help of Yeshua at your side.
Mike
22 April 2022
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