Hello my dear sister Kristen. I as a Catholic can relate to your comment and feelings towards our Catholic church. I like you felt empty after many years of fallowing the word, sacraments and mass for many years. Fustrated and empty, i began to research many religions and many opinions in the faith. After many years of research and experimenting, i found out that it is not the denomination that fullfills your spirit, but it is you that fullfills your denomination.
This conclution came from 1 Corinthians Jon is defenetly correct when he advises us to pray for the holy spirit in order to feel not just see, listen and read. We need to feel the true word in order to truly live it and believe it.
Again, just like Jon suggest, just pray for the Holy spirit to give you the gift of knowledge and you will be heard. May God bless you and i hope you continue having faith in our Catholic faith. The truth about life on earth is that it is not an easy road for anyone, regardless of faith. But we all need the guidance from time to time.
I am not Christian but I agree with Ignatio. There are many pathways to God but there is no instant coffee. We have to all still pray and aspire to improve within ourselves. Inside yourself is always the truth. No one can actually tell you what to do.
I have learned in my life with logic that only when our mind is open can we receive knowledge. When our hearts are open we can receive love and when we give mercy we can get mercy. We also need to understand that we are not mechanical beings, we are emotive sentient beings, and that there will always be something to make us laugh or cry, etc but we need to master ourselves, become stronger to overcome negatives.
I go to prepare a place for you. And If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and recieve you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. I am afraid that the book of Matthew does not provide scriptural context for the belief of Purgatory, nor so by implication either. You refer to Matthew as evidence of the existence of a place of cleansing.
Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Well, having read the other verses in the passage, you would come to conclude that this is Hell.
Now what about this last penny stuff and getting out? Jesus is not stating that you can pay your way out of Hell. As for Matthew, , there is actually no such implication. Although it might seem so, I am afraid you must look at the structure of the clauses. Men will be forgiven of sins against God, for when you sin, you wrong God. God will forgive you of that. However, if you sin against the holy Spirit you will not be forgiven today, tomorrow or on the day of Judgment.
This Sin prevented the faithful from entering Heaven before His death on the cross. God is indeed Merciful. My interpretation of what the bible says about purgatory is that Life is purgatory… If you think about it, Jesus died on the cross for our sins so we are able to be forgiven by God.
This is the time we have to be purified. Are family and friends, churches, even strangers our here to help us. This is the time we purify ourselves. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever should believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. I could also go to Ephesian But appears one has already presented there opinion regarding the fact as to whether they are jsutified by their works and it clearly says that we are not.
Any good work that is done through is not one that I do of my own free will that I can boast rather it is done through a living faith in Christ and in service to my neighbor See Ephesians which states that God prepared these works to be performed by us in advance. Since this is the case then it is God who gets the glory through my work and service to my neighbor and in no way do these works make atonement for my sin.
I would also like to state that in Matthew Christ is speaking of Settling accounts with your advesary before taking him to court. By the way, is God your advesary? He is if you do not believe in Christ which I think I stated prior.
Matthew refers to the last day and giving an acccount to God which we all will have to do and not to anything related to purgatory. So it would seem that the Jewish position you claim as supporting the Catholic one is not the doctrinal position of the Jews because to the the Rabbinical Council at Jamnia the Apocrypha was considered not canonical for various reasons.
Therefore, since the Apocrypha is not considered Scripture by Jews or Protestants it has no binding doctrinal authority. That does not mean that it is not good to read or study though. The apocrypha has many interesting things to say. By the way, if those of us who are Confessional Lutheran, Reformed or what have you are misinterpreting Scripture then why should we take what you say to be credible when you are not the Pope making a pronouncement?
Are there any disagreements within your circles on this issue. Gods grace is free. We must act upon it. He says to believe in him and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. He says that scriptures is sufficient for teaching. He says to obey the Traditions through oral teaching. He says to confess to one another yours sins. He says to ask God for the forgiveness of sins.
He says to keep his commandments. He says you are saved by faith. He says you are saved by works and not by faith alone. He says that unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood , you have no life in him.
He tells his Peter that whatever you hold bound on earth will be held bound in heaven and whatever he looses on earth will be loosed in heaven. Each verse you cite I can cite another one.
Both are right. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments correct? Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.
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Square — [Jhn KJV]. Parens — Jhn KJV. Quotes Around Verses. Christ Himself, in Matthew , speaks of forgiveness in this age here on earth, as in 1 Peter and in the world to come as in 1 Corinthians :.
If all souls go directly either to Heaven or to Hell, then there is no forgiveness in the world to come. But if that is so, why would Christ mention the possibility of such forgiveness? All of this explains why, from the earliest days of Christianity, Christians offered liturgies and prayers for the dead. The practice makes no sense unless at least some souls undergo purification after this life.
In the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom, in his Homilies on 1 Corinthians , used the example of Job offering sacrifices for his living sons Job to defend the practice of prayer and sacrifice for the dead. But Chrysostom was arguing not against those who thought that such sacrifices were unnecessary, but against those who thought that they did no good:.
In this passage, Chrysostom sums up all of the Church Fathers, East and West, who never doubted that prayer and liturgy for the dead were both necessary and useful.
Thus Sacred Tradition both draws upon and confirms the lessons of Sacred Scripture—found in both the Old and New Testaments, and indeed as we have seen in the words of Christ Himself. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker and best-selling author.
He continues to consult on cold-case investigations while serving as a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He is also an Adj. Pingback: mid-week apologetics booster — 1 Peter Pingback: A popular apologist stands up for the Gospel and calls a lie a lie — excatholic4christ. Cold Case Christianity — Elders Scrolls. I am 72 years old and what used to be referred to as a cradle Catholic, a Catholic from birth, or as Mr.
Wallace refers to as a cultural Catholic. They have taught that purgatory is a place of refinement. Neither can any soul in purgatory pray for him- or herself. In addition, the Catholic Church does not teach that anyone still living on earth can perform any good works or deeds for any soul in purgatory. The church only says pray for souls in purgatory because they cannot pray for themselves. Cathicism is one of the few variations of Christianity that believe this quote to still be canonical, so your final point does not make any sense.
Our Lady if Fatima spoke about purgatory when she appeared to the three children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in Portugal in Your email address will not be published. How should we make the case for Christianity? Is one approach better than another? What is the strength of the cumulative case approach?
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