For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2 Cor 5:10
Paul wrote to Christians at that time and told then that we, that is, Christians, will all stand before Christ to be judged.
I remember as a Protestant once discussing with a seminary professor whether Christians will be rewarded on Judgement Day. At that time, I believed that we were completely clothed with the righteousness of Christ, that it was not possible that we would receive different types of rewards in heaven based on what we did here on earth. The professor argued that although we were justified by faith, we will still be judged for how many rewards we will get in heaven. For a scriptural support, he showed me the above verse
“See, this verse says that we will still be judged. We are judged to determine how many rewards we will receive.” he said.
“But wait a minute! This says ‘whether it be good or bad’. What does mean that we Christians will be judged by the bad things we do? Does that also mean we Christians may be punished?” I asked.
The professor responded “Well, it makes sense to me that Christians who are saved by the skin of their teeth and did not really live for God would have to experience some kind of punishment.”
“That’s Purgatory!” I exclaimed.
“No! Its not! It’s not Purgatory! Purgatory is entirely different!” he tried to explain.
But the truth is that this is exactly the definition of Purgatory. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it is probably a duck. And this was a Protestant seminary professor! And even he believed in a Purgatory, although he refused to call it that.
Fundamentist preacher Charles Stanley also believes in Purgatory, although he would not admit that name. But this is what he wrote:
"Now, imagine standing before God and seeing all you have lived for reduced to ashes. How do you think you would respond? Picture yourself watching saint after saint rewarded for faithfulness and service to the King—and all the time knowing that you had just as many opportunities but did nothing about them. We cannot conceive of the agony and frustration we would feel if we were to undergo such an ordeal; the realization that our unfaithfulness had cost us eternally would be devastating. And so it will be for many believers. Just as those who are found faithful will rejoice, so those who suffer loss will weep. As some are celebrated for their faithfulness, others will gnash their teeth in frustration over their own shortsightedness and greed. We do not know how long this time of rejoicing and sorrow will last. Those whose works are burned will not weep and gnash their teeth for eternity. At some point we know God will comfort those who have suffered loss (see Rev. 21:4) . . . On the other side of the coin, we can rest assured that none of our good deeds will go unnoticed, either."
Eternal Security - Charles Stanley
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then its a duck. There are are only minor differences between Charles Stanley's view that Christians could experience some sort of sorrow in the hereafter and the Catholic view of Purgatory. The biggest difference is that Purgatory happens before the return of Christ. Stanley sees this Christian sorrow happening after Christ's return. Also, Stanley sees this suffering happening in the kingdom of heaven. Another Protestant who believes in Purgatory, and even openly admits to it, is C.S. Lewis Of course I pray for the dead. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him? I believe in purgatory. Our souls demand purgatory, don't they? My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn, a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be purgatory. (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107-109
And he is right. I remember a few years back, there was a serial killer, Ted Bundy, who is about to be executed. But before he was executed, he accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord. Assuming his conversion was sincere, according to the typical Evangelical, as soon as died he went immediately to heaven. So even though he tortured, raped, and killed many women, he suffered no consequences for his actions in the hereafter. But the Catholic sees that just because God saved him from the eternal consequences of his sin, that does not mean he still will not suffer temporal punishment for what he did to those women. The Catholic says that all wrongdoing will have its own consequences. Our sense of justice cries out for this. Even though we are forgiven, we still must bear the consequences or our actions.
This is found in scripture:
2 Sam 12
David had just committed adultery and had the husband killed. The prophet Nathan confronted David on this. David was convicted of his sin, and confessed it. Nathan said God has put away his sin, and that David will not die. BUT David still will suffer punishment. God will take away his child. So we see an important lesson in scripture. Even though God puts away our sins, it does not mean that we will not still suffer temporal punishment for our sins.
A Protestant may agree that we suffer punishment for our sins, but that is in our lives now, before we die – that Purgatory is in the here and now. But the Catholic responds that although our temporal punishment may include our time on earth, there is no reason that this does not include the hereafter. If a Protestant can accept the idea that God may punishment a Christian now, then why cannot he accept the idea of God punishing a Christian in the hereafter? If one does not exclude the love of God then why should the other? Mind you, I am not talking about eternal punishment.
13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.
14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.
15 If the work is burned, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Cor 3
The Day that Paul is referring to is obviously the Day of Judgement. So he cannot be talking out what we experience before we die. In verse 15, he writes that the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. What could this mean but that a Christian who built his life with wood, hay, and straw instead of gold and silver will still be saved but must still go through the fires of Purgatory.
58 Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison.
59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.'
Luke 12
These are the very words of Jesus Himself. Jesus said here that there is a punishment that is temporary, where we will eventually be let out, but not until we pay the last penny.
The Early Church Teachings
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
"And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again received her [Thecla]. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: ‘Mother, you shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she may pray concerning me, and that I may be transferred to the place of the righteous’" (Acts of Paul and Thecla [A.D. 160]).
Thecla’s daughter died and came to her in a dream that if she prayed for her she would be transferred to the place of righteousness, heaven. Since the daughter has died and is not yet in heaven, she must be in purgatory.
Abercius
"The citizen of a prominent city, I erected this while I lived, that I might have a resting place for my body. Abercius is my name, a disciple of the chaste Shepherd who feeds his sheep on the mountains and in the fields, who has great eyes surveying everywhere, who taught me the faithful writings of life. Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed: Truly, I was in my seventy-second year. May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it pray for Abercius" (Epitaph of Abercius [A.D. 190]).
Abercus leaves a monument before he dies asking that the people pray for him.
The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity
"[T]hat very night, this was shown to me in a vision: I [Perpetua] saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died miserably with disease. . . . For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other . . . and [I] knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then . . . I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me. Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me: I saw that the place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. . . . [And] he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment" (The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity 2:3–4 [A.D. 202]).
Perpetua’s brother died miserably with disease. Perpetua saw in a vision that his brother was suffering. Through her prayers, he was translated from the place of punishment.
Cyprian of Carthage
" It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory; it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord" (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253]).
Cyprian made a distinction between temporary suffering and eternal suffering
Gregory of Nyssa
"If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he has inclined to the irrational pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire" (Sermon on the Dead [A.D. 382]).
Gregory writes that after a person’s departure from his body, and he had given in to his passion before his death, he will not be with God until his soul has been purified by fire.
Augustine
"Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment" (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).
"That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire" (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).
Augustine wrote of temporal punishments after death being purgatorial fire.
See http://www.catholic.com/library/Roots_of_Purgatory.asp
Implications
Protestant Evangelicals agree that there might be temporal punishment. But this temporal punishment only happens before we die. This belief degenerates into the heath and wealth gospel. If God punishes only me in the here and now for my sin, then this must mean that if I wholly live for God now, then I will not experience any suffering in the here and now. If I am experiencing any trials, then that means I have not completely surrendered to God. Some Evangelicals do not go that far. They would say that a Christian following God can still experience trials, but there will still be an inner joy peace that God will give us if we are following Him.
Protestants no longer have to worry about hell or purgatory once they become Christians. So a minister could no longer appeal to this to motivate Christians to help in the ministry, or give to the church, or just to be good Christians. So they would preach that although you do not have to fear purgatory or hell, God may still take you now to the divine woodshed if you do not obey Him. The implication is that if you obey God, God will bless you in this life. This blessing may be health and wealth. Or this blessing may be more spiritual – or being more joyful or peaceful, or sensing God’s presence.
This all sounds good when things are going great. But this is like pouring salt on the wounds for Christians who are experiencing deep trials. This was the experience of Job. He lost every thing. His children died. He became poor. He was inflicted with boils all over his skin. He cried out to God. Why is this happening to me? Job’s friends came and accused him of sinning against God. Only that could explain it to them. They only made matters worse for Job.
The Catholic disagrees with this. The Catholic faith teaches that a Christian who is wholly following God can experience suffering in this life. God’s concern for each one of us are mainly to get us to heaven and that we get to heaven as soon as possible after we die. This is why He allows suffering in our lives. Better to suffer now than to suffer eternally or temporally after we die. So the informed Catholic would never look at a Christian who is suffering physically or spiritually and assume that the Christian is doing something wrong. Even if a Christian is experiencing doubts, that does not mean he is wrong with God.
Protestant Evangelicals have a saying “If you feel farther away from God, who moved?”. This is anathema to a Catholic. If you feel farther away from God, that does not mean that God moved away or that you moved away. Jesus cried out on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was as close to the Father as you can get! He and the Father are one! So when Jesus cried out to the Father, that does not mean that Father actually left Jesus. It only means that Jesus felt as if He was abandoned by the Father
Catholic saints have a term for this, “dark night of the soul” – which is when Christian can feel totally abandoned by God. The Catholic faith not only sees this as a normal experience, but is a sign of spiritual growth, and all the saints have experienced this. The last two years of, St Therese of the Child Jesus, when she was dying, felt as if she was abandoned by God. St Jane de Chantel felt abandoned by God for forty years. In modern times, Mother Therea of Calcutta admitted for forty years she felt abandoned by God, even to the point that she had doubts. This is expressed in her writings compiled in the book Come Be My Light. Atheists pounced on this to argue “See, even Mother Theresa did not really believe!”. But they are missing the point. She did still believe, in spite of her of doubts, she was as the one who came to Jesus and said “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 8:24), or Abraham who “hoped against hope” to believe in God’s promise (Rom 4:18), or even Jesus who cried to the Father ‘Why have you forsaken me?” and yet still said “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. There can be faith with doubts. There can be the dark night of the soul but still the hope of victory. So the Catholic can say to the one who is hurting “Its OK that you have problems. Its OK you have doubts. It is OK even if you feel you have been abandoned by God. This does not mean there is something wrong with you. In fact, this could be a sign that you are getting closer to Christ. Even Christ had these feelings.”
But Protestantism cannot have any of that! It already says that Christians are already saved and have no fear of purgatory. So why should a Christian then bother to live the Christian life after he is saved? Because he does it so that God will make him healthy or wealthy.
If not that, at least he will experience joy, peace, and inner assurance salvation. http://www.ccci.org/growth/spirit-filled-life/index.aspx gives an example. This is the web site of the organization I was involved in while in college. It gives a diagram of the Spirit-filled Christian, and the carnal Christian. The Spirit-filled Christian experiences love, joy, peace, etc. But the carnal Christian is filled worry, discouragement, and aimlessness. According to this definition even Jesus Christ while on the cross, would not have been Spirit-filled! It is all right when a Christian is experiencing joy and peace, but what happens when the Christian goes through hard times?
This was my own personal experience as a Protestant Christian. When I was forced to resign as a minister, that was the lowest time in my life. I felt I was abandoned by God. I was utterly depressed. I doubted that God was there. I tried to share how I felt to my Protestant friends, but they did not want to hear it. They started to avoid me like I was a leper. They were not being cruel. It was just my experience was going against what they were taught. They were taught that if you lived for God, everything would be great for you in this life. At least you will have an inner and peace. But that was not happening to me, and they ignored me because they could not accept the possibility that this could one day happen to them. Now I think about it. How many Protestant Christians are hurting inside but go to church with a smile on their faces saying “Praise the Lord” all the time? How many are pretending that everything is going fine because they are afraid if they admit their hurts that they be judged as not really trusting God enough? After a while, they get tired of this. They feel they are phonies, and they feel everyone else at church is a phony. Then they leave the church, and reject Christ entirely. His church then says that he probably was never saved to begin with.
But the Catholic Church says that suffering, even spiritual suffering, is part of growing spiritually. It is not something that a Christian needs to hide because he is ashamed of it. It is not a sign of his not trusting God. God sometimes takes things away, even spiritual blessings, to test us to see if we will still follow Him, seek Him, and obey Him. God tests us to see if we are seeking the gifts or the Giver of the gifts. When we obey Him even though we have trials and it is hard to obey Him, that is when He especially is pleased with us. God is especially pleased when we seek to trust Him even though we have doubts, to pray when praying is difficult, to go to church when we do not feel like it, to thank God when we are depressed. Only when we are weak are we actually strong.
This was the hard lesson I needed to learn. I need to learn to not live on my current circumstances or my current feeling, and to still follow Christ. I realized that no matter how hard things are for me in this life, I will obey God. Even in my “dark night” I know I must persevere in order to attain heaven, and to attain heaven as soon as possible after I die. Is this the perfect motive to serve God? Not at all! The Catholic Church teaches that the highest motive in serving God is not in order to get anything in return but just because He deserves it, for Him being God. But although the motive for serving God in order to attain heaven is not the best, the Church teaches that God will accept that and can work on us to produce the higher motive.
Another implication is the seriousness of sin. Sin has consequences, and no matter how much you are sorry for your sin, you still have to suffer the consequences of your sins. This goes against our culture. I remember when Bill Clinton was discovered to have perjured himself to a grand jury. He then went on television and said he was sorry. His defenders said “See, he said he was sorry. Let’s now move on”. But although he said he was sorry, that is not enough. Just as I mentioned before, even if a Ted Bundy repents and confesses his atrocities before he dies, that does not mean he does not face the consequences of his sin. Purgatory shows us the mercy and severity of God. It shows us God’s mercy in that purgatory is only temporary, but it also shows God’s severity that sin still has consequences. This means that I do not sin with the knowledge that I can always confess it later. Even with confession, sin still has its temporal consequences - if not in the current life then in the hereafter.
Another implication is that it causes me to strive to live for God as much as possible. Protestantism reminds me now of communism – kind of like a spiritual communism. Every Christian will make it to heaven right after he died no matter how poorly or how well he had lived the Christian life. We all know how well this worked with communism – equality of outcome instead of just equality of opportunity. In a communist country, no matter how hard a person works, he will get the same salary as the one who does not work hard. So then why work hard? If a teacher guarantees his student s that everyone will receive an A, the tendency of human nature is just not to care anymore. Equality of outcome guarantees mediocrity. The communist argues “But now the worker is free to excel because worker does it for the love of the work instead of doing it for the money!” But reality shows that this just goes against human nature. People no longer strive for excellence when they realize that they will receive the same outcome as people who settle for mediocrity. My Protestant Evangelical friends give me the same argument – “By not having the threat of purgatory, a Christian is free to serve God just because he loves him!” In reality, it just does not work that way. Why pursue moral and spiritual excellence when mediocrity would do just as well? Protestant ministers intuitively know that Christ would then settle for mediocrity, so they preach rewards in the here-and-now to motivate Christians to strive for goodness, but this produces some dire consequences which I previously mentioned.
