Monday School: The Myth Of Purgatory

It’s Monday! Time once again for Monday School – “The Rational Corrective To All That Nonsense They Tried To Teach You Yesterday!”

After a two week absence, we’re going to jump into a great subject for today’s Lesson:

Does any version of the bible mention purgatory?

Many people know that Pope ‘eggs’ Benedict has not hesitated to promote belief in purgatory – and in his power to reduce the suffering of people who go there.

Ahhh, purgatory. The alleged Switzerland of the afterlife.

Now comes the tricky part: is there actually anything in the bible to actually back up this belief? Well, yes and no.

As far as anyone can determine, the actual word “purgatory” does not appear in any version of the Bible.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “The origins of the idea of purgatory can be traced to religions of the ancient Middle East and, especially, to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. The notion of purgatory inherited general characteristics from the Jewish view of the underworld and, according to Christian theologians, was prefigured in 2 Maccabees 12:45. Christian Scriptures and Apocrypha also contain indirect references to the idea. The most important allusions to it may be found in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and in the story of Lazarus in the Gospel According to Luke, which mentions souls resting in the “bosom of Abraham” [Luke 16:22].

It should be noted that while Catholics accept 2 Maccabees as part of their holy scriptures, Jewish people and Protestants do not accept it as part of theirs. Indeed, Wikipedia tells us that this work was actually condemned by Protestants and quotes Martin Luther as saying this: “I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica article goes on to share this additional information: “During late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the idea of purgatory developed as a place of temporal punishment to purify souls before entry into heaven. Theologians beginning with St. Augustine cultivated the idea, and references to it appear in a variety of sources, including Bede’s history. As part of a broader wave of systematization during the 12th and 13th centuries, the teachings concerning purgatory were refined by scholastic theologians such as Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. The idea received its most famous treatment, however, in the second book of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Finally, the councils of Lyon (1274), Florence (1438–45), and Trent (1545–63) provided official sanction and authoritative definition to the teaching of the theologians.”

Once again, we see that religion in general (and Christianity in particular) has evolved over time – and different branches of Christianity have evolved in markedly different ways.

Besides the outright rejection of purgatory by Protestants as alluded to above, consider the position of Eastern Orthodox Christians. According to Wikipedia, even though they, too, accept 2 Maccabees as holy scripture, they “generally reject the Roman Catholic understanding of Purgatory. According to Eastern Orthodox beliefs, after death, a soul is either sent to heaven or hell, following the Temporary Judgment occurring immediately after death. Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the process of purification after death as involving suffering or fire…. Eastern Orthodox Christians do, however, practice prayer for the dead, and they accept that those prayers can affect the state of the deceased souls.”

So, chalk purgatory up as yet one more issue on which Christian belief seems to be all over the map on.

This is something I bring up when debating those who are trying to convince me of their ways: how do you expect to convince non-believers of anything if you guys are incapable of agreeing on it yourselves?

It’s a valid question, one I have yet to year a sound response to.

Moving back to purgatory…

In a book titled Sacred Origins of Profound Things, writer Charles Panati devotes an entire chapter to purgatory. In that section, he states the following regarding Purgatory:

– Purgatory, in Roman Catholic doctrine, is the third otherworldly place, situated nearer to Heaven than to Hell.

– Purgatory is a temporary resting place for the souls of those who die in the state of grace, but who are not yet free from all imperfections. In Purgatory, they undergo remedial punishment, which may be swift or protracted, slight or searingly severe….

– The theology of Purgatory is tricky; poorly understood even by most parish priests. For instance, is there real fire? Do souls suffer pain? (Indeed, can a disembodied spirit feel pain?) How long does the remedial torture last? Once purified, does a soul depart Purgatory immediately for Heaven?

– The origin of Purgatory… is murky to say the least; it seems to be a blend of biblical interpretation, tradition, and wishful thinking. (And I’d love to add “sadism” to that list.)

– The noun “purgatory” is relatively new; it did not come into existence until late in the twelfth century, just in time to be included in Dante’s Divine Comedy. The origin of the word… is a story only recently discovered.

– The Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory did not become official Church teaching until the mid-1200s….

– The Church in Rome, to solidify its power, elevated Purgatory to an article of faith in reaction to the adversity it perceived all around it. What Luther denies, the pope dignifies….

– Although the doctrine of Purgatory is not explicitly stated in the Bible, the belief stems from the Jews’ trust in God’s fairness and justice.

– Jews in the century before the birth of Jesus Christ believed that a person after death is judged according to his or her lifetime of deeds, and that friend and family could pray – and should pray – that God would shower mercy on the soul of the deceased….

– The school of Jewish theology led by the rabbi Shammai explicitly taught that extirpation of sin from a soul is accomplished in the blast furnace of Hell.

– The Christian Gospel writers, surprisingly, do not pick up on this Jewish theme. At least not directly….

– It is standard Roman Catholic teaching today to point to certain passages of the New Testament that support the doctrine of Purgatory, but the evidence for such support is not clear cut….

– Traditionally, four passages are cited, none of which is straightforward in suggesting there exists a “third place” for expiration of sin….

I don’t know about you, but I’m personally about as impressed as Luther seems to have been. Panati then goes on to say this:

The final, and most subtle, citation is in Paul’s parable in <a href="http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/1cor/3.html”>1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Indeed, it is so subtle that no single line can be quoted. The parable concerns various Christian preachers working to spread the kingdom of God, and one needs considerable imagination to spot the evidence of Purgatory.

In truth, the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is based on tradition, not on Sacred Scriptures, which is precisely why Martin Luther and John Calvin denounced it.

It’s also close to the reason why I would not hesitate to denouce it as well. Small subtle hints about anything is not grounds to make such profound declarations, which would explain why these men also didn’t buy this bunch of Marlarky. Then again, since when did orgnaized religions ever let things like evidence stop them from jumping to supernatural conclusions?

So regardless of how the idea of purgatory came about or why it became part of Catholic dogma, proving to be yet one more way for religious leaders to extend their power and separate people from their money.

Panati skillfully details the situation in a few pages.

Here are some highlights:

The first true indulgences – that is, remission of temporal punishment for sin that has already been forgiven, thus lessening one’s time in Purgatory – were issued by bishops in the south of France early in the eleventh century. Certain short prayers, repeated a prescribed number of times, reduced the number of days, months, or even years one would otherwise have to burn in Purgatory….

The Church was entering into a period of cathedral-building and construction money was needed. Thus the idea arose that a person who confessed his sins and received, say, a penance of three days of fasting, could, by contributing to the regional building coffer, have his fasting reduced to two days. For a larger contribution, reduced to one day. Money had begun to change hands, and thus arose the potential for abuse….

For a period of about a hundred years, popes were parsimonious in passing out plenary indulgences. However, by the end of the twelfth century, Pope Innocent III was handing out full-credit indulgences for anyone who even assisted in the Crusade effort – making clothes, signing up recruits – whether or not he or she even went into battle. This kind of laxity quickly escalated into full-scale abuse of indulgences….

Pope Boniface VIII needed money for the papal treasury. On Christmas Day in 1300, he announced the jubilee indulgence: Anyone who made a pilgrimage to Rome, and a monetary contribution to the papacy, received full exemption from Purgatory for sins already confessed. Boniface proclaimed there would be such a jubilee indulgence offered only once every hundred years.

Pope Paul II revised the jubilee grant in the mid-1400s – it would now occur once every twenty-five years. The bureaucracy at Rome had expanded and was costly to support. More money was needed. Now, theoretically, every quarter-century any Catholic could have all residual punishment for sins confessed wiped clear from his or her immortal soul….

In short, it came to the point where even priests were selling grace. In truth, many cardinals were living like kings, with their own country houses, staffs, chefs, and personal boys’ choirs. The selling of indulgences became a quick way to raise cash and sustain a lifestyle.

When clerics hired lay agents, working on commission, to hawk indulgences, the situation spiraled out of control….

In 1476, Pope Sixtus IV extended indulgences to souls already in Purgatory. These were called indulgences for the dead. Thus, a loving son could spring his mother’s soul from the fires of Purgatory with the appropriate deposit of prayer – and often cash. The sick on their deathbeds made pleas that living relatives purchase postmortem indulgences on their behalf.

It is not an exaggeration to say that now much of an ordinary Catholic’s devotional life centered around the greedy acquisition of indulgences…. Agents for the Church bartered indulgences for livestock and produce from peasants. Many agents were hoaxers, who didn’t even represent the Church.

Abuse mounted. By the early 1600s, cathedrals and even universities were built with monies acquired through the sale of indulgences. In Germany, theologian and biblical translator Martin Luther decried the abuses and eventually split with Rome, changing the course of the history of religion….

Less than twenty years after Luther’s death in 1546, the Council of Trent finally ended the abusive practices; shortly thereafter, Pope Pius V (1566-72) revoked all indulgences for which money changed hands…

In 1967, Pope Paul VI… severely restricted the easy granting of plenary indulgence. Today, the Code of Canon Law limits the power to grant indulgences to the pope, and people he delegates.

Gee…. Imagine how much power and money YOU could acquire if you were able to convince others of the existence of imaginary hostile forces and that you alone had the power to protect them. That’s basically what every religious institution boils down to, isn’t it?

And millions of people eagerly embrace those institutions in exchange for a measure of reassurance and a reduction of guilt so long as the cost in time and money isn’t too onerous…

It’s often said that you can’t cheat an honest man.

Is it also impossible for a church to attract and exploit a psychologically healthy individual?

Discuss.