I have noticed a very interesting trend of late.
Most people, whether they are Roman Catholic or not, believe that there is a place called "Purgatory" where people go after they die.
Most tell me, in essence, "Look - I know I'm not a perfect person, and I'm probably not good enough to go to heaven right when I die. But I'm not bad enough to go to hell. I think I'll go someplace in between - like Purgatory or something."
It's amazing. Probably 90% of the people with whom I speak tell me that they think there is a place in between heaven and hell where people go to sort of get "cleaned off" before they enter heaven.
So what about Purgatory?
Is it a real place?
Does the Bible teach it?
How is it that non-Catholics believe in it when in reality it is a purely Roman Catholic teaching?
We've just posted a paper on the website that explores this very important and intriguing topic. Click HERE to read the paper. Feel free to print it off and share it with others as well, as you see fit.
The paper will challenge you to think, so it requires that you be more than simply conscious to get something out of it. Let us know what you think.
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4 comments:
Larry
I have just one comment:
You take an ad-ridiculum stance at the beginning of your paper to show that the catholic idea of purgatory is wrong due to its ridiculous nature. I agree with you, but is this an appropriate way to deal with other people’s religious beliefs? Keep in mind; many people (scientists, atheists, agnostics, empiricists, objectivists etc, etc, etc.) view your beliefs in the exact same light – as ridiculous. What opinion do you have of people who dismiss your beliefs in this way?
Kind regards,
Ian
If they dismiss it without backing it up with good reasons, then I would view it as a shallow dismissal. However, that is not what I have done. I have gone to great lengths to back up my beliefs, even though I do introduce the topic with a parable to set the stage. You may disagree with this strategy, Ian, and perhaps view it as poisoning the well. However, you can't honestly put my paper into the category of a shallow dismissal.
I’m not saying that your paper was shallow, just that it was presumptuous. We should never poke fun at people’s religious beliefs – as ridiculous as they may sound – because all religious beliefs are metaphysical in nature. We should keep in mind that all religious beliefs sound ridiculous against strict naturalism. Rather, we should kindly state our point and respectfully refute the opposition. This is how we convince people. This is how we can avoid (forgive me here) naive presumption.
What happened? You haven't posted any blogs in a while and your www.downtoearthministries.com site is gone.
- Bummed out in Ankeny, IA
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