1/2/2015 George, Joshua mid 30’s
Spent
an hour chatting at a coffeeshop with George, a Catholic who believes he will
go to purgatory when he dies, and Joshua, an agnostic who says he doesn’t care
what happens after he dies, one way or the other. The two are longtime friends but really
hadn’t talked about their beliefs, and when Josh found out about George’s
belief in purgatory, he was adamant in saying that purgatory was a cop out,
that if there really is a God then He would be wise enough to know who truly
deserves hell and who deserves heaven, and He wouldn’t have to compromise by
sending people to purgatory. As it
turned out, Joshua believes God would know his heart and know that he is really
a good guy, despite his unbelief. In
other words, the real reason Joshua doesn’t worry about the next life is
because he believes he is a shoe-in for heaven!
His friend George’s belief in purgatory threatens that assumption, and
makes him think he might have to be punished after all, at least for a while. I can see why purgatory was an attractive
teaching for the Catholic Church when it was introduced in the middle ages – it
can be an effective way to control agnostics like Joshua who don’t respect
religious beliefs. Problem is, though,
it’s not biblical. It devalues the work
of Jesus on the cross – as if Jesus’ sacrifice was not sufficient to pay the
just punishment for our sins and we have to add to it in order to be
forgiven. But what can one add to
infinity? Jesus took the punishment for
all who trust Him, as written in Colossians 2 - “When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He
forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,
which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to
the cross.” As Jesus’ last words on the
cross remind us “It is finished” Our sin
has been washed away. There is no death, or crying, or pain, or purgatory. Our debt has been paid in full!
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