Catholics, would you please explain where purgatory comes from?

A stupid invention designed to extort money from the bereft families of the recently deceased. In short, "We will say a mass for your loved ones; and you will pay for it; and then we'll bail them out of purgatory for you after the check clears...."

It's based on an ancient Biblical principle practiced by Judas Maccabeus in the Books of I and II Maccabees. Slain Israelite soldiers were found with pagan amulets on their bodies, and Maccabeus sent money to the Temple so that his deceased followers could be cleansed of their sins. This indicates that ancient Jews believed in a cleansing or purgatorial state after death.

Never heard of those books? Not surprising: Protestants chopped them out of the Protestant Bible, while we Catholics have retained them. Hence our belief in Purgatory.

Purgatory is also a very logical concept when you think about it: dying doesn't make us perfect. . .it just makes us dead. We know that God cannot even look upon sin, so it stands to reason that we must be cleansed of any sinful things in our nature or worldly attachments that we never let go of.

Picture this: you've been out working in the rain and cold all day long, and when you get home, you're covered in mud and reeking of sweat. You have a party to attend that evening, so what are you going to do -- go as you are, filthy and smelly, or are you going to take a bath and get cleaned up?

So that's where the concept of Purgatory comes from and why it's necessary for the saved to be purified of anything that is displeasing to God. If you have any other questions, edit your post, and I'll try to answer them.

The word "Purgatory" isnt in the bible, but then neither is the word "Trinity".

Purgatory

Mt 5:48 - be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect

Heb 12:14 - strive for that holiness without which cannot see God

Jam 3:2 - we all fall short in many respects

Rev 21:27 - nothing unclean shall enter heaven

Jam 1:14-15 - when sin reaches maturity gives birth to death

2Sam 12:13-14 - David, though forgiven, still punished for his sin

Mt 5:26 - you will not be released until paid last penny

Mt 12:32 - sin against Holy Spirit unforgiven in this age or next

Mt 12:36 - account for every idle word on judgment day

2Macc 12:44-46 - atoned for dead to free them from sin

1Cor 3:15 - suffer loss, but saved as through fire

1Pet 3:18-20; 4:6 - Jesus preached to spirits in prison

2Tim 1:16-18 - Paul prays for dead friend Onesiphorus

1Cor 15:29-30 - Paul mentions people baptizing for the dead

Peace be with you

<<<Devout Catholic>>>

Purgatory is very scriptural. But you must remember the Protestants have removed the books in the OT that refer to purgatory from their bible and they really dont read the NT verses where it talks of purgatory.

First, a definition is in order: what is Purgatory?

Purgatory is not Hell minus a few torments and degrees Fahrenheit; it's not Heaven minus joy. It's not a "Third Final Destination" of souls. Purgatory is simply the place where already saved souls are cleansed of the temporal effects of sin before they are allowed to see the holy face of Almighty God. Revelation 21:27 tells us that "...nothing unclean will enter [Heaven]."

Daniel 12:2, Matthew 12:32, 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Hebrews 12:14, Hebrews 12:22-23, 1 Peter 4:6 and Revelation 21:10, 27 all speak of Purgatory in their telling of the need for purification, prayers for the dead, Christ's preaching to the dead, or how nothing unclean will see God.

prayers for the dead (Tobit 12:12; 2 Maccabees 12:39-45),

Purgatory (Wisdom 3:1-7),

intercession of dead saints (2 Maccabees 15:14),

and intercession of angels as intermediaries (Tobit 12:12-15).

Even the The Talmud speaks of Purgatory:

Sabbath 33b:

"The judgment of the wicked in purgatory is twelve months."

Rosh HaShanah 16b-17a:

"It has been taught that the school of Shammai says: "There will be three groups on Judgment Day (yom haDin):

The completely righteous will be recorded and sealed at once for eternal life. The completely wicked will be recorded and doomed at once to Gehinnom, as it says: "And many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise up, some to eternal life and some to shame and eternal rejection" [Daniel 12:2]. Those in between will go down to Gehinnom and cry out and rise up, as it says: "And I will bring the third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them" [Zechariah 13:9]

Rabbi Shammai (50 BC - AD 30), one of the two main teachers of early rabbinical Judaism, also is on record as having interpreted Zechariah 13:9 as referring to a state of purification after death. Isaiah 66:15-16 and Malachi 3:2-3 were also interpreted in rabbinic literature as referring to the purgatorial process, and the same theme is reflected in Wisdom 3:1-7 and II Maccabees 12:43-45, both contained in the Deuterocanonical

That there are temporal effects of sin is obvious when one considers that even those who have been baptized, who have a deep and intimate relationshp with Jesus, who are the "elect" or "the saved/being saved," or what have you, are subject to pain, work, death and sickness.

The best way to understand the idea of already being forgiven but still having to be cleansed of the temporal effects of sin is by analogy: imagine you are the parent of a 7-year old child who steals a candy bar from the local grocery. The child is repentant, in tears, sobbing his apologies. You, being the good parent (as God, our Father is!) forgive that child and love him and show him your mercy. But being a good parent means that you are also just and will expect that child to pay back the store. Purgatory is God's way of forgiving us, loving us, showing us His mercy and justice -- and making us "pay back the store." Can you imagine what would happen to the child of a parent who never expected that child to "pay back the store" (especially when that same parent believed also that there was nothing that child could do to become "disinherited," as in the "once saved, always saved" doctrine)?

Purgatory is His way of ensuring that Revelation 21:27 is true and that nothing unclean will see Heaven. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that we are shown this mercy! It is Christ and Christ alone Who allows us access to the Father.

Christ has died

Christ has risen

Christ will come again

Catholic Christian†

The catholic church invented it. There is God. You are either in his grace or you are not.

It doesn't really say anywhere. It is through mistranslation that Catholicism believes in Purgatory. I was part of the Catholic church originally, but I am now a saved Born Again Christian. Belief in Jesus Christ as saviour is the only way to eternal life in heaven. No amount of good deeds will change that. Our good deeds will be like filthy rags on the day of Judgement, but if we accept Christ, our sins will be gone and we will appear as white as snow. This is all in the Bible, there is no 'prison sentence' that we serve in order to get to heaven because sin is sin, and the penalty for sin is an eternity in hell, separated from God. Repent and accept that Jesus Christ died for our sin and you will be saved. Our sin is forgiven by Christ if we accept him as saviour, so what use would purgatory be if our sins have been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ?

Hmmm... I looked at Darth's link:

Luke 12:58-59 – Jesus teaches us, “Come to terms with your opponent or you will be handed over to the judge and thrown into prison. You will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” The word “opponent” (antidiko) is likely a reference to the devil (see the same word for devil in 1 Pet. 5:8

Okay, antidiko refers to the Devil - so, in context, why would Jesus tell us to "come to terms" with the Devil?

If we needed Jesus to pay for our sins, how come after death we are all of a sudden able to pay for them ourselves?

Wrong, you have never seen it in your Protestant Bible with the 7 books expunged.

IT is authority after all, as you suspect. You follow Pope Luther and he said "take those books out"

It's nowhere found in the Bible.

What many people like to do is make up a doctrine first, then find scriptures that kind of support it.

As they have done with Purgatory.

that would be because the prote4stnats took any books that refured to it out of the bible

Romans 11:22

Rev 21:27

Matt 22:1-14

Matt 12:32

& more