Purgatory, Part 1

One of the things my NDE (near death experience) taught me was I never really resolved what I thought happened after death. Life is so busy and complicated I assumed I would deal with the nuances of the afterlife when it happened.

I also relied on my protestant Methodist upbringing to teach me certain things. So like most in my camp, I believed after death our souls went to heaven or hell. I wasn’t sure if the body followed, but apparently I did, because in church I said “I believe …in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”. (Apostle’s Creed) I think this is a good and logical belief. But there must be more to it.

When we say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth”,  Does this mean “heaven” the dwelling place of God, or just the skies?

“And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried...
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The ecumenical version of the creed offers “He descended to the dead”. This comes after “crucified, dead and buried”. Some versions come right out and say “He descended into hell”. Then “He ascended into heaven”.

So Christ died, went to “hell” or “to the dead” and then rose on the third day. He then ascended into heaven.

Clearly you would think we all know what we mean by heaven, hell, place of the dead, and so forth. But it does get confusing.

Hell is used in the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word “sheol” which means the place of the dead without reference to happiness or the reverse. In other passages there is an idea of punishment. In the New Testament the word hell is used to translate “hades”, which is the same as sheol, and gehenna, the place of retribution for evil deeds”. It will depend on which translation you are reading. (Cruden’s)

The authorized version (KJV) uses “hell” where most of the revised versions retain the use of sheol, hades, gehenna, etc. to try and let the reader know exactly what word is used. Sheol is a Hebrew word, hades is a greek word.

The word purgatory is not in the Bible, per se. It comes from the Latin “purgare” to make clean, to purify. The Catholic Encyclopedia says “purgatory …is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions”.

Most people, when asked, believe Roman Catholics believe in purgatory as a place or condition and Protestants do not. But what about Orthodox Christians, Latter Day Saints, Judaism and other religions. The discussion can get very interesting.