Purgatory

The other day, Mark Shea posted about Purgatory. He included a link to an article that he wrote on the subject and a quote from C.S. Lewis, who also believed in Purgatory (although he wasn't Catholic).

I was raised to believe that Purgatory is a false teaching that promotes the idea that we need something else besides Christ's death on the cross to make us right in the eyes of God. I grew up going to a charismatic Pentecostal church and I now go to a conservative (Missouri Synod) Lutheran church. So you could say that I'm a pretty solid Protestant.

I have read several books by C.S. Lewis and respect him greatly as a thinker and a Christian. It is because of Lewis that I've actually considered that maybe the Catholics are right about Purgatory. Mark Shea also makes some very good arguments in his article. He backs up his arguments with Scripture, which makes them all the more compelling.

But I just can't quite shake the Protestant objections to the idea of Purgatory. When Christ said on the cross, "It is finished," why isn't it indeed finished? If He died on the cross for our sins, taking all of our sins and ugliness upon Himself and paying the price, why do we need Purgatory to cleanse us? Didn't Christ's blood wash us clean?

This whole Purgatory question is one that I've struggled with for some time. In some ways, it makes sense to me, but then I feel that it somehow diminishes what Christ did for us.

I invite anyone, whatever your views on this subject, to share them if you'd like. I'm pretty undecided (and therefore open-minded) on this issue.