Good entry, I'm in a lot of ways like you are, only I have no affiliation with any denomination, and I'm KJV only for the most part, so I guess that makes me a silly person. Though this might surprise you, but I won't be invited to any cocktail parties anytime soon by the KJV only crowd, if you know what I mean. I simply have issues with just about any circle on a number of things, and it seems like many of them start out well... "Jesus is God, Jesus is my Lord"... and then it deterioriates into a belief system that seems to come right out of left field. Evidently few people tend to read their Bibles past Genesis 1:1

Regarding purgatory, all I can tell you, is that it seems to have been derived from the Apocrypha if I'm not mistaken, which is not considered inspired by the Jews and Protestants, a belief that seems fortified by its spurious history. Purgatory has since been adopted by the Catholic church, evolving into quite a money making function, where the practice of indulgences is used to take money from Catholic followers under the promise that by giving to the "church" their loved ones would get out of purgatory faster. One wonders why God would honour money as currency in expediting the souls of purgatory, but that's besides the point.

Christ illustrated a picture of hell by telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man died and went to hell, but Lazarus went to a place call Abraham's bosom, or Paradise. Purgatory is nonexistent, instead the godly are taken to Paradise where they are comforted until the time of Christ, and since the crucifixion brought about the perfect atonement for sins, the souls of paradise were taken up to heaven, and in some cases apparently, brought back to life shortly after the Lord died.

This simple story, which is not a parable since Jesus called Lazarus by name, should do away with any notion that there is a purgatory, at least before Christ was crucified. By if they did not suffer pre-Christ in paradise, why would they suddenly suffer the "fires" of purgatory after Christ, of which a more perfect covenant was established for the atonement of sins?

Just some thoughts :D

Hi Mac,

I don't think it's silly if someone prefers the KJV over other Bible versions. My remarks were aimed at a certain sect of ultra-fundamentalist Christians who think that the KJV is somehow holier than other translations, and that all other translations (without exception) are corrupt and evil. That was something else I should have made clearer.

I have a book that is a compilation of the Apocryphal books, but I've never had a chance to read it. Those who make a case for Purgatory often use that story of Lazarus to make their point. They say that if the rich man were in Hell, he would not have been able to speak to Abraham, so he must have been in Purgatory instead. But, like you said, why would Purgatory be necessary if Christ's death atoned for our sins and made us holy in God's eyes?

The reason I find the idea of Purgatory interesting is because of C.S. Lewis' book The Great Divorce. But, like I said, I'm not convinced.

Hi Susan,

Where did they get the idea that by being in hell the rich man would have been incapable of speaking to Abraham? Is there a "Thou shalt not speak to Abraham while thou art in hell" commandment that I somehow missed? :-D What silliness.

But just to prove an additional point, the same word for hell in the story of the rich man is also used when Jesus, speaking to Peter, said "upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Using their logic that would translate to "the gates of purgatory will not prevail against it." Oooooook.

Hi Susan,

Keep in mind that C.S. Lewis explicitely pointed out in the preface (I think) of The Great Divorce that the book was not meant to shed any light on the conditions, realities of heaven and hell. I wish I had the quote itself - sorry. But what he meant was that it shouldn't be interpreted as his ideas as to what heaven and hell are actually like.

Hi Bill,

I remember reading that...I realize that it's simply an allegory. What I was thinking of was where one of the characters says something like, "To those who are able to leave the gray town, it will be Purgatory. To those who never leave, it will be Hell."

BTW, thank you for the link! I have linked back to your site. :-)