Jesus taught us about it, and for centuries the Church has faithfully defined and defended it. Protestants deny it even exists, while many Catholics accept but fundamentally misunderstand it. Certain saints experienced a harrowing taste of it, and from it the Holy souls cry out night and day
It is purgatory: that place of purifying penance where souls saved by Christ are made perfect and acceptable to spend life eternal in heaven.
In the Biblical Basis for Purgatory, author and apologist John Salza (Why Catholics Cannot Be Masons) offers the definitive scriptural explanation of this distinctively catholic doctrine. Building on the teaching of Christ and St. Paul, he shows how the existence of temporal punishment after death is not only a logical extension of what we know about the reality of sin and God's justice but is also a supreme expression of God's love and mercy.
Preface 7
1 Purgatory-An Introduction 15
What Purgatory Is 15
What Purgatory Is Not 23
What Purgatory May Be 32
2 Satisfaction for Sin 46
Why God Demands Satisfaction 46
Examples of Temporal Punishment 58
Grace and the Salvation Process 74
3 Proof from Scripture and the Fathers 95
The Teachings of Jesus 98
The Teachings of Paul 114
The Teachings of the Church Fathers 144
4 How to Avoid Purgatory 174
Penance 177
The Sacrament 193
Indulgences 209
Appendix: Prayers for the Souls in Purgatory 227
About the Author 236
Overview
Jesus taught us about it, and for centuries the Church has faithfully defined and defended it. Protestants deny it even exists, while many Catholics accept but fundamentally misunderstand it. Certain saints experienced a harrowing taste of it, and from it the Holy souls cry out night and day
It is purgatory: that place of purifying penance where souls saved by Christ are made perfect and acceptable to spend life eternal in heaven.
In the ...