The Bible never clearly mentioned the word purgatory but gave us an understanding that all souls must be without any form of guilt to avoid the last judgment and enter paradise.
Imagine a Christian man, justified by the Lord, loses his temper and yells at his neighbors for letting their dog dig a hole in his yard. We can see that the man treated his neighbors rudely, albeit the neighbor’s behavior was also reprehensible. His actions would be considered a venial sin. It is not of the same moral weight as theft or murder, but It is still a sin.
After shouting at the neighbors, with all the anger and stress in his body the man walks into his house, has a heart attack, and dies having just committed a small sin in the final moments of his life. Remember, this man is Christian and justified by the Lord, yet has committed a sin. Does he go to heaven or does he go to hell? Are all sins equal? No, all sins are not equal and even justified men of the Lord can make mistakes and sin.
Therefore today we shall look at these Bible scriptures one at a time. They include
Psalm 66:12 – then you put a leader over us, we went through fire and water but now you have brought us to a place of safety.
To other translations ‘leader’ is replaced with ‘enemies’ but this scripture is trying to illustrate the purification process a child of God undergoes to make heaven.
Isaiah 4:4 – The lord will wash filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its blood stains, with hot breath of fiery judgement.
This scripture describes the purification process that accompanies the first judgment after death.
Malachi 3:3 – He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the lord.
This refers to forgiveness of sins that is accompanied by a great deal of pain and suffering most common to purgatory.
Revelation 21:27 – But nothing that is impure will enter the city nor anyone who does shameful things or tells lies. Only those whose names are written in the lambs book of the living will enter the city.
It simply means both venial and mortal sinners cannot enter heaven. Everyone must be purified of any form of guilt for his or her names to be written in the book of life.
Matthew 5:22 – But i say, If you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgement; If you call someone idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.
If you curse someone, you are in the dangers of the fire of hell. This further expressing the fact that no matter how ignorant you are of the fact that you have sinned you are liable to judgment on the last day.
Matthew 5:26 – And if that happens, you surely wont be free again until you have paid the last penny.
Mathew 12:32 – Anyone who speaks against the son of man can be forgiven but anyone who speaks ill against the holy spirit will never be forgiven.
The six sins against the holy spirit according to the catechism include Presumption of salvation, Envy of another’s spiritual good, Despairing of salvation, Obstinacy in sin, Resisting the known truth and Final impenitence.
Ezekiel 18:4b – The person who sins is the one who will die.
This throws more light on the bases of eternal life, which is simply a person devoid of sin or purified of venial sin in purgatory.
Hebrew 12:14 – Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the lord.
God lives in heaven and is a spirit, therefore this simply means that for anyone to see God in heaven, that person must be a holy person who lives in peace with everyone.
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