The classic Protestant argument against Purgatory, aside from the lack of biblical support, is that Jesus' death eliminated the need for any afterlife redress of sin. Catholics reply that divine mercy doesn't exonerate a person from the need to be transformed.
According to Calvin, purgatory is at odds with the doctrine that we are saved entirely by faith in the work of Christ. Any suggestion that postmortem suffering is necessary for final salvation discredits the incalculable worth of the passion and death of Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a place where sins are punished and a soul is purified before it can go to Heaven. This is called Purgatory .
Most Protestant religions rejected the idea of purgatory as it conflicted with Protestant theology of "Salvation by grace alone" (Ephesians 2:4–9). Luther's canon of the Bible excluded the Deuterocanonical books.
The idea of an afterlife or what happens after death is quite similar in other faiths as purgatory in Catholicism. Some religions with a belief in an existence of a realm between death and glory are: Jews (the concept of Gehenna) Tibetan Buddhism (talks of a state of temporary existence called Bardo)
In general, Protestant churches reject the Catholic doctrine of purgatory although some teach the existence of an intermediate state. Many Protestant denominations, though not all, teach the doctrine of sola scriptura ("scripture alone") or prima scriptura ("scripture first").
For most Muslims, the intermediate state is called the barzakh. It is a fantastical and frightening time in the grave, often equated to Purgatory in Christianity.
The classic Protestant argument against Purgatory, aside from the lack of biblical support, is that Jesus' death eliminated the need for any afterlife redress of sin. Catholics reply that divine mercy doesn't exonerate a person from the need to be transformed.
According to the French historian Jacques Le Goff, the conception of purgatory as a physical place dates to the 12th century, the heyday of medieval otherworld-journey narratives and of pilgrims' tales about St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cavelike entrance to purgatory on a remote island in northern Ireland.
Visitations from Purgatory
Such apparitions have been recorded for thousands of years. It is a mystery why God allows certain souls to seek spiritual aid, and why some people among the living—though very few—are able to communicate with them.
At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan who was placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain (his symbolic significance has been much debated).
A Spanish theologian from the late Middle Ages once argued that the average Christian spends 1000 to 2000 years in purgatory (according to Stephen Greenblatt's Hamlet in Purgatory). But there's no official take on the average sentence.
Liberal Protestants believe that the soul lives on eternally after death in a spirit world. They believe that a person's afterlife will depend on how the person lived their life on Earth.
Protestants believe that both good deeds and faith in God are needed to get into heaven. Protestants believe that faith in God alone is needed to get into heaven, a tenet known as sola fide. Catholics believe that both good deeds and faith in God are needed to get into heaven.
The Roman Catholic Church reveres Mary, the mother of Jesus, as "Queen of Heaven." However, there are few biblical references to support the Catholic Marian dogmas — which include the Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity and her Assumption into heaven. This is why they are rejected by Protestants.
Protestant Christianity shares a belief in life after death for everyone. Those who have made peace with God through acceptance and adherence to the teachings of Jesus will live forever in Heaven; those who do not will spend eternity banished from God in a place of punishment.
The most prominent modern historian of the idea of Purgatory, Jacques Le Goff, dates the term purgatorium to around 1170; and in 1215 the Church began to set out the actual length of time in Purgatory required of souls. It is easy to see how this might have been a useful development for the Church.
Purgatory refers to the purification process of all attachments we still have when we die. Ideally, we would go through the process of purification here on Earth, before death, so as to enjoy Divine Union here and now.
In its traditional form, however, it has not been understood as a second chance for salvation after death, but rather, only as chance for postmortem transformation and purging for persons who die in grace. Nevertheless, it is often popularly understood as a second chance to obtain salvation.
A: In the Bible, cremation is not labeled a sinful practice. Frankly, the topic is not dealt with at all in terms of the detailed lists of instructions for living and dying set forth by almighty God in the Old and New testaments. The short answer to your question appears to be no, cremation is not a sin.
Neither the Eastern Orthodox Church nor Protestantism accepts the concept of a limbo of infants; but, while not using the expression "Limbo of the Patriarchs", the Eastern Orthodox Church lays much stress on the resurrected Christ's action of liberating Adam and Eve and other righteous figures of the Old Testament, ...
In Nondenominational Christianity, especially such churches aligned with evangelicalism, repentance is necessary for salvation and new birth. It is the subject of special invitations during sermons and services.
The Quranic idea of aʿrāf (“the heights”) is closer to that of Christian purgatory. Aʿrāf is also thought of as a place where souls go whose good and bad deeds are too evenly matched to go directly to Paradise or the Fire.
Origins. According to Catholic tradition, the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. The New Testament records Jesus' activities and teaching, His appointment of the twelve Apostles, and His instructions to them to continue His work.
The word is literally translated as "the heights" in English. The realm is described as a high curtain between hell and paradise.