Protestants tend to come up with snazzy new tactics for evangelism. Some of them are pretty good, and some of them just aren’t. I clicked on a web link that took me to this website: http://www.areyouagoodperson.org/
Now, it does contain some truth to it: Yes, every single one of us are sinners, this is why we need Jesus Christ. And it does take you through the ten commandments (it actually seems like an Examination of Conscience, which Catholics use every time they go to Confession). It’s useful in that sense, and at the end of the Ten Commandments review, it tells us that sinners who are unrepentant go to hell (which is true), and then it brings up a standard Protestant Gospel Tract type message. The general message is that of Penal Subsitution (or Substitutionary Atonement), the concept that Jesus actually took the punishment for our sins (which is unscriptural and heretical to proper Christological doctrine) is how you are saved and that by believing in Jesus will save you from your sins (that part is true).
Now, I have two reasons to why I bring all of this up. The first is that Protestantism does have it right when it comes to reminding all of us that we’re sinners (though this is not as if the Catholic Church has ever forgotten it, simply look to any of the Saints for confirmation). And the website does give us a good start to point out that we are sinners, and that’s crucial. Yet the website then brings out the Protestant version of the Gospel, which is only partially correct. Yes, Jesus died for our sins, and yes, we could never pay the price for our sins alone. And yes, through faith in Jesus we are saved, this is true. However, the tract works on the concept of Substitutionary Atonement, which I’ve already pointed out to as being false. Tomorrow I may write a rebuttal of Penal Substitution. The second reason why I bring it up is because it has a message at the end where it says “if you have rejected the Gospel, there is no hope for you, there is no purgatory, you will be damned”. Now, it is true that all unrepentant sinners who reject the Gospel will be damned, I agree. And yes, we should warn people that their sins merit hell and they need to repent. This is also true. However, the message given at the end of the website gets two things wrong; 1), there is always hope for people who are still breathing. Those who have rejected the Gospel can be reached to and be saved. Simply look at, well, Christianity. Or for a more specific example, St. Paul or St. Augustine or St. Anthony, all people who had lives of prestige and power and gave it up to follow Jesus Christ.
2) They use the secular understanding of what Purgatory is, and not the Catholic understanding. Purgatory is not Limbo, a vague space where you’re neither condemned nor blessed. It is not a place where people get a “second chance”. It is not even a place, technically. The Church understands purgatory to be either a place OR a state where you are purified (through the grace of Christ) of your temporal attachments to sin, so that you may be pure before Jesus Christ and may enter heaven (for the Book of Revelation clearly says that nothing impure can enter into Heaven). Note clearly that it is the grace of Christ which is purifying you. This will be argued against by many Protestants who hold to the concept of Imputation of Righteousness (which is in the bible but not understood properly by Protestantism). The thing about Purgatory is that it is for those who are going to Heaven, not for those going to Hell. Everyone gets a One-Way ticket at the end of their lives, either for Heaven or for Hell. The only difference is that some of those people who are going to Heaven make a pit stop at Purgatory.
In other words, Purgatory is for the Elect, the Blessed, those who are deemed righteous in the eyes of God through His grace. It is not a second chance; you don’t get to choose God in Purgatory. This is a common misconception which is being spread by this website, and must be corrected.
“Are you a good person?” is an interesting website. I didn’t mind the format it gave for going through the 10 Commandments, and I could actually see this being useful as an examination of conscience, something important in the spiritual life. And it does get many things right; we are all sinners, we all need Jesus Christ and His grace, and we need to repent. Yet the Oversimplified Gospel of Protestantism that it gives is lacking, and is based on false theological premises that have time and time again been proven wrong and rejected by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Not to say that what the message it gives is entirely wrong. Jesus DID die for your sins, and through his wounds and death you ARE freed from sin and to receive salvation you MUST repent from your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ, who IS the only one who can save you from your sins. These things are true and must be believed and lived out in our lives. The website is good in many ways, but is lacking and based on faulty theology.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that in addition to Christ’s suffering the eternal penalty, we must suffer the “temporal” punishment for sins, either in this life or in purgatory—and few Catholics expect to escape the latter. Supposedly, the flames of purgatory are the means of purging our sins. Here again we have confusion over spiritual and physical suffering, a denial of Christ’s finishing the work of our redemption, and the attempt to earn in part one’s salvation. Scripture unequivocally declares: “[Christ] purged our sins [then] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb:1:3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;); “without shedding of blood is no remission [of sins]” (Heb:9:22And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.); “[Christ] washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev:1:5And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,).
You are correct to a certain extent, Julius: We do suffer temporal punishment for our sins, that’s what the Church teaches. The flames of Purgatory are not a means of “purging for our sins” in the way you think of it, but in the sense that we are impure and Christ’s work cleanses us through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.
However, let’s first point out that temporal punishment does exist and we have to suffer it: Does the fact that every single person in the world must die, Christians included, nullify the work of Christ? Has Christ not defeated death (Acts 2:24)? Yet we still suffer death and pain. Clearly, we still suffer the *temporal* effects of our sins. We can’t earn any part of our salvation, it is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8, Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph #2010). However, do you not know that it is God who works in us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13)? Does this fact of God working in us and sanctifying us not deny the work of Christ? Has Christ not fully redeemed us? You have to realize that your position doesn’t take into account Scripture, nor does it take into account the actual teaching of the Church. Amen! Christ’s work has redeemed us, His blood has cleansed us from sin and has set us free and the Church shall never deny this (CCC Paragraph #1992). Now, look at the Scriptures, which tell us that we must suffer with Christ if we are to be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17, Philippians 1:29).