Eligibility For Purgatory

[Didacus]

I'm already signed up to purgatory. As I hear, ain't no t-shirts there.


purgatory purgatory purgatory

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='[jas]' post='23189' date='Aug 28 2003, 07:14 AM']
I don't know greek so I can't go and translate it to check for myself, but I trust the translaters of my bible over someone who's trying to prove a point. Sorry.[/quote]

Yet Protestant theologians and pastors do this all the time. English is a very limited language, so when the Hebrew and Greek are translated, there are many places (especially in the Old Testament since Hebrew has no vowels) where they have to with a "best guess" while the Greek has words that don't directly translate into English (like four words for love). Plus, translators can be just as guilty for trying to prove a point, such as whether they choose to say "Hail, greatly favored" or "Hail, full of grace."

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='[jas]' post='22782' date='Aug 27 2003, 11:16 AM']
And even if I do, I still see no reason that I can't go directly to my Great High Priest.[/quote]

You can go directly to our Great High Priest. I pray directly to God, confess my sins to Him, etc. all the time. I also go to a priest, although that's not so different from going directly God because he offers the sacrament "in the person of Christ." So it's Christ who forgives me through the instrument of his ministers.

However, if we exclusively go to God, where is the community? What need have we of a church if our faith is a "God-and-me" relationship? Where is the accountability? Or even the shame that is naturally felt when one must speak their sins out loud to another human (even if they don't speak face-to-face)? Protestants have established accountability groups (and I've heard of some churches even installing confessionals) because they recognize the value of personal confession to another human, even another sinner. Why would Christ not recognize our need for that and give us a way to be personally reconciled in a way you can't in a prayer solely to God?