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Why Purgatory?

January 7, 2015

A report from the Las Vegas, Nevada team:

This lady was a fallen-away Catholic. Did not get a chance to spend much time with her, but did give her a rosary, how to say it, and a pamphlet on “Ten Reasons to Return to the Catholic Church.” She said she would.

There was also another woman we talked to today who came up and said, “Why do you Catholics believe in Purgatory?” We answered that question by taking her on a quick trip into the Scriptures.



1 John 5:16-17 says there are two kinds of sin — deadly and non-deadly. We explain that we call the non-deadly sins “venial” sins. Then, we show her how “nothing unclean can enter it (heaven) in Revelation 21:27. She was amazed. Then we explained to her that if someone dies with mortal (deadly) sin, they go straight to hell. If they die with non-deadly (venial) sin, then they cannot get into the Heaven, as we found in Revelation 21:27, so how do they get in? St. Paul says to us in 1 Cor 3:12-15 how our work will be tested as through fire. This is Purgatory.

Also, St. Paul seems to pray for a dead man in 2 Timothy 1:18. Combining these with the faith of the early Church on this matter, shouldn’t it be clear?

I asked her if she would like a pamphlet on this, but she refused. She was afraid she may become Catholic. Pray for her, and please join us in our efforts to evangelize!

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