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Actual C.S. Lewis is a pretty poor example to use to illustrate Protestant beliefs since he was an Anglican many Anglican beliefs, at least among the high church Anglicans, are essentially the same as are those of the Roman Catholics. The vast majority of Protestants, particularly those who are evangelical, would have absolutely no belief in purgatory. Catholic vs. Protestant Beliefs [ religionfacts.com] As to what happens to souls at death I think there are several positions among Protestants. The most discussed these days is the so called rapture which apparently presumes that souls are held in some kind of suspended animation until the rapture event when all the saved will be united with Christ. As far as Protestant beliefs go I suspect you could find somebody who believes almost anything but a belief in purgatory is probably one of the least likely things they would believe.
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Though many Anglicans (and even Lutherans) like to distance themselves from the term "Protestant", by most reckonings they are indeed part of the Protestant movement, which is, admittedly, extremely broad. The kind of premillenial dispensationism you describe is just one of hundreds of eschatological speculations that fill up the Protestant spectrum. Lewis sits at one end, the rapturists at the other end, and there is everything else in between. Since there is no such thing as "magisterial" Protestantism, Lewis is as authentically Protestant as the authors of the Left Behind books.
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For a discussion of purgatory by a Methodist theologian, see " Purgatory for Everyone [ lastseminary.com]" by Jerry Walls.
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Lewis is as authentically Protestant as the authors of the Left Behind books. If you define Protestant as any Western Christian who is not Roman Catholic I guess you can make that argument. The point though, is that C.S.Lewis is hardly a representative Protestant to cite as generally indicative of Protestant beliefs about purgatory.
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Regarding the original "Purgatory is a process, not a place, pope says" theme, I get the impression (and I hope someone who knows more will clarify this if necessary) that this wouldn't help too much with respect to Protestants. It seems as though the real sticking point there isn't so much place vs. process, but the idea that prayers benefit those in purgatory.
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Regarding the original "Purgatory is a process, not a place, pope says" theme, I get the impression (and I hope someone who knows more will clarify this if necessary) that this wouldn't help too much with respect to Protestants. It seems as though the real sticking point there isn't so much place vs. process, but the idea that prayers benefit those in purgatory. I agree. Most of them believe that once you've died, its over. You are either going to heaven or hell. There is no use for praying for the souls.
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Regarding the original "Purgatory is a process, not a place, pope says" theme, I get the impression (and I hope someone who knows more will clarify this if necessary) that this wouldn't help too much with respect to Protestants. It seems as though the real sticking point there isn't so much place vs. process, but the idea that prayers benefit those in purgatory. Which, according to Dr. Dragani, is dogma in the Catholic Church.
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Which, according to Dr. Dragani, is dogma in the Catholic Church. The doctrine of the Catholic Church is prayers benefit the departed. Period. Full Stop.
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I liked this nugget of writing from Orthodox Wiki entry on purgatory. For me it summed it up. I have been trying to find exactly which writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian talk about this though. Some Church Fathers, such as St. Cyprian and St. Augustine of Hippo, seemed to believe in a purification after death. However, the character of this purification is never clarified, and especially (as St. Mark of Ephesus underlined at the Council of Florence) it seems there is no true distinction between heaven, hell and the so-called purgatory: all souls partake differently in the same mystical fire (which, according to St. Isaac of Syria, is God's Love) but because of their spiritual change they are bound to different reactions: bliss for those who are in communion with him; purification for those in the process of being deified; and remorse for those who hated God during their earthly lives. Because of this confusion and inability of the human language to understand these realities, the Church refrains from theological speculation. Instead, she affirms the unbroken Tradition of prayers for the dead, the certainty of eternal life, the rejection of reincarnation, and the communion of the Saints (those living and those who have fallen asleep in the Lord) in the same Body of Christ which is the Church. Private speculation is thus still possible as it was in the time of the Church Fathers.
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Private speculation is thus still possible as it was in the time of the Church Fathers. If only people were willing to leave it at that, but the urge to elaborate, and to impose one's own speculations upon others seems irresistable.
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Indeed. "It certainly doesn't hurt" is all I really ever needed to hear.
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