I was just reading Chris's response too you and I noticed he mentioned the Bereans in a positive way and I agree, however, this would be a perfect example of something you could use the internet for to look up the Bereans, unless you already know about them, and see how they compare to the word of God if they are a kind of people you would want to emulate. This is only a suggestion for you not instructions for you to obey. Only do it if you want to.
I would also like to recommend another site that is very helpful for studying. It's called Bible Hub except it's dot org not
dot com. This is just a suggestion. I hope you have a blessed day. God Bless :)
Hello Tdianne. As Jaz shared, purgatory is a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, where the belief is, "All who die in God's grace, 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" (according to the RC Catechism). So, they believe there is a place of purification & refining 'just short of Heaven' for those Christians who have died still with sin stains & in need of cleansing to enter Heaven.
This belief primarily comes from the Apocryphal Book 2 Maccabees 12:38-45, where Judas Maccabeus, a Jew, went to bury those of his men fallen in battle. But he found idolatrous items under those men which he believed was the reason for their death. So prayer was made for them that their sin would be forgiven and also took up an offering (of money) to be sent to Jerusalem as a sin offering. Judas believed that by doing these things, these fallen sinful men of his company might have a better chance of eternal life. We have no way of confirming this account as it is never referred to in the Bible we have, but since this book (and others) are in the canon of RC Scriptures, they accept it.
This account then gives them the directive that prayer for the dead & making penance for their souls is necessary. But what is not taken into account, is that what Maccabeus did was not what was prescribed by the LORD & should be discarded. So, it is important that we stick very closely with the Bible we have & not resort to spurious material - and especially the apocryphal writings written by often unknown writers in those 400 silent years where no prophecy was given from the LORD.
Hebrews 9:27 clearly tells us that after death comes judgement & nothing in-between. That Christ fully paid the price for our sins & stands as our Mediator in Heaven if we sin & seek Him for forgiveness ( 1 Timothy 2:5) - we can do nothing now to help those who have died.
Hi Tdianne , purgatory is something that the catholic church made up . It is not Biblical and therefore it is not real . If you read the Bible for yourself you will find this out for yourself , don't take my word for it .
Thank you, I try to read everything I can find about God and doing what is expected of me, but there is so many different sites that tell you different things. Just wanting to understand all that I read.
I don't know how involved you are with the Catholic Church, maybe not at all, but I'd like to give you a warning about this church just in case. I was raised a Catholic, but I left the church when I was 18 because I couldn't deal with the hypocrisy. I just knew (because of God) that they were false. Now I am a true Christian and I can understand even more how they have such a terrible influence over people with their evil doctrine; because those people don't seek out the truth like I eventually did.
My mother was always very devoted to the Catholic Church which was very sad for me. I had witnessed to her several times about the wonderful salvation experience through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection but she was to proud to admit she was a sinner. Catholics teach that good works make the way for you to eventually get to heaven and because she considered herself a "good person" she didn't need to be forgiven for anything and so refused to believe what I was telling her, even though I used scriptures. I hope she had a death bed experience with Jesus. I wasn't with her but I hope I see her in heaven. I said all this to warn you to please stay away from this Church and it's false doctrine. God Bless :)
thank you, I don't know much about different churches, but when I type in something I don't understand, you get lots of different answers. That is why I was asking questions
Dear Tdianne , may I please give you a piece of advice ? You say that you are trying to find out about God , then why not put the internet away and pick up the book that God Himself wrote , to us and for us , for the sole purpose of enabling us , to get to know Him , in and through His own Words to us ? The internet is written by humans . Weak , foolish , sinful humans . The Bible is written by God Almighty , the Creator and Sustainer of all life . Please consider what I say .
I thought I was reading the bible on this site, and I could ask questions, apparently not. why are you on this site if it is not the bible, are you on here just to warn people away?
I ONLY WANTED TO LEARN MORE, thank you for the warning, I'm sure there is a website out there that teaches the bible and doesn't mind answering my questions
This a KJB site where one can read the Bible. But this site does not belong to a particular church. So the people who participate in discussions here are from different churches having sometimes completely opposite beliefs about certain things in the Bible. And since you are a new believer you can not distinguish right from wrong. That is why you were advised to study your Bible and find out yourself. Although me personally I disagree with that. My advise to you is to find, with the help from God, a proper congregation/church and get taught the Word of God. The internet is by no means the proper place for one to learn the Word of God. There are lots of different doctrines on the net, also there are people there who try on purpose to deceive others, wolves in lamb's clothes. So you'd better join a church. GBU
I thought your question about purgatory was serious and valid. And I agree with others that your main source of spiritual knowledge is the Bible. But I do not agree with being discouraged to from seeking information from other sources. The internet, or back in my day, encyclopedias, etc were good sources to get information and then compare that information to what the Bible says. I do this all the time.
AS to purgatory, you will not find any information on it in the Bible because it is not mentioned there. That is where getting information like Chris gave you helps. He did not get this information from the Bible. Nor did I. I learned some about purgatory from Catholic friends. And I sought more information from the internet. You can do that too by posing the topic in ways like:
What is the teaching about purgatory? Is purgatory a biblical doctrine? What is wrong about the concept of purgatory?
I would start there.
I have noticed you come on here from time to time. I hope that you continue to do so. I am sorry that you have been offended by the way some have responded to you. We all come here with positive and negative experiences from our past experiences with various sects of Christianity. My hope for you is that you stay with us here, continue to ask questions, and that you are able to access all the information you need from various sources. The comments of people on here are one source outside of the Bible, So is information that you can find on sites on the internet or in books.
I was wondering, are you new to the faith in Jesus?
I will pray for you that God will guide you to truth concerning the questions you have. He is faithful because He wants all believers to know the truth. Most of this truth we find in the Bible. But some truth is found in other sources because the topic is not mentioned in the Bible, such as purgatory. Keep seeking. the Holy Spirit is with you.
I guess you could say I am new, I lived my life doing anything and everything I wanted. I thought as long as I didn't hurt anyone things were fine. I cannot honestly tell you when or what happened, but I now know I was not living right. I am trying to learn and grow in my faith.
Well, we all on here are all seeking God and His ways in His Holy Word. So you are in good company. Giannis has advised you well to pray for God to lead you to a church fellowship with good sound biblical teaching and a loving environment to grow in. That is the way the church was fist established. Believers meeting together to worship, hear what the apostles and leaders preached and to share life together in godly fellowship and deep love and concern for one another. I will pray for this for you as well.
Dear Tdianne: I am very sorry if I have offended you in any way I only meant to encourage you, like the others who responded to you. My concern, since you mentioned purgatory was to caution you about the false doctrines of Catholicism and encourage you to go to God's word for your answers. Please don't be discouraged and stay with us. We would love for you to ask questions and discuss with us God Bless :)
Brother Chris and others gave you some sound info on purgatory.
This is a site where you can read the Bible and ask questions.
There's several people here who would love to help in any way we can.
What I believe Jaz is telling you is you must continue in your reading and studies from the Bible as your main source for spiritual growth.
We all ask questions and examine everything with the written word of God.
There's great sites and there are bad ones,
There are great teachers and there are false teachers on these sites and anywhere else you go.
In order so you won't be deceived you must pray, read your Bible for your self and study as a Berean as mentioned in Acts 17:11.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Read, pray and trust in God's word and ask God questions about any and everything! Also ask others if need be. God will send your answers in diverse ways and he may tarry, He may want you to continue feeding so you can grow and mature to be able to receive such answers.
Don't be discouraged and may the Lord bless you I'm your studies.
Dear Tdianne , I'm sorry if I offended you , that was not my intention . I thought that I answered your question about pergatory and then talked about how web sites can steer you in the wrong direction but God Himself , through His Word the Bible , will never steer you wrong . Again I'm sorry if I offended you in any way .
This is very good advise. There are many places on the internet that preach this false religion and KJB scriptures are not part of them. They should be avoided as should many other websites that claim they preach the truth when they are full of lies and false doctrine.
thank you
I was just reading Chris's response too you and I noticed he mentioned the Bereans in a positive way and I agree, however, this would be a perfect example of something you could use the internet for to look up the Bereans, unless you already know about them, and see how they compare to the word of God if they are a kind of people you would want to emulate. This is only a suggestion for you not instructions for you to obey. Only do it if you want to.
I would also like to recommend another site that is very helpful for studying. It's called Bible Hub except it's dot org not
dot com. This is just a suggestion. I hope you have a blessed day. God Bless :)
This belief primarily comes from the Apocryphal Book 2 Maccabees 12:38-45, where Judas Maccabeus, a Jew, went to bury those of his men fallen in battle. But he found idolatrous items under those men which he believed was the reason for their death. So prayer was made for them that their sin would be forgiven and also took up an offering (of money) to be sent to Jerusalem as a sin offering. Judas believed that by doing these things, these fallen sinful men of his company might have a better chance of eternal life. We have no way of confirming this account as it is never referred to in the Bible we have, but since this book (and others) are in the canon of RC Scriptures, they accept it.
This account then gives them the directive that prayer for the dead & making penance for their souls is necessary. But what is not taken into account, is that what Maccabeus did was not what was prescribed by the LORD & should be discarded. So, it is important that we stick very closely with the Bible we have & not resort to spurious material - and especially the apocryphal writings written by often unknown writers in those 400 silent years where no prophecy was given from the LORD.
Hebrews 9:27 clearly tells us that after death comes judgement & nothing in-between. That Christ fully paid the price for our sins & stands as our Mediator in Heaven if we sin & seek Him for forgiveness ( 1 Timothy 2:5) - we can do nothing now to help those who have died.
Daniel 12:2
I don't know how involved you are with the Catholic Church, maybe not at all, but I'd like to give you a warning about this church just in case. I was raised a Catholic, but I left the church when I was 18 because I couldn't deal with the hypocrisy. I just knew (because of God) that they were false. Now I am a true Christian and I can understand even more how they have such a terrible influence over people with their evil doctrine; because those people don't seek out the truth like I eventually did.
My mother was always very devoted to the Catholic Church which was very sad for me. I had witnessed to her several times about the wonderful salvation experience through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection but she was to proud to admit she was a sinner. Catholics teach that good works make the way for you to eventually get to heaven and because she considered herself a "good person" she didn't need to be forgiven for anything and so refused to believe what I was telling her, even though I used scriptures. I hope she had a death bed experience with Jesus. I wasn't with her but I hope I see her in heaven. I said all this to warn you to please stay away from this Church and it's false doctrine. God Bless :)
I ONLY WANTED TO LEARN MORE, thank you for the warning, I'm sure there is a website out there that teaches the bible and doesn't mind answering my questions
This a KJB site where one can read the Bible. But this site does not belong to a particular church. So the people who participate in discussions here are from different churches having sometimes completely opposite beliefs about certain things in the Bible. And since you are a new believer you can not distinguish right from wrong. That is why you were advised to study your Bible and find out yourself. Although me personally I disagree with that. My advise to you is to find, with the help from God, a proper congregation/church and get taught the Word of God. The internet is by no means the proper place for one to learn the Word of God. There are lots of different doctrines on the net, also there are people there who try on purpose to deceive others, wolves in lamb's clothes. So you'd better join a church. GBU
I thought your question about purgatory was serious and valid. And I agree with others that your main source of spiritual knowledge is the Bible. But I do not agree with being discouraged to from seeking information from other sources. The internet, or back in my day, encyclopedias, etc were good sources to get information and then compare that information to what the Bible says. I do this all the time.
AS to purgatory, you will not find any information on it in the Bible because it is not mentioned there. That is where getting information like Chris gave you helps. He did not get this information from the Bible. Nor did I. I learned some about purgatory from Catholic friends. And I sought more information from the internet. You can do that too by posing the topic in ways like:
What is the teaching about purgatory? Is purgatory a biblical doctrine? What is wrong about the concept of purgatory?
I would start there.
I have noticed you come on here from time to time. I hope that you continue to do so. I am sorry that you have been offended by the way some have responded to you. We all come here with positive and negative experiences from our past experiences with various sects of Christianity. My hope for you is that you stay with us here, continue to ask questions, and that you are able to access all the information you need from various sources. The comments of people on here are one source outside of the Bible, So is information that you can find on sites on the internet or in books.
I was wondering, are you new to the faith in Jesus?
I will pray for you that God will guide you to truth concerning the questions you have. He is faithful because He wants all believers to know the truth. Most of this truth we find in the Bible. But some truth is found in other sources because the topic is not mentioned in the Bible, such as purgatory. Keep seeking. the Holy Spirit is with you.
thanks to all of you for answering my questions
Well, we all on here are all seeking God and His ways in His Holy Word. So you are in good company. Giannis has advised you well to pray for God to lead you to a church fellowship with good sound biblical teaching and a loving environment to grow in. That is the way the church was fist established. Believers meeting together to worship, hear what the apostles and leaders preached and to share life together in godly fellowship and deep love and concern for one another. I will pray for this for you as well.
Brother Chris and others gave you some sound info on purgatory.
This is a site where you can read the Bible and ask questions.
There's several people here who would love to help in any way we can.
What I believe Jaz is telling you is you must continue in your reading and studies from the Bible as your main source for spiritual growth.
We all ask questions and examine everything with the written word of God.
There's great sites and there are bad ones,
There are great teachers and there are false teachers on these sites and anywhere else you go.
In order so you won't be deceived you must pray, read your Bible for your self and study as a Berean as mentioned in Acts 17:11.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Read, pray and trust in God's word and ask God questions about any and everything! Also ask others if need be. God will send your answers in diverse ways and he may tarry, He may want you to continue feeding so you can grow and mature to be able to receive such answers.
Don't be discouraged and may the Lord bless you I'm your studies.
When you ask a question
This is very good advise. There are many places on the internet that preach this false religion and KJB scriptures are not part of them. They should be avoided as should many other websites that claim they preach the truth when they are full of lies and false doctrine.
Tdianne,, Stick with God's word. God Bless :)
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