Where did the concept of purgatory come from? I remember when my cousin committed suicide my family told me I had to pray for her every day so that she could get out of purgatory. I can remember on days I forgot to pray, how guilty I would feel! I no longer believe this was ever the case, but that this was simply a religious point of view. So I'm wondering, where did the Catholic church get the idea of purgatory from? Abraham's womb?

They probably got it from somthing as theologically sound as their left breast pocket....I don't know where it came from...

In Orthodoxy--we do pray for those who have died, we pray that God will have mercy on them and allow them to reside in heaven. As mortal man, we cannotconceive the infinate, boundless mercy of God, so we cannot say definately that God refuses to show mercy (is merciless) to people after their physical bodies have passed. We just have no way of knowing, so we pray for our family and friends who have died, we pray with the hopes that our loving God will be merciful to them.

We just have no way of knowing what is happening there in the spiritual realm, the afterlife. We see it as a very prideful and self righteous thing to say "God's gonna send you to hell, and never let you out!" We just don't know that. God is kinda known for His mercy. How do we know that He will not have mercy on those who did not know Him???
and so we pray for them..they are after all, still in existance..

Purgatory is one of the ideas that sparked Martin Luther into action. Purgatory was invented by popes who wanted more money. Here's how it worked:

The Catholic church was selling indulgences. Indulgences were simply licenses to sin. You buy an indulgence, you are blessed by the priest and your sin is erased. Most of this money went to the papal palace, where extravagance was the standard. While many of the faithful lived in utter poverty, the church leadership lived in wealth.

As is the case with anything, when one gets a little money, you need a little more. So, they extended the selling of indulgences to include recently deceased loved ones. For a few pieces of silver, you can buy your grandfather's way into Heaven. "Pay here, and say 'Hail Marys' on every step. When you reach the top, your grandfather will be in heaven." That's when Martin Luther paid. Immediately afterward, however, he began to see how the poor were afflicted.

How, though, can you buy someone's way out of hell? Hadn't the church been teaching for centuries that hell is a one-way road? How, then can we undo that? "Ah! We'll invent a new place for people to go. They go into a waiting place called Purgatory. While they're there, their loved ones will pay and pray for them to go to Heaven."

Luther ran back to his monestary and began to read for proof about Purgatory. What he found, however, was the book of Romans that teaches about God's grace. He began to teach this, in defiance of the church that had sang his praises as a wonderful priest. The Protestant movement was born.

I don't intend to start a discussion about the difference between the Protestants and the Catholics, but that's where the ideas came from.

Suicide - I don't belive it's a guaranteed ticket to hell. For one to commit suicide, they must be clinically depressed or misdirected. Both are medically accepted as insanity. I believe that a person who is not in their right mind, whether Christian or not, is not culpable in this world or the next for their actions.

I was introduced one day to a man who had accepted Christ while in prison. He became a rabid evangelist, sharing the word with everyone he came in contact. A couple years later, his wife ran off with another man. His kids went with her. She got the house and most of the stuff, because of his criminal past. He couldn't handle it. When she came back after he'd packed his stuff, she found him dangling from a tree in the back yard.

This momentary lapse of faith - the final act of a saved soul - will it condemn him? His actions prior to this demonstrated his faith and his relationship with Christ. Is he in hell right now? Does God's grace cover every sin or just a few?

Thanks String, that was great.

Wow, that was interesting. Thanks Clay.

As far as hell/heaven and suicide...who knows? God. I mean, is that sin any worse than the sins we commit daily?! Would I dare to assume the condition of another person's soul? No way.

But that was great. Thanks