Stephen
Kershnar
The Mystery of Purgatory
Dunkirk-Fredonia Observer
April
2, 2018
Passover
and Easter provide a good opportunity to consider whether the major religions
in the U.S. are true. If they aren’t, then it’s hard to see why they should influence
people’s lives.
During
some Easter gatherings, the issue comes up as to where Jesus went after he died
but before he arose from the dead. Christianity holds that the resurrection of
Jesus is a foundation of Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17-19) and connected
to his role in atonement for man’s sins. A common view is that he descended
into the earth.
Catholic
doctrine holds that unlike Jesus, right after death, people are judged and sent
to heaven (unending bliss), Hell (unending torment), or purgatory. The judgment
depends on the dead man’s sins. Those who have committed a mortal sin go to
Hell. A person commits a mortal sin if he deliberately performs a grave
wrongdoing with full knowledge of what he is doing and its consequences. On
some accounts, mortal sins include abortion, desecrating the Eucharist, and renouncing
one’s faith. These sins are so serious that God lacks the power to save them
even through his Herculean forgiveness. It is unclear whether divorce,
masturbation, and premarital sex are grave enough to be mortal sins.
Those
who have merely committed venial (forgivable) sins are still capable of having
a friendship with God and, although having a moral disorder, still merit
heaven. On a side note, it is an interesting issue as to whether priests who
have molested children have committed mortal sins. It would be odd if
renouncing one’s faith merits hell, but raping a child does not.
Among
those who have committed venial sins, they must spend time in purgatory before
going to heaven. Purgatory purifies someone of his past sins through suffering.
There is a debate as to whether souls are literally purified by fire is or whether
this is a metaphor. There is also debate as to whether purgatory is a physical
place or merely a state of being. It is also unclear whether the suffering in
purgatory is punishment or merely a sinner’s regretting what he did.
On a
side note, in general, Protestantism rejects the notion of purgatory, whereas
some Jewish doctrine supports it.
The
notion that people go to purgatory is mysterious. One reason it is mysterious
is that there is no evidence that purgatory exists. There is neither scientific
evidence nor reliable observations of it. In addition, there is no conceptual
reason as to why people have to be purified through suffering. God could purify
people of their sins without making or allowing them to suffer in a way similar
to how, in theory, brainwashing, neurosurgery, or hypnosis can change people
without making them suffer. We normally don’t accept that people or places
exist without evidence. Consider, for example, the pantheon of Greek and Roman
gods.
Further,
consider whether purification involves actual fire or only pain similar to that
caused by fire. Such a debate can’t be decided by evidence. Rather, it involves
speculation.
A
second reason purgatory is mysterious is that on some accounts, including an
interpretation of Pope John Paul II’s comments, purgatory is a state of being
rather than a location. Intuitively, though, it seems that all objects are
located in space. This is similar to how all objects are located in time. It is
an interesting question why souls have be located in time, but not in space. The
idea here is wildly speculative and, worse, hard to understand.
A third
mysterious aspect of purgatory is its relation to Hell. One might think that
the fire and suffering of Hell are tailor-made for purification. It’s odd that
they’re separate. It is even odder if Hell were to have a location and purgatory
not to have one.
A fourth
reason purgatory is mysterious is that the different purported aspects of
purgatory appear to be in tension with one another. It is unclear why purification
must come about through punishment and suffering. One might think that acceptance
of God’s infinite love could purify and do so via a joyful and transcendent
experience. If it is punishment, then this conflicts with the notion, which
Pope Benedict XVI appears to back, that suffering comes about because a sinner
deeply regrets her sins.
Fifth,
it is unclear why everyone doesn’t go to purgatory, even those who commit
mortal sins. The Catholic Church holds that people who commit mortal sins can
go to heaven via perfect contrition. This involves confessing all of one’s
mortal sins, acting from the love of God, and so on. Given the possibility of
mortal sinners being saved, it is unclear why all sinners don’t all go to
purgatory.
Sixth,
purgatory makes human justice odd. If evildoers are going to be punished by God
for their sins, it is less important that people spend a lot of time and energy
hunting them down and punishing them. By analogy, if the federal government
will punish a criminal for injuring someone, it is less important for a state to
spend a large amount money doing the same. This is true even if God and man
punish evildoers for different things because the crime against a fellow man and
associated sin are usually intertwined even if distinct.
The
question is why anyone would accept this doctrine. This is especially true for
people who work in evidence-based fields such as law, medicine, and science. It
is hard to understand why people might be adamant in requiring evidence in
their professional lives, but not in their religious lives. What makes things
worse is that the doctrine of purgatory is far more plausible than sister doctrines,
such as atonement, transubstantiation, and the trinity. Even if one finds these
doctrines familiar and reassuring, it is hard to understand how they would not
make it feel strange to sit at a Catholic service or Easter dinner. Ditto for
those at a Passover table.
