As the millenia have passed, our understanding of Jesus has dimmed. This is in part due to just the passing of time, in part to our separation from Israel, and in part due to the political organization of the Church and the compromises that an organization must make. Purgatory, to me, seems to take the reality of the grave that is discussed in the Bible and attach to it ideas that came up over the millenia - such as praying for the salvation of people after their death.
So, as to the reality of the understanding that is in the Bible. When a person dies they go to the grave. The body decays while the soul is in hell (sheol). These days, the term hell brings up thoughts of fire and damnation - which is one part of hell. In the Bible there are two parts to hell: the fire and damnation side and paradise (or Abraham's bosom). The righteous go to Abraham's bosom to await the resurrection of the end of days, and the unrighteous go to the fire side - which we call hell.
In Acts 2:31 it is said "of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." And in Luke 23:43 it is said "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
So in these verses, the Bible states that Jesus went to a part of hell called paradise when he died. It is from hell that Jesus is resurrected three days later, bringing with him a number of the saints ("And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection" Matthew 27:52-53).
So, this reality of purgatory is true - there is a realm of the dead (hell/sheol) and within the realm are the righteous (paradise) and the unrighteous. The falsehood of purgatory is that any prayers that we offer can change the fate of the people therein. As there are two compartments, an initial judgment has already been made - and there is no way to travel from the one compartment to the other compartment of hell ("between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence" Luke 16:26).
Additionally, as it is said "the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12). The works of our lives are written while we live; once we are dead the books are written. Prayers from people still living cannot change that which we have done (or not done).
Later, I will speak on the resurrection of the dead and the new world. But first, I also have two other topics left to speak on: what is salvation and what is supersessionism (or what is Israel).
The End of Hell is
The End of Hell is coming.
Revelation 20:14 indicates that Hell is not the final place of the damned. Death and hell will one day be thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is often envisaged as equivalent to hell but that's not the case. This is the second death. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever!
Let the horror of it grip you and make sure you really know Jesus. He is the only one that paid my price - so I wouldn't have to.
The concept of Purgatory
The concept of Purgatory was, however, that one's soul was cleansed or refined (or something) by the trials one encountered there, at least if Dante represented it accurately. This does not seem to be the current understanding of things, and I don't see any indication in the story of Lazarus and the rich guy that there was any purification of Lazarus going on. Is there suffering for the elect that goes on in Hell or Purgatory, etc.?
Also, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Where is the paradise, and is this where we all end up?
Paradise is the name of the
Paradise is the name of the portion of Sheol in which the righteous dwell. It is also referred to as Abraham's Bosom.
The "where" is something
The "where" is something that is not truly defined in the Bible. The main similarity in the Bible is that Paradise refers to the portion of Sheol where the righteous go at death, and it refers to the Garden of Eden. The conjecture is that they are one and the same, and that they reside in a different level (or dimension) of this planet. I could accept this, as the Bible does not speak of the fate of the Garden - and this is in line with the concepts of the righteous side of hell in other religions as well (such as Valhalla and the Elysian Fields). It also fits with the end game of this creation in which the creation is restored to its original state of Paradise, which coincides with the righteous dead being resurrected. But again - this is all conjecture.
What I would like to add is that I find Dante's representation of sheol to be non-Biblical. Again, the works that we do (or don't do) while living is what "defines" our reward in heaven - the purification is what happens during our lives. The elect are not to suffer in Sheol but await the resurrection while being comforted (the wicked will suffer, but not the elect).
I find it more than likely
I find it more than likely that the Garden of Eden would have been destroyed in the global flood. a brief look at the devastation in the Hurricane Katrina region would indicate the scope of damage to be done by water. Just imagine if that region had remained under water for nearly a year!