Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: iwilliam@au.oracle.com (Ian Williams) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Reincarnation Message-ID: Date: 27 Jun 91 06:24:24 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Oracle Systems Lines: 34 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu :Just a point of correction: The Roman Catholic church has _not_ :renounce the concept of purgatory--it is still part of our world :view. There have been some peripheral changes--penalties gained :and remitted in purgatory for venial sins or acts of piety are :not longer counted with the precision of a bank auditor. But :the concept of a place or state of preparation antecedent to :heaven is still alive and strong. Purgatory in no way can be :used to justify re-incarnation though--it's better to think of :it as the cloakroom of heaven :-). :David Cruz-Uribe, SFO May I respectfully ask where in the Bible a reference to purgatory is made?? -- ----------------------+----------------------------------+------------------- Ian Williams <>< | Internet: iwilliam@au.oracle.com |I don't speak for Oracle Systems | Phone : +61 8 239 3900 |them, and they don't Adelaide, Australia | |speak for me.. [A few months ago I went through the gospels pretty carefully looking for descriptions of reward and punishment, hell, etc. I was surprised at the number of things Jesus said that implied something other than a binary heaven/hell outcome. He often talks about it being worse for X than for inhabitants of Y, and other things that imply degrees of punishment. It could be that these passages are all about people who end up in hell, but it's not so clear to me. And of course Christ refers to things like being first (or last) in the kingdom of heaven, etc. Then there's I Cor 3:12ff, which talks about reward and punishment for people who are saved. None of this is explicitly the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. Certainly the heavenly beancounter aspect that David referred to seems quite foreign to NT thought. But the simple binary approach may be too simple. As many of you know, I have the sneaking suspicion that God has something up his sleeve that will surprised all of us equally. --clh]