Purgatory is …
1. The Gospel never mentions purgatory, which the church recognized only in 543. Such a dogma, of course, is more rational and more consistent with the justice of God than hell, since it establishes a less severe punishment, making it possible to atone for less serious crimes.
The idea of purgatory is based on justice versus human justice - this is a temporary confinement, not eternal condemnation. What could be said about a country in which there would be no other punishment than the death penalty for any crime without distinction? Apart from purgatory, the soul would have only two alternatives or two choices: absolute bliss or eternal torment. According to such a hypothesis, a soul guilty only of an insignificant offense must share the bliss of the elect without being perfect, or be punished on a par with the great sinners, without doing a great evil, which would be unjust and wrong.
2. But the concept of purgatory, of course, had to be incomplete, and therefore, not knowing other punishments besides fire, they made something like hell out of it; souls there also burn, but in a less intense fire. Since the progress or redemption of souls is not consistent with eternal torment, souls leave there not according to their own merits, but by the power of prayers offered for the dead or ordered for them for money. If the first thought was a good one, the same cannot be said of its consequences, thanks to the abuse it engendered. Paid prayers made purgatory a more profitable source of income than hell.
3. The location of purgatory was never determined, nor was the nature of its punishments. This gap is left to fill a new revelation, which explained to us the cause of earthly suffering, the justice of which proves the multiplicity of existences. Such sufferings constitute the necessary consequences of the imperfection of the soul, because if the soul were perfect, it would not sin and would not be subject to the consequences of sin. People who are temperate and moderate in everything do not experience illnesses that stem from excesses.
People are most often unhappy due to their own fault, but if they are not perfect, then it means they were already like that before their appearance on earth; if they atone for their real sins, then also those that they committed in the previous incarnation, and if they endure a life full of trials, it is because they forced others to endure the same in another life. The vicissitudes that they experience serve as a temporary test and, at the same time, indicate imperfections from which they need to correct themselves in order to avoid future misfortunes and move on the path of good. This is for the soul - the lessons of life experience, sometimes harsh, but the more useful for the future, the deeper the impression they leave. These vicissitudes represent cases of constant struggle that strengthens the soul, develops its moral and intellectual strength,and the soul always emerges victorious from them, if only it has the courage to bring the struggle to the end. The reward for victory is spiritual life, into which the soul enters triumphant and shining, like a warrior after a victory won.
4. For the soul, every existence is a step forward towards perfection; it will depend on the person that this step is as large as possible, in order to cross several steps at once and not stagnate; in the latter case, he will endure suffering without benefit; and since, sooner or later, it is necessary to pay off his debt, he will be forced to start living again in even more difficult conditions, he will add new ones to uncorrected offenses. Thus, in successive incarnations, the soul is gradually freed from its imperfection and purified until it becomes worthy to leave the world of redemption in order to move to happier worlds, and then to higher ones, in which it will enjoy complete bliss.
So purgatory is not a vague and vague idea; it is reality, material reality that we see and experience on ourselves; it is in the worlds of redemption, and the earth is one of those worlds; here people redeem their past and present against the future. But, contrary to the notions that are usually made about purgatory, everyone can shorten or prolong his stay there, depending on the success he achieves while working on his improvement; he will be exalted not because the period of his trials or the prayers of others is over, but because of his own merits, according to the words of Jesus Christ: "To each according to his works," words expressing all the justice of God.
Promotional video:
5. A sufferer in this life must know that he deserves it by not being cleansed enough in his previous life, and if he does not do this now, then he will have to suffer in the next life as well. This is quite logical and fair. Suffering is inherent in imperfection, like illness: they suffer as long as the illness or imperfection lasts, and until the time when they recover or are not completely corrected. So, if a person is proud, then he suffers from the consequences of pride, if an egoist, then from his own selfishness.
6. Every guilty spirit suffers first in the spiritual life. After that, bodily life is given to him as a means of correction. That is why he finds himself here on earth, often with people whom he offended in his previous life, and in circumstances that are suitable or opposite to the position in which he sinned; for example, he is in poverty if he has misused wealth; in humiliation - if he was proud.
Redemption in the spiritual world and on the earthly plane does not amount to a double punishment of the spirit. It is still the same, but continues in earthly life as an addition to give the spirit the opportunity to improve. It depends on him whether he takes advantage of this opportunity or not. Isn't it better for the spirit to return to earth, with the opportunity ahead of him to achieve a better life, than to be irrevocably condemned by leaving it? This freedom of choice, which God gave him, is proof of the wisdom, goodness and justice of God. God wants man to owe everything to himself, to his efforts and to be himself the builder of his future; if he is unhappy for more or less a long time, then only himself should be blamed for this: the path to perfection is always open to him.
7. If we consider how great the sufferings of some criminal spirits in the Subtle World, what a terrible state of some of them, in what fear they are and to what extent their suffering increases from the inability to determine their end, then we can say that this is hell if this word did not express the idea of eternal and material suffering. Through the revelation of the spirits and the examples they present to us, we know that the duration of the atonement depends on the degree to which the guilty is corrected.
8. So, spiritualism does not reject future punishments, but, on the contrary, confirms them. He does not admit only a physically defined hell with burning furnaces and unforgiven sins. But he does not deny purgatory, because he proves that we ourselves are in it; but he defines it more precisely, explaining the causes of earthly suffering and thereby forcing those who previously denied him to believe in him.
Doesn't Spiritualism reject prayer for the dead? - On the contrary: the suffering spirits themselves ask for them. Therefore, prayers are made a duty of mercy and their necessity is proved for the return of souls to goodness and the reduction of their torment. Acting on reason, spiritualism brings unbelievers back to faith and those who mock it to prayer. He says that that prayer is valid, which comes from the heart, and not only in words; when you pray yourself, and do not order a prayer for money. Who will condemn such a teaching?
9. Wherever the punishment occurs, whether in spiritual life or in earthly life, and no matter how long it lasts, it will always have an end, more or less near or distant. In essence, there are two alternatives for spirits: a temporary punishment corresponding to the culpability, or a reward, depending on the merit. Hell remains a figure symbolizing the highest suffering, the duration of which is unknown. Purgatory is reality.
The word purgatory creates the concept of a certain place and is more naturally applied to the earth as a place of redemption than to an infinite space where suffering spirits soar; and in essence, earthly life is real redemption. When people become more perfect, only good spirits will pass from their midst to the Subtle World; and, in turn, the spirits, incarnating, will bring only improved elements into humanity, then the earth will cease to be a world of redemption and people will no longer suffer from poverty and deprivation as direct consequences of their imperfections. At present, this transformation is already taking place, which will raise the earth in the hierarchy of worlds. (See the Gospel Explained Spiritualism, ch. 3.)
10. But why didn't Christ speak of purgatory? Because this idea did not exist then and there were no words to express it. Christ used the word hell as the only one that was used to designate all future torments without distinction. If He had put next to this word a word that is equivalent in meaning to the word purgatory, then He could not have given it its real meaning without touching upon those issues that were intended for the future; it would also be the appointment of two separate places for punishment. The word hell, which implies the idea of punishment, already includes the idea of purgatory, which is only one of the methods of punishment. The future, which should educate people about the true meaning of punishment, will have to put hell in its real place.
Allan Kardek