Purga what?

Yesterday, after coming back from church and enjoying a little nap, I awoke to the sound of my mum giving a good piece of her mind to someone outside my room. I thought that she was probably scolding my dad again for some stupid thing, but then when I listened a but after listening a little longer, I realised that she was talking on the phone. It wasn't long before I figured out that apparently some relative from SFX, the catholic church where we had originally intended to have granny's funeral at, had told my uncle (whose wife my mum was talking to on the phone) that we had to do some stuff at their church and pay them, or else grandma's soul would remain in purgatory... that little limbo place that's not heaven or hell that the catholic church believes in. Later on when I asked my mum more about it, I found out that my dad's cousin's wife was the one who said we had to get the people at SFX to hold 30 masses for my grandma, and pay RM10 for each mass (that's Rm300 altogether) or else granny would remain in that little limbo place. Luckily, my uncle was smart enough to decline her 'offer'... and my mum definitely had a mouthful to say about it. Usually I think my mum overreacts about a lot of stuff, but this I totally agree with her that that relative is talking crap. The fact that she has the audacity to ask money from us so the church can pray for my grandma's soul pretty much speaks for itself. If they really care that my grandma gets to heaven safe and sound, they shouldn't need us to pay them to say prayers for her. And why does it have to be exactly 30 masses? Why not 40? Since it's a more 'holy' number...after all Jesus fasted for 40 days and the people of Israel walked the desert for 40 days.... Might as well pray for 40 masses right? Oh, and why should they stop there? Why don't they make us pay them by hour to say the Our Father and Hail Mary ten gazillion times for grandma and make sure she's REALLY all the way to heaven... Good grief, that woman really deserves a good smacking around. Let's not even mention the fact that purgatory isn't mentioned anywhere in the Bible....

I just did a bit of reading up on the supposed Biblical evidence for purgatory. Apparently 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 is one piece of biblical evidence that supports the idea of purgatory: :"Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the Day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, as yet by fire."
And according to the guy who supports the idea of purgatory, "In this verse, the "Day" refers to the great day of judgment when each individual will personally be called to accept responsibility for their lifetime’s actions. The reference to fire as purification for works that were not yet perfect, also illustrate the place of Purgatory, as a place for us to be purified before entering into heaven."

Errr... to me, the passage is super vague, so how did he jump to the conclusion that the fire refers to purgatory? O_O

Another supposed piece of biblical evidence is Luke 12: 58-59 "If you are to go with your opponent before the magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
And according to the writer, "We all know that mission of parables are to describe to us a concept such as heaven, or the coming of Christ... In this parable, It is clearly understood, that when He said : "you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." Jesus is referring to the judgment day in this allegory. So He insinuates that some payment may need to be made before the judgment will be complete! "

Em... to me, another very jumpy conclusion on what Jesus meant. Of course, I myself have no idea what Jesus meant by what He said there, and sure, there is a chance that it refers to purgatory. But to point to that verse and jump up and down gleefully, saying to effect "There's the evidence! Nah!" is a bit like too premature IMHO.

The best evidence given was for purgatory was this little passage in Matthew 12:32 : “And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come"
According to the writer, "Since this world to come can’t be heaven for this person who spoke against the Holy Spirit, because people who go to heaven have no more sins to be forgiven. because heaven is a place with no sins : ( Matthew chap6 verse 20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal...”) .It can’t be hell since this is definitely not a place to be forgiven, but to be eternally damned. as Mark said in his book,chapter 3, verse 29 :”But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” Therefore it must be a place, not in this world, not in heaven, and not in hell, where the sin against the holy spirit can even never be forgiven."

Ok, that argument kinda makes sense, so I'll give him that. But still, the best biblical evidence for purgatory comes from a passage that is still pretty vague. And then there was an interesting point made on another site I visited... In Luke 23:42-43, when Jesus was crucified together with the two thiefs, one of them, asked Jesus to "Remember me when You come into Your kingdom". And Jesus didn't say "Well, you're gonna have to hang around purgatory for while and hope some people are kind enough to pray for you before you can get into heaven and catch up with me". Jesus said "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise". So either that guy (who was a criminal and probably had a lot of sins to 'purge') went straight into heaven, or purgatory only takes one day to get through, then into heaven you go. I think I'll just apply the Ockam's Razor principle and believe in Choice A. :Þ