The Heart of Scripture, The Roman Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory, and a Question about the Afterlife
Joel here. Welcome to The Think Institute Newsletter. Every Friday you get one idea from me, a quote from somebody else, and something to think about. I have exciting news. We were able to reach the goal of raising $1200, so I can devote the needed time and energy to preparing for the Purgatory Debate. In fact, we exceeded the goal by over 40 percent! This means the debate is going to happen! I will be teaming up with Christian apologist Vocab Malone, facing off against two Roman Catholic apologists on X (formerly Twitter). The debate will be on March 20th or 21st. In light of this, in this week’s Newsletter, we will be focusing on the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. We even have a quote from the Roman Catholic Catechism, which I believe does not reflect the Bible’s teaching (I included it so you can see the contrast).
Please join me in praying for this debate! In addition to the Purgatory Debate, I have some more teaching and speaking engagements coming up in March, and I would appreciate your prayers for these too. They include:
Men’s Theology Meetup at Bureau Gravity in Aurora, Illinois (March 7)
Preaching at Village Bible Church Naperville (March 9)
A 2x2 debate vs. atheists with Alexx Medeiros on YouTube (March 10)
Speaking at the Village Bible Church Sugar Grove Men’s Breakfast (March 26)
Preaching at Park Community Church South Loop (March 30)
In addition to this, I am teaching a weekly “How to Defend Your Faith” class for Village Bible Church’s Equipping-U program on Sunday nights!
I am immensely grateful to have so many opportunities to equip God’s people by teaching and defending the truth of God’s word, and I do not take any of it for granted. We are able to fulfill this God-given ministry (2 Timothy 4:5) thanks to the generous support of our ministry partners who fund this work. I could not do it without our supporters! If you want to help fuel this vital work, you can make a gift of any amount here. That is always encouraging, and it and allows both The Think Institute and my family have the resources we need to keep going.
Now, let’s get into your Newsletter for this week.
AN IDEA FROM ME
“How do we know which doctrines are true? How do we know which Gospel is the true Gospel? And the answer, going back 2,000 years, since Scripture was written, is: ‘We test by Scripture itself.’ This is why I talk about it, even at the risk of offending people that are close to me. (And if you’re someone that I know and love, and you’re in the Roman Church, I’m doing this because I love you.) The heart of Scripture is the Gospel. And without the Gospel, no one is saved—no one gets made right with God. And because Rome has exchanged the authority of God with the authority of man, the Roman Catholic who is faithful and devout is very much in danger of never getting the Gospel right, never believing the Gospel, and never actually being saved. So these are very important matters. We do need to talk about them, whatever else we [Roman Catholics and Protestants] might have in common.”
Source: “The Problem with Roman Catholicism” (Vocab Malone interviewed me on his channel. We discussed Roman Catholicism, not out of a desire to DESTROY Roman Catholics, but in order to lovingly share what Scripture teaches and how Roman Catholics and Protestants can have certain hope in Jesus Christ alone. We were joined in a lively, impromptu debate with a Roman Catholic apologist who joined us!)
A QUOTE FROM SOMEBODY ELSE
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
“The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.
“[Pope Gregory the Great said] ‘As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire.”
—The Roman Catholic Catechism, sec. 1030–1032. Is this taught by Scripture? Does this sound like what Paul was hoping for in 2 Corinthians 5:8? It’s something to think about. And speaking of something to think about….
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Why might a Christian believer consider it good news that Purgatory is not his or her destination after death? Is there any reason someone might consider this bad news? What do you think?
Reply to this email within seven days, and I will write you back.