March 14, 2011 – 2 Maccabees 12:26 - 12:46

This chapter is one of the ones used in support of Purgatory.  If you think about it logically, it makes sense.  We have a battle in which soldiers died.  When their bodies were discovered, it was found that they had idols of other gods on them, “which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.” 12:40. So, the situation is that we have men that died and at the time they died they were in the process of doing something sinful.  If you are someone that believes in only Heaven and Hell, what happened to them? They should be in Hell, correct. Nothing sinful should enter Heaven and they died in a state of sin, so there is only one option for them.  But nothing that enters Hell can get out; it is an eternal punishment.  If the Jews believed in only Heaven and Hell, what they do next makes absolutely no sense.  “Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out.”  12:42 They ask that the sins of someone that has already died be blotted out.  If a person is in Heaven, they are sinless; if they are in Hell, there is no redemption.  If the Jews are praying that the sins of someone that has already died be blotted out, they must feel that there is a way for people that have died with sin still on them can still be purified and gain access to Heaven.  This is the Catholic understanding of Purgatory, a place that a person may go, after they die, if they still have sin or connections to the world that do not make them pure enough for Heaven, but are not in a state of separation from God to have chosen Hell.