S01 Ep41 | Purgatory Offers Gray Area Amidst Black and White Thinking

[@Peter-GG]

It's also significant that almost right after James' point about our judgment if we don't keep the _whole_ Law, he writes that "mercy triumphs over judgment" -- although this is good news only if we ourselves have been merciful (2:13) (this directly following Jesus' own teaching in the Beatitudes, Our Father, and Parable of the Unforgiving Servant). I think this is key: some matters genuinely _are_ black-and-white, but it makes all the difference whether or not mercy is present alongside them. As you note, often in our culture it is not, whereas in our faith they are inseparable, such that the Law in all its unbending severity was fulfilled, brought to fruition, precisely by the self-sacrifice of the Just for the unjust. And I totally agree about purgatory. I think the language used in the Catechism is significant: Purgatory is the "final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031). There's been some development of doctrine here: there was a long tradition in the West (not the East) of speaking of it in more punitive or retributive terms, but here this is specifically avoided in favor of the language of cleansing (albeit the very painful kind). Protestant objections to purgatory have often been based on an understanding of it as our making satisfaction for our own sins, which they've rejected as compromising Christ's finished work. But this objection falls away if we interpret purgatory not in terms of satisfying God, but as something _we_ need, if we're not ready at death, in order to experience God's presence fully.

[@RGRGIS]

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