Saturday, December 05, 2009

Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI: Indulgentiarum Doctrina: Whereby The Revision of Sacred Indulgences is Promulgated

An excerpt from Indulgentiarum Doctrina, Chapter 1:
3. It is therefore necessary for the full remission and—as it is called—reparation of sins not only that friendship with God be reestablished by a sincere conversion of the mind and amends made for the offense against his wisdom and goodness, but also that all the personal as well as social values and those of the universal order itself, which have been diminished or destroyed by sin, be fully reintegrated whether through voluntary reparation which will involve punishment or through acceptance of the punishments established by the just and most holy wisdom of God, from which there will shine forth throughout the world the sanctity and the splendor of his glory. The very existence and the gravity of the punishment enable us to understand the foolishness and malice of sin and its harmful consequences.

That punishment or the vestiges of sin may remain to be expiated or cleansed and that they in fact frequently do even after the remission of guilt(8) is clearly demonstrated by the doctrine on purgatory. In purgatory, in fact, the souls of those "who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but before satisfying with worthy fruits of penance for sins committed and for omissions (9) are cleansed after death with purgatorial punishments. This is also clearly evidenced in the liturgical prayers with which the Christian community admitted to Holy Communion has addressed God since most ancient times: "that we, who are justly subjected to afflictions because of our sins, may be mercifully set free from them for the glory of thy name.(10)


Scipture tells us Who was subjected to afflictions because of our sins:
Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.


Scripture tells us Who 'has wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us...and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross'; we who no longer bear any guilt will receive no punishment because He was afflicted for us:

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

17 comments:

Moonshadow said...

I hope you receive some comments from Catholic apologists on this.

I submit this comment so that I may follow a discussion of this post ... should it develop.

Peace.

Daughter of Wisdom said...

You know Jennie, when we sin, we do bear the consequences of our sins IN THIS LIFE, even if we are forgiven by God. God might even 'chastise' us in this life when we do wrong.

Once we die, however, we receive no more punishments for sin. Our cases are closed. It is appointed once for man to die, and then the judgment. Those who have died in Christ will be judged worthy of receiving eternal life, while those who have died without Christ will be judged for the evil they have done in their lives, and receive eternal damnation. That is why there will be two resurrections - one for the righteous to eternal life, and the final one (white throne judgment) for the unrighteous to eternal damnation.

Peace.

John Watt said...

I often check your blog out to see what your latest distortion of the Church's teaching will be. Your habit of using excerpted texts without any supporting teaching or explanation from the Church turns your arguments into just mere repetions of well worn and misinformed anti-catholic nonsense. To paraphrse Sheen, not a hundred people hate the Catholic church, but millions hate what they think the Church teaches. As Newman said,"to know history, is to cease to be protestant."

Moonshadow said...

Speaking of well-worn expressions, we all know Sheen and Newman.

Why not treat Jennie's specific objections?

John Watt said...

Somehow, though I could be wrong, I doubt you have any familiarity with either Sheen or Newman. My purpose was to criticise her method of argument not to waste my time on her education or yours. I am sure nothing I myself could say would change your thinking.

Moonshadow said...

Then why start?

I actually think Indulgentiarum Doctrina is beautiful ... and I wish someone could help Jennie see its beauty.

Jennie said...

John,
My intention is just to show that there are statements made by the magisterium about purgatory that conflict with scripture and take away from the understanding of the finished work of Jesus Christ. The words used in the document are undeniable. I'm not distorting anything, just comparing.


As Newman said,"to know history, is to cease to be protestant."
Newman was being presumptuous, since there are many people who know history very well that have not ceased being protestant because of it. The more I learn, the more convinced I am that Roman Catholicism is not the 'one true church that Christ founded.' There are many doctrines and practices that conflict with God's word, and the Fathers, while they weren't 'protestant' or 'evangelical' were also not Roman Catholic as a whole.

But from what you said you are not interested in discussing my comparisons, just in registering disapproval.

John Watt said...

Just so I am clear. The Church certainly sees no contradiction with its teaching and scripture. It is you that thinks that is the case. You have in a sense appointed yourself as the authoritative interpreter of scripture. That in a sense is the fundamental problem with protestantism. When anyone can interpret scripture the floodgates of false teaching are opened. Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses,to name a few, all claim to be soundly based on a true reading of scripture. Can they all be correct?

Jennie said...

Do you call all of these groups 'sola scriptura' adherents? I would say that they all have teachings that they try very hard to keep from being compared to scripture.

Moonshadow said...

I think Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists consider themselves sola Scriptura. The other two draw also from their founders' writings.

But there are plenty of sola Scriptura Christians who disagree on important matters.

Incidentally, I likely know 100 people who hate the Roman Catholic Church for what she genuinely teaches. Even after Sheen is canonized, he won't be infallible.

Peace of Christ.

Jennie said...

John,
As a member of a local church with elders and a pastor that teach scripture several times a week and a body of believers who encourage each other in the faith and pray for each other and remember Christ's death until He comes, I don't think that makes me a lone authoritative interpreter of scripture. Even more, and on top of this, as a believer by faith in Christ I have the Holy Spirit who is the interpreter of His own word to me as I study it. That doesn't mean I won't make mistakes, but as we persevere we grow more in unity with the Spirit and with other believers who do the same(Eph. 4). Scripture tells us to compare all teachings to scripture; even Paul commended those who checked his preaching against the written scripture of the Old Testament.

John Watt said...

What they say is that in no way do they contradict scripture. To prove them wrong you assume your interpretation is correct. Yet where do you get the authority to interpret over their authority to interpret? Before the new testament we had the Church. We have her still. The Church gave us that testament and has preseved it through the ages.

Jennie said...

Teresa,
I think Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists consider themselves sola Scriptura. The other two draw also from their founders' writings.

Jehovah's witnesses, if they do call themselves 'sola scriptura' (I never heard that they do) certainly have no valid claim to it, as they deny the deity of Christ and teach a works salvation.
Seventh day adventists may consider themselves 'sola' adherents, but they ironically teach keeping the sabbath as a work, when the sabbath is a rest from our own works, as I pointed out in several posts on 'Sabbath' which you can find in the side bar if interested.

Jennie said...

Before the new testament we had the Church. We have her still.

Before we had the Old Testament we had Israel. We have her still. But she denied the Messiah of the scripture that she preserved for so long. She was judged for her unbelief, but will someday be restored.

Jennie said...

Yet where do you get the authority to interpret over their authority to interpret?

I don't have any authority in myself, but I do have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me to teach me an guide me, as you do if you are born again by faith in Jesus Christ.
I can compare their teachings to scripture, which is God's inspired word, and see that they don't measure up and have many things added that are contrary. At the end we are all judged by whether we believed the gospel with enduring faith. It doesn't matter whether you agree with me, but it does matter whether you agree with God and submit to His word. God will judge the Jehovah's witnesses, etc. , and He will judge me. I am accountable for myself and for speaking the truth.

John Watt said...

You remind me of Steve Ray. He was once as you are now. Pehaps you should read his book, "Crossing the Tiber." May not convince you, but he well presents the case for his conversion. You have my prayers as I hope I have yours in our search for the truth.

Jennie said...

Thanks John, you have my prayers as well. We are all seeing through a glass darkly right now, so keep seeking the Lord with all your heart.