Indulgences are back and not for sale
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
By Megan Sweas
Comments (19)
I’ve been hearing about how indulgences are being promoted by the church again, most recently for the year of St. Paul. This week an article in the New York Times attempts to explain this practice—which may be as mystifying to young Catholics as it is to non-Catholics.
This might give a bad impression to those who connect indulgences with their sale, which Martin Luther protested, bringing about the Reformation. In fact, a Lutheran minister quoted in the NYT piece isn’t sure the move is good for dialogue: “It has been something of a mystery to us as to why now,” says Rev. Dr. Michael Root, dean of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C.
Catholic pastors say they are a way to try to get people back to Confession.
As a young adult Catholic, I have a confession to make: I learned about indulgences and purgatory not in CCD, but in a class on European history (just as the NYT says). Perhaps I was gone the day we talked about purgatory or maybe it was just beyond me, but when I learned about it in publich school, the idea that in my church we believed we could pray (or in past centuries pay) to burn time off in the waiting room for heaven was a big surprise to me—and it wasn’t too appealing either.
To me, therefore, talk of modern people getting indulgences is a bit strange. At least the church seems to be taking into account the legions of young people who didn’t grow up with this tradition in its approach: “The latest offers de-emphasize the years-in-purgatory formulations of old in favor of a less specific accounting, with more focus on ways in which people can help themselves—and one another—come to terms with sin.”
I won’t argue if you complain that religious education has grown fluffy and that in general my generation doesn’t take sin seriously enough. I just also appreciate the perspective of the Lutherans. As Root explains, “Our main problem has always been the question of quantifying God’s blessing.”
Are you in line for indulgences or are you still unsure about this practice?
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The very concept of
By Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011The very concept of indulgences and purgatory stem from man's ever-present need to "do something for himself". It is as if we find God's free offer of forgiveness so unbelievable that we have to invent a more humanistic way of accounting for sins so that our sensibilities are preserved. Even if salvation cannot be accounted for by the normal rules of mathematics, at least temporal punishments can satisfy our need for number-crunching and bean-counting.
Seriously my Roman Catholic friends, have the courage and trust in God to take God at his word when he says that Christ paid for our sins with His work on the cross. Stop adding these ridiculous man-made traditions and stumbling those who seek God with your Byzantine rules.
Indulgences / the consequences of sin remain
By The Eminem Fan (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011Hello.
Yes, God's gift of forgiveness is wonderful.
However, even after a sin is forgiven, the damage caused by it remains.
(I have heard even a Presbyterian preacher talk about this from his pulpit.)
This is part of the reason that at the conclusion of the Gospel, Our Lord said that "penance for the remission of sins" must be preached. This is not a man-made concept, but one from the Lord. We must ask: If Christ's death, and God's gift of grace, and our faith are the complete combination to obtain forgivness and salvation... then why did Christ preach "penance for the remission of sins". In another part of the Gospel writings, we read how Our Lord said "Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish." But acts of penance are just that...acts AKA works.
Anyway...As an example of how the effects of sin remain after sin is forgiven, baptism removes original sin. But the effects of original sin remain for us even now... for one, death... for another, the weaknesses in our fallen nature which we as Christians must deal with on a daily basis.
Another factor is that not everyone has the purest, most perfect form of contrition for their sins. God forgives the sinner, but often there may something lacking in the repentant sinner's disposition that needs to be, for lack of a better word, "atoned" for.
The good thief on the Cross had the most perfect form of Contrition. Our Lord probably was granting this man (known as St Dismas) a "plenary indulgence" by saying to him "This day you shall be with me in paradise." One could say the sufferings that Dismas suffered on his cross, along his most perfect contrition and his perfect act of faith directly to Christ, gained for Dismas a plenary indulgence.
Another point that must be considered is that in Scripture, St Paul refers to "what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ." So it's not quite as simple as, Christ died for me, I'm forgiven, and all is now perfect.
T.E. Fan, thanks for your
By Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011T.E. Fan, thanks for your reply.
I think it is fairly uncontroversial that sins may be forgiven, but their consequences can remain. This, however, does not mean that an artificial concept like indulgences needs to be instituted in order for those consequences to be worked out. If we are truly repentant for the wrongs we have wrought and truly grateful for God's grace, good works will naturally spring forth from us. And indeed God, who is all-seeing and all-knowing, will know our hearts and sincerity. The idea that we would need indulgences and certification from earthly bureaucracy to account for what should flow naturally from a Christ-centered heart is not just redundant, it is also dangerously subversive. If one is not careful, one might invert causality and start believing that it is good works that lead to salvation, in turn diminishing the saving work of Christ on the cross and putting sinful man back in the steering wheel. I think that would severely grieve the Lord, as if one were hammering a fresh set of nails into His limbs all over again.
When you speak of "penance" for the remission of sins, you have to go back to the Greek and look at what "penance" actually means. The Greek word here is actually "metanoia", which means "compunction" or "contrition" i.e. a change of heart. This is quite different from interpreting "penance" as a call to works.
Baptism removes sin: certainly Catholics have this view but non-Catholics generally don't. The significance of baptism is a public step of obedience to proclaim ones new life in and identification with Christ. If baptism were a requirement for salvation, the thief who was promised paradise would likely have been disqualified, unless one adds yet another exception or rule to an already burgeoning list.
[continued below]
God looks at our hearts. Our
By Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011God looks at our hearts. Our works are but trash to him. But if our hearts are right, so will our works as the fruits of a Christ-centered life (ref the Apostle James). But if our hearts are not right, no amount of works, indulgences or any other man-made artifice will ever rescue us from the spiritual darkness. It really is as simple as that and we as believers shouldn't need to add stuff and make up rules just to cushion our psychological vulnerabilities.
Indulgences??
By Kurt P (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011Hey TEF,
Christ preached 'repentance' of sin, not penance for sin. That according to the King James. Indulgences: what a fraud - it was in 1519 and it still is. St Dismas didn't receive a plenary indulgence - he received forgiveness and a promise to join Jesus in the sweet by and by. It's no more complicated than that. The last indulgences helped fire the Reformation and thank God our RCC finally responded and for the most part eliminated the abuses pointed out by the Reformers, who did us a great service because our hierarchy was not responding to God and calls for reform. Indulgences are a step back - way back. Why and why now?
Reply to Kurt P on indulgences
By The Eminem Fan (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011Actually, even liberal (pope or antipope??) Paul VI did not do away with indulgences, although he revised regulations concerning them... he issued an Apostolic Constitution regarding indulgences in which he reaffirmed the realities of temporal punishment. So it's not a step back, because the traditional doctrine about purgatory and indulgences was never really abandoned, at least not officially in Rome.
According to the reforming pope (?) of Vatican II himself:
"It is a **divinely revealed** truth that sins bring punishments inflicted by God's sanctity and justice. These must be expiated either on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and calamities of this life and above all through death, or else in the life beyond through fire and torments or "purifying" punishments. Therefore it has always been the conviction of the faithful that the paths of evil are fraught with many stumbling blocks and bring adversities, bitterness and harm to those who follow them." For more from Paul VI on this see here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_constitutions/documents/...
Anyway....
It may be true that indulgences were abused (e.g. the selling of them) prior to the Reformation... but even the severe abuse of a good thing does not make the thing itself bad or wrong.
Here is evidence that prayers for the dead and belief in purgatory existed even in the primitive Church, rather than being a medieval invention:
Not clearly stated
By Kurt P (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011Hey TEF,
on the repentance and penance deal - I was referring only to the passage at the end of Luke that speaks of preaching repentance of sins. I agree that Jesus taught the concept of penance, not that it was anything new to the Jews.
If people are cast into hell, I'm not sure they would care if they were undergoing 'purifying' punishments or not, assuming that there's no exit.
On the expiation for sin: didn't Jesus do that once for all on the cross? Otherwise it might be double jeopardy.
I compliment your diligence.
kp
Hi Kurt
By The Eminem Fan (not verified) on Monday, February 21, 2011Indulgences are unrelated to hell. Hell is the punishment for unforgiven mortal sins.
Indulgences are related to purgatory.
Purgatory is the punishment for:
(1) unforgiven venial sins at the time of death (because God is merciful, He does not cast those who are conscious of venial sin into Hell); also, venial sin does not completely kill the life/state of grace, obtained by Christ for us.
(2) purgatory is also the punishment for any temporal punishment remaining at the time of death for already-forgiven mortal sin(s).
After mortal sins are absolved in the confessional, there is usually temporal punishment remaining.
These temporal punishments can be "taken care of" in a number of ways, not just those particularly called for by the Church authorities. Indulgences, known to God alone, can be granted to those who suffer in various ways in this life, such as in the daily miseries that we all encounter, offered up to God.
Some indulgences are granted by particular acts (e.g. the Rosary) that are pointed out by the pope and the Church. The pope has the authority to do this because Christ gave to Peter the power to loose and bind. He gave to the Apostles the power to forgive sins. St Paul in Scripture tells us that the Church has been entrusted with "the ministry of reconciliation."
Do you believe in Purgatory, Kurt?
If you pray for the soul of someone who died (or offer up a good work or suffering for that soul)... whether you realize it or not, you are actually asking God to grant an "indulgence" to that soul.
reply to Kurt P on penance
By The Eminem Fan (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011Please see here for how many times the word penance appears in the New Testament, and the contexts in which it is used:
St Peters, Rome
By Kurt P (not verified) on Friday, February 18, 2011And then I think of St Peter's Basilica in Rome and realize that it was built with dirty money from the sale of indulgences. It makes me sick.
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