Ostalo
https://doi.org/10.31823/d.32.2.9
Purgatory in the Bible
Dubravko Turalija
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Sarajevu, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina
Sažetak
“He punishes us; then he shows us mercy. He sends us down to the world of the dead (Sheol), then brings us up from the grave” (Tob 13:2). The Old and New Testament theology of Sheol (hereinafter: Šəʾōl) follows the logical sequence of human living and dying. A person enters Šəʾōl the way he built himself during his lifetime, meaning, in Šəʾōl, the fundamental human determination and nature do not change. In Šəʾōl, it cannot happen that a righteous person turns into a wicked person, and a wicked person becomes a righteous person. However, the key characteristic of Šəʾōl is not the immutability of the set position but the impossibility of expressing praise to God. This virtue characterises the life of a righteous person who glorifies God with his righteousness. Therefore, the righteous man, by his nature, does not belong to that place because the one who praised and blessed God during his life cannot stop glorifying him even in Šəʾōl. The wicked, however, who does not glorify God during his lifetime is suited to the postmortem environment of Šəʾōl, in which God's name is not invoked. Thus, we conclude that Šəʾōl belongs exclusively to sinners or to those who do not praise God. The theology of Šəʾōl reached its peak in the teaching that Šəʾōl is not the eternal abode of the righteous. The righteous indeed descends to Šəʾōl, but his soul does not rot there, nor does he become part of the impersonal substance of Šəʾōl. Since it cannot remain in Šəʾōl, the justified soul, after freeing itself from its habits that led it to sin during its lifetime and having been set in holiness, rises to heaven, and God himself delivers it and rewards it with a happy eternity. Therefore, for the dominant biblical theology, it is not questionable that the righteous will see the face of God, but what privileges one over the other is the time of stay in the place of the dead, i.e. Šəʾōl. The elaborate Christian theology calls that time of souls' stay in the place of the dead the purgatory.
Ključne riječi
hell; purgatory; retribution; Sheol/ Šəʾōl
Hrčak ID:
320357
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.8.2024.
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