When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. - John 19:30
According to Roman Catholic doctrine, purgatory is a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. The sinners referred to here are those who have committed venial sin or the unbaptized {who have not been cleansed of original sin}.
To believe in purgatory, we would have to accept the belief that Jesus’ persecution, unimaginable suffering, and an agonizing death on the cross weren’t enough to wash away the sins of mankind. Further, we would have to dismiss the seriousness of “lesser” {venial} sin, and accept that dying in sin {as long as it’s not a mortal sin} is “okay”, if we just suffer in purgatory for a while.
Uh…no.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He is our LORD and Savior, and His death washed away our sins. It was, is, and always will be enough. We need not spend time in a place called purgatory because we must repent for our sins and show our obedience to our Father before He calls us home.
Sin is sin. If we break any of God’s Commandments, we have chosen our will over His. We must confess our sins to our Father, ask His forgiveness, repent, and turn away from sin. Our obedience to God must be constant, but we must also remember that, as long as we believe and trust in our LORD and Savior, we are forgiven.
When it’s our time to go, there are only two destinations: for believers, Heaven, and for unbelievers, hell. There’s nothing in the following Scriptures about purgatory.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- Romans 10:9
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. - John 3:18
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. -Hebrews 3:12
There IS good news.
Our Heavenly Father loves us, He’s merciful, forgiving, and generous with opportunities to humble ourselves. He wants us to be with Him in Heaven, and He is constantly working in our lives and sending us messages through other people, experiences {good AND bad}, and signs.
We just have to be listening, completely open to hearing His loving message.
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” - John 8:47