The answer to “Whose souls are in Purgatory?” is “The ones God sends there.” The Judgment and eternal placement of our souls is up to Him. One thing that drove me from Protestantism to The Church Jesus Founded was the frequently repeated delusion: “I know that I am saved! I know I’m going to Heaven!”
Cementing the lunacy of that belief, one nearby mega-church handed out small stickers of rocket ships that people were encouraged to put on their car windows. When people asked “Why do you have a picture of a rocket ship on your car window?” the mega-church member was taught to say, “Because I’m going to Heaven!”
That actually happened. I felt as if an asylum had opened its doors and flooded the area with its residents. Think about that. You are told by someone to put a picture of a rocket on your window and then tell people who ask about it: “I am going to Heaven.” If you put a picture of a dollar on your car, would you become a billionaire?
The problem with Protestantism is that no one can say: “Showing people a picture of a rocket ship and telling them that you are going to Heaven is an embarrassment. It makes us all look like brainless fools! Stop it!”
The “I am going to Heaven because that’s what I believe.” wing of the Protestant movement mindlessly repeats, “Once saved, always saved!” Many go through life with a sin-justifying arrogance that is utterly displeasing to God and man, alike.
Do they get into Purgatory? Or, does such vanity consign them to perdition?
Smarter Protestants are more complex. They recognize the Trinity. They consider questions of free will. They know that willful sin is damned. Their Scriptural studies consider many of Christ’s teachings. They are somewhat aware of history. While they tend to distort the Church Fathers into being “somewhat Protestant in their outlook”, they do recognize that “The Catholic Church is the Mother of Churches.” Higher-level Protestants are knowledgeable and honest enough to know they cannot avoid some acknowledgement of Catholic authority, seniority, and antiquity.
Some who strive to keep people from greater sin may be in Purgatory. What of those who work to keep people from rising to the Catholic Sacraments? When I became a Catholic, the first person with whom I spoke was the minister. I explained why I was leaving. He understood. He made no attempt to malign or distort The Church. He knew.
If he had bullied, threatened, or slandered The Church, it would have been a different story. If he’d tried to magnify indulgences and various scandals into any real attack on the sanctity of The Church Jesus Founded, he would have been guilty of distorting the facts. He knew.
“Whose souls are in Purgatory?” God knows. I hope we may be excused if we are in error to believe that “Those who say Purgatory cannot be may keep themselves from being sent there for the purification they need to be brought into Heaven.”
So, Protestants, from this newer Catholic, a bit of advice: “Lighten up!” It is a way out of the darkness.
