Desire Media

Some years ago, my great grandmother, Fannie Renner, inheirited a large sum of money from a sister who died. Shortly thereafter, she lost her newborn baby who died just a few months after birth. While she and my greatgrandfather Isaac (Ike) were still grieving, Fannie was visited by two priests from her local church. They came knocking on the door of her house and offered to pray for her baby's soul to be released from Purgatory in exchange for an indulgence. Purgatory is a Roman Catholic teaching said to be a firey place of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are paying for their sins before going on into heaven. "After death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven." – Catechism of the Catholic Church. What is an indulgence? An indulgence is a large sum of money given to the Catholic church so that a deceased loved one can be set free early from Purgatory. When Isaac over heard what the priests wanted from Fannie he was furious and stormed out the front door and physically threw the two priests off his porch. He then warned them not to come back with their 'scam'. Why, he thought, would our young innocent baby be suffering torture as punishment for sins never commited? Ike wanted nothing to do with a religion that teaches of such a cruel place. In this lesson, we want to find out if the Bible supports such a teaching. What does the Bible really teach about hell and the punishment of the wicked?