What are heaven hell and purgatory?

Answer 1

In Roman Catholicism (not all the other Christian denominations), Heaven is the eternal abode of God and the blissful destination of believers, Hell is an eternal place of suffering and damnation for non-believers, and Purgatory is a temporary place of suffering for believers to have the rest of their sins 'purged' from them before they enter Heaven.

Answer 2

"Purgatory is an endless space of ashy color. It was quite dark. I could feel people strangling and suffering there. The Blessed Mother told us we should be praying for souls stranded in Purgatory. She said only our prayers and sacrifices can release them from that place…The people there are helpless. They are really suffering. We can be like Jesus a little bit if we just do some voluntary penance for the souls on Purgatory, especially for the ones who are abandoned by their families on earth…I am aware of their suffering. I know some of their torment. I know how desperately they need our prayers. They are so lonely that it is almost sickening to remember those moments I was there. It is really a great joy to do penance for the poor souls because I know how much it helps them…And many of our family members who have died desperately need our prayers. The Blessed Mother says we must pray courageously for them so that they might go to Heaven. They are powerless to help themselves."3

Answer 3

Great question! :)

No.

Purgatory is a state of purification after death for those who are not immediately ready to be united to God in heaven. However, those in purgatory will eventually be in heaven:

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. (CCC 1030, 1031)

In the New Testament, purgatory finds its origins in books such as 1 Corinthians, for example, when St. Paul writes

the work of each will come to light, for the Day [of Judgment] will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Cor 3:13-15 NAB

In this passage, St. Paul mentions being saved after death on the Day of Judgment, not by immediate perfect union with God in heaven, but rather, "as through fire."

Unlike those in hell, the Church prays for those in the purifying or purgatorial fires on the Day of Judgment to be purified completely so that they may be united with God in heaven. Praying for those in the state of purgatory or who have passed away finds its origins in books such as 2 Maccabees:

All men, therefore praising the Lord the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, Betooke themselves unto praier, and besought him that the sinne committed, might wholy bee put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Iudas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sinne, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to passe, for the sinne of those [who] were slaine.

And when he had made a gathering throughout the company, to the sum of two thousand drachmes of silver, hee sent it to Ierusalem to offer a sinne offering, doing therein very well, and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection. (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen againe, it had bin superfluous and vaine, to pray for the dead.) And also in that he perceived that there was great favour layed up for those that died godly. (It was an holy, and good thought) whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sinne. (2 Maccabees 12:41-45, 1611 KJV)

REFERENCES

Liberia Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994).

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. The New American Bible, (Iowa Falls: IA, World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1991).

The Bible Museum. The Bible: 1611 King James Version: 1st Edition, 1st Printing, (Goodyear, AZ: The Bible Museum, 2006).