Purgatory — Roman Catholicism Debunked

A doctrine invented to sell indulgences — completely absent from Scripture and early Church.

The concept of purgatory has no biblical basis. The commonly cited proof-text (2 Maccabees 12:46) is from a book not in the Hebrew Bible. The thief on the cross was told 'Today you will be with me in Paradise' (Luke 23:43) — not 'Today you will enter purgatory.' Hebrews 9:27 states 'it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment' — no intermediate purification stage. The doctrine was formally defined in 1274 at the Council of Lyon, primarily to support the sale of indulgences.

Verdict: Purgatory was invented to monetize salvation through indulgences.