Quote Originally Posted by Cowhead418
PS: What really started to turn me away from my belief was my CCD teacher telling me that Catholics believe your soul stays with your body after death until Judgment Day, where the decision for each soul to go to Heaven or Hell is made. I had never heard that before and believed it to be utter crap.
Just for information, your teacher was utterly wrong, or as is often the case, antagonistic towars the Roman church. Catholics believe no such thing.

Interestingly, the Catholic faith (which has a fairly powerful internal consistency having been interpreted by some of the finest philosophical minds of the mediaeval period) includes a much more palatable idea to the afterlife - Purgatory.

Catholics believe that very few people live lives that qualify them for Heaven - only the saints go direct. Equally, very few people live lives that deserve the horrors of Hell (Southern Baptists mainly ). Almost everyone goes to Purgatory when they die, which is a place of cleansing - where the soul understands the clarity of every action they took in life and how it affected those around them. Unlike in life, the soul cannot lie to itself about its sin - every hurtful fact and its result is revealed in the light of God's truth.

Time of course, has no real meaning there, but the soul can then begin its journey of purgation, of reconciliation with God. Very serious sins take a very long 'time', whereas a decent but flawed person can achieve entry into Heaven quite quickly.

The Catholic position is that just being baptised does not guarantee Heaven. You have to earn it. Even the worst sinner can be redeemed, it just takes an awful long time. After 1500 years of this view, the Protestant churches decided on the idea of the Elect, ie believe and you are saved. One of the drawbacks of letting people read the Bible in their own language is they get all sorts of weird ideas!

Some theologians have postulated that Purgatory may be earth itself, in other words a second chance in the flawed world to do good - similar to reincarnation - and that the miseries we see are actually there to encourage us sinners to expiate our sins through good works - though this is by no means official doctrine which states that Purgatory is a separate spiritual realm.

Of course, one of the drivers for the Reformation was the Roman Catholic Church's very smart business decision that as prayer was said to help souls move through Purgatory, you could sell ready made 'indulgences' ie pre-paid tickets through the nastier bits. Kind of a first class trip through repentance.

Neat idea, very good for the patronage of the arts, but the purists decided this was ungodly and set up their own churches - and banned stuff like dancing and beer.

But as an explanation for a loving God who also metes out punishments, Purgatory seems to me very consistent. I am drawn to the idea that one can pray for one's loved ones, as well as the friendless, and speed their journey towards happiness. The more people who think kindly of you, the quicker you achieve paradise, which is rather symmetrical and worthy of an omnipotent Being.