Quote:
Originally posted by dtb
Thus endeth the lesson.
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You wish.*
Judas Maccabee ordered that Temple sacrifices be offered for all slain Jewish soldiers who had worn pagan amulets as good luck tokens. 2 Maccabees 12:38-46. In other words, the living must pray for the relief and repose of the souls of sinful dead. Thus, it is one of the few Biblical justifications for the existence of Purgatory.
See also 2 Timothy 1:18 (Paul prays for dead Onesiphorus). However, because the Maccabees books were written in Greek and were not included in the Hebrew-only scripture canon by the Jews at the Council of Jamnia, Martin Luther excluded them from the Protestant scripture, thus explaining why Catholics believe in Purgatory and Protestants do not.
The Maccabees story is also the origin of the phrase, via Coverdale's 1535 translation, of "left wing [lefte wynge]" (1 Maccabees 9:16) to describe political factions, but this was discussed in another of my plagiarized posts.
*Jewess, please.
