As Spiritual

• Judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory


  Spiritual realities, not physical
• For those who believe in resurrection as spiritual rather than physical, ideas of judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory as physical realities do not make sense
• Many Christians understand judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory as spiritual realities
• Modern Catholic thinking on judgement, heaven, hell and purgatory

  Spiritual rather than physical realities
• Judgement


  Two-fold judgement, similar to Eastern Churches
• Heaven


  A spiritual state
• Hell


  Not a physical realm of torture, results from deliberate choice of mortal sin without repentance and refusing God's offer of forgiveness
• Purgatory


  Not a place, a condition of needing purification before seeing God face to face
• Youcat 158: 'Heaven is the endless moment of love. Nothing more separates us from God...'
• Youcat 161: 'Hell is the condition of everlasting separation from God, the absolute absence of love'
• Youcat 159: 'Purgatory... is actually a condition. Someone who... still needs purification before he can see God face to face is in purgatory'
• Particular or personal judgement

  Occurs at the moment of death of the individual
• General judgement, also called the Last Judgement


  Occurs on the Last Day, at the end of the world, when the Lord comes again
• Other Christians reject the idea of particular and general judgement, because that is the language of space and time, which ends at death
• Other Christians believe there can be only one spiritual judgement, which takes place at death
• Other Christians reject belief in purgatory for the same reason