I figured I had better substantiate what I understand the Roman Catholic Church believes by accessing their official web site and quoting what they say below:
quote:
Obtaining indulgence from God through the Church1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.89
1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.
1485 "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week," Jesus showed himself to his apostles. "He breathed on them, and
said to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained"' (Jn 20:19, 22-23).
Now, how would you answer that Bible verse, the one in the above quote, and others that they use to back up this belief?
[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]
