Question:  At one point (I think it's during the Justification section) Akin is asked if Maccabees is his major substantiation for purgatory.  He says, "No, my major substantiation for purgatory is the principle that all people are sinful at death and yet sinless in Heaven so there needs to be a purification that takes place between death and heaven."  My question is, my understanding of Catholic theology is that not everyone goes to purgatory (i.e. some Saints etc.)?  That some people reach a sufficient level of purification before death so that they do not need to receive further purification in purgatory.  If some people, though still sinful at death, do not need to pass through purgatory in order to be sinless in heaven, then how can Akin's principle serve as substantiation for purgatory?

Question:  He started judging me as a sinner and telling me over and over "IF you read your Bible…" and "IF you have read the Bible you would know this".  I guess, he said that Jesus was going to walk on earth for seven years and rule down here a perfect paradise of people even though the good ones would have already been raptured.

Question:  I want to double check my thinking with you regarding purgatory.  It's existence seems to have been watered down greatly in the past 50 years.  Is the RCC's teaching on purgatory a matter of dogma (fides ecclesiastica)?  From all of my reading and study, I think the answer is "yes".

Question:  Is it true that the Church granted indulgences only if people could afford them?

Question:  Can you please clarify what the Scriptural (i.e. Catholic) meaning is of the following terms: paradise, sheol, hades, gehenna, tartaros, the pit, Abraham's bosom, the prison, paradise?

Question:  What is the historical basis for this purgatory thing?

John Pacheco provides additional information and insight to Art Sippo's answer below about the (supposed) selling of indulgences.

Question:  Why do Protestants believe that Purgatory was invented?

Question:  The Protestant my wife is dialoging with has now taken to the historical attack.  She states that Martin Luther broke with the Chruch because the Pope was selling indulgences.  Was it the Pope or wayward bishops who were selling indulgences at the time?