Well, it is not often that I come across a heresy that I have not heard of before, but this week and in a visit last June at a friend's house, a new wrinkle of the teaching of the Particular Judgement came up among Catholics and various Christians.
The heresy sounds like this: because we do not have the fullness of truth on earth (lie one), because we are seeing things like St. Paul through a mirror darkly (not want Paul meant in this context), because there is no natural law (lie three), then we are not judged to go to heaven, hell, or purgatory, but are given chances to make new decisions after seeing God (lie 4). It is actually a heresy of intentionality and sincerity, in which a person believes that if they meant to do good and if his or her intentions were good, then there would be no objective sin. Also, if one's intentions were good, God will not judge on objective good or evil. Therefore, once a person sees this at death, then they can start making the right choices.
OK, where do I start? First of all, we are body and soul and we work out our salvation with our bodies and our souls intact. In other words, we are living beings while we pursue holiness. So, when we die, all the merit our souls through our bodies, mind, will, etc. would have merited come to an abrupt end.
Secondly, the experience of meeting God is not about new knowledge which is impossible to obtain on earth, but a fullness of that knowledge. Through the Revelation and Tradition of the Church and the grace of the sacraments, we are given what we need for salvation. In fact, all men and women are given chances for grace, and a grace to convert over and over and over again by the merciful God. What we see at death is God and our relationship with Him.
Thirdly, the choices we make on earth create a pattern of either moving towards God or away from God. When we meet God in the particular judgement, we are merely affirming those decisions and in effect, judging ourselves.
Fourthly, as Christ told the Pharisees and Sadducees through the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Christ's has given, by the fact of His Resurrection, proof of eternal life through Him Alone.
From Luke 16: 27-31. DR
Then, father, I beseech thee, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren,
28 That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.
29 And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.
31 And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.
Revelation and Tradition.
Fifthly, intention is only part of good or evil. A sin or good action is objectively evil or good in and of itself. One cannot separate intention from the matter or form which follows. For example, there are some people who state that yoga is fine, even after it is noted as not so in this document
because their intentions are not to worship Hindu gods but to get exercise or stretch.
With a entire system based on positions of false gods, of energy theories not based on science but on Eastern mythology, and on movements of false paradigms of prayer, intentions cannot change objective disorder. We are humans of body and soul and such movements and positions mean something more, even if one intends them not to do so. Intentions do not make something right.
Those who deny the finality of the particular judgement think they will get a pass on intentions.
Last point, purgatory is for purification of the imperfections and sins from which we were not freed while on earth. It is not a time for choices.
The problem is, of course, that those who think subjectively cannot imagine objective good and evil and that their intentions are good enough for moral decisions.
This heresy of intentionality and sincerity plagues those who fear death. They have not faced the utter reality and finality of death. Either that, or they do not believe in hell. But, that is another posting.
