Last night I went with my family and some good friends to celebrate a birthday and to watch the movie The Lovely Bones. The movie was certainly not the kind of flick I would normally choose, but I wanted to stay with everyone else. Just humanly speaking, the movie was just plain weird. I could have left at any point during the movie and not have given a second thought to how it ended.
Speaking as a believer, the movie seemed to indicate that there is a place between Heaven and Hell where a person goes and spends time before entering eternity. Although the word purgatory was never used, that seemed to be the clear suggestion. The Bible is clear that a Christian goes directly into the presence of the Lord when they die and not to a place like purgatory.
Jesus, told the thief on the cross, “today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). We decide where we spend eternity when we decide how we will respond to the salvation Jesus offers us through the cross. Our destiny is determined during this life, not at some location between Heaven and Earth after we die.
Save your money and skip The Lovely Bones.
Stephen C. Rice 