Dante's Purgatorio: Why You Have to Repent of Your Sins

Purgatory meant something for Dante the poet in his Divine Comedy as Dante the pilgrim traveled through it. True, Purgatory, for Dante, was about making restitution for and cleansing your sins, but there's another reason Dante would have gone to Purgatory.

Think about it: It would be kind of pointless if the only reason you were sent to Purgatory was to wallow in misery and feel bad for yourself. No, Purgatory would be about cleansing yourself from your earthly sins to go to Heaven, and you can't cleanse your sins if you still think everyone's a jerk to be punishing you for them. Thoughts and repentance of your sins, change, and be grateful to God for giving you the chance to cleanse them.

Another reason you would have to repent of your sins for them to be forgiven is that the Bible mentions 75 times in the New Testament that you have to repent of your sins and be baptized for them to be forgiven. If The Bible mentions it 75 separate times. God clearly wants you to get the message. If you have knowingly sinned, you cannot go to heaven without repenting of your sins. Catholics also believe this, and since Dante was a Catholic, he obviously believed this when he wrote the book and worked it into the Purgatorio.

Lastly, Purgatory would only have been partially created for restitution for your sins. It also would've been made to purge you of your sins, since nobody who still has sin can enter Heaven. It is impossible to get rid of your sin without repentance. If you didn't genuinely feel sorry for your sins and willing to purge them, you wouldn't have ended up in purgatory in the first place. You've ended up in Hell. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” - Acts 3:19.

The Bible makes it clear that repentance is necessary, and purgatory would be pointless in people whined and complained that they were being punished as opposed to rejoicing that they were given another chance at heaven.