an obesson of something you like'

Off the top of my head I believe an indulgence is when you pay money to the church to receive restitution for your sins. The more money you give, the more sins will be forgiven. This was going on in the middle ages when The church was very corrupt, which eventually led to Martin Luther leading his Reformation.

A priest violating just the one altar boy rather than a whole dozen. (Kidding! I kid!)

Wine and women ;)

You could buy them in the olden times catholic church, to indulge in sin.

A piece of chocolate is a treat, a family block to yourself is indulgence. Or like, a massage from a loved one is a treat, paying for an entire weekend away to a retreat for expensive massages is indulgence. I'd say, 'excessive fulfillment of a material desire' is the best way to define it. Go to dictionary.com and look it up.

An indulgence is a means by which the Catholic church takes away some or all of the punishment due the Christian in this life and/or purgatory because of his sin even though that sin has been forgiven. This punishment is most often in purgatory but can also be suffered in this life. Therefore, indulgences remove time needed to be spent in purgatory. http://www.carm.org/catholic/terms.htm

Hi, HJ..well..let me tell you about my latest "indulgence"..they are always food-related. We found a delicious ice cream at our local supermarket..store brand, comparatively healthy and on sale "Buy 1 Get 1 Free"! They've run that 1+1 free on and off the last couple of months..as a result we have about 12 different flavors (I'm serious) in our freezer..now, we have a fridge/freezer in our garage and one in our kitchen! So now you know..wanna come over for some ice cream? I have fudge sauce, whipping cream and walnuts/pecans/almond to put on top! :) Happy Thursday! :)

• Purgatory • To discuss indulgences, first we have to talk about Purgation (or Purgatory). Are you perfect now? Most people would say no. Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes. Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves into perfect beings. Depending on the amount of change needed by different people this can be an easy or slightly harder process. Everyone in purgatory is on their way to heaven. I don't think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it. • Indulgences • The concept is that a person can do acts of penance now on earth to make purgation easier. Penance is internally turning one's heart toward God and away from sin in hope in divine mercy and externally by fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. A corruption grew in the Church many years ago where rich people would give enough alms (money to the Church) to essentially buy an easy way to heaven. This was one of Martin Luther's protests (hence Protestants) and shortly thereafter the Catholic Church cleaned up this practice. In 1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions. But remember because everyone in purgatory is already on their way to heaven, indulgences do not get you into heaven. They just make purgation easier. I guess if you did not believe in purgatory then there would be no reason to worry about indulgences. With love in Christ.