Someone asked "is there Purgatory in the Bible" ? WE ANSWER: NO ! There is no where the word
"Purgatory" appears in the Scripture. and YES, the idea of purgatory and its reality is in the scripture. We shall journey through this in three stages.
1. The Protestant Stand
2. The Scriptural Stand
3. The Catholic Teaching on Purgatory

1. The Protestants say there is no purgatory, both the name and the idea are repudiated by them.
a) They say "Catholics deceive themselves by giving themselves hope of cleansing after a life of sin" They confound the doctrine of Purgatory with presumption; one which teaches that a sinner, after living in sin on earth may hope for heaven through the cleansing fires of purgatory.
b) they argue that it was the Catholic Church that "Invented" this doctrine, maybe with an "evil" intention.
c) that there cannot be salvation from ANY sin or its punishment after death.
d) that there cannot be ANY transformation after death, that once someone meets pain in the afterlife, it is eternal, and once he meets joys, it is equally eternal.
e) that God cannot forgive any sin or grant any form of mercy/ cleansing after death; death shuts the door to ALL MERCY.
f) They say there is no mention of both the word or the idea in the Scripture or any trace in ancient Christian History.
2. The Scripture is rife with the idea of Purgatory. St Paul, whose thought i wish to conclude with even taught it. In the book of Maccabees, the author captured an exhortation to pray for the dead; this prayer carries within it the possibility of salvation from sin after death. But let us not dwell in this since they will argue "Which book is that? " "You added it to confuse people" "that book is not in my bible" Ok, ok ok.. Let us turn to the Great Apostle, St Paul, Let us listen to him paint the idea of purgatory to us. "Now if any man build on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; … Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall SUFFER LOSS: but HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire" 1 COR 3:12-15 IMPLICATION OF PAUL'S TEACHING: 1. Everyone's work/deed shall be judged
2. Some people's deeds will be found perfect
3. Some will be found imperfect and therefore "Burned up"
4. The one who loses shall "Suffer" and still be "Saved" as through a "Fire"
5. That someone can "Suffer" for a moment after death and still be "Saved" after this suffering. Paul exposes the error of protestants who say there can be no mercy what so ever. St paul shows that someone can be judged, found guilty (of imperfection) and still be Purified (as through a fire) and afterwards SAVED !
3. Church Teaching: The Church uses the word "Purgatory" to represent the state of being "burned up" or "saved as through a fire", since this "fire" has "purificatory" properties it is called "Purgatory" which represents the process of "cleansing".
The Church does not say that there is A PLACE somewhere with a big sign post that reads "PURGATORY", NO.
It is the Process of cleansing that the Church concerns herself with not a geographical place. The Church says: Someone can suffer for a moment after death and later be saved - this is purgatory,
St Paul CONFIRMS it as can be seen above. The Church says that God can cleanse someone of his imperfection even after death - this is Purgatpry, St Paul CONFIRMS it . What more are we to discuss? Do you ask me why people say this and that about this doctrine? I answer you, you have been arguing not against the Church's teaching but against your own teaching about the Church's teaching. Some people think they fight against the Church only fight an image they themselves have created and named "Catholic". Hope the explanation suffices.