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→The Role of Purgatory
Purgatory answers the questions raised above. Men will pay for their sins "to the last penny" (Matthew 5.25-26). Those men are in a "prison" (1 Peter 3.19-20). Elsewhere it is referred to as a "waterless pit" (Zec 9.11) Our lives will be tested by "fire" and we will be saved, "but only as through fire" (1 Cor 3.11-15). This is because "God is a consuming fire" (Heb 12.29; see also Exodus 3.2-6). God washes away "filth" with a "spirit of judgment" and a "spirit of burning" (Isiah 4.4). An angel cleansed Isiah with a burning coal (Isiah 6.5-7). God is a "purifier" and "refiner" (Malachi 3.2-4).
Prayer for the dead is made effective because we are guaranteed by divine revelation (e.g. the Bible) that prayer has a purpose. It is clear from these passages that men undergo some kind of purification after death but before entrance into Heaven. Whether this purification is a particular place, or simply a process, it is not clear. Nevertheless, some kind of "fire" cleanses souls before entrance into heaven, and it is a process that must be endured. The name "purgatory", therefore is aptly applied as it means "to make clean" or "purify". Purgatory does not have to be explicitly stated in Scripture.
== Theological Counter-Claims ==
