Purgatory

[ThomasPeter]

from an apologetic standpoint, how would i defend the idea of purgatory to someone who doesnt believe in it? i kind of strugle with the idea my self, so this will also help me. i have been tought that in Holy Scripture it says "...pray for the dead..." and that those in heaven dont need or prayers and those in hell can be helped by them, so taht must mena there is a third group that can use them. is there anyway to better rationalize this? also i have been tought that "nothing unclean will enter heaven." how do i use this to add to the proof? i fear taht someone will say that it just means we must "beg/pray for Gods mercy at the hour of our death and always." or "well, taht just means only the very holy/blessed will be given the grace to enter." etc. how do i respond to taht? are there any other scriptoral or non scriptoral reasions/proofs for its exsistance taht i coudl give to a non catholic or prodistant? thank you !
tom

[Adeodatus]

Once we're dead we are outside of space and time, so we can't use the language of location (purgatory is not a place), nor of time (we can't speak of "time" passing in purgatory). So if your friends can see that some people need to purified [i]after[/i] they have died in order to enter the bliss of heaven, then they're already acknowledging purgatory in a sense.

See this article from our reference section: [url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2HEAVN.HTM#Heaven"]Heaven, Hell, Purgatory[/url]