“There is a biblical basis for it. St Paul talks about a person being saved, but only as through fire, meaning a person is purified of his sins by the cleansing fire of purgatory after which he is saved - fit to enter heaven.”
Is this the passage to which you prefer:
1 Peter 1:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
………………………………………………………………………………………
If so, that is not a worthy argument for Purgatory.
That scripture speaks of temptations we receive here, along with how those trials are used to see if we are the real deal:
………………………………………………………………………………………
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
………………………………………………………………………………………
Here is the same general statement written by the Apostle Paul?
………………………………………………………………………………………
1 Corinthians 3
13 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 so, that passage is figurative in relation to fire. I can say that because the term “foundation” is also used in a figurative sense immediately before that:
Here is the entire context:
………………………………………………………………………………………
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 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.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
………………………………………………………………………………………
That passage doe not give credence to purgatory in any way.
Here is another passage from the Apostle Paul:
………………………………………………………………………………………
Let me know if I have used the wrong verses altogether, because it hardly seems that you’d be referring to these as an argument for purgatory.
That's purgatory. Your impure works, (wood hay and straw are impure) will burned up in the fires of Purgatory.
And after he has tired you, you shall come forth as gold.
See Protestants believe that that their sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. The sin is still there, but God cannot see them, he only sees the blood of Jesus. But Catholics see the soul as like a tarnished plate. The sins are the tarnish and through the grace of God and the repentance and penance of the sinner, that tarnish is cleaned off. Once it is spotless, the plate is like a mirror and when God looks into it, he sees his own reflection. When the soul reflects God, only then is it fit for heaven. So in Purgatory the soul is cleansed of the last remaining attachments to sin...nothing unclean shall enter into heaven.
It's a perfectly logical doctrine. It is a very consoling doctrine. It also makes one realize that sin has consequences and we must expect to accept those consequences humbly. It seems to me that Protestants want to get something for nothing...salvation with Jesus doing ALL the suffering for their sins. But you have to suffer for your sins too. Either on earth, in purgatory or both places.