[GMichuta]

I think something ought to be said about the form of the Bible your friend is using. As it was posted earlier, 2 Maccabees 12 teaches that those who die in godliness benefit from prayer and sacrifices. Luther was forced to reject (or down-grade) the authority of Maccabees because its meaning unmistakably affirmed Purgatory and all that goes along with it. Maccabees demonstrates that the Purgatory was a doctrine understood by the Jews of Jesus' day. As a consequence, the concept appears only incidentally in the New Testament. But as you can see by these posts, it is definiately there.