A Review of Purgatorio by Dante and The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

I recently finished Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri and found it a great sequal to The Inferno, though perhaps as usual, also inferior to it's predecessor.  The most memorable part of the story besides it's creepy tone is the fact that the gluttons are chained back from the foods they desired in life. Dante is guided by Virgil through most of the book until last cantos when he is directed by Beatrice instead.
 Related to this Renaissance classic is the more modern Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis.  In this book those that have died go on a bus and visit eternity. The damned actually do not desire Heaven, and those in Hell have their own theology clubs. Purgatory is also a key place in Lewis's work.
 Purgatory was taught by Saint Augustine of Hippo in The Enchiridion: On Faith, Hope, and Charity. While it was not as popular in the east, it was certainly in the west for at least a thousand years before the Protestant Reformation.
 Lewis actually believed in Purgatory though not in the sense that the 16th century Roman Catholic Church did. He discusses the subject of Purgatory and praying for the dead in Letters to Malcolm  Whereas, Purgatory had been originally about purification, it became more and more about suffering instead. Hence, one can see how the change of understanding on this issue was used as a tool of power by many of the corrupt Roman Catholic hierarchy of the Reformation era.
 That said, some Protestants have thrown the baby out of the bathwater. As one that was raised Evangelical Protestant, then became Roman Catholic, and now being a High Church Protestant, I have personally experienced and read the weak arguments made against Purgatory from evangelicals that are usually themselves not based off Scripture. Some Protestants contend that Purgatory takes away from what Christ did at the cross, but in no way is this true. Even in this life, after we are born again, we still face the consequences of our own sinful actions. Purgatory does not take away from Christ did at the cross, it's existence proves our lack of worthiness.
 1 Peter 3: 19-20, 1 John 5: 6, 1 Corinthians 3: 13, and 2 Maccabess 12: 46 are common Scriptures used for the support of Purgatory's existence, and the need to pray for those that have died.

 
 The Roman Catholic Douay Catechism was written for Protestants, and from my point of view is one of the best defenses of the Roman Catholic Faith.  It gives no short exception to it's Biblical defense of Purgatory.

Two wrongs don't make one right, and throwing out doctrines because the Roman Catholic Church sometimes abused those doctrines is no exception.