It is common practice for the dead in purgatory to obtain indulgence from God through the Catholic Church for remission of their sins (CCC X. Indulgences). This practice seems to come from 2 Maccabees 12:38-46.
These indulgences are limited to those who die in the communion of saints (the faithful).
I take this practice one step further. I believe that we can offer up our own good works for the atonement of the dead in hell. Nowhere in Maccabees does it say that atonement is limited to the dead in “purgatory.”...
There is only one way to help these spirits. And that is by making atonement for their sins. In this way, their souls are restored by the divine power of Christ and they can be good spirits with their friends and family in heaven.
2 Maccabees 12:46. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin....
Atonement can also be made for our friends and loved ones in hell.
Actually what 2 Maccabees 12:38-46 teaches is contrary to Rome, since what is offered is prayers and sacrifice for souls who were slain because of their idolatry, even dying with idolatrous amulets on them. And with no indication of repentance, or anything that repentance before death was a condition for their sin offering, but which offering was in the hope that this mortal sin they died in would be put away that they may be part of the resurrection of the just.
So Judas gathered his host, and came into the city of Odollam, And when the seventh day came, they purified themselves, as the custom was, and kept the sabbath in the same place. And upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in their fathers' graves. Now under the coats of every one that was slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which is forbidden the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. (2 Maccabees 12:38-40)
All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection2 Maccabees 12:41-43)
But Roman theology holds that their is no hope for those who die in mortal sin, and that those in her purgatory are already assured of salvation, but indulgences are offered as part of a quick release program for such.
As for "this practice seems to come from 2 Maccabees 12:38-46,"
Jacques Le Goff (historian and prolific author specializing in the Middle Ages) finds regarding as prayer for the dead by Christians:
...it is of course true that beliefs and mentalities do not change overnight, so it should come as no surprise that we do find instances, particularly in the domain of popular belief, in which non-Christians prayed for the suffering dead in the other world....
These practices developed around the beginning of the Christian era. They were a phenomenon of the times, particularly noticeable in Egypt, the great meeting ground for peoples and religions. Traveling in Egypt around 50 s.c., Diodorus of Sicily was struck by the funerary customs: "As soon as the casket containing the corpse is placed on the bark, the survivors call upon the infernal gods and beseech them to admit the soul to the place received for pious men. The crowd adds its own cheers, together with pleas that the deceased be allowed to enjoy eternal life in Hades, in the society of the good."
"The passage cited earlier from the Second Book of Maccabees, which was composed by an Alexandrian Jew during the half-century preceding Diodorus's journey, should no doubt be seen against this background." It then becomes clear that at the time of Judas Maccabeus--around 170 s.c., a surprisingly innovative period—prayer for the dead was not practiced, but that a century later it was practiced by certain Jews. No doubt it is in relation to beliefs of this type that we should think of the strange custom described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:29-30: "Else what should they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" This baptism for the dead was not the Christian baptism but rather the baptism received by Greek proselytes who converted to Judaism.
The abundant epigraphic and liturgical evidence available for the first few centuries of the Christian era has often been used to prove that belief in Purgatory is very ancient indeed." But it seems to me that the interpretation goes beyond the evidence. The favors that God is urged to grant the dead essentially involve the pleasures of Paradise, or at any rate a state defined by pax et lux, peace and light. Not until the end of the fifth century (or the beginning of the sixth) do we find an inscription that speaks of the "redemption of the soul" of one who is deceased.
The soul in question is that of a Gallo-Roman woman from Briord, whose epitaph includes the phrase pro redemptionem animae suae.s. Furthermore, the inscriptions and prayers make no mention of a specific place of redemption or waiting other than the one traditional since the time of the Gospels, the "bosom of Abraham." But in order for the idea of Purgatory to develop, it was essential that the living be concerned about the fate of their dead, that the living maintain contacts with the dead, not in order to call on them for protection, but rather in order to improve their condition through prayer. - The Birth of Purgatory By Jacques Le Goff. pp. 45,46 , transcribed using
http://www.onlineocr.net.
Aside from Roman theology here, 2 Mac is not Scripture, and Maccabees was even
disputed or held in doubt among some notable RCs as being Scripture proper even for most of her own history, as redleghunter has partly substantiated. Moreover, despite the Holy Spirit recording approx. 20 prayers in Scripture, there are zero prayers here or anywhere in Scripture address to anyone else but God - except by pagans.
Also, as for these Maccabean Jews being a faithful priesthood, a Jewish site tells us that the rededication of the Temple was,
led by Judas Maccabeus, third son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, whose successors established the Hasmonean high priesthood dynasty. But which were not a valid high priesthood due to invalid lineage, (Genesis 49:10) being not of the lineage of David, as the Zadoks were, and their line ended up opening the door to the Roman conquest. Their control ended when Herod eliminated every male in the Hasmonean line. (Though The Herodian Dynasty had Hasmonean blood thru two sons and two daughters. through Mariamne.)
Due to the unpopularity of its founders, Hanukkah itself came to be largely ignored within a few decades after its origins. Then when Rome’s crushing power began to be felt in Palestine, the people recognized in Hanukkah a message of hope that new Maccabees would rise and independence would be restored. - The Hasmonean Dynasty | My Jewish Learning
As for the rest of your "one step further" theology, this is consequently further out than Rome's for Scripture nowhere manifests hope for those who died in their sins, but only speaks of two categories, saved and lost, sheep and goats, with their respective resurrections. And with the former going to be with the Lord at death or at His return (if they are alive then:
Lk. 23:43 [cf.
2Cor. 12:4;
Rv. 2:7];
Phil 1:23;
2Cor. 5:8 [“we”];
1Cor. 15:51ff';
1Thess. 4:17),
And with the only suffering for believers that is manifestly taught as after this life being that of the judgment seat of Christ, which does not begin at death, but awaits the Lord's return, (
1 Corinthians 4:5;
2 Timothy. 4:1,
8;
Revelation 11:18;
Matthew 25:31-46;
1 Peter 1:7;
5:4) and is the suffering of the loss of rewards (and the Lord's displeasure) due to the manner of material one built the church with, which one is saved despite the loss of such, not because of. (
1 Corinthians 3:8ff)
In contrast, the lost go to suffer in Hell at death, (Luke 16:19-31) in unquenchable fire, (Mark 9:43-45) to await their "resurrection of damnation" (after the first resurrection, "the resurrection of life:" John 5:29; Revelation 20:5,6) and their particular sentencing (based on the degree of accountability) at the great white throne judgment as souls whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 20:5,6)
Furthermore, OT atoning sacrifices were provided for under the rubric of the day of (blood) atonement of Leviticus 16, which looked forward to Christ, and who provided the only atonement for sins. Believers may sacrificially work to redeem souls, but only Christ offered the atonement for sin which enabled forgiveness. (Romans 3:25; 5:11; 1John 2:22; 4:10)
And thus we have the statement, that "
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:27-28)
Which means that both saved and lost will see their respective resurrections, and judgments, with Christ offering the only atonement for sin which enabled forgiveness, thus no only is the there no teaching that the lost have a second chance after death, but that there are no Maccabeean- type atonement for sins after the fulfilling atonement of Christ, which the OT sacrificial system prefigured. Thanks be to God.