Luke 16:19-31
Jared wrote:
I would surely like more on The Rich Man and Lazarus because it greatly bothers me. I have been studying the word immensely lately and coming across truths I was unaware of before.
I was a devout Christian when I was a child. I had a good relationship with God and obeyed his commands as well as I humanly could have. When I hit my teenage years, I began to rebel.
I have been part of the Southern Baptist Church until this period in my life. During My rebellion, one of my main concerns was why a God who created and immensely loved his children would send them to hell (The eternal suffering translation) if they did not follow his ways. This turned me off so much that I didn't want any part of the church or the God that I was taught to love and worship for my whole life. I was very angry. Even if my soul was saved, what about the rest of the world? I just couldn't believe this was true.
I began believing that we evolved by the Big Bang because dying forever and believing this is better than eternal suffering in Hell. I also felt that I could not be in heavenly bliss no matter what because I would be angry at my creator for making the non-believers suffer tremendously for eternity.
I understand that The Rich Man and Lazarus is probably a parable, but Jesus was not really accustomed to using this kind of satire. It is basically a lie. Is it not? And if he was being literal, that goes against other clear scriptures that say that everyone's soul rests until the second coming, right? And if Lazarus is talking of the End of Days When the unsaved souls are cast into the fire to die, he still is asking for help to be sent to his brothers, who obviously are dead at this point and probably there burning with him. I'm sure you see my dilemma, as I'm sure other people have the same problem understanding.
Up to this point, so far, I have easily been able to find an answer to all of my hard questions. Now I'm digging through this one and having a hard time finding answers.
PLEASE HELP ME!
Your brother in Christ
Jared
Dear Jared,
God Bless you, and thank you for writing. We can see you have put careful thought and study into this question. We have prepared a PDF that is Free to download that deals completely with this subject. Please download this Free Book, The Rich Man And Lazarus. We would like any feedback as to how we could improve the teaching or any Scriptures we did not handle that you think should be included. So far, no individual or institution has found fault in our research.
All God's Blessings,
The Believers
