Interpreting the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: It's Really Good News!

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Amanuensis

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2021
1,457
460
83
“My” reasoning? I’m pretty sure it was Scripture I posted saying Paradise contains the Tree of Life which is through the Gates of Heaven (Revelation 22:24 KJV - forgot that one) which stands above the River of Life which flows from the Throne of God which is in heaven.

Scripture says Paradise is up, not down.
You seem to be making an obvious mistake. Your reference is in the City the New Jerusalem on to the New Earth. Your attempt to make this prove that paradise is UP is not working. And it is not even what Jesus was telling the thief. He was not telling him that today he would be in the New Jerusalem.

1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Read Rev 21 and 22 together. It is the New Jerusalem that is being described.
 
Feb 7, 2022
646
75
28
Who would you like to see be tortured for eternity?
The reason I ask the question is because after I show the evidence from scripture that there is no eternal torment, but rather limited torment unto 2nd death, the eternal torment person still will not give up their ideology which means they have someone or someones they want to see and experience eternal torture. Their ideology was never word based, but always based in their deep seated animosity to someone they need to see tortured eternally.

I just want to know who they want to see eternally tortured? What did they do to warrant such?
 
Feb 7, 2022
646
75
28
Eternal torment negates the justice and mercy of God in at least two ways

1. Eternal torment means that all crimes receive the same duration of torment, which is unjust. The flood in Noah's day is the example for the future judgment, in that some suffered little and died quickly, and some suffered long and died slowly.

2. Eternal torment means that God is ultimately unmerciful, and will not bring torment to and end in death for the unrepentant, but sustain such misery in existence, even sin, eternally.
 
Aug 3, 2019
3,744
507
113
Those whom God burned alive are still burning.
Are you sure?

2 Peter 2:9 KJV says God intends to "reserve the unjust unto the day of punishment to be punished."

If the wicked are "reserved" for future punishment, they can't be burning right now, right or wrong?
 
Feb 7, 2022
646
75
28
Are you sure?

2 Peter 2:9 KJV says God intends to "reserve the unjust unto the day of punishment to be punished."

If the wicked are "reserved" for future punishment, they can't be burning right now, right or wrong?
Even devils are aware of the prophetic time:

Mat 8:29: "And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,097
3,683
113
Are you sure?

2 Peter 2:9 KJV says God intends to "reserve the unjust unto the day of punishment to be punished."

If the wicked are "reserved" for future punishment, they can't be burning right now, right or wrong?
Why not? They're reserved in hell waiting to see the Judge and be thrown into the lake of fire.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,176
1,573
113
68
Brighton, MI
Seems like hell cools off in your bible. If one rejects Christ all that's left for them is annihilation? Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.
I know Christians who believed those not going to heaven will be wiped out. So, they live lives of sin.
I know I asked those who believe in such thing, ahhhh I am repeating myself.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,176
1,573
113
68
Brighton, MI
Was born and raised Roman Catholic, 30 years (Seventh-day Adventist now last 14), full communion, in a family of practicing (full year round) Catholic, that served the local Bishop in Sacramento, CA for many years, and was part of the right to life chain movement run by my other (now late) aunt (J.S.), as well as the Bishop Gallegos Maternity home for women, run by my aunt (L.("D.")M.) for many years until recently (retired). I aided in each on countless occasions, but I also served briefly in a specific Catholic ministry which as EWTN stated were expert in their field by "M." Angelica, whom the leadership were personal friendsk of. That particular ministry specialized in Catholic History, Miracles, Saints, Holy Sites and pilgrimages to those sites. They still exist but have changed states.

I personally have read many of the so called "ECF", read and studied nearly everything at Papal Encyclicals.net, traversed much at NewAdvent.org by Kevin Knight as well as Vatican.va unto the current Jesuit 'pope' (Jorge Bergoglio) and state current (Laudato Si, Fratelli tutti, etc). I have studied in Catholic encyclopedia (though over 100 years old now), the officially sanctioned (Nihil Obstat, Imprimatur, etc) Catholic Catechism, as well as deeply studied Catholic Canon Law and lawyers various commentary. I even had the little blue Pieta book memorized, and a specially 'blessed' scapula worn daily and 'blessed' Rosary.

I have studied not merely Roman Catholic history, but protestant and secular history as well. I have read Ignatius Loyala Spiritual exercises, as well as Opus Dei, etc material. I have read Gibbon, D'Aubgine, Ligouri, Lord Acton, Luther, Melanchthon, Tyndale and Moore, Heiks and AT Jones (Two Republics, etc), Augustine and Aquinas (Summa), Origen and Melito of Sardis, studied in Creation and philosophy and logic. I have studied the Justinian code and a plethora of other materials including Islamic history and Frederick II of Padua, etc.

I have read the Catholic Bible (New American St. Joseph's Ed.,), including the apocrypha ('deutero-canon') and King James Bible and considered Latin of Jerome and Jesuit Douay Rheims, German of Luther, French of Olivetan, Italian of Diodati, Spanish of Valera and currently looking at Samoan language. Studied in textual criticism, and various translations, mss, papyrii, lectionaries, codices, fragments, miniscules, majescules and some archaeological materials (things pertaining to scripture mostly but not all, like Egyptian history, pyramidology, mythology and Greek and Roman and some Babylonian and even north and south American mythology).

"Studied various baptist confessions and history, as well as vaudois, passagini, paulician, insabatti, sabbatini, albigensi, puritan, pilgrim and united States history.

Deeply studied in prophecy and repeating history (this is the final cycle and final generation).

Also studied in logical programming languages way back when.

Still read, still study on my own time and dollar now.

Any ways hopefully that helped you in some way.

I study the scriptures and teach them nowadays.
Thank you for sharing brother, friend.
 
Aug 3, 2019
3,744
507
113
The reason I ask the question is because after I show the evidence from scripture that there is no eternal torment, but rather limited torment unto 2nd death, the eternal torment person still will not give up their ideology which means they have someone or someones they want to see and experience eternal torture. Their ideology was never word based, but always based in their deep seated animosity to someone they need to see tortured eternally.

I just want to know who they want to see eternally tortured? What did they do to warrant such?
There's a reason no one in the Eternal Torment crowd won't get behind "torture" as acceptable punishment for criminals: they don't believe it's just. However, since they claim God is just in torturing the wicked for all eternity, now they've got a problem with Job 4:17 KJV:

"Shall mortal man be more just than God?"

If the Eternal Torment crowd wants to answer "no", they better start singing the praises of criminal torture. How about it, ET crowd? Should we start burning people alive or worse yet force them to watch "The View"?
 
Aug 3, 2019
3,744
507
113
It’s sad that you don’t have a Bible you can trust. You become your own final authority on the scriptures.
I don't trust punctuation, brother - it wasn't inspired. Not a single line of the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic was punctuated.
 
Aug 3, 2019
3,744
507
113
Are you saved? Do you have everlasting life? Is that only for a while and one day you will cease to exist?
Why did Paul tell the Thessalonians not to be overcome with hopeless sorrow concerning their dead loved ones if they were in great joy in heaven? Surely, the words he would have them "comfort one another" with would be those, right?

The reason he told the to be comforted with words of the resurrection was because their dead were not yet in heaven, but would one day rise and go there "in that number when the saints go marching in".

See? We march in together at the resurrection, not individually at death.
 

Amanuensis

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2021
1,457
460
83
The reason I ask the question is because after I show the evidence from scripture that there is no eternal torment, but rather limited torment unto 2nd death, the eternal torment person still will not give up their ideology which means they have someone or someones they want to see and experience eternal torture. Their ideology was never word based, but always based in their deep seated animosity to someone they need to see tortured eternally.

I just want to know who they want to see eternally tortured? What did they do to warrant such?
You are making an accusation that there must be some other motive for not receiving your interpretation other than because you did a bad job of making your case.

There is no other motive for rejecting your hermeneutic than that it was an awful attempt at twisting many verses of scripture to try and make them mean something other than what they clearly say and those that listened / read your explanations rejected them because they were not at all convincing. Why so shocked?

Why sit around wondering why we clearly read it as eternal torment, and what motivation we have for doing so, when we wonder what your motivation is that would allow you to have to explain away so many scriptures and why is it that no red flags awaken in your conscious screaming at you and accusing you of trying to make a bad interpretation of Ecc change every plain sounding verse in the New Testament?

Wouldn't it be more natural to reconsider your interpretation of the dead not having thoughts? That seems to be the hermeneutic rule you violated that caused you to attempt to force a different interpretation on so many other verses in the New Testament. (I am putting you in the same box with @Phoneman-777 as it relates to the interpretation of Eccl)

That is the reason why we don't give up our interpretation that the torment is eternal. It is because it is a better hermeneutic than yours when applying all the rules of hermeneutics.

We can start all over again and address each scripture and each interpretation you present if you like.
When you use Eccl to establish a doctrine that the bible teaches that all dead people have no conscious until the resurrection you have made your first mistake. We (those who believe in the New Testament scriptures about eternal torment) do not agree that the writer of Eccl was teaching doctrine about what happens to the wicked dead. You do. Do you wonder why we differ? Is it because we have another motive than wanting to know what the correct interpretation of Eccl really is? No, we want to know what that verse means, why he said it and how we are to use it.

We find it easy to understand that he was telling us the things he said when he was searching for meaning in life. We base that on the context of the entire book and the things he as been saying before and after the statements. It was an expression of his feelings that everything was a waste and hopeless. He said the dead were better off than the living. We get it. We also understand that he probably didn't say that after he discovered that serving God made life worth living. We get it.

You refuse to concede to that kind of interpretation of Eccl and that is the first impasse between us on interpretation. We believe you are violating a rule of hermeneutics here with your attempt to use this bad interpretation as your cornerstone for your doctrine. And this rule using this very verse and others like it in ECCL and Job are examples given in books of Hermeneutics which If I must I can pull out and start posting some chapters that cover this but I have a feeling you have seen these arguments and have rejected them.

Then you find it necessary to explain why numerous scriptures in the New Testament (where Jesus gave us more revelation about things like resurrection, and afterlife than they had in the OT) must be changed from their plain meanings to something else. And you do this repeatedly over and over again. Yall keep using the verse in Eccl that the dead dont know anything therefore this verse and that verse in the NT must be reworked to say something different. And you expect us to embrace that? pffffft come on.. be serious.

You wonder why we don't accept this? You should be wondering why YOU DO?

We wonder why you don't see the pattern of too many instances of the need to make something say something different than how it reads. Like Jesus making a point to the thief what day he was talking as though that was a necessary thing to bring up in the midst of suffering and agonizing death on a cross instead of the plain and simple truth that he was telling him he would be in paradise this day. The attempt to twist that one is pure desperation but it is not just one time. You do it over and over again and don't seem to notice. We do.

That is why we reject your bad hermeneutic and accept the doctrine of eternal torment as it is plainly taught by Jesus Christ.

Now this might be a stumbling block to your sensibilities but I think the problem lies more in your surrender to the sovereign right of a Holy God to be right in all that he has decided and not accuse Him of wrong doing because of your limited, perverted, corrupt sensibilities (which are bound to change with the revelation God will grant over time and reading the bible if you stay humble and do not accuse Him of wrong doing in his choice of administrations of judgments of the wicked.)

Quit telling God how he aught to carry out judgment on the wicked and just be thankful that He offers you escape from eternal damnation. (whatever that looks like)

No there is no hidden motive for rejecting your bad hermeneutic but we do suspect your motivation for being willing to do such a bad job of it yourself. What lurks in the hearts of those who don't notice all those attempts at explaining away the verses that contradict their doctrine? Why no red flags in your conscience?

Why would someone want to try so hard to teach others that the wicked will have eternal rest? Could it be motivated by demons who know that such a doctrine would give those who have no will to live a "Hope" for an escape by doing themselves in? I mean logically if you could get someone to believe that the writer of ECCL was being used by God to teach us that the dead are better off than the living and have no thoughts, then a certain amount of depressed people will kill themselves without fear of facing judgment?

Maybe that is the reason behind this doctrine. Maybe you are being used by demons to teach a doctrine and you don't even know it.

The demons have a plan and are using these teachers to increase suicides? I mean if we are going to wonder about motivations behind what seems to be obvious attempts to explain away scriptures without a red flag smiting ones conscience when they do so maybe it is demonic control? Think about it.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,176
1,573
113
68
Brighton, MI
“My” reasoning? I’m pretty sure it was Scripture I posted saying Paradise contains the Tree of Life which is through the Gates of Heaven (Revelation 22:24 KJV - forgot that one) which stands above the River of Life which flows from the Throne of God which is in heaven.

Scripture says Paradise is up, not down.
I think I already showed that paradise was moved from the grave to heaven after the resurrection of our Lord.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,176
1,573
113
68
Brighton, MI
No, bro, the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek was inspired and a single line of that contained punctuation. That was added by the translators according to as they, not the Holy Spirit, saw fit, and since most of them had been taught RCC brand theology, it's a miracle that more punctuation errors hadn't occurred.
The grammar, lets one know where punctuation belongs.