I'd like to address the issue of whether or not Luke 16 is a parable or not, as I feel that this is a key issue in the argument that many Annihilationists attempt to hold whenever they address the issue of soul sleep.
Assuming Luke 16 is a parable:
If Jesus believed in the doctrine of soul-sleep, why tell a story which would so clearly contradict what people believe regarding the issue of soul sleep (according to their reasoning)? If he believed in this so strongly, why invent a story with a hidden truth that states very clearly that people are in conscious, living torment after death? Was Christ confused?
I thanks for the reply
The parable is loaded with metaphors. The bosom of Abraham is the invisable presence of God to begin with .One of the prescriptions we are to follow... compare the unseen to the unseen eternal. . . faith to faith
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.Which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth;
comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.1 Corthians2:12-14
I don't think it was so much he was trying to prove something he already approves as comparing the spiritual meaning of one parables to another. . or confuse the issue. Remember bottom line is. . . They have no faith by which they could beleive . They would be the ones that crucified Christ in opposition to that which was informed .
In conclusion to the matter of the impossibility of having mercy verse 26. The request is that to send the Spirit of God, as father sent directly to the 5 brothers of the fathers house.
Jesus replied if the don't trust sola scriptura they would not trust if one rose from the dead like the Son of man .they have no ears to hear the gospel
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him,
If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Luke 16:26-31
Whether you believe it was a parable or not, you have to try to explain what Christ was trying to say here. I look forward to seeing some of the linguistic gymnasts try to explain it away by passing off its meaning as metaphorical or symbolic (which is ridiculous by the way as when Christ used parables at other points in scripture, he used a simple, literal form that was easily understood by the hearers although its meaning wasn't readily evident to them).
linguistic gymnasts or rightly dividing the parables? Easy to understand when the meaning is revealed.
The issue of what a parable is interesting. When Christ spoke using parables, he never once named a person. You may search in each and every other parable, but you will not find one other person named. Jesus uses people as "plot devices" rather than describing real-world events.
Plot devices what's that??
Many names are used in parables .Abraham one. Every name in the bible has a meaning attached to it for a certain purpose
Lazarus = "whom God helps"
If Jesus had believed in the doctrine of soul-sleep, HE WOULD NOT HAVE TOLD AN ACCOUNT WHICH CONTRADICTS IT. Parables are meant to support spiritual truth, not contradict it. So, either the account is an example of an event which occurred or Jesus was totally out of sync with what he was trying to say here
Again the gospel supports it. . . he was in sync in what he was saying. Have your searched out the spiritual understanding of that portion of scripture ?[/QUOTE]
We are born into a state of spiritual death, and are quickened to life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. Those who are dead are not given life to be tortured forever after. Even at the resurrection and judgment of all, they are called the dead. They are judged under the law according to their works and then cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, and then death itself is the last enemy to be destroyed when it too is cast into the lake of fire.
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