Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Rich Man and Lazarus is a FABLE

  Good news, we had the house inspection done last night and it looks like everything is going smoothly.  Papers and deposit have been dropped off at the lawyers and it's starting to look like this might be a lock.  Yay!

Jesus - Telling Tales



  Anyone who's spent any time in Sunday School in the last century knows about the Rich Man and Lazarus.  I'm not going to bore you reciting the whole tale or waste time repeating it.  You can find it in Luke 16.

   At any rate; in this section of Luke's Gospel Jesus is telling a series of parables explaining things to people.  In particular, he is explaining things to the Pharisees using their own mythology and doctrine to condemn them.  These were taken from their book "The Talmud" and are not rooted in scriptural truth.

   For a deep analysis I recommend you buy the book "The Rich Man and Lazarus" by EW Bullinger.  He gives an easy to understand explanation of the parable and it's historical significance in Jesus time.  It's quite brief but easily dismantles traditional teaching on this.

   But lets be honest here; this parable conflicts with everything scripture teaches about God and death.  Here are some significant points;

A Rich man goes to hell and a poor man goes to "Abraham's bosom"(tradition teaches this is heaven).  So what is the point here?  We need to give away all our possessions and become destitute and persecuted to get to heaven?  If we're rich and eating well we go to hell?

Is God that unjust?  There's no indication that the poor man had repented, knew Jesus, or even knew of God in this entire exchange.  His only "redeeming" value was that he was poor and it really sucked.

Also, these people are dead, yet are somehow... not.

If so - we really need to redefine the word DEAD.  Of course, Jesus is using the pharisees own traditions and not actually trying to explain what happens after death.  Dead is dead after all.  As Ecclesiastes 9:5 says;

...The dead know nothing whatsoever...

  Indeed, if we are alive after death, as popular Christian mythology teaches; believers get to party it up in heaven while everyone else goes to hell... So then what is the point of

1 Thess 4:15-18
15 For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who are surviving to the presence of the Lord, should by no means outstrip those who are put to repose,
16 for the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall be rising first.
17 Thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be together with the Lord.
18 So that, console one another with these words.


  If Death is actually life partying it up in Heaven, why go through the effort of raising us from the dead?  Doesn't that seem a little redundant?  I mean frankly, if I'm having a good time without a nasty old body in heaven, I would frankly be pissed off if I got smacked back into it just cuz Jesus felt like blowing a tune.

  And lets not forget, 

Revelations 20:5 
5 (The rest of the dead do not live...

  I guess John felt something might be lost in translation so he decided to say "Just in case you don't understand what dead means, the dead do not live..." it seems a little redundant, but then - religion is quite fond of making a kaka mess out of something that should be crystal clear.

   But seriously, read Bullinger's book, it's really quite well thought out and explains what a terrible injustice is being done to the word of God by taking a fairy tale Jesus was telling, completely out of context and making an entire doctrine of eternal conscious torment out of it.  Are you crazy?

  This is what I posted this morning on my facebook;

If Hell exists, it means God is not Lord over all creation.

If Hell exists, it means God is not Loving to all his creation.

If Hell exists, it means it were better for me to have been born an animal than risk the flames of hell.

If Hell exists, it means evil is more powerful than God.

If Hell exists, it means evil is eternal.

If Hell exists, it means God cannot be all in all.

If Hell exists, it means those who live in Heaven are truly cruel to enjoy an "eternity" while others suffer.

If Hell exists, it means that Jesus sacrifice at the cross was limited and feeble.

  I don't know how else I can be more clear than that...

Travis

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