Immortal Soul
"Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday
sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the
former lays the foundation for spiritualism, the latter creates a bond
of sympathy with Rome” --Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, page
588.
Links on the subject
Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke
16:19-31): Derived notes from J. Parching here
- Improbable conditions of Heaven. If this parable is describing
actual conditions of the future then those in heaven will be able
to hold conversations with those in Hell. People will be able to look
across the impassable gulf and see their loved ones in indescribable
torment. Fathers will see daughters, mothers will see their sons,
husbands and wives see relatives all uttering ceaseless pleadings
for cool water to assuage their thirst and anguish of soul. Continual
torment as such being witnessed by loved ones, seeing and hearing
such screaming and hopeless despair would hardly give one in heaven
a sense of bless! Such a harrowing situation in no way would grant
peace to heaven's occupants! Could you dear reader enjoy such a state
of affairs? Surely this could not be the state into which Jesus through
His redemption would place us who are redeemed?
- Improbable qualifications for Heaven. The only reason Jesus
gave for Lazarus resting in Abraham's bosom was that he had had a
tough life. If this be the necessary qualifications for heaven, then
maybe all Christians had better become beggars, diseased, hungry and
give up the doctrines of health, healing and prosperity!
- Unlikely request from a man in Hell. How could we believe
that one drop of water on the tip of one finger could alleviate those
who are incarcerated in such a fiery torment? Or for that matter,
how could a drop of water exist in such a place as this imaginary
flaming Hell.
- Unlikely state of a spirit in Hell. How does one who has
died and is buried possess a tongue to speak? Do the disembodied 'souls'
in the spirit realm have a tongue?
The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is really a story of Judah (i.e.
who had five brothers, as the parable relates) versus the nations of
the world. Judah (or the Jews) was blessed and supped at "the table"
while the heathen nations were viewed as "dogs". After Christ,
everything changed. Now Lazarus (or the heathen nations) has found a
new way, he can enjoy comfort in Christ Jesus, the seed of Abraham.
Now he is able to rejoice in the bosom and blessings of father Abraham.
By contrast, the rich man (the Jews) went to Hell -- into the unknown
and the unseen, into an experience never desired. A place of uncertainty,
of myths, unreality, bondage, pain and suffering. Who has been so tormented
and persecuted, hunted, haunted, ridiculed and selected for torture
and death as the Jews in the last nearly 2,000 years? (A reading of
Deuteronomy 28 aptly describes the incredible suffering of a disobedient
people.)
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