Seems a book or movie or tv show brings up this topic every couple of years, but Jesus clearly explicated the case. Jesus told of two men who died, a good man who went to heaven and a selfish man who went to hell. The good man, seeing the suffering in hell begged to be able to return to his living relatives so that he could warn them to do everything to avoid hell. He was denied. No, they have the Scriptures (aka Moses and the Prophets) let them believe the word of God, for even if they hear the testimony of a man raised from the dead, they will not believe.
We don't need a new, fallible, prophet to come and tell us that heaven is real, we have a ancient word from an infallible God who tells us it is. We want to believe the boy because his story comes without "strings" (law, judgment, reliance on grace, etc).
It's also worth noting that as Jesus shared this parable, he was sharing to people living under the law whose hope of salvation was that though they tried to keep the law they constantly failed, at least in their spirit, and were clinging to the goodness of God that he would provide a substitute for them as he had for Isaac atop the pyre. How much surer our hope now that the substitute has come, that the Word has been revealed in full?
Here is the actual parable, I paraphrased it above hoping folks who are generally adverse to reading scripture might get the gist of the story:
Quote:
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
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