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Ok, let's take a closer look at Luke 16:19-31. Mr. Martin quotes Matthew 13:34 in defense of his position that Luke 16 is merely a parable....
“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them”
Dr. Ernest L. Martin (1932-2002) attempts to use this verse, to claim that all of the stories Jesus told were parables; BUT, this is clearly not the case at all, which is evidenced by hundreds of other Scriptures. One such passage of Scripture is Luke 17:26-27, which states,
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”
Now, it is clear that this passage of Scripture is NOT a parable because LITERAL names are used. The same is true concerning Luke 16:19-31, which employs the use of the LITERAL names of Abraham, Lazarus, and Moses. There is NO reason for us to believe that Luke 16:19-31 is a parable, none at all. Jesus NEVER said it was a parable!
Furthermore, Jesus ALWAYS announced when He was speaking in parables, e.g., ...
Matthew 13:24 - “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likenedunto a man which sowed good seed in his field.”
Matthew 13:31 - “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field.”
You won't find any mention of a “parable” in Luke 16, or of the word “like.” There is a clear distinction between the parables Jesus told and the literal accounts. When Jesus warned the Pharisees that there would be “wailing” and “gnashing of teeth” in Hellfire, He was speaking in LITERAL terms...
“And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:50).
To claim that Jesus' words are not literal is to attack His character and holiness. Jesus was
not an actor or fiction writer. He came as the Son of God to seek and to save that which was lost (i.e., humanity). In John 14:2 Jesus plainly stated,
“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you...” Jesus was an honest man, Who said what He meant and meant what He said.
Please read,
Hell in the Scriptures.
Dr. Ernest L. Martin is a False Prophet!
Ernest L. Martin has been greatly deceived, and is leading people into Hellfire with his damnable doctrines. It is tragic when people, who know nothing about the truth of God's Word, twist the Scriptures,
“...which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2nd Peter 3:16b). The only accurate method to interpret the Scriptures is with other Scriptures, by comparing truth with truth.
The Word of God couldn't be any clearer that people who die in their sins will be punished forever in the tormentuous flames of Hellfire...
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction...” (2nd Thessalonians 1:8,9). Could the Bible be any plainer? Yet, fools like Mr. Martin go around telling people that Hell has no fire. Read the Bible!
Luke 16:19-31 is a LITERAL Account!
Jesus NEVER mentioned LITERAL names or places when speaking in parables—it was always “a certain man” or “a far country.” In sharp contrast, we have definitive, distinctive, recognizable people mentioned in Luke 16:19-31; namely, Abraham, Lazarus, Moses, the prophets and the dead.
Thus, it would be foolish and certainly unscholarly
not to accept this account as 100% true. To allege that Luke 16:19-31 is not a true story is to accuse the Lord of lying, because He is using LITERAL names, and thus attributing meaning and character references to those people. How foolish it is to deny the literalness of the Scriptures. Scientifically, historically, astronomically, archeologically, horticulturally, medically, and in so many other ways--the Word of God is 100% accurate and literal.
Only a willingly blind fool would dismiss the Bible as being superstitious, or misleading. Only an unsaved Modernist would deny the literalness
I just don't believe God is a person who tortures people as you interpret the scriptures to describe the type of person God is. All scriptures that I have read concerning God doesn't teach me he is that type person. I think it's sad that those people like you who say you're christian think God is that type person by the way you interpret the scriptures. I know God is not that person that you and others try to make him out to be, but I understand that is who you will always teach him to be to others. The truth is God doesn't torture people, if he sees there's no hope for a person or persons he will destroy them out of existence for eternity, not torture them for eternity. Oh yeah don't give me any that rubbish that God can't destroy out of existence that he brought into existence.