keithr said: ↑
So are all poor people going to end up on Abraham's bosom when they die? Do you think that is literal?
I never said that. Please don't lie!
I don't lie, and I'm sure I didn't make a mistake. I didn't claim that you said that! I was asking you if that is what you thought. I say that the rich man and Lazarus story is a parable, and therefore not to be taken literally, but you claim it is not a parable - you said "This is a very literal account" in reply #96. So again, do you think all dead poor people, or maybe just one particular dead poor person called Lazarus, was carried by angels and dumped on Abraham's bosom? There is no indication in this parable/real event that suggests that Lazarus was alive, only that somehow the dead rich man was alive.
Do you think that poeple in Hades/Sheol and Abraham's bosom will be able to call out to each other and have a conversation? (That is contrary to other Scripture verses.)
What "other Scripture verses"?
I've already quoted these previously, so that's why I didn't think I needed to repeat them. Verses such as these:
(Psa 31:17-18) ... Let the wicked be disappointed.
Let them be silent in Sheol.
Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
(Psa 146:4) His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day,
his thoughts perish.
(Ecc 9:5) ... but t
he dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.
(Ecc 9:10) ... for
there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.
(Psa 6:5) For
in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?
So you like John 3:16 but you don't like Luke 16!
Why are you comparing a parable that Jesus taught with one sentence that Jesus spoke? I like both of them, but I understand that the Luke 16 passage is a parable.
The term "everlasting" is used several times to describe the fire. Don't like it? Join Kingdom hall. They twist the Hell out of the Bible too.
Revelation 14:10-11 (NKJV)
10 He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
Okay, I'll twist it some more for you! :) The word that is translated in verse 10 as tormented (or tortured in some translations) could, and probably should, have been rendered "tested" or "examined"; that the evil deeds and teachings of the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be examined forever by the righteous, and will be recognized as highly deserving destruction. Compare it with Isaiah 14:12-17 (WEB) which says of Satan:
12) How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
13) You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”
15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
16) Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms;
17) who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
Strongs Concordance entry for the Greek word basanizo (translated as tormented in verse 10) says:
1) to test (metals) by the touchstone, which is a black siliceous stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal
2) to question by applying torture