No, I don't think it destroys my argument. My argument was that the parable gives no indication of a resuscitation to life again, so it is not talking of a near death experience. The Dictionary.com definition of a near death experience is:
a sensation or vision, as of the afterlife, reported by a person who has come close to death.
yourdictionary.com defines it as:
A set of experiences reportedly felt by many persons who were near death and subsequently resuscitated, typically involving, variously, a feeling of out-of-body awareness, a bright light, a blissful vision of an afterlife, etc.
The real Lazarus was a friend of Jesus and his disciples, and the brother of Martha and Mary, the Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair (John 11:2). He was not a beggar. He became sick and died, and after he had been dead for four days Jesus raised him from the dead. So he did not have a near-death experience, he actually died and was dead for four days. This Lazarus was definitely a real person. Jesus continued socialising with him afterwards (briefly, becasue it was days before his crucifixion), John 12:1-2 (WEB):
(1) Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
(2) So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
The parable that Jesus told was about a rich man and a beggar - it is not a parallel story, it's a parable. The rich man represented the Jewish nation, who had been helped by God for thousands of years. However, since Jesus' ministry started (after John the Baptist had died), things were changing; Jesus said, Luke 16:16 (WEB):
(16) The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
In the parable the beggar represented all those whom God was now helping, both Jews and Gentiles. To emphasise that the beggar represented those whom God was now helping, Jesus gave the beggar in the parable the name Lazarus, which means "whom God helps". In the parable both the rich man and the beggar (Lazarus) died, and neither of them is raised from the dead, so neither of them have a near death experience; they have a real death experience!
The parable is completely figurative and not based on reality. I'm guessing you haven't followed the link in my previous post to a longer description of the meaning of the parable (Lazarus parable), so here's a brief extract (the first two paragraphs):
It is evident from the whole setting of this passage that it is a parable.
Otherwise the logical lesson to be drawn from it is that unless we are poor
beggars, full of sores, we will never enter eternal bliss; and that future
torment will be our portion if we happen to wear fine linen and purple and fare
sumptuously every day. And, if taken literally, those who are poor are taken,
not to heaven, but to Abraham's bosom. However, the context of this passage
shows that Christ in this parable was teaching a great dispensational truth,
namely, the change of favor from the Mosaic Law Covenant to the Covenant of
faith. (Luke 16:16-18; Galatians 3:6-29) If you read carefully the 32nd
chapter of Deuteronomy, you will see that Jesus was merely repeating in vivid
pictorial language what Moses had already said. See particularly verses 20 to
29; and also Paul's quotation of the 21st verse in Romans 10:19, where he shows
that Moses' prophecy referred to the overthrow of Israel consequent upon Jesus'
rejection of that nation.
Jesus was evidently drawing upon something that was in the real world, the
apostate Jewish belief which blended the Grecian philosophies into the Bible.
The Jewish leaders knew of these beliefs and it was the Jewish leaders that he
was addressing. He used their own beliefs, not to condone their apostate
beliefs, but to illustrate the change he had just spoken of: "The law and the
prophets were until John." -- Luke 16:16.
No, the parable story does not say that Lazarus came back to life again. Quote the verse if you believe it does.
No, I think there is one account of a man named Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead., and Jesus told a parable in which he gave the name of Lazarus to one of the men in the parable, to help make a point (because of the meaning of the name). You are making the mistake of trying to make the person in the parable the same as the real person who Jesus knew. They are clearly not the same person - Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, weas not a beggar covered in sores. You're twisting the Scriptures in ways that they're not intended to be twisted!
Why would anyone assume that Jesus added the name Lazarus in order to create confusion? That's a stupid assumption to make! Jesus made up many fictional stories, e.g. the parable of the prodigal son, the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:15-21). In the rich man and Lazarus parable he added the name Lazarus to make the parable clearer.
Instead of feeding on the milk of Christianity, feed on the meat - delve deeper into the meaning, and stop making naive assumptions.
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