Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. The law and the prophets were until John. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. “And He said to THEM, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. ” (Luke 16:13) Now to this the Pharisees that were around responded as follows: “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him” (Luke 16:14). Starting from Luke 16:1 we can see that the Lord spoke to His disciples and gave them a teaching that ended with the following conclusion: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. To whom did Jesus say this story ? This we can easily find by looking at the verses that precede the above passage. Now before we say anything about a passage, especially one that seems to contradict many other passages, we need to study its context. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, ‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’" Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. One such passage is the story of the rich man and Lazarus, given in Luke 16:19-31. There are though a few passages of the Bible that being misunderstood are used by tradition to support its doctrine of a supposed life immediately after death. We have however seen, from a multitude of Scriptures, that this traditional view cannot be correct, as it contradicts Scripture. This we recognise is against the traditional view that believes that though somebody dies “his soul continues living”. they are without consciousness, waiting for the resurrection. We have seen up to now that the Bible clearly teaches that the dead are dead, i.e. Resurrection or life immediately after death ? The reader is advised to also read the other articles of this study.) (Note: This article is part of the study with title:
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