How Can This Be?
 

The rich man and Lazarus both die, and both go to Paradise. While it seems easy to understand how the day of Lazarus' death might be better than the day of his birth, how can this be true for the rich man?
A clue is that, obviously, we make assumptions about the rich mans state that are not true.

Re: How Can This Be?
 

how can what be true for the rich man?

Re: How Can This Be?
 

That the day of his death was better than the day of his birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1.

Re: How Can This Be?
 

I don't see in Luke 16 that either of them went to Paradise. Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom and the rich man went to hell, and was tormented in flames. Begged for a drop of water to cool his tongue. So, what assumptions do we make that aren't true?

Re: How Can This Be?
 

Re: How Can This Be?
 

Lol, ok, you're going to make me read Luke here, and adjust--ok, you'll please allow me some latitude for a minute, as the lesson of the rich man and Lazarus is different than what I am saying, number 1; the rich man is here "in hell," which can't tally very well with the definition of hell in Revelation, and now has me wondering if I should find a better example for my illustration, but maybe not. We'll give this a shot, but I'll tell you that this is coming from me, and can prolly be shot with holes; it's like something I see, but incompletely, ok? But the point here is that the rich man is in "torment" the same way someone on earth thinks they are rich but they are ignorant, blind, and naked. the rich man is "thirsty," which we naturally assume some water would satisfy, but of course he is dead, and has no mouth, or tongue to put a drop of water on. He is thirsty for knowledge. The sense in which there is no change in his state, from his life on earth to the point when he's asking for a drop of water to put on his non-existent tongue, is the sense I'm trying to get at. And yes, I am able to read the same description as you are, it is also true, but it leads to a literal understanding only, which works well enough for the stated lesson in the parable.
The day of the rich mans death was better than the day of his birth, and if you asked him, there with his "tongue" hanging out, if he would like to return to earth even if he could not warn his brothers, or even ever see them again, he would decline! Yikes, I can hear the howls now, how is it I can see this so clearly, but can't seem to clarify it? Lol, whenever you bump up against a "well, but I thought this was true..." trust that there is the sense in which both are surely true, but there has been a perspective shift that the reader must consciously participate in.

Re: How Can This Be?
 

I don't think that's fair, so to avoid confusion, I'd like to illustrate "lack of understanding" a bit, which it is often the proxy for confusion when a contradiction is perceived:

"The day of a man's death is better than the day of his birth."

Lazarus and the rich man both die, and go wherever you think that they went-one to eternal bliss, and the other to unspeakable, gasping horror. While it may be easy for us to understand how the day of Lazarus' death might be deemed better than the day of his birth, how can we reconcile this Scripture to the..."fate" of the rich man?

Just to eliminate any confusion.

Re: How Can This Be?
 

:didimiss

....umm...say again?

Re: How Can This Be?
 

huh?

Re: How Can This Be?
 

where is Riverslivnwtr when you need him, he would clear this all up I'm thinkin . . .