“I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.” “No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:27-31, NIV).
My Musings – “Even if someone rises from the dead.” Someone did rise from the dead. Someone who had a lot to say about hell. Someone who died so that people did not have to go to hell. Yet, “just over half of all Americans [53%] view hell as a place where people experience psychological and physical suffering.” (Pew Research Center, September 2021). Stated another way, nearly half of Americans do not believe in a literal hell. They are not convinced even though Jesus rose from the dead.
My Advice – Believe it or not, hell is real. But you do not have to “[go] to this place of torment.” How can I avoid it, you might ask? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:8–10, NIV 1984). Believe in the One who came back from the dead.
The Brew Is A Musing 