In part III of this series, I pointed out that the Evangelical Hell Doctrine (EHD) does not actually come from any passage of Scripture. But let’s focus mainly on the origin of the idea of eternal, conscious, torment. It seems that it comes from two passages. The first is Luke 16: 19-31, where Jesus tells the parable of an unnamed rich man and Lazarus, an extremely poor man. As the passage goes, after they both die, Lazarus goes to heaven, and the rich man goes to Hades, where he is “in anguish in this flame” (v. 24). To be sure, this passage is haunting, but two observations will show that this passage does not support the EHD.
First, we need to ask why the rich man ended up in torment, while Lazarus ended up ‘in Abraham’s bosom.’ The passage does not say, but it is obvious that we are meant to reflect on the contrast between Lazarus’ poverty and the rich man’s lack of sympathy for him (vv. 19-22). Then in v. 25, Abraham says to the rich man “remember that you in your life received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.”
The passage ends by Abraham explaining that the rich man’s relatives may avoid the place of torment by listening to ‘Moses and the prophets’ and repenting. So what, exactly, do Moses and the prophets say that would cause someone to repent? Well certainly there is much in the Jewish scriptures about taking care of the poor, and since that is the relevant transgression here, it is possible to believe that this is the important thing that Moses and the prophets would have said. But while the passage never says explicitly, we can be sure that Abraham wasn’t referring to the Gospel, because Moses and the prophets don’t talk about that. That means that Luke 16 cannot be used to support the EHD.
Second, it is very difficult to believe that this passage is supposed to be taken literally, for in the passage, the rich man is in the fire, looks up, sees Abraham, and starts a dialogue with him. Furthermore, he asks that Abraham send Lazarus down to put his wet finger on this tongue – a request that seems reasonable to him. It is odd to believe that any after-life really works that way (on anybody’s theology), leading us to the more reasonable belief that this passage was simply meant as a vivid reminder of how much God cares about our attitude toward the poor.
