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So how was this "rich man" in Luke 16 able to talk with Abraham when he died and was buried?Again, it seems an unnecessary step. Many Catholics reply "Do you not ask others to pray for you?" and the answer to that is yes. What I don't do however is ask anyone to protect me, or give me grace. If asking Mary for grace and protection is ok, why not ask your priest for the same thing? Or your fellow Chistian?
When you die you're...ya know...dead
No consciousness. No immortal spirit/soul that ascends to heaven or descends to hell. The grave is a bed that you sleep in until the Lord wakes you up.
Lazarus and the Rich Man - Here a little, there a little - Commentary
Abraham's bosom
LUKE 16:22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried."
23 "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."
The next events recorded in this parable are the deaths of Lazarus and then the rich man. Since the parable has been figurative up until this point, there is no reason to assume it becomes literal now.
First, to prove that this language is symbolic and not meant to be taken literally, let's examine exactly what we are told by Yeshua. He says that first, Lazarus dies and is taken to the bosom of Abraham. [Notice, there is no mention of his burial here.]
Then later the rich man dies, and he is buried (in Hades, according to verse 23). So the time sequence given indicates that upon his death, Lazarus was taken immediately to Abraham's bosom, while afterward the rich man was buried in Hades when he died.
If this story is literal, then we have a contradiction in the Bible. Here, Lazarus is shown to have immediately received the promise of eternal life. Yet the author of Hebrews clearly tells us that Abraham, as well as all the other Old Testament saints, have not yet received the promises given to them by God:
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