What's your view on Hell?

[coksiw]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

Was it a parable? I’m not sure if it was or wasn’t. The best way I know of to tell if it was would be to figure out who He was addressing. Because He was known to address the multitude and it seems, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees in parables.

[10] And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
[11] He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

So, He spoke to the disciples differently than He spoke to the masses and especially the religious elite.

[34] All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
[35] That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

So, it begs the question, to whom was He speaking?

Luke.16

[1] And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

So He begins speaking to the disciples in Luke 16. But then the Pharisees seemed to be eavesdropping.

[14] And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
[15] And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Then it seems that He is talking to the Pharisees and the context is that they are covetous, which is certainly a moral issue.

I believe that this is a parable. I believe it is concerning morality. Both the Old and New Testament are consistent in caring for the poor as a moral obligation.

So that’s my opinion, for now. Someone is welcome to provide scripture to change my opinion though. I’ll listen.

Good post.

Some have pointed out here that the lesson of the story is rich go to hell and homeless go to heaven. This story has a context. Jesus has been to this point rebuking the Pharisees of lacking mercy and not doing alms for the poor. And now we are presented with this parable, which Jesus starts by illustrating a very sharp contrast between a rich man and a homeless man, and a rich man that doesn't comfort the homeless man. All of this in the context of the people of God, Israel, so they were both children of Abraham, basically brothers.
It is straight forward to realize what this parable means, which is what you said, the moral obligation to love your neighbor as your self, especially those in the family in the faith.