The life we are living on earth is a prelude, or a preparation, for life after death. If this is how people think, what are they doing to prepare themselves for life after the grave?
In all honesty, when was the last time you thought about a place called heaven, or a place called hell? Or, when was the last time you heard people discussing these two places? Moreover, when was the last time you heard heaven or hell mentioned from a church pulpit, or from a house of religion?
Many people live their lives with the hope that they will be rewarded after death for the simple reason that they lived on earth. If this is true, then what do they believe they will be rewarded for doing while their feet were above ground?
While you were living, what contributions did you make to the world you left behind?
Did you write a book that was helpful to many people?
Did you write a song that brought tears or laughter to others?
Or, did you merely help an old woman across the tracks so she wouldn't get run over by a freight train?
One of my most precious memories happened never sixty years ago---when, in the heat of summer, my father would take a chair from the house, walk out under the shade of the maple trees, open his Bible across his lap, and read the word of the Lord. I have never forgotten that after all of these years.
While you were living, did your children ever see you do that? Or did your children see you getting drunk and puking off the side of the porch?
Children watch. Children learn. Children remember. And children, by nature, want to be like mommy and daddy, or grandma and grandpa.
While you were living, what did you say when people asked you where will go after dying?
Did you say, "Don't worry about me. I will be fine."
Or did you say, "If I go to hell, at least I will be there with all of my friends." Then laugh about it as if hell is something to joke about.
Is that it? Is that what hell is all about: a place to go for another party with friends and to play that rock 'n roll music loud and dance forever?
Now look at your children. While you are dead and in the ground, they are over at your house, getting drunk and puking off the side of the porch because this is how they remember you, and they are simply doing as you did by your own example while you were living.
"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
"And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
"But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that should come from hence.
"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
"And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16: 19-31)
In all honesty, when was the last time you thought about a place called heaven, or a place called hell? Or, when was the last time you heard people discussing these two places? Moreover, when was the last time you heard heaven or hell mentioned from a church pulpit, or from a house of religion?
Many people live their lives with the hope that they will be rewarded after death for the simple reason that they lived on earth. If this is true, then what do they believe they will be rewarded for doing while their feet were above ground?
While you were living, what contributions did you make to the world you left behind?
Did you write a book that was helpful to many people?
Did you write a song that brought tears or laughter to others?
Or, did you merely help an old woman across the tracks so she wouldn't get run over by a freight train?
One of my most precious memories happened never sixty years ago---when, in the heat of summer, my father would take a chair from the house, walk out under the shade of the maple trees, open his Bible across his lap, and read the word of the Lord. I have never forgotten that after all of these years.
While you were living, did your children ever see you do that? Or did your children see you getting drunk and puking off the side of the porch?
Children watch. Children learn. Children remember. And children, by nature, want to be like mommy and daddy, or grandma and grandpa.
While you were living, what did you say when people asked you where will go after dying?
Did you say, "Don't worry about me. I will be fine."
Or did you say, "If I go to hell, at least I will be there with all of my friends." Then laugh about it as if hell is something to joke about.
Is that it? Is that what hell is all about: a place to go for another party with friends and to play that rock 'n roll music loud and dance forever?
Now look at your children. While you are dead and in the ground, they are over at your house, getting drunk and puking off the side of the porch because this is how they remember you, and they are simply doing as you did by your own example while you were living.
"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
"And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
"But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that should come from hence.
"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
"And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16: 19-31)
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