{"id":333,"date":"2010-09-28T02:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T02:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem\/"},"modified":"2012-08-28T01:37:08","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T05:37:08","slug":"the-two-lazarus-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html","title":{"rendered":"The Two-Lazarus Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Update: I was pleased to see that Catholic convert and blogger Mark Shea chose these scriptural passages as the inspiration for column at Inside Catholic. \u00a0Check it out here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This post is about what seemed to me to be an inconsistency in the Gospel, but is not meant to be a debunking of Christianity or an explanation of why I do not believe (I\u2019ll be trying my hand at that later in the day).\u00a0 Therefore, I\u2019m not trying to start an argument about the truth of the Bible in this post, I\u2019m just curious what explanation Christians have for this conflict.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Yesterday, at Mass, I was mystified by the reading for the service.\u00a0 You can refer back to all the readings for Sunday here<\/a>, but the one that confused me was the Gospel passage from Luke 16:19-31<\/a>.\u00a0 The passage isn\u2019t long, so you may prefer to click through, but here\u2019s the quick summary.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019s Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man<\/strong>
\nA rich man lives in comfort, ignoring the beggar Lazarus who aches for even the scraps from the rich man\u2019s table.\u00a0 After they both die, Lazarus is with Abraham, while the rich man sufferers torments.\u00a0 He asks if Lazarus could offer him any comfort, even a drop of water, but Lazarus cannot cross the gulf that separates the wicked from the righteous.\u00a0 The rich man then asks if Abraham would send Lazarus to the world of the living to warn the rich man\u2019s brothers, so they might avoid his error.\u00a0 Abraham tells him that he will not.\u00a0 \u201cThey have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them,\u201d Abraham says.\u00a0 The rich man pleads, saying that surely they will believe if they see a man return from the dead.\u00a0 But Abraham says again, \u201cIf they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then. eight chapters later<\/a>, Jesus rises from the dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Perhaps this is a outsider\/atheist thing to be perplexed by, but I was extremely confused by this passage.\u00a0 My questions were not answered in the sermon, which dwelt on sins of commission versus sins of omission. \u00a0I wanted to know more about the rich man after death, not why he had been sent there. \u00a0If miracles and resurrections are a crutch for the faithless, why did Jesus need to be publicly resurrected at all?<\/p>\n

I understand that there could be a lot of reasons offered for why Jesus is a special case, and I\u2019m perfectly willing to concede that Jesus might not be a reasonable counterexample to his own parable, but I\u2019m still aware of a couple others. \u00a0After all, when the parable began, I assumes the Lazarus that Jesus referred to was the only Lazarus that I had heard of: the\u00a0Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead in John 11:1-45<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why should the people who had rejected Jesus\u2019s teachings when they heard them get the encouragement that the rich man was refused? \u00a0Why should Paul get a personal appearance from Jesus on the road to Damascus, when his colleagues were allowed to go on persecuting the Christians. \u00a0If the answer is \u201cGod moves in mysterious ways,\u201d why bother telling the parable?<\/p>\n

I look forward to your responses on this question, but I have another favor to ask. \u00a0When I was turned down from RCIA, I was disappointed because I was looking forward to the discussions of the week\u2019s readings. \u00a0Does anyone have an email list or websiter that offers interesting commentary\/background on Sunday\u2019s reading? \u00a0Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: I was pleased to see that Catholic convert and blogger Mark Shea chose these scriptural passages as the inspiration for column at Inside Catholic. \u00a0Check it out here. This post is about what seemed to me to be an inconsistency in the Gospel, but is not meant to be a debunking of Christianity or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parsing-catholicism","tag-bible-study"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Two-Lazarus Problem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Update: I was pleased to see that Catholic convert and blogger Mark Shea chose these scriptural passages as the inspiration for column at Inside Catholic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Two-Lazarus Problem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Update: I was pleased to see that Catholic convert and blogger Mark Shea chose these scriptural passages as the inspiration for column at Inside Catholic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-28T02:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-28T05:37:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_b7Eh98KJ_qI\/TKGEu92hboI\/AAAAAAAABD4\/fuM33mr_ntM\/s320\/bible-page.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html\",\"name\":\"The Two-Lazarus Problem\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-28T02:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-28T05:37:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Update: I was pleased to see that Catholic convert and blogger Mark Shea chose these scriptural passages as the inspiration for column at Inside Catholic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2010\/09\/the-two-lazarus-problem.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Two-Lazarus Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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