This parable is not a voyeur’s view of the damned to inform the comfortable and curious. I have to read the parable as a rich man living in a world where at least a billion people long for the crumbs from my table. I don’t read it and then think, “Well, after all, I prayed a sinner’s prayer years ago so I don’t need to worry about any of this.” That would be to mock Jesus. The very thing the Pharisees did! To be a Christian means I am deliberately attempting to follow Jesus. Being a Christian does not mean I can ignore Lazarus with impunity! Being a Christian means I can no longer pretend that
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