Luke 16:19-31 - Hell or Purgatory?

[GandalfTheWhite]

Where is the rich man in Luke 16:19-31? Is he suffering in Hell or in Purgatory? I think most of the times I’ve been told that he is in Hell but how come he feels compassion when those is Hell are deprived of God’s grace?

Or perhaps there is another explanation?

In Christ,
~G

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Upsy…I just realized that I posted it in a wrong forum. It should have been posted in the Sacred Scripture sub-forum. If there is a mod reading this, could you please kindly move it? Thanks

 

[Della]

I belief it was Purgatory for the reason you cited as well as the fact that he could see and speak to Abraham, who we know was awaiting the fulfillment of the promised Messiah. So, the rich man may have been a faithful Jew except for caring for Lazarus and so was paying for this lack of charity towards his brother Jew–a violation of the Law of Moses.

On the other hand, Our Lord may not have been trying to tell us about the rich man’s ultimate fate as much as driving home the point that we are to care for our neighbor in need, and that wealth is not a sign of God’s favor, as many believed at the time.

 

[Penitus]

According to the Catechism, this passage refers to Sheol.

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”: “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

 

[Fidelis]

According to the Catechism, this passage refers to Sheol.

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”: “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

Correct. Remember, Jesus is relating this parable in the past tense and is talking to Jews. At that time heaven had not yet been opened, and there’s no reason to believe it was a full blown hell as we believe now. Jews at the time believed in in Sheol, which had places for both the good and the evil.

 

[MarcoPG]

Ok let’s reuse this old topic

My 2 issues on the new way of seeing it (Purgatory and not Hell, as Pope Benedict said) are:

If It is Hades or the Limbo of the Fathers, why is the rich suffering? As in the Limbo of the Infants, they would not have the presence of God, but neither should they suffer.

Second, if it is Purgatory, then he willl ultimately be saved. So why does Abraham say

6 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass from there to us.

It sounds like eternal separation.

Nevertheless, repentence is a good point for Purgatory