"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
"Then 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 in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
"Then he said, "I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to him, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, "No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' But he said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead."
Luke 16: 19-31
'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
This passage has always given me chills whenever I read it. It's not God who creates the "great gulf fixed", it's the difference between those who choose to do good and those who choose to do evil. Like the evil we have all witnessed in the starvation murder of Terri. Evil like that can never be bridged and Michael Schiavo knows it deep in that black hole he has for a heart. So does Golum Felos the Energizer Demon-bunny for Death and George Greer, the filthy lawyer in a black robe who deemed himself worthy to play God and execute an innocent angel who never harmed anyone. . In the end Justice will prevail. The clever ones aren't so clever, they've convicted themselves. May their consciences be forever seared.
I wondered how long it would be before someone posted the Lazarus story. So appropriate!