oh?
It's appointed unto men once to die. After this; the Judgement.
Hebrews 9:27
Luke 16:19-31 (NIV)
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
So; pray all ya want; but from what I see in Scripture; it will not do any good.
One more reason Maccabees wasn’t included in the OT canon.
My old man was a strong Christian - prayed all the time. I think that he and his mom went to the Charasmatic tent meetings back in the day (he was born 1917). He prayed to God and Jesus, but I recall he “talked” to his parents as well. I have no idea whether that is Biblical or not - but I thought that was a bit goofy.
I did call him out on when he brought my mom to a charasmatic revival meeting. My mom didn’t like it, and he was sort of implying that she didn’t have enough faith.
So I asked him if they had an interpreter for the guys speaking in tongues. “An interpreter - it’s for the Holy Spirit - not for us.”
Then I pointed out what Paul had to say about speaking in tongues, and having an interpreter. My dad made some comment about “Hmm - I guess I’ll have to do some more Bible reading about that.” He didn’t try to get my mom to any more meetings though!
He raised the family Lutheran. After being diagnosed with a terminal diesase he partly went back to his charasmatic upbringing. His mother was an invalid for most of his life - so I’m guessing that she, and later he, was looking for a miracle of healing.
The day he died he told all of us - “Don’t be sad. I’ve always said the best day of my life will be the day I die - and get to wear the crown of glory in Heaven.”
I held his hand and said “That may be so dad - but it will sure suck for the rest of us.”
A few hours later he was gone.
My son and I were just having a conversation about heaven. He’s an adult with a very strong faith. “Yeah - I don’t know dad - what about bacon? There better be bacon in heaven - I’m not sure how that works with the Old Testament and the Jews and stuff - but how can heaven NOT have bacon!?”
I replied “Yeah - I hope there is bacon too. And I hope that we can still recognize and know our loved ones. But you know, whatever it will be like - it will be great. And the bacon - I’m guessing that if it isn’t in heaven - we probably won’t even notice! Although ...... it IS bacon!”