Luke 16:27-31 -- On Allowing Ourselves to Be Persuaded

"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Luke 16:27-31


This reminds me a little of A Christmas Carol when Marley comes back. Here, a rich man asks Abraham to send a former beggar to comfort him in the flames of hell, and then when he learns that is impossible because of the gulf between then, asks for his family to be assisted to understand and believe. It's hard on one hand to understand why someone wouldn't repent after seeing someone come back from the dead, or after seeing an angel as we see with Laman and Lemuel, but on the other hand if we just look at ourselves and the obvious truths that we push aside for our own comfort or opinion, it is probably easier.

Perhaps another thing that comes into play here is God's involvement in our lives. He prompts us to listen and to turn to him. We have times in our lives where the voice is easy to hear, warning us or trying to save us... and then after, similar to Laman and Lemuel with the angel, we go back to our normal way of doing things rather than remembering that we need the Lord to save us every single day, not just in one crisis.

Today, let's remember that we have the scriptures and the prophets, and give them full sway in our lives. Let's remember the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Let's remember prayer and God's hand in our lives. Let's be humble and remember how much we need God, every day, and include him in our lives and follow his path, and keep his commandments. And as we do, let's give everyone around us a chance to see and hear and know the truth as well, so we *and* they can avoid the "place of torment" the rich man is speaking from.