Imagine your son, say he's 17 or so, gets into a fight. Kills a guy. He's led a good life up to that point, overall. Gets into a little trouble now and then, but doesn't really catch the attention of local law enforcement.

But he's also always resisted Christ, mostly because the message of Christ has become twisted over the years by fundamentalist Christianity. The primary message of Jesus, of forgiveness, has been washed away.

Imagine at the same time your daughter gets an abortion. You tell her to repent. She does not.She's also not a big fan of J.C. But he's a fan of hers, anyway.

Do you really believe in a God who would send both of them to be tortured for eternity?

The Lazarus story, like almost all of Jesus's stories, was a parable. He doesn't want you to suffer in THIS life, so he is asking you to be closer to the goodness of God. When we fail, the consequences happen in this life, not the next. It's not a punishment. It's a consequence of our poor management of the free will that was given to us.

Hell is an invention of mankind. A good, kind God will not send anyone into an afterlife of torment.

I believe there are humans who have no soul - the most murderous and terrible among us, but they are not of concern. They're just life forms, like cows. There's no soul to worry about. But since we don't truly know who they are, we have to treat everyone with love and kindness and without judgement, which is reserved for the deity you worship.

I'll see you soon (but hopefully not too soon).