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Fr. Matt mentioned in the thread on Universalism that I am wrong to say that there is nothing in the Bible regarding the tollhouses after death. What I am reading as apologia for the tollhouses appears to me to be "reading into the text" what people want to be there, rather than a deeper study of the issue in context with the rest of the Scriptures. In other words, just like Protestants, we can be subject to looking at a text with presuppositions rather than asking questions and doing a comparative study.
Let me start with one such text from Sacred Scripture:
The seed of the Aerial Toll House doctrine is ancient. What we do know from the Scriptures and early Patristic evidence is that when the soul leaves the body, it is met by angels:
[T]he beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).
Luke is a parable about the nation Israel. Unfortunately, rather than seeking the deeper meaning of this parable, people read it with a wooden literalism and have decided that this is an actual story that really happened. Our Lord taught many such parables, and at the end of them, you often see this verse:
Mark 12:12
And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
Now, Luke 16, another parable against the Pharisees and the nation of Israel:
The Rich Man symbolizes Israel. How was national Israel rich? Through her special relationship with God as the chosen people. Israel had the riches of God’s presence and leading, the Temple, and the relationship they had. The priests were clothed in purple and fine linen. I believe upon hearing these words, the priestly class listening to Christ would have begun to identify with it and take closer notice.
If national Israel was indeed the rich man who fared sumptuously every day, who was the beggar? It was the Gentile nations who had none of the riches of a relationship with God. No temple, no law of God, no prophets, and no true worship. In terms of the true riches, the riches of being God’s special and chosen people, they were bankrupt. The crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table could be the incidental hearing of the Jewish scriptures or seeing the worship in the Temple from the Outer Court of the Gentiles. These were crumbs, but not the full meal which the Jews enjoyed.
In parable both men die. When we think of death, it is normal to think of the cessation of life in the human body. But in scripture, death connotes something besides that. In Genesis 3 we see Adam and Eve die, but they are still alive. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father says “For this my son was dead, and is alive again . . . ” In neither case do we see the cessation of physical life. What we see is separation, Adam and Eve from Paradise, the son from his father’s presence. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, both men are separated from the condition in which they exist and find themselves in a new condition. Thus they “die” to their old life.
The rich man died to his existence and became poor. He was without all the luxuries and benefits which he had previously enjoyed, and this was a torment to him. This is a picture of Judaism, which no longer enjoys the special covenant relationship with God it once had. National Israel is no longer God’s special people. In the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, national Israel is cast out of the vineyard (the Kingdom of God) and replaced. These two parables describe the same event. National Israel’s covenant with God ended in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem. They are replaced by the church, the nation of the Gentiles. Those who were once beggars for crumbs from God’s table now feast upon the riches of Liturgy, Sacraments, and the Word of God.
It is interesting to see how the beggar was brought to Abraham’s bosom. He was carried by angels. The word angel means “messenger.” Who were the messengers who brought the Gentile nations out of their spiritual poverty and into God’s rich and abundant mercy? The Apostles. They brought the message of the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection and God’s favor, to the ends of the known world, bringing with them the invitation to enter the covenant which began with Abraham. St. Paul says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Abraham’s bosom is where the covenant father, Abraham, holds his children close to him in a special relationship.
On the other hand, in terms of their covenant with God being destroyed, national Israel was buried in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus and the Temple razed to the ground. This burial was confirmed by later attempts to rebuild the Temple being met with disaster and death.
In other words, this parable is a very weak attempt to prove connection to the idea of the toll houses.
Let me start with one such text from Sacred Scripture:
The seed of the Aerial Toll House doctrine is ancient. What we do know from the Scriptures and early Patristic evidence is that when the soul leaves the body, it is met by angels:
[T]he beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).
Luke is a parable about the nation Israel. Unfortunately, rather than seeking the deeper meaning of this parable, people read it with a wooden literalism and have decided that this is an actual story that really happened. Our Lord taught many such parables, and at the end of them, you often see this verse:
Mark 12:12
And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
Now, Luke 16, another parable against the Pharisees and the nation of Israel:
The Rich Man symbolizes Israel. How was national Israel rich? Through her special relationship with God as the chosen people. Israel had the riches of God’s presence and leading, the Temple, and the relationship they had. The priests were clothed in purple and fine linen. I believe upon hearing these words, the priestly class listening to Christ would have begun to identify with it and take closer notice.
If national Israel was indeed the rich man who fared sumptuously every day, who was the beggar? It was the Gentile nations who had none of the riches of a relationship with God. No temple, no law of God, no prophets, and no true worship. In terms of the true riches, the riches of being God’s special and chosen people, they were bankrupt. The crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table could be the incidental hearing of the Jewish scriptures or seeing the worship in the Temple from the Outer Court of the Gentiles. These were crumbs, but not the full meal which the Jews enjoyed.
In parable both men die. When we think of death, it is normal to think of the cessation of life in the human body. But in scripture, death connotes something besides that. In Genesis 3 we see Adam and Eve die, but they are still alive. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father says “For this my son was dead, and is alive again . . . ” In neither case do we see the cessation of physical life. What we see is separation, Adam and Eve from Paradise, the son from his father’s presence. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, both men are separated from the condition in which they exist and find themselves in a new condition. Thus they “die” to their old life.
The rich man died to his existence and became poor. He was without all the luxuries and benefits which he had previously enjoyed, and this was a torment to him. This is a picture of Judaism, which no longer enjoys the special covenant relationship with God it once had. National Israel is no longer God’s special people. In the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, national Israel is cast out of the vineyard (the Kingdom of God) and replaced. These two parables describe the same event. National Israel’s covenant with God ended in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem. They are replaced by the church, the nation of the Gentiles. Those who were once beggars for crumbs from God’s table now feast upon the riches of Liturgy, Sacraments, and the Word of God.
It is interesting to see how the beggar was brought to Abraham’s bosom. He was carried by angels. The word angel means “messenger.” Who were the messengers who brought the Gentile nations out of their spiritual poverty and into God’s rich and abundant mercy? The Apostles. They brought the message of the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection and God’s favor, to the ends of the known world, bringing with them the invitation to enter the covenant which began with Abraham. St. Paul says “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Abraham’s bosom is where the covenant father, Abraham, holds his children close to him in a special relationship.
On the other hand, in terms of their covenant with God being destroyed, national Israel was buried in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus and the Temple razed to the ground. This burial was confirmed by later attempts to rebuild the Temple being met with disaster and death.
In other words, this parable is a very weak attempt to prove connection to the idea of the toll houses.
