Pete, I'm glad you aren't one of those who sees one of the joys of heaven being watching the sinners in hell (medieval idea, that one), or one of those who thinks that those in heaven forget the lost - but I didn't think you would be.

That parable is interesting. OK, Abraham tells Dives that he can't do anything for his brothers, but, as you say, Dives is deeply concerned for them - someone damned is shown as having more concern for others than later people thought the saved can have. A bit ironic. I wonder what we are supposed to come away from that with. There's more there than a warning about changing our lives in this life, maybe. It is, of course, a parable, a story intended to make us think about things, and usually people do not think that those stories are factual.

Penny