‘THEY HAVE THE SCRIPTURES’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_man_and_Lazarus
The parable told by the Son of Man called ‘Rich man and Lazarus” is telling makind a lot about the Book of Enoch and how important it is to read it. The poor man named Lazarus went to be with Abraham in heaven when he died while a rich man who never helped him went to a place where he could see Lazarus and Abraham but from a distance and he was in a hellish place. The lesson relates how the rich suffering deceased man asked Abraham to send warning to the brothers the man left still alive to warn them to live such that they did not go to the hellish place when they died. All this relates to teachings about the afterlife only found explicitly in the Book of Enoch which was regarded as scripture. Then comes the telling part: Abraham replied to the formerly rich now deceased man “They have the scriptures”. So here the teaching of the Son of Man is that the Book of Enoch is not only scripture but is scripture vitally important to read and heed because of its warning about the afterlife and how to live to avoid immense suffering in it. The man had told Abraham that this man’s rich brothers would heed a resurrected man coming to speak to them and warn them even though they ignored scriptures like the Book of Enoch. Abraham replied “If they do not listen to the law and prophets they will not heed even if a man rises from the dead.” This teaching places the Book of Enoch in the category of the scriptures called the Prophets. It is sacred writing written by a prophet and contains prophecy in written form. Ignore it at your peril.
