Gino:

In your letter concerning the dead in Christ, you wrote the following:

--Also, I have been often rebuked for bringing up Luke 16:19-31.

I was repeatedly told that it was only a parable.

However, even in other passages that are clearly parables, Jesus never
taught false doctrine in those parables.

So whether it is a parable or not, Jesus only teaches sound doctrine
and truth – he doesn’t lie.--

I have noticed in my studies that one way to tell the difference
between a parable and an actual occurence  is to note that in a real
life scenario, Jesus will name the participants, or state "There was a
certain man..."

As such, though the rich man does not get named, begger Lazarus does
get named.  So, this would be a real life story.

Otherwise, Jesus would have simply said there was a rich man, and a
begger (un-named).

My conclusion is that identification of the participants
differentiates parables, from real life events.

The difference between "there was a man"  or "there was a certain man.'

Just my thoughts.

Ed C