Will We Know Our Loved Ones In Heaven?

Bible study is the name of this section of the site. Here is one of the questions that man has asked since the beginning of time......."Will we know our loved ones in heaven"??

My answer to that is YES! It is a rather long answer so I thought I would give it in parts.

PART #1....

2 Corinthians 5:10...............
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds done in his body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

So the saved believer appears to receive his reward while the lost person appears to receive his just punishment, but either way, the reward or the punishment has to go to the one that deserves it, and not to some newly created being with no memory, and no remembrance of their past deeds. That would be equivalent of judging an infant that has no knowledge of right or wrong, and a just God is never going to do that. Accountability is what it is all about, and without a memory of your life on earth, how can you be held accountable?
Romans 14:10
But you, why do you judge your brother, or why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
If you wronged a brother, then someday you will have to stand before Jesus Christ and give an account of your actions. If you have no memory of your brother or the actions that you committed against him, then what is the purpose of the judgment?

Any thoughts or comments on this???
 
Not only will we recognize our loves ones, we will recognize our brothers and sisters in Christ whom we never met on Earth!!!
 
I agree with you that we will know our family in heaven. I also believe we will know our friends. On the part about judging an infant, I think that since we are all born sinners that God will still judge an infant. ( I know thats probly upsetting and morbid sounding but please hear me out without judging me yet, thanks) Since God is all-knowing I think that he would see that infant's life as if he/she did live a full life and see what path he/she would have taken to base his judgement on. An infant is innocent to us but not in the eyes of God as we are all born sinners.
 
I agree, Faith. If dying young because we are "innocent" is a free ticket to heaven, then we make Jesus nothing more than a second chance, when the Scriptures clearly state he is the first and ONLY chance!
 

I agree, Faith. If dying young because we are "innocent" is a free ticket to heaven, then we make Jesus nothing more than a second chance, when the Scriptures clearly state he is the first and ONLY chance!

While I do understand that the root of your comment is in the doctrine of "predestination" and in many ways I can accept it. I guess my differing comes from a personal conviction not a learned one. I just can not accept the thought of a baby, going to hell because he did not live long enough to come to Christ. My mind just will not allow me to grasp that.
That does not mean you are wrong, it is just ME that can not accept the thought.
I would like however to list a few Scriptures that may shed some light on this if I may.
1 Corinthians 7:14..........................................
14 "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy."
(The children are called holy. Question: Could they be called holy if they were already condemned to hell?)
Romans 9:11 ................................................
11 (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
(It says here that an unborn child has not committed evil, or have not sinned. Question: Does God condemn to hell the innocent, those who have not sinned?? There are so many verses that say that He does not. That we are condemned ONLY for what WE do.) See also Deut. 1:39.
There are many more but I do not like long posts so I will leave them.

NOW there are also verses that seem to say the opposit.

Psalms 51:5
5 Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
(If you are conceived in sin then you have to be born with a sin nature.)

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(If you are not old enough to know Jesus then you can not have salvation)



Romans 3:10
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
(If there is no one who is righteous, then a baby or small child isn't righteous and therefor can't go to heaven.)



So then for me personally, I am going to believe that the LOVE of God in that His will "is for all men to be saved", has out of His abundant grace decided that innocent babies are under the blood of the Lord Jesus.
 
While I do understand that the root of your comment is in the doctrine of "predestination" and in many ways I can accept it. I guess my differing comes from a personal conviction not a learned one. I just can not accept the thought of a baby, going to hell because he did not live long enough to come to Christ.
That is not at all what Faith and I are saying!

I am saying that dying young does not provide an alternative way to heaven, nor does it eliminate any chance of entering heaven. YES! Babies are covered by the same blood of Jesus that has saved us, and that means:

There is only One Way to salvation, which is Christ Jesus! Even a new born infant still needs Jesus for his salvation.

"Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ" Not even a premature dead, because God not only knows the future, but He knows the heart. He created us with a free will, but He knows even while we are still in the womb, which of us has accepted Him and which of us has rejected Him.

I reject the idea that because someone, raised in an atheist environment, - never hearing of Jesus - dies moments before they would have come to believe, is condemned to hell because of the timing of their death.

God has everyone is given the same chance. He has made a way, but it is up to us to accept the gift or reject it. If I had died at ten years old, I would have still gone to heaven, NOT because of my age, but because God knew my heart.

Likewise, someone raised in a Christian home, who just trusted his parents on God the way he also believed in Santa Claus, - because they told him so - but would have turned away and come to loath God in his twenties, would not go to heaven because he died at 10 years of age.

That sounds cold because we only see the visible things. We see a sweet child, not a future child molester. We see a cute toddler, not a sadistic serial killer. We see our beloved broither, not an atheist.

But I don't believe there are infants in heaven. An infant who dies, does not remain so for all eternity. It is his soul that goes to heaven. Infancy is merely the physical state in which we enter a physical World.
 


Romans 9:11 ................................................
11 (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
(It says here that an unborn child has not committed evil, or have not sinned. Question: Does God condemn to hell the innocent, those who have not sinned?? There are so many verses that say that He does not. That we are condemned ONLY for what WE do.)
[/quote]

Romans 5:
14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.

The reason there is only One Way to salvation is because everyone is concluded under sin - even those who do not commit personnal sin.
 
I like the idea of knowing people in heaven. I wish we could stay married in heaven too but I understand that is not the purpose of heaven! :)
 
That is not at all what Faith and I are saying!

I am saying that dying young does not provide an alternative way to heaven, nor does it eliminate any chance of entering heaven. YES! Babies are covered by the same blood of Jesus that has saved us, and that means:

There is only One Way to salvation, which is Christ Jesus! Even a new born infant still needs Jesus for his salvation.

"Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ" Not even a premature dead, because God not only knows the future, but He knows the heart. He created us with a free will, but He knows even while we are still in the womb, which of us has accepted Him and which of us has rejected Him.

I reject the idea that because someone, raised in an atheist environment, - never hearing of Jesus - dies moments before they would have come to believe, is condemned to hell because of the timing of their death.

God has everyone is given the same chance. He has made a way, but it is up to us to accept the gift or reject it. If I had died at ten years old, I would have still gone to heaven, NOT because of my age, but because God knew my heart.

Likewise, someone raised in a Christian home, who just trusted his parents on God the way he also believed in Santa Claus, - because they told him so - but would have turned away and come to loath God in his twenties, would not go to heaven because he died at 10 years of age.

That sounds cold because we only see the visible things. We see a sweet child, not a future child molester. We see a cute toddler, not a sadistic serial killer. We see our beloved broither, not an atheist.

But I don't believe there are infants in heaven. An infant who dies, does not remain so for all eternity. It is his soul that goes to heaven. Infancy is merely the physical state in which we enter a physical World.

Not to belabor the point but, when you stated that..................
" He created us with a free will, but He knows even while we are still in the womb, which of us has accepted Him and which of us has rejected Him."----Isn't that the heart of predestination????

Just asking.
 
God is all knowing so how could he not know what path we are going to chose in our lives? I believe yes we have free will but God knows our will because he is all knowing. I believe he knows what I'm going to do tomorrow before I do. I can't fathum how God could be called "all knowing" if he didn't know how we'd turn out before we grew up.
 
The heart of predestination, as I understand it, is that we don't really have a choice. It denies free will. What I am saying is God knows the future, so He already knows what our choice will be.

Faith and I agree on this. If God knows everything, which He does, than He knows who is going to heaven before we are even born. So babies get into heaven the same way the rest of us do, by grace through faith.
 
The heart of predestination, as I understand it, is that we don't really have a choice. It denies free will. What I am saying is God knows the future, so He already knows what our choice will be.

Faith and I agree on this. If God knows everything, which He does, than He knows who is going to heaven before we are even born. So babies get into heaven the same way the rest of us do, by grace through faith.

Here is what I believe on this Predestination theology.

Biblical predestination, IMO, with freedom of will still in tact and unharmed, is known as "conditional determinism". God, based on the conditions of one's free will choices, pre-determined the course of one's life and everlasting destiny.

And example of "conditional determinism" is this. In His knowledge of the future God sees a man who has "good genes" and who will make the decision every day of his life to take care of his physical body. God also knows that this man will not suffer death as the result of another person's decisions and that he will not die as the result of a natural disaster. In addition, God also knows (because he knows all future events) that that person is going to die at age 94 on June 12, 2022 at 11:30:22 in his home in Columbus, Ohio. Based on His foreknowledge and the free will decisions that man will make, God conditionally determined (predestined) that that person would live to be 94 and die at his home at 11:30:22 in Columbus, Ohio. "For those God foreknew he also predestined."

Biblical predestination maintains each person's freedom to make choices, freedom to benefit or to be victimized by the free will choices of others, and freedom to experience the results of God's general and special providence.
 
I like the idea of knowing people in heaven. I wish we could stay married in heaven too but I understand that is not the purpose of heaven! :)


The following parable tells us that saved Christians will be rewarded for faithful service and those who have fallen away will be judged and punished, so on Judgment Day, rewards and punishments are given out, not to some newly created beings as a stand in for us, but to the actual people who deserve the rewards or the punishments.


Matthew 25:31-33
"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
(The sheep appear for their reward. The goats for punishment. The saved Christian appears before the Judgment seat not to answer for his sins, but to receive his reward. So how can you reward or punish souls if they haven't got the slightest idea what they are being rewarded or punished for.)
 
They will know!!!!

Just as much as God will show us all the things He did through us, unaware, so shall He show those who are perishing all their wasted efforts.

And they will have no excuse to say, "If only we had known," because God will also show them every opportunity He provided for them....every truth He revealed that they chose to ignore!
 
I do not believe that God judges anyone for what they would have done do in the future, had they been given the chance. My Scriptural backing for this is Gen 15:16 "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." God sent His people down to Egypt for 400 years, because He was not prepared to judge the Amorites for what He knew they were going to do, but wanted to wait until they had actually done it.

Yes, we are all born sinners, with a sin nature thanks to our inheritance from Adam. However, we are not judged because of our sin nature, but because we act upon that sin nature and actually sin. Eze 18:20 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." We do not bear the iniquity of our father (Adam), but are judged according to our own sin. A child who has not reached the age of responsibility has not personally sinned, therefore is not subject to judgment.

That doesn't mean that dying young is an alternative to Christ - it is only by Christ's death that anybody has access to heaven. As for those who would have made a commitment to Him if they had lived - God who knows that, and who holds the power of life and death, would surely give every person who would potentially give their life to Him sufficient time on earth to do so.

blessings,

Lynn
 
Thanks for your insight that does make sence.
The only part of that I'm struggling to grasp is in the end where your saying that God would have given the child sufficient time on earth to come to him if he knew they would. Does that mean your saying the children that do die are all going to hell because God knew they wouldn't have chosen his path in life? If so, I will have to disagree.
 
Thanks for your insight that does make sence.
The only part of that I'm struggling to grasp is in the end where your saying that God would have given the child sufficient time on earth to come to him if he knew they would. Does that mean your saying the children that do die are all going to hell because God knew they wouldn't have chosen his path in life? If so, I will have to disagree.
Sorry, I didn't make myself clear enough. In saying that, I wasn't talking about children, but about older people. I believe children are all covered by the blood of Jesus (as regarding their sin nature) until they are able to make a clear moral choice, at which point they need to choose to follow Him.

The other aspect is that we can never know what takes place between an individual soul and the Lord immediately prior to death. Someone whom we may think has gone to hell because he/she has rejected Christ, could have had a deathbed revelation and be in heaven praising God for His mercy.

blessings,

Lynn
 
ok I think I see what your saying. So if a child dies then they automaticly enter heavan because they are covered by the blood of Jesus, correct?
I still keep thinking though... what if that child would have rejected Jesus later if he/she had lived longer... ahh! Maybe thats one thing I'm not meant to know/ understand yet if ever. lol
 
It's the heart that God judges, not the understanding which comes with age. And thank God for that, because it is my mind's reaction to this World that has led me to sin, not my heart, which longs for God.

The instance of Helen Keller demonstrates my point:

Phillips Brooks was the most famous preacher of his generation in America

One of his friends was Helen Keller. Blind and deaf from the age of two, she had lived a life of isolation, unable to speak words she could not hear, unable to know what a word was.

She was taught to communicate by a dedicated teacher in a process that has inspired people ever since. She learned to speak, to read, to write. She went to college and graduated with honors. She dedicated her entire life to educating the world about its responsibility to its disabled members. Died in 1968.

Helen and Phillips Brooks wrote letters back and forth. In one of her letters, Helen told Bishop Brooks that she had always known about God, even before she had any words. Even before she could call God anything, she knew God was there. She didn't know what it was. God had no name for her -- nothing had a name for her. She had no concept of a name. But in her darkness and isolation, she knew she was not alone. Someone was with her. She felt God's love. And when she received the gift of language and heard about God, she said she already knew.

So you see, when the Bible says "nothing can separate those who are in Christ from the love of God" it means "nothing"!

If you were raised by atheists on a desserted island, God still knows your heart and will speak to you from within and you will believe, even tho you have no understanding whatsoever!

If Helen had died before learning to communicate, she would have still gone to heaven - not because of accounatability, but because God was already revealing Himself to her from within. Her salvation was not dependent on understanding with her mind, but accepting with her heart!!!!

I fully believe God speaks to babies from within - and they understand because He's God!!!!!
God spoke to John the Baptist while he was yet in the womb - and John understood Jesus was the promised Christ as witnessed by his mother when he leaped in her womb as Mary approached!!!!

I reject the age of accountability as a free ticket to heaven.
 
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