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Do earthly families meet again in Heaven?
Topic Started: Sunday, 29. January 2012, 23:35 (635 Views)
Clare
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Putting the "Fun Dame" into Fundamentalist
I'm just saying that, if you get to Heave, you might not meet all your friends and family because some of them might be in Hell.

And, once you're in Heaven, you will be fully aware of God's justice and mercy, and you will know that anyone who is in Hell, is there justly, and you won't be sad about it.

On the other hand, your friends and family might not meet you in Heaven!

And, just to clarify, I mean "you" generally (to include me), not you specifically, Emee!
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Derekap
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Clare wrote:

"And, once you're in Heaven, you will be fully aware of God's justice and mercy, and you will know that anyone who is in Hell, is there justly, and you won't be sad about it"

As I have responded before, I think everyone in Heaven will have no knowledge of anyone in Hell because that would make them unhappy!!!!
Derekap
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Rose of York
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Clare
Sunday, 5. February 2012, 13:28
And, once you're in Heaven, you will be fully aware of God's justice and mercy, and you will know that anyone who is in Hell, is there justly, and you won't be sad about it.


How do we know that people in Heaven are aware there are people in Hell? It could be they are so totally engrossed in the presence of God they give nothing else a thought.

If I were in Heaven and made aware members of my family were in Hell, I think but cannot yet know, that I would be more than sad, I would break my heart, but presumably the souls in Heaven have no such knowledge. As they are good, they love and would not be happy to hear that a person they loved had been so bad as to face the punishment incurred as a matter of justice.

If we still had the death penalty in our country and a person comitted a heinous crime resulting in capital punishment any normal person who is a friend or a member of their family would be very upset indeed. Justice does not kill love, divine or human.
Keep the Faith!

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pete

Off the top of my head I can’t remember who it was, the rich man who died and asked for water to moisten his lips. This request was denied so he asked if he could warn his kin to change their ways so that they too wouldn’t end up in Hades. It might well have been a parable, but I know someone will remember this story. This being the case, I’m sure we remember our loved ones when we die and go to Heaven or the other place.
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Rose of York
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Pete that was the parable of Dives and Lazarus, St Luke Chapter 16.

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"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20* And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22* The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25* But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29* But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30* And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
Keep the Faith!

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pete

Thank's Rose
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Emee
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Clare
Sunday, 5. February 2012, 13:28
I'm just saying that, if you get to Heave, you might not meet all your friends and family because some of them might be in Hell.

And, once you're in Heaven, you will be fully aware of God's justice and mercy, and you will know that anyone who is in Hell, is there justly, and you won't be sad about it.

On the other hand, your friends and family might not meet you in Heaven!

And, just to clarify, I mean "you" generally (to include me), not you specifically, Emee!
Nevertheless Clare our duty is to pray for all of our family members. Especially those who cannot pray for themselves - whether living or dead and possibly in Purgatory. It is amazing what prayer can do. There is no reason to suppose that not all our family will make it through (as I say the Bible tells us that one Christian is able to spread salvation outwards a hundred fold, like a sort of reverse Midas touch). Also Mercy outweighs Justice always - otherwise we'd all be doomed.

Oh and I did guess you were speaking generally rather than specifically! ;)
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Rose of York
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Clare
Sunday, 5. February 2012, 13:28
I'm just saying that, if you get to Heave, you might not meet all your friends and family because some of them might be in Hell.
My family and friends will not meet me in Heaven if I never get there.

I am confident beyond all reasonable human doubt that none of my family whom I have known are in Hell. It would take something very extreme for a reasonable human parent to permanently reject a child, and I God is more merciful than the most virtuous of human beings.
Keep the Faith!

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Emee
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This is how I understand it also Rose.

We are not taught to look upon God as a loving Father for nothing - it's to make us aware that there is a Parent and child relationship going on, and that God has been through Hell quite literally to save us. When you look upon God like that you realise that it is not His Will to reject anyone - as you say Rose, so much more even than a loving earthly parent would never reject their own child.

It is knowing about that Parent - child relationship that stops us from being terrified of God, and actually make us want to be with him, because I can imagine God may have seemed more than a little scary to the Jews until Jesus His Son came along and taught us to think of Him as a Father.
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Deleted User
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For my part, I do not see the Heaven/Hell stories as anything other than a brilliant parable to help keep us on the straight and narrow

John
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Anne-Marie

John Sweeney
Sunday, 5. February 2012, 23:11
For my part, I do not see the Heaven/Hell stories as anything other than a brilliant parable to help keep us on the straight and narrow
????????????????

To what end, John???
If there's no hell (or no-one goes there), then what does it matter in the least how we behave??? So why do we need to be kept on a straight and narrow path... For we'll all get to Heaven anyway!

Sorry, John: Your argument just doesn't stack up....
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
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Rose of York
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Emee
Sunday, 5. February 2012, 22:48
It is knowing about that Parent - child relationship that stops us from being terrified of God, and actually make us want to be with him, because I can imagine God may have seemed more than a little scary to the Jews until Jesus His Son came along and taught us to think of Him as a Father.
My generation were subjected to religious instruction that projected Jesus as kind, generous and loving, and God the Father as the stern one in charge. The doctrine of Hell was over emphasised. Before I had left the infant school at the age of seven I was scared stiff of going to Hell.

Bear in mind mine was the generation that were accustomed to fathers being the ones responsible for administering quite severe corporal punishments. I still hear people say "When I stepped out of line I got a good leathering, it did me no harm." That was a common image of fatherhood, so it is not surprising that was how God the father was projected, and not only at school, also in sermons at Sunday Mass.
Keep the Faith!

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Anne-Marie, I think heaven is just as much a parable as Hell. The point is that these superb stories teach us how gravely serious the consequences of doing good or evil are.

John
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Deacon Robert
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If there is no heaven or hell, no resurrection, we are fools.
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne

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I don't think so Robert, I have never believed in the literal truth of these stories ie the heaven and hell parts , even as a child. but they are very important to concentrate our minds on the need to do good and avoid evil--in my view anyway

John



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