It would have to be a personal belief that we will not know each other in heaven for indeed, the Bible DOES not only indicate that we will but insists on it. Instead of citing a couple of the verses such as Matthew 26:29 where Jesus is telling his apostles (paraphrased) that He would no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until they met again in the Kingdom of Heaven, I posted a link with a hundred other verses that might interest you and even make for a happy day. https://www.openbible.info/topics/will_we_know_each_other_in_heaven
Boy are you the bold one, telling a preacher this (in red above). Wife and I would never/ever talk to a member of the Clergy like that. And, btw, Faye, not everyone says or do things, to keep their job.
So humans meet again as spirits in heaven doesn't change what Paul wrote the Galatians. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." If there is neither male nor female, how is anyone going to recognize their mother? I think it is clear that all those by the Christian Bible scriptures will be the same and no other identity other than followers and believers in Christ. It is a separation of physical from spiritual which no human mind can fully conceive. I still stand by my understanding that promising the grieving that if they accept Christ they will RECOGNIZE their loved ones in heaven, is wrong and contrary to the teachings of Christ. First of all, preachers are setting themselves up as judges who is going to heaven. If they are correct, then God should cancel judgment day. Many quote scripture about the resurrection which all make it clear it isn't a PHYSICAL body, but a spirit image that has no identity or eyes to see or ears to hear or voice to speak. Anyone that decides to learn and understand the teachings of Christ and accept them and lead a new life, should do so because they want to make that change, not because they want to see a loved one they believe will be in heaven. This was among my mother's last requests. She was very firm in her belief that heaven would have no identities other than those that had lived righteous lives. I have no problem if one believes they will see their loved ones in heaven, what I have a problem with is preachers that use this at funerals to increase church membership which in most cases translates into more donations or tithing.
One of the worse feelings is having to move somewhere and leaving behind friends that you know that you will never see again. In the same respect, a good minister of the Word will try to console the loved ones of a passed relative or friend with the assurance that they will meet again. It has little to do with tithing or donations but it’s supposed to be about empathy and sympathy. As far as making a judgement, again, most good Protestant ministers will not make that proclamation unless they feel that the person being buried was a born again Christian and again, it’s more of a matter of empathy. Note: Catholics, on the other hand, have another take on it but that’s a theme for another thread perhaps. Now, getting to the physical thing. If you have read any of my posts concerning that issue you would already know that I have continually asked folks to think in the spirit, not the physical. There are people who believe that we will physically come out of our graves but the Bible does not support that in any way. Note: When you said that No Where in the Bible does it say that we will know each other, that can only be an opinion for indeed, scripture does not agree with you which is why I replied to begin with. That said, it is a Biblical premise that …”The Spirit shall know the Spirit”. A body with eyes and ears and a tongue is not the person, it is the vessel. The vessel will die and the spirit lives on fully capable of seeing, hearing and feeling. How else would one kneel in front of He who will pass judgement? How else would one hear His words. How else would someone say Lord, Lord and hear the Master say, verily I will say unto you, I never knew you or Welcome my good and faithful servant?
Thinking in the spirit is impossible for the physical mind. No one can explain where and what heaven is other than the physical descriptions used in the Bible that I believe was written to imply it is a perfect place and not to be taken literally which is what our physical minds do. Do you believe you will walk "streets" paved with pure gold or is that just a way of saying it is a pure place? The same applies to the mention of feeling and communicating on judgement day. It is a physical description made to make people think about how they live and that once they die they cannot change the way they lived. They cannot plead with God for mercy at that time is the point. The writers no way intended for this to be taken literally any more than walking on streets of gold. I think this answers Lon's question in my way of thinking and reading. In my opinion, heaven is not a location and whether animals go or not depends on whether you believe they have a spirit. In my life's revelations, God is everywhere and is manifest in the universe and beyond forever and ever with no boundaries and no time I.E. eternity. When humans can understand where the universe begins and ends and what is on the other side of that and how it goes forever with no end and no beginning and where time doesn't exist, then maybe we can start to understand the spirit world. One big advocate of having individual identities in heaven was Billy Graham, a feel-good evangelist with a talent to speak and persuade. He died worth $25 million.
If one cannot think in the spirit then why are we told to go to the Lord in “Spirit and in Truth”. Why does Paul emphasize the difference in Flesh and Spirit? Matter of fact, why did he emphasize our spirit at all if we cannot fathom such a thing? Ya know Faye, it’s a given that there are things none of us will know for sure but there are 66 books and letters that do not contradict each other but compliment each other. We are told to (again I write this) “Study to show thyself approved unto God; a workman who needs not be ashamed; rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”. II Tim. 2:15 Studying the Bible is not some haphazard thing nor something one just does by reading one verse a week or mimicking what someone else says. It’s personal and it’s meant to be absorbed that your spirit might be taught and strengthened. Yes, God is omnipresent and omnipotent and yes, He created all that we see and the things we cannot see nor understand but we are assured that we will see all and understand all when the time comes. Yes, it is also my belief that the descriptions given in the Bible of heaven is based on the amount of comprehension that humans can possibly have of such a wonderful place but still, no matter how we think, how we feel or rationalize to achieve our own beliefs……. The wisdom of man is as Foolishness to God The closest we can come to understand what God has done and is doing is to study……in Spirit, and in Truth. And what the heck does Billy Graham’s money have to do with the conversation? Ya can’t buy your way into heaven and I doubt seriously if Rev. Graham believed that either. If getting rich negates a person’s ability to go to heaven then King David is leading the pack to hell.
King James Bible And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
About animals going to heaver; People say that their beloved pets will be waiting for them Over the Rainbow Bridge. If you grant that your cat or dog has a soul, you also have to grant that all animals have a soul. If you grant that all animals have a soul, isn't it a sin to kill any animal?
That has led many a person into dire straights. My grandfather, a Pentecostal preacher and pastor, feared making anything beyond what he and his family needed because of that verse. He took it literally and unfortunately, did not receive any other explanations for it other than what he read. The bottom line on it is that as we know, the love of money is of the flesh and corrupts the spirit and does indeed take the focus off of God. Money itself is not the root of all evil but the love of it. Money does become a god to some and as the Lord said, “there shall be no other gods before Me”. Note that the verse itself does not say that it is impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The eye of the needle the verse speaks about is a gate at the entrance of a city that is difficult for a camel to get through unless it is on it’s knees. Not impossible, but difficult. If one’s eyes are clearly on God and is a good steward with whatever wealth he may be blessed with then figuratively speaking, he is as the camel is when he goes through the eye of a needle…….on his knees.
Good question. Okay, back to the flesh and spirit thing. To be absent from the body is to be present (in spirit) with the Lord. The vessel dies, the spirit lives. God was the first to relieve an animal of it’s flesh for did he not fashion skins for Adam and Eve? Throughout Leviticus and Deuteronomy, what is sacrificed and what was done with the remains? There is one thing though that does concern me about the death of an animal. If the meat does not serve as food, then to me, if it isn’t a sin to kill an animal for sport it should be. I really do not know if animals go to heaven but some scripture does indeed indicate that there are animals there but I just do not know if we will see ours. For Yvonne’s sake and God’s ears, I sincerely hope Chipper is there to meet her. “and we’ll all understand it bye and bye”
Some Native Americans believed that all things on Earth have a spirit. When they killed an animal, they would kneel beside it and say, "Thank you for giving your life that I may keep mine." Makes sense to me. I find myself saying that whenever I eat any kind of meat. Hey, can't hurt!
Dr. George Lamsa, an Aramaic scholar, that translated that verse from the original Aramaic writing clarifies that the words camel and rope are similar in Aramaic and the correct translation is rope. "It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle....." which makes better sense. It was an easy mistake for the King James translators. Tentmaking was a common trade and everyone knew what a tent needle and rope looked like. Tent needles while being quite large still couldn't be threaded with rope. Mistranslations have led to many verses being regarded as metaphors which never made sense to me why a writer would write in metaphors to other Christians. Dr. Lamsa clears it all up in his translation, a lifetime work.