Where do you go when you die if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour Do you go straight to heaven and will we know our family and friends?

Answer 1

Yes according Pauls letters to the various churches, he states the to be absent for the body, or when your body dies, is be present with the Lord.

And yes we will know our family and friends, for we will know even as we are known.

Answer:

The Bible tells us when we die [if all goes well in a regulated society; or we aren't caught in a building fire and reduced to scattered water-soaked ashes] we all go to a grave [Greek, hades; Hebrew, sheol - a pit, a hole in the ground] translated "hell" along with a few other words in the KJV Bible.

"...there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, IN THE GRAVE, whither thou goest [where you go]" (Eccle.9:10)

The notion of going to heaven when we die is contrary to Jesus' teaching on the subject:

"...NO MAN HATH ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." (John 3:13)

The Bible tells us that when we die, we enter into a "dreamless, unconscious, dormant SLEEP.

"...He [Jesus] saith unto them [His disciples], Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, LAZARUS IS DEAD." (John 11:11-14)

"...He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." (I Cor.15:6)

"...if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." (verses 17-18)

In other words: "...the dead know not any thing..." (Eccle.9:5).

The dead in Christ [asleep in Christ] await the time of His return to earth... the time of the "first resurrection" from the dead, when the "dead in Christ" will "awake" from their sleep, and be changed.

"...now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Firstfruits of them that slept... For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S AT HIS COMING." (I Cor.15:20-23)

Not when they die... but when Jesus returns.

"...I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the Trumpet shall sound, and the dead [sleeping] shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (verses 51-52)

No man, woman or child is in heaven. Jesus says so... though not many believe Him. Jesus Christ is the only man that has ever gone to the "third heaven" of His Father's throne. Jesus says so.

A few have gone into the "second heaven" [outer space] -- astronauts. And people go up into the "first heaven" [the sky, the earth's breatheable atmosphere] -- every day, all the time.

But, the "third heaven" [II Cor.12:2]? Only in a vision [verse 1] or a dream... not in reality. Jesus says so. Only He made it there, the One who came from there.

The dead... whether they knew Christ or not... are unknowing, unconscious and dormant... asleep.

And their next waking, conscious moment will be after Jesus comes back. They shall have been unaware of the passage of time... of possible centuries or millennia since the time of their deaths. As far as they are concerned... their awakening will be the "next instant" from the time they lost consciousness.

"So a man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past [the Day of the Lord's wrath, the time of Jesus' return], that thou wouldest appoint me a set time [his "order" of time to resurrect - I Cor.15:20-23], and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, TILL MY CHANGE COME. Thou shalt call [with a "shout" of the archangel], and I will answer thee..." (Job 14:12-15)

God told Adam and Eve they would "die." Satan told them they wouldn't [Gen.3:3-4).

They believed Satan. And to this day... the confused religions of their descendants reflect Satan's teaching. They DON'T BELIEVE IN DEATH... but that "no one dies." That we all "go somewhere else to live."

This satanic religious belief and teaching contradicts and nullifies any necessity for God's prophesied "Judgment Day" at the "Last Day" [at the end of Christ's thousand year rule -- see Rev.20].

If all men are judged immediately at the time of their deaths... are they to be "re-judged" later on "Judgment Day" at the end of God's plan... perhaps thousands of years down the road from when they died, maybe, say, in Noah's flood?

Will those allegedly living in heaven all this time be re-judged... and possibly re-assessed and re-sentenced to an alleged place described in Dante's Inferno? What other purpose could there be to undergo a Judgment Day, after they've already been allegedly judged and sentenced at the time of their death? Will those who have been burning, yet never burning up, be possibley re-sentenced to heaven?

This stuff isn't in the Bible.

If we have accepted Christ [or think we have]... when He comes back, He's going to tell each of us on Judgment Day whether or not He knew us:

"Many will say to Me IN THAT DAY, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name... and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt.7:22-23)

Those who "die in Christ" will resurrect from their "sleep" and regain consciousness when Jesus comes back, and rule the nations of the world with Him in the Kingdom of God for a thousand years:

"...But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the First Resurrection." (Rev.20:5)

Either Jesus' Words are True... the dead are asleep in their graves and NO MAN, other than Himself, IS IN HEAVEN. Or... He's mistaken or forgot that heaven is packed with all kinds of living-dead people, as man's religions teach.