~ A place to find answers to gnawing spiritual questions ~
Question: I am having a discussion - an ongoing one with a friend. Do you think, backed by scriptural reference or just your own reasoning, that we will know anything about earth when we get to heaven? I don't mean to sound so elementary in the asking. It's really quite a simple question though. My friend says if we don't remember anything about earth, how will we appreciate heaven? I say you don't have to have seen something horrible to appreciate a thing of beauty. Do you think we will remember loves and friends and family in heaven, and, if so, how can we avoid being sad there?Answer: Your question is a common one. Regarding whether we will know people in Heaven that we knew on Earth is a subject of great debate.
I believe Paul answered this question in I Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see now through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." Paul is saying that some things we do not understand while we are here on earth but when we reach heaven, we will understand those things.
I also believe that the second part of that verse, "...but then shall I know even as also I am known" is talking about us knowing each other. Would it really be Heaven if you had a saintly grandparent who had gone on before you, or a parent or friend, and when you got there you never recognized or even knew them? Would Heaven be Heaven if it were full of strangers?
To try and answer your question about sadness: The Bible says that "...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). This goes for saints as well as sinners. While Christians will not be judged for their sins and face damnation, we will be judged for our works as Christians (I Corinthians 3:13-15).
It is my firm belief that, at that judgment, there will be sadness and even tears. It is not until Revelation 21:4 that the Bible says that "...God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
More on this subject.
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