All the members of a believer's family will be in heaven?

[CONVERT]

I was talking with mom last night concerning my sister who is not a Christian; Mom said something that really surprised me and if anyone can help me find what she is referencing I’d appreciate it. Don’t know if it’s in the OT or NT. Here’s a replay of the conversation.

Me: Have you heard from Kris lately… how is she doing?
Mom: Oh she is really struggling…she is having such a hard time; I wish she’d come to the Lord soon.
Me: I’ll keep praying that she’ll respond to God’s grace.
Mom: At least we know that she’ll be in heaven one day.
Me: What makes you say that?
Mom: It says it in the bible; all the members of a believer’s family will be in heaven.
Me: I don’t know about that, what about a person’s free will… God has given each of us a free will and will respect our choice to both deny ourselves and follow Him or not… Kris has to make that choice for herself.
Mom: Oh, I’ll find it…it was in a passage about mother’s.

 

[MariaG]

I know of verses in the NT, can’t find the exact place, where it talks of praying for our brothers sins. If they are venial sins, “sins that are not deadly” anothers prayers, the prayers of the righteous are very helpful. But not for mortal sin, “sin that is deadly”

In the OT it was the prayers of Moses that bought mercy on his sinful followers.

sorry I can’t find the exact verses.

I do not know one about the prayers of a mother, although that sounds like something that would apply to Mary.

God Bless,

Maria

 

[JCPhoenix]

Well, first of all, that’s not Catholic teaching although it is the teaching of some Protestant faiths.

No one is really guaranteed a spot in heaven…we have to get ourselves there. No one gets a free ride. While as Maria G. said our prayers can help those that don’t have serious sin, an unrepentant sinner does need to make an effort to turn to Christ.

You would do well to look up references on sin and get a copy of the Catechis (or look online) and present her with that information.

People love to take just one verse to support what they want to believe, but when verses are taken in context wiht other verses and what Jesus actually taught, that measly one verse tends to fall to shreds and leave nothing but the truth.

 

[SPOKENWORD]

If you read in Acts 16;31, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household. The Holy Spirit is continually working on our unsaved loved ones. We cannot save anyone,its the Holy Spirits job. We can continually pray for them for prayer moves the hand of God . Jesus says many times ask anything in my name and it shall be granted by my Father in Heaven. We as Christians need to be grafted into the vine and produce good fruit. We do our part and Christ will do his. God hears the prayers of the righteous in Christ and He will answer them. God Bless

 

[Verbum]

Hi Convert,

If this "family special’ existed, we’d have heard about it!

Christianity is distlnguished by this very characteristic – personal dignity, personal accountability, personal reward.

This does not mean that your sister cannot be saved. No one can enter another’s conscience, and God wants everyone to be saved, burt respecting, as you say, our free will.

Verbum

 

[Grace_and_Glory]

She might have been talking about 1 Corinthians 7:14: “For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

Although that may be the verse she was referring to, I don’t think that the verse means that all members of a believer’s family will be in heaven. This is just my own opinion, but I think Paul is talking about the validity of the marriage, because in the verses before this, he tells believers not to divorce their unbelieving spouses if their spouses are willing to live with them. I think he is saying that the marriage is still valid, so the children of the marriage are born into a valid marriage. I don’t know if anyone else agrees with this interpretation, but it makes sense to me, at least more sense than the idea that everyone in a believer’s family will make it to heaven regardless of their own personal choices.

 

[TPJCatholic]

The Protestants are correct about this point: We must have a “personal” relationship with the Lord, it is never by proxy or family association…we must each accept Jesus into our hearts, pick up our cross and follow Him.

 

[chevalier]

However, prayers can help even those with a mortal sin on their conscience in some indirect way. After all, we do pray for lots of people, sometimes for all people. We also pray for conversion - and in those cases where we’re praying for a nominal Catholic to convert to Catholicism, mortal sins are practically a given. We wouldn’t be praying if it weren’t to any avail, now would we?

 

[awalt]

Here’s a good explanation of 1 Corinthians 7:14 –

Consecration is, as 16 shows, not the same as salvation; the wife’s faith does not automatically “save” the unbelieving husband. The thought seems, rather, to be this: When God in His grace called the woman, He called her as she was, in the closest of human associations with an unbeliever; His grace reached her even so and is sufficient for her even so. The pagan husband is, whether he wills and knows it or not, partner in a Christian marriage and is in that respect consecrated by the divine grace which is over that marriage. The Christian wife can and may “remain with God” in that state in which she was called (24). She is not living in an unhallowed union, and the children of her marriage are not unclean but destined to be part of the holy temple of God (3:16–17) by the grace of Baptism, as she well knew when she brought her children to be baptized.

 

[wcknight]

Prayers from holy people can do wonders. Ultimately, I think everyone has the right to accept or reject God.

However, continuous prayer for the souls of unbelievers have performed miracles. St Catherine of Sienna is said to have prayed for some folks about to be executed, They were cursing God, and rejected all requests to have their confessions heard.

But on passing Catherine, Catherine insisted that Jesus save these poor souls, and miraculously the prisoners had a change of heart, had their confessions heard and left the world in the state of grace.

We have to be just as insistent that God answers our prayers for our loved ones. It is by God’s grace that they will be saved, but they have to accept that grace. Pray that they receive God’s grace and that they will have a change of heart, and ultimately they will.

WC

From my readings, Mary says that there are some souls in Purgatory only because some saintly person(s) prayed for them. They have to account for their sins or lack of faith but eventually they will be reunited with their loved ones.