2. Fellowship with the Saints and Our Ancestors
World Scripture
Where men of goodwill and good deeds rejoice, Their bodies now made free from all disease, Their limbs made whole from lameness or defect— In that heaven may we behold our parents and our sons!
Atharva Veda 6.120.3 (Hinduism)
All who obey God and the Apostle are in the company of those on whom is the grace of God—of the Prophets who teach, the sincere lovers of Truth, the witnesses [martyrs] who testify, and the righteous who do good: Ah! what a beautiful fellowship!
Qur’an 4.69
You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
Hebrews 12.22-24
When you die, you will be again with those you love who have gone before you. Again you will be young and strong, though you might have been old and feeble on the day you died. In the spirit land the corn will grow and all will be happy, whether they were good or bad when they were alive. So death is not something to be afraid of.
Yuma Tradition (Native American Religions)
And those Foremost [in faith] will be Foremost [in the hereafter]. These will be those nearest to God; In Gardens of Bliss; A number of people from those of old, and a few from those of later times. They will be on thrones encrusted, reclining on them, facing each other. Round about them will serve youths of perpetual freshness, with goblets, shining beakers, and cups filled out of clear-flowing fountains; No after-ache will they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer intoxication; And with fruits, any that they may select, And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire. And there will be companions with beautiful, big and lustrous eyes, Like unto pearls well-guarded: A reward for the deeds of their past life.
Qur’an 56.10-25
For [the ancestors] Soma is purified, some accept the molten butter; to the company of those, for whom the honey flows, let him go! To the company of those who are invincible by spiritual discipline (tapas), and through spiritual discipline have gone to heaven, to men of great spiritual fire, let him go! To the company of those who fight contested battles, heroes who cast away their lives, to those who made a thousand gifts, let him go! To those ancient followers of the Law, steadfast in the Law, who furthered the Law, to the Fathers, Yama, great in their spiritual fire, let him go!18 To the sage-poets, the leaders of thousands, those who protect the sun, to the Rishis of great spiritual discipline, born of spiritual discipline, Yama!
let him go! Rig Veda 10.154.1-5 (Hinduism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The Chinese character “heaven” (天) is written by combining two characters: the character 二 means “two,” and 人 means “person.” In other words, heaven consists of two people. All beings in heaven live in mutual relationships with corresponding entities.
(92:309, April 24, 1977)
The Kingdom of Heaven is an extension of family life.
(Way of God’s Will 1.8)
In heaven you do not age, since you are in the supreme state, your mind intoxicated with love. My mother should be old by now, but when I glimpse her [in the spirit world] she looks beautiful, as she did in the prime of her life.
(201:103, March 11, 1990)
What is heaven like? It is a realm centered on love. There you enjoy being loved. You enjoy receiving love endlessly and never tire of it…
Captivated by love, the sleepers awaken, the deaf hear and the dumb speak. There are no barriers to communicating with anyone, and you can continue speaking endlessly for tens of millions of years. All your cells and all your senses are activated one hundred percent.
(102:160-61, December 17, 1978)
In the afterlife it is no problem to travel hundreds of millions of miles in an instant. The power of love is the speediest. If you call someone whom you are yearning to see with true love, that person will immediately appear before your eyes. It doesn’t matter that your beloved is a hundred million light-years away. As long as you have love, you can see that person any time. A mother at one end of the universe and a son is at the other end can meet each other in an instant. If you long to meet a person who lived tens of millions of years ago, he or she will appear immediately. Past and future do not exist in heaven. Only the present exists. A thousand years ago is as the present. Such is the spirit world, transcending time and space.
(194:133-34, October 17, 1989)
What is the best way to greet God, returning joy and glory to Him? In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve would have greeted God best by loving each other in God’s presence. Likewise, in the spirit world, a couple stands before God wearing their wedding garments; then they embrace and make love, and in that moment they become one with God. That is the best way to greet God.
(314:25, December 30, 1999)
The Kingdom of Heaven is a world of relations. Therefore, our entire family should be included. So should all members of our clan and all the people of our nation.
(18:331, August 13, 1967)
If only parents were to enter heaven without their children accompanying them, it would not be heaven. In the Kingdom of Heaven, parents enjoy the love and support of their entire family. They live together and relate with each other with God as the center.
Thus, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven by ourselves. Parents and children enter heaven together. Suppose you were in heaven while your mother was in hell and screaming for help, “My child, please save me!” Would you say, “Heaven is wonderful, but Mother, you deserve to be in hell and suffer in pain”? Heaven is not such a place.
According to God’s purpose of creation, all family members, parents and children, should dwell together in heaven. Not only your immediate family, but also your clan and your entire nation should enter there. Everyone in the world should dwell together there.
(15:265, October 17, 1965)
In the spirit world you do not need formal introductions. On meeting someone, you immediately know who he or she is. That person may have lived a thousand years ago or even many millions of years ago, yet still you will recognize him or her. People believe that biblical history is 6000 years, but that number is only symbolic. When you know the spirit world, you will understand the actual length of human history. It could stretch back millions or tens of millions of years.
You can call for an ancestor from a certain era, and he or she will appear in front of you. You recognize that person at a glance, without speaking a word. You instantly grasp all the essentials, including the manner of respect you should use when addressing him.19 Hence, you do not need formal introductions like on earth. Everyone automatically observes the hierarchical order. What can keep the order? By living with love. Love determines position. Therefore, unless you become a child of God, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
(208:142-43, November 17, 1990)