Do my believing parent who have passed away know that I am now a believer too?
Romans 4:4 - 5
ESV - 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
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Asked September 16 2018
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Anonymous
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Jack Gutknecht
Dear Anonymous,
Your believing parent is consciously with Christ, not asleep in the sense of being unconscious or knowing nothing. Scripture teaches that believers who die are “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8), and Paul desired “to depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).
2 Corinthians 5:8
--> "We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
However, Scripture does NOT tell us whether departed believers are informed of particular events on earth, such as when a child later comes to saving faith. Therefore, no one should claim certainty that your parent presently knows this specific fact.
The answer misuses Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, Psalm 115:17, Job 14:12, 21 and Psalm 146:4. These passages describe death from the perspective of life “under the sun”: the dead no longer participate in earthly labor, plans, public affairs, or worship in the earthly congregation. They do not teach soul-sleep or unconscious extinction. Jesus directly refutes the notion that the faithful dead are absent from conscious life before God:
Luke 20:37-38
--> "‘³⁷ Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.’"