Finding Hope After Loss: Did My Son Go to Heaven?

Rico Lane [00:00:00]: Hey. How y'all doing? I'm Rico, and this is another episode of Reddit Replies. I want you to do me a favor. Imagine the person you love the most, someone you truly care about, whether that's a parent, a child, just a loved one. Right? They're caught up in a fatal mistake or should I say a sin that cost them their life. Now as a Christian, you can't help but wonder what happens to them after they pass away. Right? You can't help but wonder that if God's gonna judge them, are they in heaven or hell because the last thing they did was a sin that caused them to die? Right? And it's not a theoretical question either. It's a real story that comes from a grieving mother. Rico Lane [00:00:43]: And so as I dive into this particular topic, like I said, I'm gonna operate with a little bit of grace. I'm gonna operate with a little bit of compassion. And I will ask that if you decide to comment in the comment section to do the same. But here's the story that is shared with us. Reddit User [00:01:00]: My 17 year old passed away 6 months ago. He was a very spiritual child and spent so much of his time in church, deeply worshiping Jesus. Not just because others were doing it. But because he truly loved Jesus and wanted to please him. He struggled with drugs and alcohol and had constant guilt and shame because of it. It tore him in 2 and deeply afflicted him that even though he wanted to do good, he kept messing up. He was doing so good after a rough year, he had a job, car, great relationships with his family and was a great big brother to his 2 siblings. Unfortunately, a friend gave him a pill and told him it was a Percocet. Reddit User [00:01:49]: He Googled it and clearly debated it the night of his death. We hung out in the kitchen laughing and joking. He hugged me and told me he loved me. We went to bed. But before he got into his bed, he had apparently tried a piece of that pill, leaving the rest on his dresser. He covered up and laid there the way he slept every night. His soul left his body that night. What I need to know is, did my son go to heaven? Did he go to hell because he was old enough to decide good versus evil? Was believing in Jesus and wanting to please him enough, given that he died in sin? It's tearing my soul apart. Reddit User [00:02:36]: He and I were closer that anyone. He was truly my best friend and my soul feels lost in this universe wondering what happened when he left his body. Did he go to heaven because he was 17? Can somebody tell me something? Rico Lane [00:02:53]: Man, I'm not gonna lie. This post kinda break my heart, man. I just can't even imagine what this mom is going through. Losing a loved one, especially a child, is a sorrow that words cannot describe right. And there's so much going on in here. So much I want to comment on. She has, you know, many difficult questions about what happened to her son after his soul left his body. It brings up questions about what happens when we leave this side of eternity. Rico Lane [00:03:22]: Right? And what does that judgment look like? She even asked that his belief in Jesus, was that enough? Because he died in sin Reddit ultimately shapes the way we look at sin. It ultimately shapes the way what we actually believe and what Christ did. Do we believe that Christ's sacrifice was enough for us? Do we believe that it's a gift that that that we can only accept, that we cannot earn? And so does one sin that happens right before you die, erase what Jesus did? These are all valid questions. And I can tell you too that, this is kind of the kind of stuff we wanna be thinking about as Christians before our loved ones pass away. This is why it's important to share the gospel. But, again, I wanna take this opportunity to, hopefully, help out by giving some words of truth from god's word. Because in situations like this, we got we can't really lean on our own understanding. We can't lean on our emotions because our emotions gonna veer us away. Rico Lane [00:04:27]: You know, we gotta go on what the word of God says and that's all we can go off of. So first, I wanna go to first John chapter 1 verse 9. Right? That particular passage assures us that if we confess our sins that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. That's from all wickedness. Now just because somebody's going through certain things doesn't invalidate this. Right? You see, your son's love for Jesus, his worship, and his struggles show a heart that knew his savior and wanted to please his savior. I actually heard a pastor say something like, know, God forgives our sins but he blesses obedience. Right? And also too when you think about that atonement and what Jesus' blood did, they say it makes it like it never happened. Rico Lane [00:05:23]: So when God judges us, he judges us on what Jesus did and not what we did. Right? The mistakes he made, the battles he fought, they don't erase his faith or God's grace. Right? Making ...