I would like to solicit Freeper comment on a question I have about Heaven.
As Christians, we often talk about a dead relative who is now in a "better place", up in Heaven watching over us.
But doesn't the Bible say that we wait until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ before we are brought to our final judgement, and then to either Heaven or Hell?
Is Grandma up there now, or is she still waiting?
All believers arrive in Heaven at the same time. The thief next to Jesus who dies with Him was promised he'd be there "this day". So if you dies as a believer today, you'd arrive in heaven on the day you died, and say it was 2005. Someone arriving from 1713 would swear it was 1713.
As for nonbelievers, they don't have it so good. Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus-- Lazurus a beggar waited in paradise, while the evil rich nonbeliever wasted away in torment.
If your Granma was a believer-- good for her. She's "sleeping" as Jesus would put it. She'll awake and be resurrected when jesus comes at the rapture, before the Tribulation. If she wasn't a believer in Jesus.... it's hard to put a good spin on it. I hope she was.
The answer in a nutshell Scroll down to "Heaven"
Catholic teaching is that we are judged at death (the particular judgement) and that this judgement is made "public" at the Last Judgement.