Are Families Really “Forever”?

The Mormon church teaches that faithful latter day saints can live together with their families in the next life. In fact this is such a central promise of the Mormon faith that it is commonly used by missionaries to draw people into the church.

But what does the Bible teach? Are families really forever?

The Bible has a lot to say about family. It tells us concerning marriage that:

Designed by God (Genesis 2:24)
And it is good (Proverbs 5:18)
That divorce is bad (Malachi 2:16)
That children are a blessing (Psalm 127:3-5)

It also tells us that we should…

Care for our family’s needs (1 Timothy 5:8),
That husbands should love their wives sacrificially (Ephesians 5:25),
That children should honor and submit to their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3).

It may be surprising then, that Jesus told us that he came—not to unite families—but DIVIDE them.

Jesus did not come to unite families, but to break them apart.

Listen to what He says in Luke 12,

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53)

Jesus even says later in Luke,

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26).

Christ’s mission was not ultimately to keep our families together. and that’s why He never once teaches that. In fact, contrary to Mormonism, Jesus taught that his ministry would eternally divide families. Our earthly families ARE important, but they are not eternal.

Jesus taught that there is no marriage in heaven

Jesus even taught that the sacred union of marriage will not exist in heaven! Instead He says,

“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30).

Every time Jesus had a clear opportunity to teach the doctrine of eternal family, He affirms the exact opposite: that our earthly marriages will not continue into heaven.

Christians are our new family

Scripture says that earthly family is a picture of our spiritual relationship with God and His people (Ephesians 5:31-32).

Christians should be quick to value and support our earthly families, but there is only one family that is truly forever: the family of God.

“And he said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Luke 18:29-30).

This is why Jesus says:

“And he answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Mark 3:33-35).

For the Christian, heaven is a place reserved for the family of God to worship Him together for all eternity. The promise of the Bible is not restricted to our individual spouses and children, but to all who have ever had faith in Jesus’s work on the cross.

The Bible doesn’t teach that families are forever. It teaches something even better, that Christians will eternally dwell with God, alongside all who have ever believed.