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Yes, a way of offering comfort..

There is no way we can tell if they are in heaven. I mean, the world hasn't ended yet and there must be a series of steps before we can enter God's gate! I must admit that is a very easing way of relieving all of the heartache of losing a loved one. From a human perspective, we already can't understand why someone we love is gone in the first place and just the pain they had to endure prior to their death. It just makes us happier that they feel better now they are in heaven.. so to speak. This is definitely a good topic to talk about on here.

I completely agree. When I lost someone very close to me, I wanted to know so badly that they were okay. I searched high and low and read many books on death. I even ventured into the non-traditional views of the psychic Sylvia Brown.  In her books she states that the dead are surrounding you and watching over you.  For awhile, I felt a sense of comfort knowing my loved one was still with me.  I eventually went back to the one thing that I know which is the Holy Bible and I came to grips with what it states in regards to the dead. I believe that my loved one is NOT watching over me but I am content with knowing that I will see them again one day.

2 Cor 5:8 says "willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Many interpret this passage to mean that you are in the presence of the Lord as soon as you leave your body. However, Paul is saying that he would rather be absent from his body and present with the Lord instead of stuck in his body separated from the Lord because his physical body cannot enter heaven. Like you mentioned, when Lazarus rose from the dead, he had no tales of Heaven or even any memory of being dead. Many other scriptures talk about the dead believers being asleep. I think it is one of the many misunderstandings and corruptions of the scripture in an attempt to offer comfort. But being asleep and waiting is also a comfort. Our loved ones are not suffering, worrying, or struggling any longer. They are merely waiting.

I also believe that the concept of saying the deceased are in Heaven or they are watching over us is about comforting those left behind. Relating a loved one, who has suffered on Earth, to Heaven where there isn't any suffering or pain, offers great comfort. We envision Heaven as a paradise that is beautiful and peaceful and isn't that what we want for those who have passed on?

The idea that the deceased watches over us helps us to feel they are still with us. It also makes us feel that a force greater than ourselves can guide us through life.

I do think that it provides them more comfort, but no one can say who is going to heaven and who it not. That just cannot be determined by us. It is nice to think of a deceased love one as already being in heaven though.

I think it is just a conventional form of comfort - after all, nobody can know what happens, because they haven't died and gone to Heaven or wherever. The concept of Heaven is a way of assuring yourself that the one you have just lost is in 'a better place,' for want of a better description.

If it helps with the worst of the grief, and with adjustment to life without the loved one, I don't see a problem with it. Can anyone say with authority that we do - or do not - go to Heaven?

Personally, I don't believe in heaven, I used to, but not anymore. I came to the conclusion that there is no need for a 'reward' in afterlife to be a good person in this one. I can however sympathize with those who do still believe in it, it can be comforting to believe those we lost are not gone forever.