Claim. Filial-child and patriot titles cannot be awarded to the living; they are determined retroactively at the threshold of death, when no further betrayal is possible.
Elaboration. “A person who is still alive cannot truly be a filial child. A person who is still alive cannot enter the ranks of those we call filial children… It is for this reason that the title patriot is conferred posthumously” (CSG 14.3 §1, 49-279, 1971.10.17). SMM gives the principle teeth: “All the loyalty that someone may have previously demonstrated is undone by a single moment of betrayal. It is only when someone has crossed over the peak of death that it becomes possible to determine whether that person has fully discharged the duties of loyalty and filial piety” (64-75, 1972.10.24). The most striking version: two sons, one pious until the dying day and one impious, can have their titles inverted by a final moment of repentance or relapse. Filial piety is therefore not a status but a trajectory whose terminal point alone counts.
See also. csg-jesus-fulfilled-filial-piety-at-the-peak-of-death