Between Individual death & general resurrection

[PMG]

I have heard that some Christians fear that Heaven will be serene,restful and BORING!

That leads me to a question that does concern me. Between our death/individual judgement and the general judgement/resurrection, our bodies and souls are separated. We know that the soul-less body just lies in the ground feeding insects. What does the bodiless soul do in Heaven? It seems unlikely that it can hear, speak, touch or taste, since those sensation are experienced through the body, which is lying in the ground.

Since we do not know when the general resurrection day will come, souls could spend thousands or millions of years waiting around to be reuinted with their bodies. Some souls have already been waiting 2,000 years or longer. That’s a long time. It could be that Heaven is rather boring, at least during the “first part”. It could be a very, very long wait until we are complete human beings again.

So maybe it’s the post-resurrection day Heaven that is bliss. Before that, one just avoids pain, sorrow, and any other sensation good or bad?

 

[06convert]

Well we don’t know for sure. However:

1. It could be plenty interesting to just sit in awe of God all day everyday.
2. A million years could pass by in an instant in heaven, since like our cognative abilities cease to be present, so may our perception of time.

It’s hard to say, but I’m pretty sure we wont be bored.

 

[cpayne]

So maybe it’s the post-resurrection day Heaven that is bliss. Before that, one just avoids pain, sorrow, and any other sensation good or bad?

According to Aquinas, the post-mortem soul would have no means of gaining additional knowledge experiences unless God directly infused the soul with such experiences, or gave it a supernatural means of having such experiences. If God did such a thing, our post-mortem existence would be much like that of angels—a bodiless intelligence capable of apprehending knowledge directly rather than through our senses.

This also means that the post-mortem soul would not exactly be a “human” as we think of the term. Perhaps that is another reason the Resurrection is necessary, since “human beings” are redeemed, not just “souls.” Our redemption is spirit, soul, and body.

 

[PMG]

It sounds to me like Acquinas describes a pretty dull, dreary existence–as opposed to a life–for the soul. It’s going to be a long thousand, million or billion years waiting to become human again.

 

[06convert]

You shouldn’t be so attached to this world. Wouldn’t the devil just love to convince us that heaven is boring and not worth fighting for?

Suggesting it would be boring would suggest that we are humans in need of entertainment to make the time pass by. We will be in such awe of the wonder of God that centuries will go by like seconds.

 

[cerad]

You shouldn’t be so attached to this world. Wouldn’t the devil just love to convince us that heaven is boring and not worth fighting for?

Suggesting it would be boring would suggest that we are humans in need of entertainment to make the time pass by. We will be in such awe of the wonder of God that centuries will go by like seconds.

Kind of like Chevy Chase spending all day driving around in a traffic circle admiring the Big Ben clock tower.

 

[Katholish]

The Joy of Heaven rests in the Beatific Vision–beholding God directly as our greatest Good. It is not possible for us to desire anything other than this once we have it, for the Beatific Vision is not only our greatest desire, but in a sense contains/surpasses all other just desires.

Boredom is not possible in Heaven, even for the separated soul.

 

[ready]

I have heard that some Christians fear that Heaven will be serene,restful and BORING!

That leads me to a question that does concern me. Between our death/individual judgement and the general judgement/resurrection, our bodies and souls are separated. We know that the soul-less body just lies in the ground feeding insects. What does the bodiless soul do in Heaven? It seems unlikely that it can hear, speak, touch or taste, since those sensation are experienced through the body, which is lying in the ground.

Since we do not know when the general resurrection day will come, souls could spend thousands or millions of years waiting around to be reuinted with their bodies. Some souls have already been waiting 2,000 years or longer. That’s a long time. It could be that Heaven is rather boring, at least during the “first part”. It could be a very, very long wait until we are complete human beings again.

So maybe it’s the post-resurrection day Heaven that is bliss. Before that, one just avoids pain, sorrow, and any other sensation good or bad?

No way! We’ll be pure spirit unencumbered by the body. That will be a blast! You just think of moving to another place…and poof…in an instant you are there! Spirits can pray, think, learn, commune with God, like the angels (pure spirit) do. Their lives are not boring. Not in the least.

 

[cerad]

No way! We’ll be pure spirit unencumbered by the body. That will be a blast! You just think of moving to another place…and poof…in an instant you are there! Spirits can pray, think, learn, commune with God, like the angels (pure spirit) do. Their lives are not boring. Not in the least.

Who would spirits pray to? Themselves?

 

[vee8]

I have heard that some Christians fear that Heaven will be serene,restful and BORING!

That leads me to a question that does concern me. Between our death/individual judgement and the general judgement/resurrection, our bodies and souls are separated. We know that the soul-less body just lies in the ground feeding insects. What does the bodiless soul do in Heaven? It seems unlikely that it can hear, speak, touch or taste, since those sensation are experienced through the body, which is lying in the ground.

1Corinthians 2:9 should help.

Since we do not know when the general resurrection day will come, souls could spend thousands or millions of years waiting around to be reuinted with their bodies. Some souls have already been waiting 2,000 years or longer. That’s a long time. It could be that Heaven is rather boring, at least during the “first part”. It could be a very, very long wait until we are complete human beings again.

Do we feel the earthly sense of time in heaven? My guess is no since they are two different places. Ever been to an amazing place on vacation, lost all sense of time and never wanted to leave? My guess is heaven is beyond that beyond wonderful and like Corinthians says unimaginable to us it is that amazing.

 

[ready]

Who would spirits pray to? Themselves?

Good spiritual beings pray to God for us and praise God. All the saints, who I believe, don’t have their bodies yet, can be seen as spirits or spiritual beings and pray for us to the Lord. Our Guardian Angels I would imagine pray to the Lord too.

 

[Mystic_Warrior]

I have heard that some Christians fear that Heaven will be serene,restful and BORING!

I seriously doubt that is the case.

That leads me to a question that does concern me. Between our death/individual judgement and the general judgement/resurrection, our bodies and souls are separated. We know that the soul-less body just lies in the ground feeding insects. What does the bodiless soul do in Heaven? It seems unlikely that it can hear, speak, touch or taste, since those sensation are experienced through the body, which is lying in the ground.

Since you are Catholic you must believe in the communion of the saints. They must be able to hear and speak at least. Angels don’t have flesh, yet they experience things through their senses.

Since we do not know when the general resurrection day will come, souls could spend thousands or millions of years waiting around to be reuinted with their bodies. Some souls have already been waiting 2,000 years or longer. That’s a long time. It could be that Heaven is rather boring, at least during the “first part”. It could be a very, very long wait until we are complete human beings again.

The righteous souls who died before Christ were taken with Christ to Heaven after His death and resurrection, where all righteous souls now go.

So maybe it’s the post-resurrection day Heaven that is bliss. Before that, one just avoids pain, sorrow, and any other sensation good or bad?

Unless they are in purgatory, the righteous souls enjoy bliss.

Peace…

MW