Can we sin in Heaven?

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MarianD

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Let’s fast forward to past our deaths, past Judgment Day for all souls, and into the “middle” of eternity. God-willing, you, I, and billions of others are in Heaven.

Is it possible for me, since I have free-will, to sin? If I do, do I get cast out of Heaven like Satan was? Do I get sent to Hell, or do I get sent to Purgatory to purge me of my sins until I am ready to re-enter Heaven again? And what if I don’t want to re-enter Heaven?
 
MarianD said:
Let’s fast forward to past our deaths, past Judgment Day for all souls, and into the “middle” of eternity. God-willing, you, I, and billions of others are in Heaven.

Is it possible for me, since I have free-will, to sin? If I do, do I get cast out of Heaven like Satan was? Do I get sent to Hell, or do I get sent to Purgatory to purge me of my sins until I am ready to re-enter Heaven again? And what if I don’t want to re-enter Heaven?
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No; none of that is possible.
 
MarianD said:
Let’s fast forward to past our deaths, past Judgment Day for all souls, and into the “middle” of eternity. God-willing, you, I, and billions of others are in Heaven.

Is it possible for me, since I have free-will, to sin? If I do, do I get cast out of Heaven like Satan was? Do I get sent to Hell, or do I get sent to Purgatory to purge me of my sins until I am ready to re-enter Heaven again?

And what if I don’t want to re-enter Heaven?
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"Before I knit you in your mothers womb, I knew you…" paraphrase. Re-entering heaven is what life is all about, as per the above, we have already been there once. If you choose NOT to re-enter heaven, your time on earth is the time to make that decision, and actually, it is the default decision. You will not re-enter heaven, unless you “actively” chose to do so.
 
Julian0404 said:
"Before I knit you in your mothers womb, I knew you…" paraphrase. Re-entering heaven is what life is all about, as per the above, we have already been there once. If you choose NOT to re-enter heaven, your time on earth is the time to make that decision, and actually, it is the default decision. You will not re-enter heaven, unless you “actively” chose to do so.
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What do you mean “re-enter”? Catholic teaching is that our spirits did not exist prior to conception. Rather, at conception, God created a new spiritual soul.
 
Careful! We do not believe that anyone can leave and then re-enter Heaven except Christ, Himself.

When I first read Julian0404’s response, it caused me to think he was promoting Mormon theology!
 
I think that people in Heaven can sin, in the sense that there is nothing that prevents them from doing just that. But they do not do so, because they are enjoying Heaven and because they have certain knowledge of God and of sin and of its consequences.

Their pleasures are incommensurably greater than any false pleasure than sin may promise, and they comprehend the nature of sin and of its consequences with an exactness that I cannot even imagine.

And for this reason, even though they are free, they cannot be “tempted” to sin any more than an average, non-suicidal human being - me, for instance - could be “tempted” to smash his own skull with a hammer. It’s not that I lack the “free will” to do so, or that there is any external force preventing me from doing that: but, well, I have no reason whatsoever to do that and plenty of excellent reasons to think that it would be a very bad idea to try, so I am not going to do that.

The Saints, I think, can see the evil consequences of sin much better that how I can see the bad consequences of hitting myself with a hammer, and they are already experiencing the greatest joys that a they could ever experience; so why would they ever want to sin?
 
No you can’t sin in Heaven. When you die you are no longer bound to the imperfections of human nature because. Your Journey on this earth has ended, the Devil can no longer attack you once you leave your earthly body (THAT IS IF YOU DIED IN THE STATE OF GRACE). In Heaven you are forever in God’s presence. And seeing God face to face, and enjoying the splendors of his face how can you possibly sin or even have the least thought of sinning?
 
MarianD said:
Let’s fast forward to past our deaths, past Judgment Day for all souls, and into the “middle” of eternity. God-willing, you, I, and billions of others are in Heaven.

Is it possible for me, since I have free-will, to sin? If I do, do I get cast out of Heaven like Satan was? Do I get sent to Hell, or do I get sent to Purgatory to purge me of my sins until I am ready to re-enter Heaven again? And what if I don’t want to re-enter Heaven?
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The purpose of this life-and purgatory if need be- is to provide the experience along with the grace needed to change our wills, like the Prodigal Son needed to do, the Potter molding the clay, with our cooperation, until His laws are written on our hearts and in our minds and we no longer will to sin. Then our vision will be unobstructed-then we will be ready-and able- to see God.
 
If you were walking through a steel mill you could theortically jump into the molten steel. However, assuming you have minimum sanity, you won’t. In Heaven you will have more than minimum sanity. 😉
 
MarianD said:
Is it possible for me, since I have free-will, to sin? If I do, do I get cast out of Heaven like Satan was? Do I get sent to Hell, or do I get sent to Purgatory to purge me of my sins until I am ready to re-enter Heaven again? And what if I don’t want to re-enter Heaven?
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It is impossible to sin in heaven, whether actually or hypothetically, because our wills are fixed on the infinite good of God, by which they cannot turn away. There is also no fear of sinning in the future, since fear cannot exist in a state of perfect happiness and certitude.

As regards Satan, he was created good, not perfect, and he had not been “in heaven” in the sense of sharing God’s beatitude as the blessed do in heaven. His fall was not from heaven, but from an intermediate state, similar to our lives here on earth. In heaven, it is impossible to turn away from God, since he is infinitely good in every respect.
 
MarianD said:
So is free-will lost in Heaven?
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Free Will is not the ability to sin

Libertas - Leo XIII
  1. … St. Augustine and others urged most admirably against the Pelagians that, if the possibility of deflection from good belonged to the essence or perfection of liberty, then God, Jesus Christ, and the angels and saints, who have not this power, would have no liberty at all, or would have less liberty than man has in his state of pilgrimage and imperfection.
 
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