Continued learning in heaven?

[4Horsemen]

Curious logic. Getting rid of me would represent hatred, but torturing me for an eternity would be an act of love? What kind of mushrooms have you been eating?

Hi greylorn,

It’s not mushrooms. They don’t mix well with Zinfandel. God doesn’t “torture” anybody. Since the soul is permanent, it cannot just disappear and go out of existence. Another example is angels, who exist in the eternal realm. My point was that God’s love doesn’t change even though the person who goes to Hell chooses this option because of hatred for God’s laws.

The Principle of Contradition says it is impossible for a thing to be and not to be at the same time. Since the soul survives death of the body, it continues its existence and cannot NOT be.

Intelligent, caring pet owners terminate their animals when the critter is irreparably sick, injured, or in perpetual pain. They do this as an act of love. Stupid, selfish pet owners keep their animals alive and in constant pain until the critter gives it up, then talk about how much they loved the poor beast.

I agree that we should prevent our pets from useless pain by euthanasia. Our pets are sensory and nutritive creatures but don’t have a rational soul like humans do. Humans can unite suffering, including the throes of death, to the passion and death of Jesus.

Finally, your notion seems to be that the soul cannot be extinguished. That is illogical. If God created the soul, God can uncreate it. You’ve studied Aquinas, and so you must be able to find an applicable Thomian principle, like ‘what’s not in the cause can’t be in the effect.’ Something along those lines.

First let me correct your statement that I “studied” Aquinas. I only studied him formally in a class, but I have read parts of the Summa as well as interpretations. I stand to be corrected about anything I say on these threads. IMO, the idea of God extinguishing the soul is like saying God can create a square circle. That would be a conceptual incoherence. He made the soul to be eternal and “enjoy everlasting happiness with Him in Heaven.” (I think the Catechism is the source of that idea.) When you talk about cause and effect, do you mean that the efficient cause, namely God, precede His effect?

Moreover, you demonstrate every night that the soul is effectively extinguished, during normal sleep. If that doesn’t work for you, study up on anesthesia. If the brain’s chemical mix, or a synthetic mixture injected into your bloodstream can render you totally unconscious, surely an all-mighty God can find a way to manage it.

It’s not that the soul is “extinguished” during normal sleep as you say, but parts of the brain that are inoperative while other parts are at work.