Final Judgement and Particular Judgement

[TypesAndShadows]

Given that God, Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell exist outside time, such that it doesn’t really make sense to talk about sequential time with respect to them, nor to talk about lengths of time, is there any reason that the Final Judgement has to be separate from the Particular Judgement that we experience immediately at death?

I was thinking about the saints in Heaven, and how they are as outside time with respect to us as God is, and so presumably can intercede for people who lived before the saint did? And about the Immaculate Conception, and how everything is present for God always. And it occurred to me that God could judge each of us at the end of time, and it could conceivably be judging each of us as soon as we died, from our perspective. No soul-sleep or anything like that: just leaving time behind.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was a reason, either logical or scriptural or doctrinal, why that wouldn’t work.

 

[paduard]

Given that God, Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell exist outside time, such that it doesn’t really make sense to talk about sequential time with respect to them, nor to talk about lengths of time, is there any reason that the Final Judgement has to be separate from the Particular Judgement that we experience immediately at death?

I was thinking about the saints in Heaven, and how they are as outside time with respect to us as God is, and so presumably can intercede for people who lived before the saint did? And about the Immaculate Conception, and how everything is present for God always. And it occurred to me that God could judge each of us at the end of time, and it could conceivably be judging each of us as soon as we died, from our perspective. No soul-sleep or anything like that: just leaving time behind.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was a reason, either logical or scriptural or doctrinal, why that wouldn’t work.

Apart from the fact that I cannot agree with you about ‘sequential time’, as I understand it the particular judgement places us into the state we are to go and the degree of glory (in the case of Heaven that is) we occupy within the current communion of saints. Whereas the general judgement fills everythng and everyone’s place in so to speak; as all souls having existed have been accounted for - there being no more to come.

Sorry, haven’t put it as fluently as I would have wished, but
Kindest regards…

 

[empther]

Given that God, Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell exist outside time…

I don’t know why people keep saying that. It’s not true.

For God’s creatures, there is time in Heaven, hell and purgatory. It could not be otherwise. Only the infinite God can be outside of time, because his infinity means he doesn’t change. You can’t go from infinity to finite or vice versa. He can’t change.

The Church usually will tell that the individual judgement happens at the time of death. Delaying it would be unjust.

The Last Judgement will be done while some souls are on earth and the rest are in Heaven, or the other place. The Last Judgement means that all will be revealed, and God can do this whereever the souls are. He doesn’t need a courthouse.

 

[svid2]

When you die, you get the Particular Judgement. Then you go, without your body, to Heaven (possible), Purgatory (more likely), or Hell (too likely). At the Last (General) Judgement, those judgements are confirmed, the living are judged, and everyone gets their glorified (permanent) bodies. Which makes it worse for the damned and the poor souls, and better for the blessed.

 

[Bernward]

We will have to wait until the last trumpet sounds before we find the true answer to this question : - but supposing Heaven and hell are different dimensions of existence from purgatory - which remains a time-related earth-bound holding place ?:

Consider Matthew 13: 24-30 : the parable of the cockle (Tares) among the wheat -
fisheaters.com/parables5.html,

Here Jesus likens the Kingdom of Heaven to the wheatfield - and the cockle (or tares) are the impure and imperfect souls tainted or distorted by earthly sin - instead of just burning the whole crop, he instructs his servants to allow the whole field to grow to maturity, gather it all in, thresh out the good wheat of the crop which goes into heaven, and burn the rest as an act of Final Judgement.

In this parable, purgatory could be represented by the barn - whereby the souls of all who have died to date exist pending the final judgement - so prior ‘particular’ judgement is made upon death as to who should meet each arriving soul in the barn - some visionaries claim that there are as many as four levels of greeters might be assigned according to the spiritual significance of each soul. It remains a matter of conjecture as to whether the purgatory state is within the earthy state and time.

Notable examples of a non-purgatorial existence are Jesus and the Apostles - ‘we shall not drink of this fruit of the vine again until we drink it together in paradise’.
Mary is assumed directly into heaven, and Jesus promises the thief on the cross ‘this day, thou shalt be with me in paradise’. It is also likely that having raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, that Jesus would not automatically reserve some special place for him.

We will all know soon enough,

God bless

 

[TypesAndShadows]

Thanks for these replies, which I have enjoyed reading. My social anxiety is making my brain freeze, so I can’t respond as enthusiastically, or engage with the replies, as I would like. However, I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring these replies!

I hope to engage properly with these replies when the anxiety eases Thanks for your thoughts: I’m still reading, even if my fingers freeze when I try to type a reply!