How much do the dead know?

[MysticMissMisty]

Hello.

First, I’m not sure whether I’m posting this in the right forum, but I wasn’t sure if any area was right for the following question.

But, my question is a simple one: How much do the dead know, whether it be those in hell, purgatory or heaven?

Do they know every little thing that happens on Earth? Do only those in heaven and/or purgatory kow this? Do they know only a select amount? If so, in what does that select amount consist and do the dead in all states know it? Do they only know the content about which we pray to them (and possibly any other relevant content to this)?

Related to all this, can the dead in any or all of the realms have experiential knowledge of what is happening on this earth? If so, is that knowledge also complete? What I mean is, do the dead precieve in an experiential (not just an intellectual) way all of any of what is happening here on earth (in a way similar to how we do with our senses, but, of course, not exactly in this way)/

Do our dead loved ones know and/or experience (so to speak) specifically all events elated to the lives of those they love who are still on earth? Might a grandfather who has passed, for instance, know and/or experience a grandchild’s graduation? Does this same grandfather know and/or experience all events related to that grandchild’s life?

Thanks.

 

[Dan_Defender]

God alone is omniscient. If we die and go to Heaven, we’ll see things far more clearly, and we’ll know much more than we do now, but we’ll never know everything. How much and who, will know what, is up to God.

 

[vz71]

My dad was fond of joking that 5 minutes after his death he would know more then a lifetime had taught him.

I suppose we will all get the opportunity to find out.

 

[Gorgias]

How much do the dead know, whether it be those in hell, purgatory or heaven?

Do they know every little thing that happens on Earth?

Disembodied souls have no sensory organs, so they do not see or hear.

Disembodied souls have no brain, so they don’t ratiocinate the way embodied persons do.

At best, we could say that, if God wants them to know, then they’d know. But, we don’t see that in the teaching of the Church.

Do they only know the content about which we pray to them (and possibly any other relevant content to this)?

Dr David Anders, of the EWTN program “Called to Communion” likes to say that, if God wants them to know what our prayers are, then He could make that happen. But, it’s not strictly necessary that they do – just that they will that the prayers offered to them be considered by God.

Do our dead loved ones know and/or experience (so to speak) specifically all events elated to the lives of those they love who are still on earth? Might a grandfather who has passed, for instance, know and/or experience a grandchild’s graduation? Does this same grandfather know and/or experience all events related to that grandchild’s life?

The simple answer – based on divine revelation – would be “no”, even though some would (sentimentally) wish that to be so.

 

[EZweber]

This is just speculation, but since they are meditating on Existence Himself, it would make sense to me that they would know a vast amount of what happens physically.

 

[vz71]

The simple answer – based on divine revelation – would be “no”, even though some would (sentimentally) wish that to be so.

Then the cloud of witnesses spoken of in Hebrews chapter 12 really do not witness anything?

 

[PatK63]

I have always believed that my parents and relatives see the sins I commit and pray for me.

 

[Thom18]

They likely know more than us, as demonstrated by the prophet Samuel’s appearance to King Saul.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

We don’t know the answer to this question. Presumably God may choose to reveal info to them.
I am also quite sure my mother would find some way to check on me. She was like that. I don’t think she would ever totally leave me alone.

 

[Kaliaa]

Those who have not died yet have no way of knowing the answers to any of the questions the OP has posted. Any answers that are supplied are either speculation or wishful thinking. Neither of which are wrong to engage in, they are just not fact.

Remember that Houdini told his wife that he would contact her after his death if there was any possible way for him to do that. They even arranged a specific code word or phrase that only the two of them knew. As far as I know she waited for the rest of her life for a contact that never came.

We don’t know these things because apparently God wants us to wait until we are in eternity to find out. As in everything God knows best.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Remember that Houdini told his wife that he would contact her after his death if there was any possible way for him to do that. They even arranged a specific code word or phrase that only the two of them knew. As far as I know she waited for the rest of her life for a contact that never came.

God is the one who allows or doesn’t allow this. Houdini’s setup didn’t involve God. That’s spiritualism and it’s a problem. Those of us who pray often hear back from dead loved ones. God decides whether to allow.

 

[Gorgias]

Then the cloud of witnesses spoken of in Hebrews chapter 12 really do not witness anything?

Please re-read Hebrews chapter 11. The ‘witness’ is found in Scripture. The “cloud of witnesses” witness by their presence and by the stories told of their faith lives in Scripture.

Any answers that are supplied are either speculation or wishful thinking.

They are? Really?!? So, then… you know that souls do, in fact, have sense apparati?

The how do saints hear prayers?

They don’t, properly speaking, ‘hear’ them. Wouldn’t it be sufficient, though, for them to know that folks are asking their intercession and for them to pray to God, semi-anonymously, for them?

No he doesn’t. He says that there is a cloud of witnesses… and their witness is found in Scriptural accounts.

 

[vz71]

Please re-read Hebrews chapter 11. The ‘witness’ is found in Scripture. The “cloud of witnesses” witness by their presence and by the stories told of their faith lives in Scripture.

You miss the point.
These people have passed on from this life and bear witness to the events in our lives.

 

[vz71]

No he doesn’t. He says that there is a cloud of witnesses… and their witness is found in Scriptural accounts.

They witness us.

 

[Gorgias]

You miss the point.
These people have passed on from this life and bear witness to the events in our lives.

Please read Hebrews 11. The “witness” that’s being mentioned is the witness of the way they lived their lives in faith. In the past. Prior to their deaths.

Pay special attention to Hebrews 11:2 – “Because of [faith] the ancients were well attested.” Where is the faith of the ancients attested? In Scripture. That’s where the witness of their faith lives is attested to us, for our edification.

They witness us.

No, they witness to us, by the lives they lived while on earth. This witness is preserved for us in Scripture. Nowhere in these chapters does the inspired author suggest that they’re looking at us. Rather, we look to them for inspiration in order to “run the race” well.

Are you saying saints are omniscient? i.e. they know without hearing.

Nope; I’m saying exactly the opposite. They’re aren’t omniscient, so short of God giving them some special gift of intuition, the saints could merely say “God, please grant any intercessions that people are praying of me”… and that would suffice.

 

[vz71]

No, they witness to us, by the lives they lived while on earth. This witness is preserved for us in Scripture. Nowhere in these chapters does the inspired author suggest that they’re looking at us. Rather, we look to them for inspiration in order to “run the race” well.

A race without spectators?
The analogy of the inspired author fails then.

 

[Gorgias]

A race without spectators?
The analogy of the inspired author fails then.

Olympic races were run in the nude; only men were permitted to run them, and only men were permitted as spectators. Guess the analogy of the inspired author fails then, huh?

 

[vz71]

Olympic races were

Is there any evidence at all that the author was trying to make an analogy of an Olympic race?

I missed the word Olympic in my bible.

 

[Gorgias]

Is there any evidence at all that the author was trying to make an analogy of an Olympic race?

Is there any evidence that Jews ran races in 1st century Palestine? Is there any evidence that women ran races in 1st century Palestine? If not, then I guess that your “gee, the analogy is lost” assertion is mistaken.

 

[PetraG]

Is there any evidence that Jews ran races in 1st century Palestine? Is there any evidence that women ran races in 1st century Palestine? If not, then I guess that your “gee, the analogy is lost” assertion is mistaken.

“Run so as to win” is from the 9th chapter of the 1st letter to the Corinthians. There were some Jews in the group St. Paul was addressing, but most were Greek-speaking converts who would have been well-acquainted with Greek culture.

As for what the dead know,
We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven, where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is, [Cf 1 Jn. 3:2; Dz.-Sch. 1000] and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.[ Cf Lumen Gentium , 49]

We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: Ask and you will receive.[Cf Lk. 10:9-10; Jn. 16:24]
Pope Paul VI, Credo of the People of God

As far as I know, the Church is silent about how much the blessed are aware of the details of our lives. These witnesses constantly contemplate God, but so do those contemplatives who also intercede for the Church and her faithful from within the walls of a monastery. It is not necessary to see all the details of someone’s situation in order to know enough to intercede for them.