How old will we be in Heaven? What will we look like?

[LemonAndLime]

This is a philosophical question that I’ve been thinking about recently. I know the Bible doesn’t say a lot about the fine details of Heaven, but can anyone supply me with some quotes from any Saints or philosophers who have debated the topic? I find difficult-to-answer questions like this really interesting, so if anyone knows more about how to answer these I’ll be really grateful.

 

[105lynne]

My mother always told me that everyone is 33 in Heaven. I have no idea how she found this out or where she may have heard it. I know she read ‘City of God’, but I can’t say for certain if that’s where she got that info.

 

[Luke_K]

My mother always told me that everyone is 33 in Heaven. I have no idea how she found this out or where she may have heard it. I know she read ‘City of God’, but I can’t say for certain if that’s where she got that info.

I think that comes from the belief that Jesus was 33 when he died.

 

[shaky]

I think that comes from the belief that Jesus was 33 when he died.

Actually Science tells us from birth to 33 our body reaches its peak. After that the body starts to decline.

 

[danserr]

Actually Science tells us from birth to 33 our body reaches its peak. After that the body starts to decline.

that’s actually interesting, I think Aquinas suggested that we’d be 30 or 33 (Jesus’s age). Though I think we have no real way of knowing for sure.

 

[I_love_rocks]

I don’t know but like to entertain different theories… how much fun it would be to be 5. How beautiful it would be to be about 15 - the age of our Blessed Mother at the Annunciation. Older, and having a coffee with St. Thomas Aquinas, William Shakespeare, and Augustine… I don’t think we can know that. I have heard the 33 theory, but the Blessed virgin looks younger than that when she appears. :grouphug: I think whatever it is - it will be most our most pleasing… and recognizeable to all.

 

[vz71]

We will be timeless.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

[kimmielittle]

I dono…But being stuck in the middle of 33 year olds…sounds boring , to me

 

[DianaCC]

33 years 4 months, just like Jesus.

 

[RedSoxFan]

I’ll be roughly 26 years old. The same age I was when the Red Sox won the world series and I died and went to heaven.

 

[LemonAndLime]

I’ll be roughly 26 years old. The same age I was when the Red Sox won the world series and I died and went to heaven.

I quite like the 33 years old theory. I think that’s a good age to be in Heaven. Providing of course that you’re lucky enough to live that long.

 

[levinas12]

I’m not sure how old we’ll be in Heaven. But the question raises a more general issue. Will our body be very different? Maybe apart from going through walls, the absence of pain and disease, and immortality, I think our body will be pretty much the same. Didn’t Jesus retain his wounds? The only important difference is the absence of sin and the presence of love.

 

[levinas12]

I’m not sure how old we’ll be in Heaven. But the question raises a more general issue. Will our body be very different? Maybe apart from going through walls, and the absence of disease, etc., I think our body will be very much the same. Didn’t Jesus retain his wounds? The only importance difference is the absence of sin and the presence of love.

typo - “the only important difference”

 

[vz71]

I’m not sure how old we’ll be in Heaven. But the question raises a more general issue. Will our body be very different? Maybe apart from going through walls, the absence of pain and disease, and immortality, I think our body will be pretty much the same.

Those are some pretty big differences.

Didn’t Jesus retain his wounds? The only important difference is the absence of sin and the presence of love.

The bible only records the hands and feet were retained.
I do not think the rest of the wounds were there.

 

[levinas12]

Those are some pretty big differences.

There may been some humor on my part.

But I still think that there will be basic bodily continuity to ensure personal identity. We will definitely have the same face (and maybe the same paunch).

Of course, all of this is in the context of the resurrected body. What happens immediately after death, before we get our bodies back, is a little blurry. Somehow, we will retain our personal consciousness and will be able to interact with others.

 

[4Horsemen]

Before we get our bodies back, we will be that part of the soul that is immaterial – the intellect and will. (Sounds like Cartesian dualism to me). Most likely memory as well since we will recognize those who have gone before us as well as the saints since we will have infused knowledge. God will show us all of Heaven, but most impotant of all, we will see the Beatific Vision. I read that the colors of heaven are so much more intense and greater variety than on earth.

There was a case in which Our Lord appeared to a 8-year-old girl, the daughter of atheists and gave her the gift of painting. So she painted what she saw of heaven as Christ showed her. Very mature art and she continues to paint now as a teen. Here is one link, but there are others that may be better:

artakiane.com/press

 

[levinas12]

Before we get our bodies back, we will be that part of the soul that is immaterial – the intellect and will. (Sounds like Cartesian dualism to me). ]

But we are not angels. Angels are immaterial persons with intellect and will. We on the contrary cannot, naturally, exercise intellect and will without our bodies.

The continuance of the human person after death and before the resurrection of the body might be the result of a supernatural intervention, not a natural consequence.

This is not necessarily a materialist position. The analogy of portrait painting is often used. The painting is not just canvas and chemicals; it discloses a person. Same with our bodies.

Aquinas does argue that our intellectual activity is immaterial - similar to what Aristotle says about the agent intellect. He then uses this to establish the natural immortality of our intellect and will. But the agent intellect in Aristotle is not the individual human person. From the time of Aristotle to Aquinas, and later, there was much debate about the identity of the agent intellect. Descartes was certainly influenced by it.

 

[4Horsemen]

But we are not angels. Angels are immaterial persons with intellect and will. We on the contrary cannot, naturally, exercise intellect and will without our bodies.

Then I suppose the intellect and will are relative to the brain? And somehow God removes the immaterial intellect and will at death.

The continuance of the human person after death and before the resurrection of the body might be the result of a supernatural intervention, not a natural consequence./

Quote]

I know this is getting into the topic of another thread, but I think the idea of “the continuance of the human person after death and before the resurrection of the body” is a supernatural act. It is also a supernatural act that many saints have appeared bodily or mystically to chosen people on earth.

This is not necessarily a materialist position. The analogy of portrait painting is often used. The painting is not just canvas and chemicals; it discloses a person. Same with our bodies.

So the canvas and chemicals are the material aspect of the painting, and the person in the portrait is equivalent to the immaterial part.

Aquinas does argue that our intellectual activity is immaterial - similar to what Aristotle says about the agent intellect. He then uses this to establish the natural immortality of our intellect and will. But the agent intellect in Aristotle is not the individual human person. From the time of Aristotle to Aquinas, and later, there was much debate about the identity of the agent intellect. Descartes was certainly influenced by it.

“Immaterial” yet the brain is necessary in order for the intellect to operate. But it’s not necessary for the angels. Of course that’s what makes us different than the angels, but it is rather complicated. The soul, then, is the substantial form while the body is accidental. I understand that much. It’s just the mechanics. In heaven God will reveal all.

Some, like Plato, thought that the soul preexisted its union with the body. I don’t think Aquinas thought so.

 

[shaky]

I’m not sure how old we’ll be in Heaven. But the question raises a more general issue. Will our body be very different? Maybe apart from going through walls, the absence of pain and disease, and immortality, I think our body will be pretty much the same. Didn’t Jesus retain his wounds? The only important difference is the absence of sin and the presence of love.

Thats a good question will i midget still remain a midget or a fat person remain fat?