Memories in Heaven

[powerandglory]

Do we have memories in Heaven? I figure if memories reside in the soul, we take them with us. If they reside in the chemical processes of the mind, what happens to them? If we remember our lives here and we remember our sins, how would we react to that memory in Heaven? Sorrow? Or, if we have survived trauma or abuse here, what happens to those memories? Do they stop being painful because once in Heaven there is no more suffering, right? What about Hell, would the good memories bring us relief?

I apologize for the weirdness of this question. I have horrible insomnia and these are the things I overthink at 2AM.

 

[Magnanimity]

It’s not a weird question. It’s a perfectly natural one. You are aware that your memories, spread across time, contribute to your sense of self-identity. Many philosophers have agreed with this notion–that memories fundamentally contribute to a sense of identity-over-time. I would say that, yes, memory is a human intellectual faculty that you will always have with you, just as you will have powers of perception, introspection, reason and the ability to assimilate testimony.

 

[Dan_Defender]

IMO yes in Heaven memories will not cause us any guilt or harm anymore, we will have peace forever.

 

[JerryZ]

Yes we do retain our memory in Heaven. In fact it is prerequisite to be judged. How can I be judged for something I have no recollection of?
No in fact our memory will more sharp and defined than here on Earth.
All the details of every single solitary event will be available to us in “Super hyper ultra HD”
As for trauma or even troublesome memories they will not affect us anymore, not that they are gone but compared to the bliss we will feel and experience they will nullified.

 

[Edgar]

I apologize for the weirdness of this question. I have horrible insomnia and these are the things I overthink at 2AM.

I don’t think it’s weird at all - I often think about this very topic. My belief is that we will have no memories at all of this life after we die.
For starters, memories are stored in our brain cells - some people who suffer brain damage are known to completely and permanently lose some of their memories.
Secondly, I have memories that haunt me like a curse and I am very much looking forward to be freed from them when I die.
I can’t imagine remembering a terrible earthly experience being compatible with Heaven. I believe that Heaven will not involve anything sinful - including memories of this earthly life, which is riddled with the effects of sin.

 

[Edgar]

You are aware that your memories, spread across time, contribute to your sense of self-identity.

When I was born I had no memories and no “self-identity” - it didn’t seem to bother me, so I can’t see a problem with being “born again” in Heaven with no memories and no self-identity. God will know who I am, that’s all I need.

 

[Edgar]

IMO yes in Heaven memories will not cause us any guilt or harm anymore, we will have peace forever.

So someone who remembers being murdered in a gas chamber or burnt at the stake will have “peace”? How will that work?

 

[Bradskii]

Magnanimity:

You are aware that your memories, spread across time, contribute to your sense of self-identity.

When I was born I had no memories and no “self-identity” - it didn’t seem to bother me, so I can’t see a problem with being “born again” in Heaven with no memories and no self-identity. God will know who I am, that’s all I need.

This is a scenario worthy of Poe. You will be reborn and live eternally. But you will have NO idea who you are and no memory of what you have done or where you came from. You will forget ALL about your family and friends. You will be an empty shell.

 

[Edgar]

Yes we do retain our memory in Heaven. In fact it is prerequisite to be judged. How can I be judged for something I have no recollection of?

God doesn’t need you to remember this life in order to judge you, as God will remember your life better than you can. Besides that, you may not even be aware that you have been judged. After you die, you will be judged in a instant and then “awake” - as if born again - in a different world, with perhaps no awareness that you even had a former life. Or God may make you aware that you had a former life, but I don’t believe you will have any memories of that life.

 

[Edgar]

This is a scenario worthy of Poe. You will be reborn and live eternally. But you will have NO idea who you are and no memory of what you have done or where you came from. You will forget ALL about your family and friends. You will be an empty shell.

When you were born into this life you were an “empty shell”, with no memories at all and no idea of who you were. How did you get on? Did you fall to pieces because you had no memories and no self-identity?

I like the idea of beginning a new life in Heaven with a completely clean slate.

 

[Bradskii]

Bradskii:

This is a scenario worthy of Poe. You will be reborn and live eternally. But you will have NO idea who you are and no memory of what you have done or where you came from. You will forget ALL about your family and friends. You will be an empty shell.

When you were born into this life you were an “empty shell”, with no memories at all and no idea of who you were.

Yes. That’s quite an accurate way of putting it. Except that there was no frustration at that point of not knowing that I HAD been someone with a life.

Just beginning a life and adding to one’s experiences is completely different to having all of one’s experiences removed. It’s akin to having a lobotomy.

 

[Magnanimity]

When I was born I had no memories

What would you have had memories of at birth? The gestation period?! There is little reason for believing that your soul preexisted your body, so no one would expect you to have memories of various experiences as a newborn.

God will know who I am

Well then, who is the I in the above sentence on that scenario? Who would you say that you are, outside of your memories?

As an example, when someone here on earth suffers catastrophic long-term memory-loss, usually associated with some severe brain-injury, the people in that situation speak of the person with absolutely no memories of who she was and what she experienced previously as “gone.” As in, “the Amanda we once knew is gone. Whoever this girl is here before us, it isn’t Amanda. She looks and sound like her. But our Amanda is gone.” And only if those memories somehow get restored to Amanda would people in her life say that Amanda is “back.” And everyone (to include Amanda!) would celebrate the restoration of her memories. Memory, for humans, is much more than merely a repository of information.

Again, you use pronouns to refer to yourself in the future: God will know who I am and I will be just fine with that. Ok then, who is the “I” in that scenario? Who would you be, remembering nothing? I guess you’d be like a programmable android. And God can just set you to mowing the grass of the New Earth for eternity.

 

[Dan_Defender]

So someone who remembers being murdered in a gas chamber or burnt at the stake will have “peace”? How will that work?

We don’t know how, but with God all things are possible:
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.’ - Rev 21:4

 

[JerryZ]

But we are not “born again” in Heaven. This is not what the Church or the Bible teaches.
We are accepted into Heaven or thrown into Hell for how we have lived and our memories are intrinsic to this. What I did wrong and what I did right.
The race to the end of our earthly life determine our destiny (Corinthians 9:24).

 

[Bradskii]

But we are not “born again” in Heaven. This is not what the Church or the Bible teaches.
We are accepted into Heaven or thrown into Hell for how we have lived and our memories are intrinsic to this. What I did wrong and what I did right.
The race to the end of our earthly life determine our destiny (Corinthians 9:24).

Two guys in hell:

Dave: What am I doing here?
Pete: Don’t ask me. I’ve no idea what I did to deserve this myself.

 

[mythbuster1]

What did Paul say? “I count these sufferings as nothing compared to the glory that awaits.” Understand too how agonizing Purgatory is, that it is said that the least pain in Purgatory exceeds the greatest pain on Earth. Persisting in righteousness in the face of unjust suffering, or accepting suffering justly inflicted as part of your repentance reduces or eliminates your need for Purgatory. While such things are terrible to go through, those who go to Heaven afterward count them as blessings.

 

[Magnanimity]

Not that I’m a big advocate of the typical Catholic notion of Hell, but I’d probably change it to:

“Two guys (profoundly lacking in self-awareness) in hell”

Anyone in prison or a rehab center would have a decent idea of what brought him there, right?

 

[Bradskii]

Not that I’m a big advocate of the typical Catholic notion of Hell, but I’d probably change it to:

“Two guys (profoundly lacking in self-awareness) in hell”

Anyone in prison or a rehab center would have a decent idea of what brought him there, right?

Not if they were, as Edgar surmises, lacking any memory.

 

[Magnanimity]

Edgar is headed for heaven (obviously). He’ll be mowing the grass there, since he’ll need to be programmed to make up for his lack of memories.

 

[powerandglory]

Or is it two guys aware of nothing but self?