There's no equality in heaven - clarifications, please

[mkdl_v17]

In Peter Kreeft’s article “Fourteen Questions About Heaven” catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0462.html:

2. Will we all be equal in heaven?

By God’s grace, no! How awful that would be – almost as awful as knowing everything. Having no heroes,[9] being unable to look up to anyone, would be Hell, not Heaven.

We modern egalitarians are tempted to the primal sin of pride in the opposite way from the ancients. The old, aristocratic form of pride was the desire to be better than others. The new, democratic form is the desire not to have anyone better than yourself.[10] It is just as spiritually deadly and does not even carry with it the false pleasure of gloating superiority. Flat, boring, repetitive sameness is simply not the structure of reality in a theistic universe,[11] either on earth or in Heaven. However, in Heaven, as on earth, each of us will be or do something no one else will be or do as well. No one will be superfluous.

If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created more souls than one . . . . Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions . . . each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the divine beauty better than any other creature can.[12]
God’s justice is not ours. It surprises ours in a double way. On the one hand, the one-hour workers receive the same pay as the all-day workers, in Christ’s parable.[13] “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away.”[14] “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.”[15] But on the other hand, to him who already has, more will be given, and “from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away”.[16] Human justice is outraged by both halves of Christ’s paradoxical justice.

Justice does not mean equality. In a poem, in the universe, in mathematics, in architecture – everywhere there is natural justice, justice means inequality, yin and yang, male and female, higher and lower, East and West, light and darkness, land and water. No flat, dull repetition but uniqueness. In human relationships too, justice does not mean equality, but treating equals equally and unequals unequally.[17] Is it just to treat a pig like a man? If so, it is also just to treat a man like a pig. One of the astonishing blind spots of modernity is its unquestioning fixation on equality.

Of course there are degrees of perfection in Heaven; it is quite the divine style. There are degrees of perfection in everything God created (though not in everything we create). Equality is a man-made legal fiction designed as a wall of defense against tyranny, a medicine against a disease.

"We must all be guarded by equal rights from one another’s greed, because we are fallen. just as we must all wear clothes for the same reason. But the naked body should be there underneath the clothes, ripening for the day when we shall need them no longer. Equality is not the deepest thing, you know. "
“I always thought that was just what it was. I thought it was in their souls that people were equal.”

"You were mistaken … That is the last place where they are equal. Equality before the law, equality of incomes - that is all very well. Equality guards life; it doesn’t make it. It is medicine, not food . . . "

"But surely in marriage . . . ?

“Worse and worse . . . . Courtship knows nothing of it; nor does fruition . . . . It is not your fault. They never warned you. No one has ever told you that obedience - humility - is an erotic necessity.”[18]

Why is there no jealousy in this hierarchical, aristocratic, nonegalitarian Heaven of authority and obedience? Because all are cells in the same body. The kidney does not rebel because it is not the eye.[19] jealousy is the principle of Hell. There is no Hell in Heaven.

Your thoughts?

 

[Sillara]

It is an excellent description, and true love on earth already knows something of this. Why would I want to be above my beloved? I would have him placed high above myself. Why should I resent the higher position of those better than I?

The Litany of Humility is very helpful here. “That others may be better than I, provided that I be as good as I should, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.”

 

[CaptFun]

Matthew 5:19

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. – Jesus Christ

 

[DaveBj]

My take on this has been that 1) we will not all be “equal” in heaven; and, 2) we will have perfect knowledge, so we will not care that we are not all “equal.”

on the Litany of Humility. I have it on a laminated card in my Missal.

 

[CaptFun]

Matt 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

Matt 20:16 Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
(Fortunes will be reversed, not equalized, in these verses)

 

[CaptFun]

My take on this has been that 1) we will not all be “equal” in heaven; and, 2) we will have perfect knowledge, so we will not care that we are not all “equal.”

on the Litany of Humility. I have it on a laminated card in my Missal.

SOUNDS good. At any rate not caring “that we all are not equal” is a good condition to find yourself in “down here.”

It would mean you don’t covet another’s goods (or wife) and are not guilty of envy or jealousy.

:extrahappy::dancing: - " … Not much mo-ney, OH, but ho-ney AIN’T we got*** fun?***"

 

[gruder18]

An OCD Carmelite priest said that the soul is a cup. In life, each person’s soul develops its ability to receive God in heaven. The more we pray and “exercise” in this life the more we are able to take in God. Of course, this was just his humble opinion.

I always had this imperfect analogy that heaven is a rock concert. All the named Saints are on the floor. It would be really great just to be there with nosebleed seats. But, why not sacrifice and pay for the floor seats and rock out in the mosh pit with Sts. Peter and Paul?

 

[Erich]

The term “levels” of heaven and hell to describe the degrees of punishment or reward reflects the literary imagery of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy more than the language of the Church. “Degrees” of perfection or punishment is the proper term. The degree of perfection of the beatific vision granted to the just is proportioned to each one’s merits.

Scriptural support may be found at:

Matthew 16:27 (DRV) – For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works.

1 Corinthians 3:8 (DRV) – Now he that planteth, and he that watereth, are one. And every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.

2 Corinthians 9:6 (DRV) – Now this I say: He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings.

1 Corinthians 15:41-42 (DRV) – One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption.

 

[Erich]

An OCD Carmelite priest said that the soul is a cup. In life, each person’s soul develops its ability to receive God in heaven. The more we pray and “exercise” in this life the more we are able to take in God. Of course, this was just his humble opinion.

I had heard something like this, as well. Some people can only receive a thimbleful, others a cupful, still others a bowlful, etc. When each is filled, it is full to capacity – no more will fit. It’s just that some will have more capacity than others.

 

[WeMustHaveFaith]

Like the man said, That would be hell.
How many times have you gazed in awe and joy at another human doing something you could not?
but because of the fall, we all want to be the best at everything but in heaven we will be happy for those who are better then us because it is showing god’s creation.

Have Faith.

 

[someperson555]

well he is right about that. different people living different levels of virtue wil merit more in heaven thus be more glorified.
honestly can you imagine that a man like st francis who lived his life in asceticism would be equal to some murderer who repented at the last minute?
ofcourse not!

however i do disagree with some of the other points mr kreeft made about heaven. for example, we will not have clothes in heaven in my opinion. it is silly to assume this, just because some people had near death experiences claiming such doesnt mean anything. in fact if you think about it, it doesnt really make much sense since the ressurection did not happen yet, so how could people who had near death experiences “see” the saints. that is why im skeptical of most near death experiences.

 

[mkdl_v17]

Different people living different levels of virtue… would that mean that in Heaven, the souls who, apart from the Blessed and the Saints, committed the fewest mistakes over the course of their lives (spending no time in Purgatory and frequently receiving the sacraments) would be given the highest commendations?