What happens to babies and children in heaven?

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PowersMama

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Hi.

Does anyone know if there has been speculation about what happens in heaven to babies and children who have died? What I mean is, do they “grow up” in heaven? Do they become adults instantly?
I doubt there is an official teaching on this, but I’m interested in knowing about what Church Fathers and theologians have had to say (if anything).

Thanks!
 
Existence in heaven is not static but dynamic. Since we are all individuals at different stages of growth is reasonable to believe everyone will have the opportunity to develop in their capacity for understanding, creativity, appreciation of beauty and love. There is no need for instant transformations to adulthood!
 
tonyrey said:
Existence in heaven is not static but dynamic. Since we are all individuals at different stages of growth is reasonable to believe everyone will have the opportunity to develop in their capacity for understanding, creativity, appreciation of beauty and love. There is no need for instant transformations to adulthood!
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Sure, but making the transition takes work and guidance. Say you have an aborted fetus, it has no knowledge or guidance at all at that point. What do you suggest happens in heaven for it (assuming it goes… unbaptized?) that would help it mature? Do you think God himself takes on this role?
 
liquidpele said:
Sure, but making the transition takes work and guidance. Say you have an aborted fetus, it has no knowledge or guidance at all at that point. What do you suggest happens in heaven for it (assuming it goes… unbaptized?) that would help it mature? Do you think God himself takes on this role?
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Obviously we are speculating about what happens in heaven but we do know no one would be penalized through no fault of their own - given that God is infinitely good and loving. An aborted fetus must have just as much opportunity to develop as anyone else and compensated for having been killed unnaturally. Whether he/she is baptized does not affect his/her joy and fulfilment in heaven because baptism is intended for those who wish to be totally identified with Jesus and share in His love, suffering, death, burial and resurrection in this life. This does not mean, of course, that those who are not baptised cannot reach heaven. So you have no cause for alarm! (provided you don’t commit terrible crimes. 😉 )
 
There are two issues here. One is the degree of maturity of those in Heaven and the other is what happens to unbaptized infants who die.

let me address the first. If a baptized baby dies and goes to Heaven, they would have full use of their intellectual faculties and for all intents and purposes, we would consider them adults. They might have less experiential knowledge than say one of the martyrs, but they would be no less “mature”. Oumode of learning in Heaven would be very different from what it is on earth, so while we might be inclined to think that they would need “time” to learn, that is not the case. Learning would have to occur through infusion or some other means were do not understand. Without bodies, they cannot learn through sense perception, which is the only way that we learn while on earth.
 
tonyrey said:
Obviously we are speculating about what happens in heaven but we do know no one would be penalized through no fault of their own - given that God is infinitely good and loving. An aborted fetus must have just as much opportunity to develop as anyone else and compensated for having been killed unnaturally. Whether he/she is baptized does not affect his/her joy and fulfilment in heaven because baptism is intended for those who wish to be totally identified with Jesus and share in His love, suffering, death, burial and resurrection in this life. This does not mean, of course, that those who are not baptised cannot reach heaven. So you have no cause for alarm! (provided you don’t commit terrible crimes. 😉 )
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Actually, I *am *baptized. 😉
 
liquidpele said:
Actually, I *am *baptized. 😉
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Bad luck! That means you have more responsibility… 😦
But wait a minute…

If you are sincere in your beliefs (and disbeliefs) and follow your conscience you still can’t go far wrong. There may be mitigating personal circumstances - which are none of our business. :o
 
tonyrey said:
Bad luck! That means you have more responsibility… 😦
But wait a minute…

If you are sincere in your beliefs (and disbeliefs) and follow your conscience you still can’t go far wrong. There may be mitigating personal circumstances - which are none of our business. :o
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I’ll just say this. I follow my heart and mind.
 
liquidpele said:
I’ll just say this. I follow my heart and mind.
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I’m glad you include the heart because, as Pascal said:
“**The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.****”
**In other words science cannot answer the most important questions… such as what happens to us when we die…
 
liquidpele said:
liquidpele;5734934:
I’ll just say this. I follow my heart and mind.
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I’m glad you include the heart because, as Pascal said:
“The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.**”
**In other words science cannot answer the most important questions… such as how should we live and what happens to us when we die…
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AnAtheist said:
So time passes in Heaven?
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God created a space-time continuum. So God (and heaven) exists “beyond” time and space.
Spiritual existence is not bound by spatio-temporal considerations. Truths are immutable but they are constantly being supplemented by more truths. Love does not change but it is creative nevertheless. Persons remain fundamentally the same persons but we transcend time and space even in this life with our thoughts… If we are not the same persons why are we responsible for what we did five years ago? Our spiritual nature is immune to the ravages of time because it is a sharing in the divine nature.
 
tonyrey said:
God created a space-time continuum. So God (and heaven) exists “beyond” time and space.
Spiritual existence is not bound by spatio-temporal considerations. Truths are immutable but they are constantly being supplemented by more truths.** Love does not change** but it is creative nevertheless. Persons remain fundamentally the same persons but we transcend time and space even in this life with our thoughts… If we are not the same persons why are we responsible for what we did five years ago? Our spiritual nature is immune to the ravages of time because it is a sharing in the divine nature.
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I’m getting sick of that argument… what evidence do you have? Something in scripture perhaps?

That, and you claim love doesn’t change? That’s absurd and you know it.
 
liquidpele said:
Code: 
                                                                  Originally Posted by **tonyrey**                     [forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif](http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=5755191#post5755191)                 
             *God created a space-time continuum. **So God (and heaven) exists "beyond" time and space.***
Spiritual existence is not bound by spatio-temporal considerations. Truths are immutable but they are constantly being supplemented by more truths.** Love does not change** but it is creative nevertheless. Persons remain fundamentally the same persons but we transcend time and space even in this life with our thoughts… If we are not the same persons why are we responsible for what we did five years ago? Our spiritual nature is immune to the ravages of time because it is a sharing in the divine nature.

I’m getting sick of that argument…
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You may find the conclusion unpalatable but that is not a good reason for rejecting it.🙂
Which of my statements is false and why? Why are we responsible for what we did five (or fifty) years ago?
what evidence do you have?
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The fact that truth, goodness, beauty, justice, equality, integrity and love are indestructible…
…and you claim love doesn’t change?
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Have you ceased loving your father and mother? Genuine love outlasts everything else:

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
 
AnAtheist said:
tonyrey forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif * Quote:
So time passes in Heaven?
God created a space-time continuum. So God (and heaven) exists “beyond”* time and space.
** Spiritual existence is** not bound by spatio-temporal considerations. Truths are immutable but they are constantly being supplemented by more truths. Love does not change but it is creative nevertheless. Persons remain fundamentally the same persons but **we transcend time and space even in this life **with our thoughts… If we are not the same persons why are we responsible for what we did five years ago? Our spiritual nature is immune to the ravages of time because it is a sharing in the divine nature.
Is that a yes or no or I don’t know or something else?
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Are you still unsure of my answer? 🙂
 
tonyrey said:
If they mean nothing **to you **there is no point in continuing.to discuss the matter with you…
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🙂 Quite right. But perhaps you care to explain what “beyond” menas in this context.
Is “our” space-time a subspace of a higher dimensional realm, where Heaven in embedded in other dimensions, and our time doesn’t pass in Heaven, because ∂x/∂t = 0, but we somehow do change there because ∂x/∂xn ≠ 0, n > 3?
 
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