Why don't the resurrected remember where they were?

[TK421]

If the soul goes to either heaven or hell when a person dies, why don’t those that were resurrected in the Bible ever recall their experience of being either in heaven or hell? Why do they awaken as if emerging from slumber?

The hippocampus has no way of storing and retrieving that information so it would not be remembered unless God willed it.

If it wasn’t time for that person’s Final Judgment then there might not be anything to remember.

 

[Vico]

If the soul goes to either heaven or hell when a person dies, why don’t those that were resurrected in the Bible ever recall their experience of being either in heaven or hell? Why do they awaken as if emerging from slumber?

There is a resurrection of the faithfully departed at the Parousia, in their glorified bodies, which is different than resurrection to an unglorified body.

 

[BlueMaxx]

The word “sleep” is used throughout the scriptures and also by Jesus…although I cannot find nor have I heard a definitive answer to what this sleep means in our reality.

I am sure someone with a larger brain pan than mine knows the answer…

 

[The_Old_Maid]

Clarifying the terminology:

resuscitation, revivification, resurrection . Resuscitation is a technique performed by first-responders, preferably within four minutes before the onset of brain damage. Before people knew what resuscitation was and how to do it, it must have looked miraculous. It really is a medical procedure.

Revivification is a miracle. A revivified human is raised from the dead, healed of whatever killed them, and healed of decomposition since death. Thus a person could be dead for four hours, four days, or for four thousand years and still be revivified. This miracle appears over ten times in the Bible. See 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37; 2 Kings 13:20-21; Ezek. 37:1-14; Matt. 10:8; Matt. 11:5; Matt. 27:52-53; Acts 9:36-42; Acts 20:9-12, Hebr. 11:35 . Three famous revivifications performed by Jesus are for the widow of Nain’s son ( Luke 7:12-16 ); the daughter of Jairus ( Matt. 9:18-19, 23-25; Mark 5:22-24, 35-43; Luke 8:41-42, 49-56 ); and Lazarus of Bethany ( John 11:1-44, 12:1-2, 9-11 ).

As we see, the majority of Biblical miracles of raising the dead are revivifications. Someday, every soul will experience something very different: resurrection.

Resurrection is a miracle. It happened first with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He rose from the dead in a resurrection body and resurrection nature: a forever-body and a forever-nature. This is why Col. 1:18, Rev. 1:5, Psa. 89:27 calls Christ the first-born of the dead: He was the first resurrected human. Death no longer has dominion over Him ( Rom. 6:9 ). Those who are resuscitated or revivified remain mortals in mortal bodies. They will live out their lives and die. When we are resurrected, we will never die again.)

Otherwise, we would have situations like “A Kiss Before the Apocalypse” by Thomas E. Sniegoski … where a Biblical real person received a forever-body but not a forever nature (since the Last Judgment had not taken place). It ends badly for that poor soul.

You may now return to the question at hand of whether the revivified remembered where they went. I seem to remember someone on CAF stating that Lazarus of Bethany did remember some of the things he saw, and never smiled again in his life.

 

[Dlee]

First, you need to ask if they were resurrected or resuscitated. My understanding is that Jesus is the only resurrection, all others were raised from the dead or resuscitated - they retained their earthly physical body.

 

[The_Old_Maid]

Jesus was Resurrected. Everyone else was revivified. So they had more than enough time to go wherever they were going.

 

[Todd_Easton]

If the soul goes to either heaven or hell when a person dies, why don’t those that were resurrected in the Bible ever recall their experience of being either in heaven or hell?

Perhaps recall in this life is ordinarily only possible with memories stored while the brain is alive. Between their death and their resurrection, their brains would have been dead and unable to store memories and so after their resurrection they would not be able to remember where they were.

I assume that the memories of their brief time in heaven or hell, between their death and their resurrection, would have been stored in their soul’s memory and accessible to them when they were no longer subject to the limitations of this life.

 

[BartholomewB]

Perhaps recall in this life is ordinarily only possible with memories stored while the brain is alive. Between their death and their resurrection, their brains would have been dead and unable to store memories and so after their resurrection they would not be able to remember where they were.

Good point. The soul and the mind are not the same thing.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Ascension is active, means He went to heaven under His own power. Assumption means she was passive, was brought to heaven by God’s power.

 

[PenguinBeak]

I see. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Gorgias]

Care to explain the distinction between the Lord’s Ascension and His Mother’s Assumption? Surely, both are entering heaven?

Jesus ascended to heaven under His own divine power. Mary has no such divine power, and therefore, was assumed into heaven by God.

Her assumption is different than any other person’s experience of death, since she was assumed into heaven “body and soul.”

So, the distinction isn’t in the destination, but in the way in which they got there.

 

[Vico]

If the soul goes to either heaven or hell when a person dies, why don’t those that were resurrected in the Bible ever recall their experience of being either in heaven or hell? Why do they awaken as if emerging from slumber?

I think this is not explained in scripture. However, consider that the body is not present in heaven or hell until the resurrection of the body occurs. The body and soul together constitute the person per St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote that the person is a (matter-form) composite rather than a soul in a body.

With that basis the older person has a more developed intellectual soul.

 

[ahs]

Does Jesus not resurrect people in the New Testament?

I apologize if this is a repeat. The thread kinda went a different direction and I didn’t see anyone mention this: keep in mind that, prior to His death on the cross, Christ had not reopened the gates to Heaven. So, those who died while He was still in his earth-ministry would not have gone to Heaven yet.

 

[PenguinBeak]

Yes, the fact that it’s not explained in Scripture is what I was told in the thread.

However, consider that the body is not present in heaven or hell until the resurrection of the body occurs. The body and soul together constitute the person per St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote that the person is a (matter-form) composite rather than a soul in a body.

With that basis the older person has a more developed intellectual soul.

Okay, but why draw my attention to that conclusion? What relevance does it have to the key topic of this thread?

 

[PenguinBeak]

That’s interesting. So everyone was, at best, in Limbo after death but nonetheless, they were all in Hell. Interesting.

 

[PenguinBeak]

St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote that the person is a (matter-form) composite rather than a soul in a body.

I forgot to ask, what’s the difference between the matter-form composite idea and the soul-in-a-body idea?

 

[ahs]

That’s interesting. So everyone was, at best, in Limbo after death but nonetheless, they were all in Hell. Interesting.

Sort of. Recall that there is “Hell” as we’ve come to know it ( of the damned), but there was also Sheol and/or Abraham’s Bosom (maybe that’s Sheol…don’t remember).
Anyway, in the parable of the rich man and the beggar (Lazarus), Jesus makes a distinction between them, and says “a great chasm exists between “ them, and no one can go from one to the other.

 

[Totus_tuus118]

First of all , only Christ was resurrected in the bible , the Blessed Mother also traditionally believed to be resurrected before her assumption into Heaven.

The likes of Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter and those who appeared from their graves after Christs death were …you could say ‘resuscitated’. Not resurrected.

Resurrection is the glorification of ones body making it new and incorruptible. The others later died again in their resuscitated bodies.

Those souls were in Abrahams bosom , (also known as limbo of the Fathers ) as Heaven was still closed until Christs redemptive work was complete.

 

[PenguinBeak]

My understanding on the idea of the sections of Hell comes entirely from this video by Dr. Taylor Marshall. Based off of this video, I believe the following can be asserted:

1. Hell, Sheol and Hades are all the same term.
2. You are correct that “Hell” usually refers to what Jesus himself would’ve called “Gehenna” whilst talking about the fires of the Underworld and all of the suffering and torment that goes on in there
3. Abraham’s Bosom, Limbo and Limbo of the Fathers all refer to the same place, a paradise on the edge of hell.

Jesus makes a distinction between them, and says “a great chasm exists between “ them, and no one can go from one to the other.

Jesus makes a distinction between what? Also, what point are you making here?

 

[Vico]

Yes, the fact that it’s not explained in Scripture is what I was told in the thread.

Vico:

However, consider that the body is not present in heaven or hell until the resurrection of the body occurs. The body and soul together constitute the person per St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote that the person is a (matter-form) composite rather than a soul in a body.

With that basis the older person has a more developed intellectual soul.

Okay, but why draw my attention to that conclusion? What relevance does it have to the key topic of this thread?

I forgot exactly, but I think it was triggered by somebody mentioning infants that died. It seems it was not you.