Will our soul have a sense of 'self' in Heaven?

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without said:
You felt and knew nothing before you were born, correct? … you will feel and know nothing when you die.

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” - Oscar Wilde
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How are we to be sure that we experienced nothing before this life on earth? We could have lived another life but just completely forgotten about it.
 
StrawberryJam said:
Good question Mr. Cobalt
However, are you not curious at all to know what the biblical basis would be for a theologian to extrapolate anything from the text to come up with this?
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Actually the “basis” preceded the bible. Apostolic Revelation and Catholic teaching had spread to every corner of the known world long before the bible was compiled. The concept of afterlife (heaven/hell) was well established.
Your faith teaches you that the role you have in heaven is to worship and praise God for eternity.
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It does?

Benedict XII, Put it all together quite nicely back in 1336.

“By virtue of our apostolic authority, we define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints . . . and other faithful who died after receiving Christ’s holy Baptism (provided they were not in need of purification when they died, . . . or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death, . . .) already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment - and this since the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven - have been, are and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.”

Notice a few things…
  1. Pope Benedict uses the term “we define”. That means he is speaking infallibly about a doctrine that existed.
  2. He makes no mention of our “role” in heaven requiring us to worship and praise God for eternity.
and
  1. There is no mention of “sense of self” whatsoever.
 
Robert_Sock said:
How are we to be sure that we experienced nothing before this life on earth? We could have lived another life but just completely forgotten about it.
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That is not Catholic doctrine.

Our parents were co-creators with God. We did not exist, even as a twinkle in our Dad’s eye, or as a star, or as a soul, until the act of pro-creation.

After death, however, we continue in our eternal life, albeit in a different realm.
 
triumphguy said:
That is not Catholic doctrine.

Our parents were co-creators with God. We did not exist, even as a twinkle in our Dad’s eye, or as a star, or as a soul, until the act of pro-creation.

After death, however, we continue in our eternal life, albeit in a different realm.
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I never said it was! If you read my post more carefully, I was just making a statement to an Atheist.
 
Robert_Sock said:
I predict that it will not, at least not the way we currently experience ‘self.’ Moreover, in Heaven there will be a complete spiritual unification with God and others which will fully occupy us, rendering the ‘self’ to cease to exist (or at least experienced in a qualitatively different way).
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I don’t see how it could be any other way possible. I was taught that at the moment of death the Soul indeed leaves the body but the soul is immortal and lives on forever.
 
without said:
You felt and knew nothing before you were born, correct? … you will feel and know nothing when you die.

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” - Oscar Wilde
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Not according to the word of God. The word of God says we have eternal life in Christ. That at the moment of death our soul departs from the body. The soul lives on forever.
 
St_Redemption said:
Agreed 🙂

We must be vastly different in Heaven because we do not sin in Heaven.
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Possibly, but remember we can become Saints here on earth. We know this because we are indeed all called to be Saints.

And Christ showed us as human, it is possible to have Sainthood on earth. We are called to rid one of oneself, and become one with God.
 
Robert_Sock said:
How are we to be sure that we experienced nothing before this life on earth? We could have lived another life but just completely forgotten about it.
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Actually the bible says “a man is given ONCE to die, but after this the judgement” Heb.9:27
 
Although we will be with God, I do not see how Heaven could be all that wonderful IF one were to lose one’s sense of self. Self awareness is what life is all about, how can anyone really be alive if we lose that at death. Jesus promises us life everlasting and self consciousness is a big part of being alive. Otherwise what is the point.
 
without said:
You felt and knew nothing before you were born, correct? … you will feel and know nothing when you die.

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” - Oscar Wilde
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And have the worms crawling around eating your body. How beautiful.
 
Christianus_Dei said:
As I understand it, when we’re with God we’ll be more ourselves than ever before.
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Yes I believe we will be ourselves, but more so, with much more knowledge and understanding. And all our relatives will be there to greet us, and all the wonderful people who lived so long ago like Mozart, Bach, St. Francis, etc. It’s going to be beyond our wildest dreams.
 
CHRISTINE77 said:
What so beautiful about it? Yikes! I guess you could avoid it if you got cremated.
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Why would I want to avoid nature? This is what life is (and has been) for everything… why would I consider myself to be something special and above other living things?

Why would you propose something against Catholic teachings…ccaw.org/about_cremation.html

anyway - my family knows I want to not be embalmed, cause having your blood sucked out and replaced with chemicals so you don’t decompose for years is a truly disgusting process. Just plant me in a simple wood casket when the time comes. Better for the worms to get in I guess. 👍
 
Not only do we retain a sense of self, we will get an enhanced sense of self. This is because we are now united in full with God, to who we owe our uniqueness.

It is the souls in hell who will be a much diminished version of themselves,since they are forever sundered from God, who made them in the first place.

As it says in the Bible, those who lose themselves to God will find themselves and those who refuse to give themselves to God will in the end lose themselves.
 
without said:
Why would I want to avoid nature? This is what life is (and has been) for everything… why would I consider myself to be something special and above other living things?

Why would you propose something against Catholic teachings…ccaw.org/about_cremation.html

anyway - my family knows I want to not be embalmed, cause having your blood sucked out and replaced with chemicals so you don’t decompose for years is a truly disgusting process. Just plant me in a simple wood casket when the time comes. Better for the worms to get in I guess. 👍
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Why obsess with the natural when you can get the good supernatural.
 
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