Much of what is the Christian Cinematic Universe is fanfic, which is to say its speculation based on clerical opinions and monastics that spent a lot of time doing menial labor and worldbuilding in their minds.
The scholarly consensus notes the is little actual information about Heaven, and much of what we have is not univocal (different, often conflicting opinions) and is based on Greek philosophers’ models of the universe, not scripture.
That said, Christians who go to Heaven (according to modern Evangelical ministries) don’t actually get to keep their identity. If you were to go to Heaven and meet Hitler, you wouldn’t recognize Hitler, or remember who Hitler was or why Hitler was relevent in mortal life. Nor would the spirit Hitler remember the events of his own life. Essentially, you are two pure spirits serving as God’s bonding particles.
As with social media TOS, the devil is (proverbially) in the details. There is no guarantee of your memories, the capacity to sense nature and enjoy your perceptions, the ability to reason, to learn, to experience. All these are features of the material world.
Your ministry will make up dogma on the spot to reassure you and keep you from reconsidering your faith, but ultimatrly, as Pope Francis even admits, Only God knows what happens in the afterlife, what of us still remains or if it exists at all.
Much of what is the Christian Cinematic Universe is fanfic, which is to say its speculation based on clerical opinions and monastics that spent a lot of time doing menial labor and worldbuilding in their minds.
The scholarly consensus notes the is little actual information about Heaven, and much of what we have is not univocal (different, often conflicting opinions) and is based on Greek philosophers’ models of the universe, not scripture.
That said, Christians who go to Heaven (according to modern Evangelical ministries) don’t actually get to keep their identity. If you were to go to Heaven and meet Hitler, you wouldn’t recognize Hitler, or remember who Hitler was or why Hitler was relevent in mortal life. Nor would the spirit Hitler remember the events of his own life. Essentially, you are two pure spirits serving as God’s bonding particles.
As with social media TOS, the devil is (proverbially) in the details. There is no guarantee of your memories, the capacity to sense nature and enjoy your perceptions, the ability to reason, to learn, to experience. All these are features of the material world.
Your ministry will make up dogma on the spot to reassure you and keep you from reconsidering your faith, but ultimatrly, as Pope Francis even admits, Only God knows what happens in the afterlife, what of us still remains or if it exists at all.