Will Your Memory Go With You to Heaven

[Johny Joe Hold]

I was pleased to read an aggressive attack on the bogus case that we will lose our memories when we get to heaven. The author says it is ridiculous to think our memories will not go with us.

To me it is imperative I be able to identify sinners from back here on earth who might have tried to lie about their sins and slip by the heaven entrance requirements. The homers, liberals and that crew has to be identified and administered justice in the hereafter. One of Pastor Zeke's favorite sayings is "We never forget."

https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-author-rejects-idea-that-people-going-to-heaven-will-forget-everything.html

[Joanna Lytton-Vasey]

Re: Will Your Memory Go With You to Heaven

I was pleased to read an aggressive attack on the bogus case that we will lose our memories when we get to heaven.

It would be distressing if such bogus claims were true, because then we would not understand why we were in Heaven, or even be aware that the vast majority of others were not! That, frankly, would remove much of the joy and satisfaction at being there.

One of Pastor Zeke's favorite sayings is "We never forget."

I hadn't heard him use it in this context but, as ever, Pastor Zeke sums it up perfectly. Thank you, , for giving us Pastor Zeke.

Jeremiah 3:15 - And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

[Alvin Moss]

Re: Will Your Memory Go With You to Heaven

Sinners never make it to the gates of Heaven so they have no need of memory. Perhaps part of their just desserts is not knowing why it's so hot. For Christian folks, it is important to be able to clarify any questions the Lord may have at the last interview. That would not be possible if we didn't take our memories to Heaven.

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Re: Will Your Memory Go With You to Heaven

Thank you Mayor for posing what is a most interesting theological question.

Randy Alcorn has objected to the claim of some that when people go to Heaven, they will forget everything about their previous life on earth.

Randy Alcorn is, without doubt a "cafeteria Christian" choosing to believe or not believe those messages that God has given us according to the way that is convenient for him. Indeed, it is difficult to see Mr Alcorn as anything other than a false prophet, who should be stoned.

I say this with God’s Authority as Mr Alcom is proposing God as a liar, for we see

Ec:9:4: For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Ec:9:5: For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ec:9:6: Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

We must imagine a good Christian man with a goodly wife and a son. In the final years of the man’s life, God decides (in line with, and explained by, Romans 9:2) that his wife suffer from virulent and disfiguring leprosy, and his son is beset by demons of irrationality and starts destroying the man's house. The man, with immense Christian patience, does his very best to make life as liveable as possible for the two but, God, in His Wisdom, calls him home to heaven.

Now, let us imagine the man in heaven. If he remembers his wife and son as he left them, what effect does it have on him? Surely, his life in heaven would be marred by memory and the inability to help them at all.

"Pastor Bathfire!" I hear you say, "Would it not be the case that he would remember the happier moments - his wife as a young woman and his son as a child of whom he was proud?"

And I rely, "No, it could not be the case. For does this not make the contrast all the more poignant and, ultimately, more depressing? Could the Perfect Happiness of Heaven be marred by circumstance? And How can one be "depressed" in the presence of God?"

And I say, "Why didn't you ask that question first? Why can't you think for yourself?" and then I add "Well No - your suggestion is quite impossible:

The man would have to remember his wife and son only to the point immediately before their being awarded the privilege of being an advert for God's Powers and, for an eternity, he would go around thinking, "I wonder what happened next?"."

It would be like suffering from the Alzheimers! And that upsets people, and people cannot be upset in Heaven.

The only credible alternative to memory in heaven is no memory at all. You start your Life Eternal unaffected by the irrelevancies of the short threescore years and ten on earth.

This makes sense as 70 years is absolutely nothing compared to eternity. I give you a parable:

"There was a man and he did journey unto Reno, and somewhere upon the journey, a small piece of paper blew in the wind. And when he is arrived unto his hotel in Reno, the keeper of the hotel asks of him, "And do you remember that piece of paper that blew in the wind?" And the man answers, "What piece of paper?" For he is in Reno and his journey has reached its goal and all that was before is gone as the snows of winter." But is the man any less happy? No, for his mind is now set upon the business before him, which business brought him to Reno in the first place, and all his memories are set aside.”

And so it is with Heaven. You have no truck with this short sojourn in the Vale of Tears that we call "life". Instead, possessed of “The Life Eternal", you are imbued with the knowledge of God and His presence. You share in the Knowledge that was Christ's on Earth and have no memories of the minor irritations that are no more than small tests of our resolve to be a True Christian.


On the question of whether you can look down upon Earth and see the futile and sinful masses in their sorrow, misery and pain, squirming like maggots in a carcass, the answer is "of course you can." But - and here is the point: YOU WILL KNOW WHY IT IS SO AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND GOD'S PLAN, AND LIKE UNTO HIM, YOU WILL BE UNAFFECTED BY THE IRRELEVANCIES OF LIFE AND IMPERFECT STANDARDS OF MORALITY ON EARTH.


I leave you ponder

Ec:1:18: For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Ro:11:33: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

The first sets aside any meaning to our experiences on earth; the second tells us of the perfect understanding we will have, and when we, from heaven, see that old, leprous woman, and the young man tortured by demons, we will not know them but we will understand, like God understands, why it is that they are that way.

I throw in for good measure:

Re:4:8: And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Now you will instantly realize that if any of those beasts had any memories whatsoever, one day their mind would drift a little and they would forget to say "Holy, holy, holy," - but they don't.


I hope this helps and puts an end to the words of the evil Randy Alcorn.

[Johny Joe Hold]

Re: Will Your Memory Go With You to Heaven

Thank you, Pastor Bathfire, for that powerful essay on memory in heaven. It is easy to see why you hold the powerful post of Pastor for Diversity and Tolerance.

As a layperson I can only understand some of your post. Certainly, the story of the husband who left behind the unpleasant memories of an ailing wife and son so he could experience bliss in the hereafter makes perfect sense.

I remain unable to fathom, nevertheless, how we in Landover Baptist can leave behind our responsibilities to call out and condemn sinners should we encounter them in heaven. Yes, the gates should block them. But Satan is a wily foe and I'm not as confident as some that he will stop his effort as Heaven's Gate. As you posted this is all something to ponder.

God Bless you Pastor Bathfire.