Heavenly Memory?

[Aloysius]

In heaven, you remember your life (otherwise there would be no point in having a life to begin with)

Here's a difficult question: do you remember the sinful things you did in your life? On the one hand everything you did makes you who you are, and if you're in heaven you have learned from those mistakes. On the other hand nothing imperfect can enter heaven, to remember sinning would be to make present in your mind something evil and sinful.

[jezic]

how could anyone here say what we will remember in Heaven?

[phatcatholic]

just thinkin out loud here.................maybe it [i]is[/i] possible for you to remember sin in heaven. afterall, the martyrs underneath the altar (from the book of revelation) ask for justice to be paid against those who shed their blood on earth. it is certainly a sin to kill a christian for his faith. if they remember the sins of other people, it seems like they would remember their own too, and that this would be allowable in heaven. i dunno, just a preliminary thought.......

[Era Might]

[quote]"Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo."

"I will sing forever the mercies of the Lord."

--St. Teresa of Avila[/quote]

The knowledge of sins is not shameful in Heaven, but a reminder of the mercy that permitted your entrance. All sins will be reckoned up on judgement day for everyone to see.

[Aloysius]

but if the sin is present in your memory the sin is present in heaven. a mind with sin on it is not a perfected mind.

I suppose it's in the fact that that sin is not enjoyed or desired that makes it not having a sin present in heaven, but I still cannot see a saint in heaven remembering an act of fornication he did while on earth, even if he is not desiring that memory it is still being made present in his mind.

and I'm not sure I can believe that St. Teresa of Avila was the first to say that; sounds more like a psalm to me haha

[philothea]

I've heard St. Teresa's take, and also Dante's, who had everyone dipped in a river that made them forget their sins, and then a river that made them remember only God's mercies, before entering paradise... but I still don't see how this could work. Also, supposedly God forgets your sins after confession, so how is it we're remembering forevermore things that God doesn't?



I could see knowing your own sins, and how God has forgiven them, and being cool with that, but knowing [i]everyone else's[/i] sins, and everyone else knowing yours? And that's [i]heaven??[/i] Ick.

It's one of those things I can't comprehend, and have to avoid thinking about.

[Era Might]

So St. Augustine no longer knows that he fostered a son out of wedlock? What if his son is in Heaven? Does he know it's his son, but not how he begot him?

I don't think simply remembering sins is a defilement. The Saints know our sins, they bring them to mind, and they aren't defiled. They'll also have their own sins revealed on judgement day, and unless God suspends the beatific vision for that time, they'll still be in Heaven during judgement and the recounting of their sins.

Maybe there's no "memory erase" ala The Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but they're probably too wrapped up in worship to think about stuff from earth, or at least bad stuff.

[quote name='philothea' post='990791' date='May 26 2006, 12:36 AM']
and also Dante's, who had everyone dipped in a river that made them forget their sins, and then a river that made them remember only God's mercies, before entering paradise...
[/quote]

But wouldn't the recounting of God's mercies require a remembrance of what he was having mercy on? Also, the word "mercies" is plural. It seems to suggest praise for each particular mercy he's shown, not just a general mercy. I think someone in Heaven knowing their sins would remind them of how low they actually were, and how high they've actually come.

[Aloysius]

knowing and remembering may be two different concepts. maybe the solution lies in knowing, not remembering.

because a memory is like a video-recording, you would see it played in your mind. that is what I cannot see as existing in heaven... it just gives me the heeby jeebies that an actual memory-record of evil would be playing in someone's mind in heaven.

[phatcatholic]

era.............nice movie reference

[Seven77]

Era---on point once again!

[Carnanc]

interesting question. Even if someone way we can remember or know of our past sins in heaven, I would think it unlikely, since heaven is the fullfillment of our desire to be with God and at peace, and because as we have said no imperfection can exist in heaven, that the memory of these sins if they are remembered would cause no hinderance to the full vision of God in heaven, and would present no distraction.