Do we lose our memories in heaven?

I use to think.. we would lose some yet.. Jesus is our best example. Were not puppets. So many things never get finished here. God calls some.. life happens.. it LOOKS as if they missed it. But. what EVER HE STARTS He will finish.

Yet.. take the CROSS... we will remember that...all that happen. To our enemy that was horrific lol.. not to us. If we read the word.. the OT then NT we find people that were dead.. talking about things. I believe you will.. the PAIN the SUFFERING of that.. will be gone as the Lord said.. will be gone.. Your still YOU... when you step from this life to where you belong.. your still going.. still learning.. just no EVIL in any way shape or form will be there to hinder you. You will see people there.. and know about the times you said or did something and.. regretted it. And will want to make it right...

Again.. your still YOU! We just dont see how EVIL how SIN really ..hmm ....blinds us? Bless you in Jesus name

Very good point, Hillsage.

CrystalDragon said:

Here's the thing: hell is an awful place. I have things I could say on it but I won't (yet) for the purposes of this thread.

If we have any sort of conscience at all, we'd feel terrible for those suffering in hell. But it's said that in heaven there will be no more tears, and we'll only be focused on worshipping God.

By the sound of it, in heaven we basically lose our memories and personalities and are only focused on worshipping God and nothing else.

If that's the case, then if we discount Purgatory our afterlife options are either being tortured forever in hell or being brainwashed until we aren't "us" anymore in heaven. Which if that's the case then God is not love and is instead a sadistic tyrant.

So, DO we lose our memories in heaven? Are we able to stay who we were on Earth? If our memories are erased, then what was the point of us being judged for our actions if God could easily wire our brains to act a certain way from when we were young?

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I think everything is so good in heaven we forget about the past, and it's also written God is kind to the wicked and ungrateful.
Study the bible more here are some verses.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Romans chapter 1 verse 28
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

John chapter 8 verse 31,32
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, " If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
2 John
9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Job chapter 23 verse 12
I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Matthew 11
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Luke chapter 21
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Romans chapter 10
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Mark chapter 13
31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
James chapter 1
25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James chapter 4
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Isaiah chapter 45 verse 19
I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.
Jeremiah chapter 9
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 1
5 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.

disciple1 said:

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

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A sign says this on a food table for the hungry I drive by often.

CrystalDragon said:

That part I bolded is precisely one of the problems I have.

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To me that is a ridiculous statement. I said heaven is a place where we will be overwhelmed by the love of God and it will overpower everything else we feel. Your reply is that you have a problem with that. I find that very strange and it appears to me that I have a far bigger image of God and His love for us than you do. I dont mean that in a condemning or judgemental way but would like to encourage you to dig deeper into getting to know Him better.

You also need to remember that we are created in the image of God. I believe that part of that is the trait that we want people to choose to like and/or love us. I have no real desire to be in a relationship with someone who had no choice in the matter and I dont believe God does either. As such He gave us free will and gives us the opportunity to choose Him.

GirdYourLoins said:

I believe that part of that is the trait that we want people to choose to like and/or love us.

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Another trait is to want to leave the 99 to look for the one lost sheep. Partying with the found sheep while others are still out there lost seems wrong somehow.

CrystalDragon said:

Here's the thing: hell is an awful place. I have things I could say on it but I won't (yet) for the purposes of this thread.

If we have any sort of conscience at all, we'd feel terrible for those suffering in hell. But it's said that in heaven there will be no more tears, and we'll only be focused on worshipping God.

By the sound of it, in heaven we basically lose our memories and personalities and are only focused on worshipping God and nothing else.

If that's the case, then if we discount Purgatory our afterlife options are either being tortured forever in hell or being brainwashed until we aren't "us" anymore in heaven. Which if that's the case then God is not love and is instead a sadistic tyrant.

So, DO we lose our memories in heaven? Are we able to stay who we were on Earth? If our memories are erased, then what was the point of us being judged for our actions if God could easily wire our brains to act a certain way from when we were young?

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I will begin by stating that the Bible does not suggest that our memories will be relinquished in any respect, but rather that the former wickedness that was present in the world will no longer be brought to account. That being said, I want you to listen carefully to the following points and infer rightly and humbly what you should expect God to have prepared for us, because you present a bizarre and highly ignorant understanding of who God is, which has caused you to arrive at these absurd conclusions and charicatures of the insufficiencies of God's plans for the future of those who belong to Him.

Primarily, you do not seem to appreciate that God is the cause of all existence outside of Himself and what that implies. As the source of all things, God is the source of all life, all goodness, all truth and all joy. His perfect nature and His will, which flows incontrovertibly from His immutable person, constitute these very things in their entirety. Because God is the Creator of all souls, He is the author of all life. Since morality requires agency, and God is the only eternal mind, God's very nature is the good; His nature is what defines it, and His nature is immutable (Malachi 3:6, Numbers 23:19). There is no good that is not of God. Therefore we can expect the righteousness and justice of God to be exactly what is appropriate, and at the time when we see Him that will be made perfectly manifest to us, because we will see Him as He is and wickedness for what it is.

Additionally, God is the author of all existence, the Creator of the universe and of the soul and it's physical brain. Thus God is the Creator of the observed and the observer, in their entirety, and is therefore the author of all that can be known and the capacities of the mind and brain of the one who can know it. As such, God is the author of all truth, and any application of the mind, which has been endowed all of its capacities by God, against His disclosures is the most absurd use of that mind. It would be to suppose that God is trying to deceive you while equipping you with the intellectual faculties sufficient to discern the truth and falsehood with such accuracy that you would thwart His efforts. Likewise, it would be to suppose that God's wisdom of His assembling of your brain faculties is superior to that of His own mind, which is self-defeating. Doubt of God does not arrive from authentically rational investigation, therefore, but rather from mere ignorance or freedom of the will to do so.

Also highly important for you to understand is that, as the source of all existence, including the spiritual and physical nature of you and the world that would provide the context in which you would exercise your free will, God is the author of all joy. He is author not only of what can be enjoyed, but of your nature that can even desire it to experience the joy of receiving it, whatever it is that is good. As an example, He not only creates a social environment, but the social nature that seeks such an environment and finds pleasure in its fulfilment. You suggest that God and all His glory would be insufficient to bring eternal fulfilment precisely because you do not grasp this point comprehensively. If you understood that anything you've ever enjoyed was created by God and derives it entire conception from God, the only thing you would be anxiously awaiting is the discovery of just how joyful the experience of the author of all these things Himself must be. It is rather absurd to be able to find such great pleasure in trivial things for an extensive period of time in our present life (socializing, learning, going for walks, marrying, having children, watching shows, eating, observing nature, playing, laughing, etc.) yet imagine that the author of all such things and the Creator of the mechanisms by which we enjoy them must Himself be such a bore. Most people have no problem engaging in hobbies for hours per day, including things as simple as reading and watching television. It is not to be underestimated both how simple human appetites are and how abundantly joyful God will be to the senses of our soul.

Furthermore, your post betrays a great love, even infatuation, for the self that has such strength you would deem it evil for God to desire to change any element of it precisely because it is of yourself. To this there is nothing to say except that you need a great dose of humility and to remember the words of Christ: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Matthew 16:25)." And also: "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10)." "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3)."

Recognize that it is not your person that is the good, but God's. Your wisdom is not superior to your maker and His provision of your mind, but rather your mind is free that you may truly love and truly do good, not that you may do and be what thou wilt.

In conclusion, God is the source of all things good, true and joyous. He ought thus to be honoured as such and expected to know full well what His plans are and their incommensurable worth. Your misery and faithlessness in that is ungrounded and either innocent frustrated ignorance or a love for the sin that condemns. God will be shown to be "just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26)." Trust that He knows what He's doing far better than you know or could appreciate in our present condition and you will have the peace that comes from humility, wisdom, and soundness of mind. "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived"— the things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9)."

RayJeena said:

Another trait is to want to leave the 99 to look for the one lost sheep. Partying with the found sheep while others are still out there lost seems wrong somehow.

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Again, I see this as an underestimating of who God is. He goes after all of the lost sheep and gives them a chance to choose and follow Him. If they decide to go their own way using the free will they were given should God be criticised for letting them make that choice? And I find leading someone to becoming a born again Christian and receiving the Holy Spirit (you can see the change) is a joyous thing and something to be celebrated. Because God rejoices at every person who chooses Him, you are condemning Him. His will is that all would be saved and the fact He finds each and every one that is saved a reason for celebration shows His love for each and every one of us.

Albion said:

Since we're all speculating, I'll give my perspective. It is that the Bible assures us of heaven and hell, but knowing exactly what they are like is not much developed.

This is probably because that's of secondary importance to the question of which way each of us goes OR ELSE it is much above our ability to comprehend with our mortal brains. Probably it is mainly the latter. Yet, we humans have an insatiable need to know all these things so the questions are always going to be asked.

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I am sure the scriptures say somewhere that we will know and recognise each other in the kingdom of God from our former life.

GirdYourLoins said:

Again, I see this as an underestimating of who God is. He goes after all of the lost sheep and gives them a chance to choose and follow Him. If they decide to go their own way using the free will they were given should God be criticised for letting them make that choice? And I find leading someone to becoming a born again Christian and receiving the Holy Spirit (you can see the change) is a joyous thing and something to be celebrated. Because God rejoices at every person who chooses Him, you are condemning Him. His will is that all would be saved and the fact He finds each and every one that is saved a reason for celebration shows His love for each and every one of us.

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When He finds the lost sheep, he brings it home. Scripture doesn't say He gives the sheep a choice. "And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home."

CrystalDragon said:

Isn't it said that people go to heaven if they've never heard of Jesus? So why spread the word? If you spread the word, and unbelief sends someone to hell (highly unjustly imo), then wouldn't it be a better, kinder alternative to not spread the word at all?




But apparently good moral people can get sent to hell for not believing. How is that "unrighteuous"?



Though apparently, as I stated above, otherwise good people who just don't believe are tortured forever. While apparently everyone who genuinely believes in Jesus goes to heaven. So someone could do terrible things "because God told them to", confess their sins and automatically be forgiven by Jesus, and go to heaven.



"Some people will only get saved if hell is their only alternative"? Then that is not love. That is intimidation and threat and the opposite of love.

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As to: "Isn't it said that people who haven't heard of Jesus go to heaven?" I don't know who says that, but the bible doesn't. According to what I read in the bible,people become saved when they turn from their evil ways, that is repent, and start living their lives by loving their neighbors as themselves, as Paul describes it living in the Spirit.

It is my personal belief that if someone is not living a life in the Spirit they are not saved. Jesus said they need to follow the commandments and love their neighbors as themselves. Paul says,the law,and the prophets all rest on loving our neighbors as ourselves, living a born again life.

If someone is living for themselves and have not heard of Jesus I'm sorry, but the bible says that soul is bound for hell.

If, however, that same person lives their lives as God and Jesus commanded, loving their neighbors, as themselves then yes, I personally believe they will go to heaven, even if not calling Jesus by name. Jesus is in spirit as much as He ever was in body.

CrystalDragon said:

What about verses such as Isaiah 65:17? I know that's about the "new heaven and new earth", but it implies some sense of memory wipe. Plus there's supposed to be no sin in heaven. If our "human nature" is sin, or everything we do is sin, wouldn't our personalities need to be changed by default?



Isn't God also the source of all death, all evil, all lies, and all misery too? If nothing can exist outside of him, and good is connected to him, then isn't evil just the same? In the Old Testament he says that he causes both light and darkness and peace and calamity. One says "shall there be evil in a city and the Lord have not done it"? He sends evil spirits and lying spirits at different points in the Old Testament, and he hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he wouldn't let Moses's people go. Saying that morality is depending on God could therefore mean that anything that God says suddenly becomes moral. Then again, things we'd find terrible are apparently moral in the Old Testament. Killing everyone in a city but taking all the virgins for yourselves? (Numbers 31:7-18) That's moral. Enslave a town if they don't resist but if they do kill them and take the livestock and women as war prizes? (Deuteronomy 20:10-14) Also apparently moral. Sending half of Jerusalem into exile and allowing spoils to be taken and the women to be ravished leaving only half the city intact> (Zechariah 14:1-2) Also apparently moral. There are points in the Bible where God does bad things (like those I listed) and good things, so we can't say he's "all good". And if he's the source of morality, and those things I listed are God-approved in the Bible, why do we not find such things moral? Why are they so awful?



Along with the "God is both in charge of good and evil" points above, notice how what heaven is supposed to be like is never really described in much detail. We hear about how we will worship God and sing his praises and every knee will bow, but that's it. My problem with the "overwhelmed by God's glory" thing that I referenced in a pervious post is that it implies all we'll want to do is worship God, and that's all that will be on our minds. That implies some restriction of free will, especially because there's supposed to be no sin in heaven. And speaking of, I don't think "free will" even exists. If everything happens according to God's plan—which it must be, because otherwise he wouldn't be all-knowing and all-powerful and he wouldn't really have a "divine plan" if something could stray from it—then we only have the illusion of free will. Not only did God harden Pharaoh's heart multiple times in Exodus so he wouldn't let the people go (even when Pharaoh was ready to let them go), but it's also said, but among all the horrible things of Leviticus 26 he says in verse 29 that "I will make you eat the flesh of your sons and daughters"—I notice that it only says he'll "make them" do it in some translations, but the point still seems to be there.



It's not "infatuation for the self", it's more not wanting to lose who I am as a person. If I'm not me, then it's like the old me never existed. Then if that's the case why does God judge us for heaven or hell? If he can change our minds in heaven so we never sin and only want to worship him, then why not just have everyone be like that in the end anyway? Why not have us in heaven to begin with? Why act as if the earth is some kind of "test" when 1. it's only about a century compared to eternity, and 2. God already knows the outcome of said test and 3. He just changes us anyway?



We can't "truly love" if we are forced to. We can't be "us" if we are forced to be who we aren't.



See my points above about God being in charge and doing both good and evil. We can't just say "oh God is all good" when God's words and actions in the Bible indicate that he plays a part in the other side of the coin as well.

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You seem to be missing the fundamental truths that are deduced as logically necessary. Not only are these truths Biblically confirmed, but they can be apprehended through natural theological intuitions for the one who objectively applies their reason to understanding the nature of their existence and God's. These fundamental and logically necessary truths are that God's nature is the good, and that you are a creation in your entirety; everything you have received is from God (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Concerning the first point, you try to object to the morality of God's nature by appealing to verses you deem to contain immoral commands or permissions from God. The irony of this is that you are implicitly presupposing some impersonal, abstract origin of morals that is completely removed from the person if God, so that God's perfection is not defined by His immutable nature but rather some inexplicably existing set of moral values that transcends God Himself. This is absurd because morals are intrinsically connected to personal agents, not impersonal forces or abstract ideas. For example, water is not immoral as it continually erodes the rocks submerged in it, as it neither intends to or not to; they both are simply responding to physical laws imposed on them. However, a person is immoral when they intentionally and continually wear a person down physically or emotionally for the mere sake of diminishing them (that is, there is no warrant for opposing the person to induce their fatigue). God is eternal mind and is therefore the only person who has existed without prior cause and therefore has n explanation or provision of His existence outside of Himself; He is self-sufficient in the comprehensively literal sense. Thus God by His very nature is the intrinsic source of moral values and authority.

Which brings us to the second point not being properly understood. You wrote that post based on considerations you made using your brain, all the while opposing the morally and intellectually superior wisdom of the God who designed the set of faculties you used. Now understand, since God created us, the universe that surrounds us and everything extrinsic to Himself, everything in all existence derives it's being from God in its entirety. This includes the entity inside of our flesh we call the brain, which was created to be our fleshly device by which we process our thoughts, emotions and the world around us in our mental interactions with it. This brain in which we contain all of our cognitive capacities and functions was provided by God all of its abilities, not only in its range of apprehensions of truths but also in its ability to apprehend categories of truth.

What I mean by ranges of apprehension is our brains capacity to be used to process information at certain speeds, the amount of information our brain can hold simultaneously, how efficient our thought processes are, how much access we have to our subconscious, etc.; our quantitative abilities. What I mean by categories of apprehension is what we can apprehend to exist at all, which we can extend the range of our capacities through to apprehend knowledge about such matters. To provide an example, the range of our cognitive capacities concerning moral truths would be applied to discriminating between events and actions to determine the moral quality of those events and actions. Our cognitive capacity of categorical apprehension of truth in this instance would be the ability to understand that their even is a moral realm to apprehend at all.

Thus, God is the comprehensive source of our apprehensions, and if God wanted to deceive us, being the designer of our cognitive functions and capacities in their entirety, He would not even have to try. All God would have to do to deceive humankind is provide them cognitive capacities so limited that they would be absolutely unable to apprehend His deception if He were to flaunt His malevolent motives before their eyes all day long. So what you have to ask yourself is this: If God wanted to deceive me, why would He provide me the cognitive ability to discriminate between truth and falsehood with such accuracy that I would be able to discover His deception? The truth is, doubt exists for only two reasons: Ignorance and free agency. Either we are simply lacking in knowledge and unable to understand why God is abundantly worthy of our absolute trust, or we simply choose to deny Him and His testimony. This decision or ignorant response of doubt never results from rational investigation.

In summary, God is the author of the same cognitive functions that we must use to doubt Him or impose our perspectives onto His creative decree (how we think things ought to be), wholly by the use of the tools provided by His decree of our minds. When you consider this, it should occur to you that there is literally no more of an absurd use of our minds than to use them against the one who constituted them, to doubt what He has revealed of Himself or the perfection of His will.

CrystalDragon said:

Here's the thing: hell is an awful place. I have things I could say on it but I won't (yet) for the purposes of this thread.

If we have any sort of conscience at all, we'd feel terrible for those suffering in hell. But it's said that in heaven there will be no more tears, and we'll only be focused on worshipping God.

By the sound of it, in heaven we basically lose our memories and personalities and are only focused on worshipping God and nothing else.

If that's the case, then if we discount Purgatory our afterlife options are either being tortured forever in hell or being brainwashed until we aren't "us" anymore in heaven. Which if that's the case then God is not love and is instead a sadistic tyrant.

So, DO we lose our memories in heaven? Are we able to stay who we were on Earth? If our memories are erased, then what was the point of us being judged for our actions if God could easily wire our brains to act a certain way from when we were young?

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I think that we may feel bad for our loved ones in hell, but we have to remember that they made the decision to go there. God says he will wipe away our tears, so there may be comfort for that. And millions of years later, we may not remember much of our human lives. Whether or not that's a good thing depends on how you look at it.

CrystalDragon said:

Here's the thing: hell is an awful place. I have things I could say on it but I won't (yet) for the purposes of this thread.

If we have any sort of conscience at all, we'd feel terrible for those suffering in hell. But it's said that in heaven there will be no more tears, and we'll only be focused on worshipping God.

By the sound of it, in heaven we basically lose our memories and personalities and are only focused on worshipping God and nothing else.

If that's the case, then if we discount Purgatory our afterlife options are either being tortured forever in hell or being brainwashed until we aren't "us" anymore in heaven. Which if that's the case then God is not love and is instead a sadistic tyrant.

So, DO we lose our memories in heaven? Are we able to stay who we were on Earth? If our memories are erased, then what was the point of us being judged for our actions if God could easily wire our brains to act a certain way from when we were young?

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Chap. Bell

"Do we lose our memories in heaven?"

This is a very good question.

I would not say we lose our memories in heaven. Rather, it will be more of a filtering process.
(Anything that should not be in heaven, GOD will erase it from your memory).


I hope this help.









ISAIAH 65:16-17 REV. 21:4

SkyWriting said:

Fortunately God did wire your brain like that.
Likely you don't remember how many times you fell as you learned to walk or how much it hurt.
Or the pain of being born.

Heaven is like that place where you still have your mind, but not the memories of pain.

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SkyWriting said:

Fortunately God did wire your brain like that.
Likely you don't remember how many times you fell as you learned to walk or how much it hurt.
Or the pain of being born.

Heaven is like that place where you still have your mind, but not the memories of pain.

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Jim Langston said:

No, we don't lose our memories in heaven. I would ask you this, if the thought of people being tormented bugs you, what are you doing about it? Are you spreading the word, etc...?

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if our memories do not die with our body where are they being stored?
i think they carry over and i dont think our memories are kept within our body.

jaybird88 said:

if our memories do not die with our body where are they being stored?
i think they carry over and i don't think our memories are kept within our body.

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Our memories are stored in three places. In our minds, in our body (DNA - ancestral memory) and in our souls.