Will heaven free me of my painful memories from life on earth?
How can heaven be pain free unless my oppressors are appropriately punished (and by “punished” I mean “I decide” their punishment)? Otherwise my pain threshold would have to differ in heaven, but wouldn’t that change things for me conscientiously?
Surely if there was a life after death we’d know about it, undisputed. Why else are there so many different outcomes in our current day religions?
If I have no choices in life, why should I in heaven? Then again on earth I do make some choices.
Why should a person who caused someone pain on earth receive the destiny after death of their innocent victim, then again, why shouldn’t they? Surely no one can ultimately say what is right or wrong – even then it is only their opinion, unless heaven is a dictatorship.
A sense of loneliness enters me when I’m thinking about life after death.
How can I ensure the patronage of my husband and children in heaven if my husband’s parents want him, but not me, close to them, what if my kids have their own children etc?
And what if a child killer seeks to be near the child they killed, a child who does not desire to be near their killer?
What if a baby lives only for 3 minutes? Who decides when a child has a soul? Is it with their first breath? Then what of the other children stillborn whose parents mourn their death for years, or forever? Why can’t they see their unborn child flourish in heaven if they want to? If the baby sees them back, do they understand it is their parent, and if they do understand, perhaps through time, what more life can they have in heaven except to love? What if the parent caused the child’s death intentionally prior to birth, perhaps a late abortion, how can the child really reject that parent, the only person they’ve ever had any connection to may still have no connection with them in heaven, perhaps by choice or by function?
What about animals? Aren’t we humans an animal, only more intelligent and with a conscience? Is the concept of life after death unattainable by an animal who cannot understand the life after death discussion due to lack of intelligence therefore devoid of a potential or real heaven? Then what of newborns or mentally disabled people who die?
Perhaps not knowing what heaven is like keeps our lives genuine on earth, not fearing an inevitable demise at death, keeps us accountable, keeps us more positive, more likely to do good?
Perhaps if we thought (or believed) uncontrovertibly that there was no life after death, there would be severe global angst among different cultures. People would kill more readily, do more harm with no sense of consequence and carry no guilt.
If life after death was exposed as one way or another, those who had prayed on earth for the wrong outcome would feel betrayed and stupid, too much to bear. Perhaps it’s better we don’t know. Maybe in the long run it would be better, but maybe in the “long run” we will never get here.