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Wednesday, June 06, 2018

Memory wipe

Proponents of purgatory often view purgatory as postmortem sanctification, which completes what was incomplete in this life. They view sanctification as a process that can't be accelerated. 

Let's take a comparison. A hypothetical example of instantaneous psychological transformation. Consider science fiction scenarios like Dark City in which people have implanted memories. They think they remember a childhood they never had. If it's the false memory of a happy childhood, that makes them feel nostalgic. They have fond memories of their spouse, even though, in reality, their spouse is a complete stranger. 

But let's take a less drastic example. Selective memory erasure rather than false memories. Suppose two neighborhood boys are close friends. At least they used to be close friends until one boy murdered the father of the other boy. Now they're enemies. Never again can they look at each other the same way. The murderer sees the boy as the son of the man he murdered, while the son sees the murderer as the guy who killed his father. 

But suppose their memories of that event were erased. The boy of murdered father no longer remembers that the other boy was the murderer. The murderer no longer remembers that he killed the boy's father. At that point the friendship resumes as if there was no interruption.  

Suppose a year or so later, the son remembers that the other boy murdered his father, but the other boy no longer remembers killing him. That will certainly interject emotional tension into the relationship. It might destroy the friendship. 

Yet it's different if the murderer can't recall what he did, and the malice is gone. In that respect, he's a different person than he was before. 

Now, I'm not saying heaven involves a memory wipe, although it's possible that God erases especially damaging memories. I'm just using that as analogies for instant psychological transformation. 

4 comments:

  1. One thing I struggle with is that i have friends and family who haven't accepted Christ. How could i be happy in heaven knowing they have eternity in Hell?

    I do know christians who believe in memory wipe.

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    1. Maybe one possible answer is God will let us see our hellbound loved ones as he sees them. Maybe a small enough taste of what they truly are like. Their true colors. Just speculation.

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    2. Natural question, but no one really knows the answer, this side of the grave. God knows our feelings. God knows what it takes for us to be eternally happy.

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    3. Isaiah 65:17[ New Heavens and a New Earth ] “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

      This reference is the only one that comes to mind on the topic.

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