What Do People Look Like In Heaven?- Serious Query

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Okay, first the disclaimers. This is NOT meant to be an attack on anyone, food for the Fundie Bonfire or a slight in ANY way on anyone’s faith. Having said that, here goes:

Tonight at dinner, my 9 year old said something about when people die. We were talking about someone who had died in our family a few weeks ago, and she said she had a photo of her with her Nani from when Nani was healthier- a few years back. She said, do you think she looks like that if she is in Heaven?

I told her, as I always do, that if you believe in Heaven then you might have an image in your heart of what your loved ones look like there. ( I don’t believe in any kind of an afterlife, I’m a badly lapsed Jew…).

Here’s my question:
In YOUR religion, whatever flavor it is, what do your loved ones look like in Heaven?? I told my daughter that I’d hope that if they died a violent death, they’d look like they had BEFORE they died, etc. We’re a pretty up-front family in that regard, the kids know about the EMS calls I go on, etc. They hear such things, and so had good questions.

What does one see? Or, to be honest and not totally an idiot in my posing of a question worth discussing here, what do you LEARN you will see, or BELIEVE you will see? A grandfather in the prime of his life, as you knew him as a child? What if he died before you were born, as is the case with my maternal grandfather? How will he present to me?

I’m so very curious, and plan to show this thread to my 9 year old daughter. I’d no idea what forum was appropriate for it, aside from knowing it wasn’t Pit material. I told my daughter that I’d pose it to the Straight Dope community, and she could see how different people feel about the issue.

And there you have it.

Cartooniverse

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Presbyterian checking in here.

I understand that we are perfected in heaven. I’m not sure that means “perfect” in the Stepford wives sense of physical beauty. I would guess it means the healthiest version of ourselves that we have ever been (although I’m hoping for some killer abs, too), and of course that healthy look will last for eternity. Of course, I believe we’ll know all our old friends in heaven, but it won’t necessarily be because of how they look.

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I am currently an atheist, but back when I was a wee little Lutheran, I believed that in Heaven, it wouldn’t matter what you looked like because no one is judged on their appearance, so if you were old or ugly or maimed, it wouldn’t matter to you, or to anyone else.

I was big on Heaven as an ineffable state of mind, and the idea of people walking around on clouds as just a dumbed-down version that us meat puppets can understand.

I was not popular amongst Sunday-school instructors.

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I have always believed that we end up aa a perfected version of ourselves,i.e. just like we usually do, only without the flaws, like bad teeth, glasses, scars, etc. At least that’s what I learned in Sunday School.

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Latter-Day Saints believe fervently in the continuation of life beyond the grave as well as a pre-existence. We believe those who are departed are near and we believe in an eternal nature of love, family, progress, and work. I guessyou could say that we only believe in death insofar as it is a transition. We believe that when we die, our spirit continues to see and act and feel. Only the body becomes inactive and lifeless and then only for a time.

We believe that in what is traditionally known as the “afterlife” our bodies “will be refined, renewed, and perfected, body and soul, in the resurrection, we will maintain our identity.” We will know our relatives and friends.

Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Smith’s nephew who eventually served as prophet and sixth president of the church, once said, “I expect to be able to recognize her, just as I could recognize her tomorrow, if she were living…”

Rather than continuing on with the teachings of the church, I’ll just conclude by sharing my take on it as a practicing member. Right now (before the resurrection) If Nani appeared to Lil Cartoonette, I think she would look as she does in the treasured photo, which may or may not be what Nani would look like if she appeared to you. When/If Nani gets to appear to someone she loves after her death, she will appear however as herself in whatever form they would recognize.

When my younger son died, he appeared to our older son in a dream that night. I’ll not share specifics here, but the younger son looked to the older son like himself at 23 months, but before leukemia. Nana (the boys Grandmother) dreamed of him months later. In her dream he was older 19-20ish but obviously the grandson who had died.

'Nuff said in this forum. See you and Cartoonette in IM for further discussions if you would like.

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Cartooniverse:
The best answer I can give is that the best image we give to others in our time here is the image that has the most meaning. I’d hope that there was an overarching determining force that could balance our incompetence, but that seems to be in the achin’-to-be regions.

What I would tell a sweet 9 year old is that the person you loved is always the best things you can remember. It doesn’t matter if they were 20 or 75, it’s what you hold in your heart about them that makes their best memory continue. I’d ask: what makes you smile most about that person? That’d be Heaven. I know there’s vultures, too, but I’m all for giving babes their little bit of settling space in this world…

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In my religion everyone in heaven looks like a “perfect,” more radiant version of themselves, but in my opinion everyone looks like a young Christie Brinkley or some variation thereof.

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I was under the impression that one’s soul, not one’s body, ascended into heaven (there is, after all, that whole “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” bit). As such, it seems that physical appearance would be pretty much irrelevant.

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I think I would agree with Elelle & Abby. My daughter should look forward to the Nani she remembered and loved, the person who touched her however briefly.

It wasn’t meant as a superficial query- " how will you look in Heaven?"- I just worded this very poorly. It’s not the appearance as a visual, but rather what you will …be near? What form and relationship those loved ones will have to you. If you believe that they will have presence, as Abby does then they will appear as she describes.

However, it’s an open-ended query- each person will ascribe to a particular version of this ideal. Some, like me, do not believe it. ( Personally, I wish I did, badly too. But I do not ). Some have very specific images, some have hopes.

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I’ve always been attracted to the idea that the objective perception of perfection is removed from our eyes, and we finally see the perfection that has always existed in all that is.

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I’m going to agree with Darwin’s Finch on this one. I have no real religious leanings, but I always felt that if there was an afterlife we would recognize our loved ones intuitively. I guess there would be no physical recognition, just a sense of knowing.

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I do not claim to know how we will look in Heaven. I am not so sure if we will even “appear” in Heaven as we do on earth–as if we have eyes and visible bodies. I do, however, think that we, on some higher level perhaps, will recognize and be able to communicate with each other.

I’ve never been a fan of the idea that we will dance around on clouds and sing songs about God all day long. I also don’t think it’s going to be Christmas for eternity. I think it will be indescribable bliss and peace, forever. Whether that means bright lights and angels and a visible “face of God,” or just a calm oblivion with the assurance that the Father is there, embracing us still, I do not know.

I will not claim to know. I will be content to find out later.

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I see several problems with any physical manifestation in heaven. If the deceased appeared as they were when they died, would physical deformities be healed? Some believe that life begins at conception. Would heaven be full of miscarried embryos? Would the deceased be gifted with knowledge, to converse with loved ones? How about those who never learned, as people with mental infirmities, infants, and children? Who would care for them?

The simpler explanation would be a new form, tailored to live in the heavenly environment for eternity.

If heaven exists, we are not meant to know. If it doesn’t, well, then the question is moot.

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I’ve always heard that in heaven there will be no tears, pain, sorrow, or heartache. I think that with it being a spiritual body that we’ll have that we will recognize each other more by a sense of knowledge than by physical appearance. I’m not sure to what extent we’ll remember relationships since pain and sorrow are part of that every day on earth. Then again with the knowledge that we gain passing from life to death we may remember but in a deeper way that won’t cause bad feelings.

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I think this is one of those “you’ll know when you get there” types of things.

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In “Lee’s Patented Cosmology and Explanation of Everything and Why,” we learn that heaven is individual and distinct to everyone. My heaven will bear no resemblence to your heaven, so absolutes can’t be known. Here’s what my heaven will be like viz. my relatives:

Upon my demise I’ll take leave of this plane and enter another plane of existence where all of my questions and longings will be answered as they are formed (if you can think it, you can realize it - automatically). I’ll be able to experience my relatives at whatever point in time I like. Want to sit down and talk with the grandfather that I never knew at 1:35 on March 14, 1892 - done. Grab a Pabst Blue Ribbon with Grandma Ruby - done, and boy is the beer cold in heaven.

Diane Keaton did a documentary about this very subject called, appropriately enough, “Heaven.” She interviews people from all walks of life and all cultures and asks them, “So, what’s heaven like.” It is a fascinating piece.

See you in heaven, if I dont’ see you before.

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[Crash Test Dummies]
If your eye got poked out in this life/would it be waiting up in heaven with your wife?
[/CTD]

If I believed in heaven, I would expect that you would see others as you wished to see them. For example, Mama-Spritle would probably see the Jailhouse Rock Elvis while I’d probably see the Aloha from Hawaii Comeback Elvis. He would appear in black jeans and the horizontal striped shirt (complete with slick ducktail) to mom while he would have that lei covered white jumpsuit with the big belt soon to be painted on velvet with a rinestone for a tear dripping from the corner of his eye look to me.

If I believed…

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Honestly, Purd, that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve read in a long time. Do you mind if I use it as a sig?

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Purd Werfect… that is beautiful… and makes sense to me.

I’ve always thought that in heaven (if there is one) we would appear as how we see ourselves when we are happy and content with who we are. Either that or we would be seen by others as how we were remembered or at the height of our health and happiness. And our loved ones would be easily recognizable even if they don’t appear as how we knew them in life. We would just know in our souls who they are.

So in general I think many of us would be beautiful young people in heaven or perhaps childlike once more.

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