Paul Bloom gives the explanation to the atheist challenge that believers must not really believe in heaven if they grieve the death of a loved one, or their own death.
When faced with the death of somebody I love, there are other systems in the head that lead to terrible grief. We’re not unitary beings. It’s possible, upon learning my son has a terminal disease, for part of me to think, “Oh, he’ll be reunited with God in heaven and be in paradise,” and feel good about it, and feel horrible grief. Yes, they conflict with one another, but that doesn’t negate the existence of either one.
St. Paul says much the same when talking about his own death, that it is better to be with Christ, but there is still grief for those who will not be with him for a time. We are not unitary beings, yes.
The whole Conversations with Tyler podcast with Paul Bloom was excellent: The Psychology of Children, and the Morality of Empathy and Disgust. There were actually many more topics as there often are. Bloom talks a great deal about what we know that has changed, and how his own ideas are changing because of the behavior of LLM's, including Theory of Mind - and Chomskyism, which he has heretofore subscribed to but is now questioning.
If Jesus, who I presume had the utmost confidence in heaven, could weep at Lazarus' grave, I suppose we can too.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, this isn't the way things are supposed to be. Each death is a breakage.
My wife and I try to travel to Japan every year to visit her family. She always goes a week ahead of me or stays an extra week after I go home. I find those partings to be rather hard emotionally. It doesn't mean I don't actually believe in return flights from Japan.
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