Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Will We Retain Our Individuality Living on the New Earth?

Will We Retain Our Individuality Living on the New Earth?

Last updated on: June 3, 2023 at 8:30 am by Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Will We Retain Our Individuality Living on the New Earth? 2023-05-19T09:34:11-08:00 Randy Alcorn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

While teaching my Eternity 101 class, I answered the question, “Will We Lose Our Personalities in Heaven?” Below is my response, followed by an edited transcript:

Our friends each have certain mannerisms—a unique combination involving their sense of humor, personalities, and certain ways and idiosyncrasies. People ask if we will lose those in Heaven and my response is, “Why would we?”

Of course, if you’re talking about something sinful, we’ll lose that. But their sin nature is not likely what you enjoy about your friends.

Where does this variety come from? Who made our friends? Who made each of us? God did! And since God’s in charge, what possible reason can explain His reasons for making us other than who we are, except to make us the same people only better? We’ll be completely righteous.

Would He take away from us on the New Earth the gifts He’s given to us on this earth? Would He take away from us in Heaven the particular interests and passions He’s given us here?

I think we underestimate just how much of our lives here is from the hand of God in the first place. The life that we now know and the things we enjoy so much—the parts untainted by sin—we would naturally expect to have carried over, including distinctive personalities.

Besides, if we weren’t ourselves in the afterlife, then we couldn’t be held accountable for what we did in this life. The Judgment would be meaningless. If Barbara is no longer Barbara, she can’t be rewarded or held accountable for anything Barbara did. She’d have to say, “But that wasn’t me.” The doctrines of judgment and eternal rewards depend on people’s retaining their distinct identities from this life to the next.

Too often, we import concepts from eastern religions into our view of the afterlife. We’re influenced by ideas like: “We’ll all be absorbed into that great cosmic consciousness. None of us will be individuals. There will be perfect unity. The ‘old’ person who was will no longer be.”

From a biblical perspective, that’s nonsense. God made us individuals, and we will always be individuals. You can have unity with other individuals, which we’ll experience as all being part of the bride of Christ. But the obliteration of individuality is not taught in Scripture.

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including Heaven.

Photo by Melanie Kanzler on Unsplash

Previous Post

June 1, 2023

George Verwer—Global Statesman, Evangelist, and Hero of the Faith—Now with Jesus

Next Post

June 5, 2023 Should Christians Desire to Be Happy?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The biblical references and examples make the message easy to follow, while the focus on ..."

harry085drop

Being with God Is the Heart ..."

"As we do good works (no matter how small), and struggle to live holy lives ..."

Tom Hering

How Can We Be Ready to ..."

"Katy Faust's "articles" are junk science at best."

Roger J.

Every Child Is Known and Loved ..."

"People can feed their thoughts or a few notes into AI and be delighted with ..."

rrhersh

AI, Ghostwriting, and the Ethics of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Me Animals Books Books and Resources Christ Christian Life Christians Past and Present Church Creation Culture and Worldview Doctrine and Theology Eternal Perspective Ministries Fun Grace and Truth Grief Happiness Heaven Marriage and Family Missions Money and Giving Persecuted Church Politics Prayer Prolife Salvation Sexual Purity Sovereignty and Free Will Suffering and Evil Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz