dddhgg wrote:
A more serious flaw, I think, is that not everyone I love will be in it, at least if it's true that you can only be saved by faith. Of course it is said that the love we will be experiencing from God will transcend all earthly bonds of love and friendship, yet I cannot but feel that it will then, in a very deep sense, not be me anymore who is in Heaven if I cannot grieve for those who didn't make it past the gate, because I feel I am at last partly made into who I am by the people I love. But grief (or regret at the very least) is a negative emotion, and doesn't really seem compatible with the concept of paradise.
Yeah... that has come to mind to me before.
Actually, I have a universalist friend who argues that the reasons you are giving are part of the reason why he thinks all people to be saved.
Also, in order for heaven to be heaven, I have to change in ways that may make me unrecognizable to myself. I mean, if heaven is the perfect world, then think about it. Every morose feeling, agitation, or even minor cognitive flaw or false belief has to be gotten rid of. The question is, what kind of person is left over after all of that? It seems hard to distinguish the intrinisic me, from what I think, how I think, or what I believe.