Billy Roberts
Billxxxx
I find the concept of a Heaven with eternal existence in a glorified form (soul and a body of some sort), existing outside of time and space impossible to imagine. Our bodies on earth are governed and constrained by laws of physics, chemistry and biology, but these laws I assume don't apply to heaven, so, how could or would any body function? Why have a body in Heaven?
If an eternal soul appears at conception, then I assume a majority of souls in the afterlife or in Heaven are from spontaneous miscarriages. Is their heavenly body an egg or foetus?
A conservative estimate of 50-60% overall pregnancy loss from fertilisation to birth alone means Heaven would be majority populated by eternal souls who never had complex consciousness, or had minimal. (A system supposedly designed and ordained by the Great Designer, God himself, for unknown reasons).
There have been an estimated almost 120 Billion humans to have survived birth since 200,000 BCE.
(*see below; but other homo species etc may also qualify for heaven for all we know, so the number may be higher).
*How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?
So all the lost eggs/zygotes, blastocysts and foetuses would likely add up to 120 to 144 billion or more souls.
Then add the large but smaller number of all medical abortions throughout time (active abortion was first described in text a few thousand of years ago, and very likely predated that account. There were ~40 million active abortions worldwide last year.)
Many miscarriages would be viable genetically but pregnancy fails for various reasons. Others fail due to bad genetics, but a soul can't be held accountable for a bodily failing, surely. Is their heavenly body also flawed?
(Another conundrum: Many genetically non-viable variants lead to failure to reach term after fertilisation. Do they have souls, being human formed though not viable for long. Or are they non-human and soulless despite being made by human but flawed DNA? What of severely defective embryos that reach term? Eg anencephalic babies that die after birth? I assume they have souls even though they couldn't think? If reunited with a glorified body in heaven could they then think?? I digress.)
Should we add all the frozen embryos, created in vivo which fail to become a viable in vitro pregnancy -- Do their souls exist in the test tube before being inserted into a uterus? Most that are inserted into a uterus result in failure to progress to an established pregnancy and do not reach term. Many are eventually discarded without implantation. They presumably may also be ensouled despite never being born, having been fertilised?
=> The total number of souls currently could likely add up to close to 300 billion or more eternal souls so far since 200,000 BCE. And that may be an underestimate. Yet a majority of these souls never lived a life outside the womb, so never survived long enough to have complex consciousness and rational thought.
In addition to the above, many babies who reached term died perinatally, or lived short lives and didn’t reach adulthood. Throughout much of history infant mortality was up to 25%, so that may add up to just under ~ 30 billion neonatal souls who died before age 1 year. These also haven't had complex, rational, high level ideas and thoughts, as far as we know.
Also, death before age 15 occurred in up to 50% in much of history, so children aged 1 to 14 years may make up another near 30 billion or so eternal souls.
So a relatively small minority of souls in any afterlife would have lived to become adults during life on earth. Maybe 60 Billion or so, comprising numerous eclectic religious beliefs or none. A small number Christian. Many totally or largely oblivious of Jesus existence or message.
In summary, well under 20% of this estimated 300 billion current eternal souls (assuming souls are created by God with each fertilised egg) lived to adulthood on earth.
[If there is a Hell, then the percentage of souls in Heaven who had reached earthly adulthood would presumably be significantly lower. It may be much lower depending upon Heavenly entry criteria. Religious groups have very diverse ideas on this, but that’s another discussion. And those souls in Hell are still in the afterlife, sadly just a nasty one.]
Do all souls have the same sort of eternal heavenly experience? The majority comprising former zygotes and foetuses? Or the former neonates? How does this compare to the afterlife for souls of the ex-children, or the former adults? How much does life on earth add to eternal experience?
Why did God design such an unusual system for the creation of souls with eternal life? Souls who have such vastly different earthly experience. Such vastly different levels of even consciousness or rational thought before entering the afterlife?
If eggs and non-viable zygotes have a terrific, FULL, thinking, rational, heavenly experience, what was the purpose of life for those who lived for many years on earth?
Does this seem even vaguely likely? Maybe it is the case, but it’s hard to grapple with. It seems implausible that heaven is majority populated by minimally aware beings without or with minimal or limited life experience prior to getting there.
Does a glorified body and soul develop further and "learn" in Heaven? Do the "low-consciousness, ex-in-utero-only" group and the “lower-consciousness, lower-understanding-during-short-life” group become like the adults instantaneously, or “evolve” within an outside-of-time time-frame? Or do they stay relatively unaware?
I'm genuinely at a loss to understand, and would dearly love to have your thoughts.
If an eternal soul appears at conception, then I assume a majority of souls in the afterlife or in Heaven are from spontaneous miscarriages. Is their heavenly body an egg or foetus?
A conservative estimate of 50-60% overall pregnancy loss from fertilisation to birth alone means Heaven would be majority populated by eternal souls who never had complex consciousness, or had minimal. (A system supposedly designed and ordained by the Great Designer, God himself, for unknown reasons).
There have been an estimated almost 120 Billion humans to have survived birth since 200,000 BCE.
(*see below; but other homo species etc may also qualify for heaven for all we know, so the number may be higher).
*How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?
So all the lost eggs/zygotes, blastocysts and foetuses would likely add up to 120 to 144 billion or more souls.
Then add the large but smaller number of all medical abortions throughout time (active abortion was first described in text a few thousand of years ago, and very likely predated that account. There were ~40 million active abortions worldwide last year.)
Many miscarriages would be viable genetically but pregnancy fails for various reasons. Others fail due to bad genetics, but a soul can't be held accountable for a bodily failing, surely. Is their heavenly body also flawed?
(Another conundrum: Many genetically non-viable variants lead to failure to reach term after fertilisation. Do they have souls, being human formed though not viable for long. Or are they non-human and soulless despite being made by human but flawed DNA? What of severely defective embryos that reach term? Eg anencephalic babies that die after birth? I assume they have souls even though they couldn't think? If reunited with a glorified body in heaven could they then think?? I digress.)
Should we add all the frozen embryos, created in vivo which fail to become a viable in vitro pregnancy -- Do their souls exist in the test tube before being inserted into a uterus? Most that are inserted into a uterus result in failure to progress to an established pregnancy and do not reach term. Many are eventually discarded without implantation. They presumably may also be ensouled despite never being born, having been fertilised?
=> The total number of souls currently could likely add up to close to 300 billion or more eternal souls so far since 200,000 BCE. And that may be an underestimate. Yet a majority of these souls never lived a life outside the womb, so never survived long enough to have complex consciousness and rational thought.
In addition to the above, many babies who reached term died perinatally, or lived short lives and didn’t reach adulthood. Throughout much of history infant mortality was up to 25%, so that may add up to just under ~ 30 billion neonatal souls who died before age 1 year. These also haven't had complex, rational, high level ideas and thoughts, as far as we know.
Also, death before age 15 occurred in up to 50% in much of history, so children aged 1 to 14 years may make up another near 30 billion or so eternal souls.
So a relatively small minority of souls in any afterlife would have lived to become adults during life on earth. Maybe 60 Billion or so, comprising numerous eclectic religious beliefs or none. A small number Christian. Many totally or largely oblivious of Jesus existence or message.
In summary, well under 20% of this estimated 300 billion current eternal souls (assuming souls are created by God with each fertilised egg) lived to adulthood on earth.
[If there is a Hell, then the percentage of souls in Heaven who had reached earthly adulthood would presumably be significantly lower. It may be much lower depending upon Heavenly entry criteria. Religious groups have very diverse ideas on this, but that’s another discussion. And those souls in Hell are still in the afterlife, sadly just a nasty one.]
Do all souls have the same sort of eternal heavenly experience? The majority comprising former zygotes and foetuses? Or the former neonates? How does this compare to the afterlife for souls of the ex-children, or the former adults? How much does life on earth add to eternal experience?
Why did God design such an unusual system for the creation of souls with eternal life? Souls who have such vastly different earthly experience. Such vastly different levels of even consciousness or rational thought before entering the afterlife?
If eggs and non-viable zygotes have a terrific, FULL, thinking, rational, heavenly experience, what was the purpose of life for those who lived for many years on earth?
Does this seem even vaguely likely? Maybe it is the case, but it’s hard to grapple with. It seems implausible that heaven is majority populated by minimally aware beings without or with minimal or limited life experience prior to getting there.
Does a glorified body and soul develop further and "learn" in Heaven? Do the "low-consciousness, ex-in-utero-only" group and the “lower-consciousness, lower-understanding-during-short-life” group become like the adults instantaneously, or “evolve” within an outside-of-time time-frame? Or do they stay relatively unaware?
I'm genuinely at a loss to understand, and would dearly love to have your thoughts.
