Let’s talk about 2 hypothetical people, person A and person B.
Let’s say Person A is born with a problem that has them wheelchair bound, paralyzed from their nose down, so the only thing they can do is breathe (and even that with great difficulty) on their own, and in order to help them breathe easier, they have a respirator. Let’s say person A is taught good from evil, right from wrong, does all sorts of things in their head but can never even attempt to act on those desires due to their extreme disability. Yet s/he never repents of those thoughts and dies.
Person B with full mental and physical abilities steals, murders, and rapes others. S/he goes to prison and eventually is put on death row. S/he has a spiritual awakening and repents of his/her actions a moment before s/he dies.
Yet according to Christian theology, Person A who thought of everything but 100% never was able to act was guilty as if they did heinous things and will go to hell – do not pass go, do not collect $200, whereas person B who did everything is cleansed, sanctified and is able to go to heaven.
Is there something wrong with this picture according to our modern sensibilities?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
22 responses to “Thought vs deed: are they equal?”
Something that practically EVERY spiritual path agrees on, is that “Eternity” has very little to do with “””modern sensibilities”””. (Or even the ancient ones that were modern at the time).
Eternity — or the Spiritual reality/kingdom exists on a very different “plane”. A plane where allegedly the energy of intent/thought/deed are indistinguishable. (Which is why inhabitants of such a realm need to learn to control the starting point (the energy) and not just the end point (the deed). If there’s no intent, there’s no thought and no deed!).
You’re still trying to make this a “reward and punishment” thing, as per “modern sensibilities” — or put another way . . . the same way Humans have thought since the beginning of time; but which has NOT rendered unto us joy or peace or Eternity.
Whatever a person dwells upon (despite good teaching), becomes their reality. If person A dwelt on things of death/that lead to death and dies in this state, this becomes their spiritual reality. The only difference between A and B, is that A physically could not manifest thought into deed. But deed neither condemn NOR save. They are simply the visible “tip of the iceburg. The true danger lies beneath.
B could and did do evil deeds. He spent a life dwelling on the things and processes of death and manifesting them in flesh. But then , according to your scenario he had a crisis of spirit; he saw the path he was on and repented of it. And the next moment his physical life was required of him — a payment of his flesh, required by a world of flesh.
And whether he died the next moment — or decades later — he was now of a kingdom that sought Life over Death: was dedicated to learning to control the energy of intent, BEFORE it could become thought OR deed.
Eternity is not about flesh. There is no shortage of Scripture both Christian and others that state this very succinctly AND repeatedly. What makes sense to us now, we will see as the utter foolishness it is in light of Eternity. And NO fleshly deed we might do, matters in a spiritual reality. What matters, is the “energy” — manifest in thought and intent. A “physical crime” is nothing more than this energy, manifest in the most temporary of physical planes.
That is why it is said Jesus will judge not actions, but the very “thoughts and intents of the heart”. Because “actions” are just the tip of the iceburg that is visible above the surface. It is NOT what “kills” the ship. What lies beneath, is what sinks the ship. You can explode the tip all you want. If “what is beneath” remains, the ship is still sunk.
But in eternity the things that are the worst crimes won’t make a difference, due to the change in what we are!
– Thoughts of murder can’t happen because the residents will be immortal and even if attacked, nothing’d happen anyways.
– You won’t be able to steal anything because it won’t matter anyways (gold streets, gates made of giant gems). Who’d want paving and gate building supplies? On earth it’d be akin to stealing dust. No one would bother with it.
Rape won’t be able to happen because we won’t be gendered as we understand it here.
Poisonous intent (spirit) poisons the thoughts. And poisonous thought in time poisons the deeds. Just as one bad apple in time will spoil the entire bushel and make it fit only for the garbage.
Cleaning up the deeds without cleaning up the thoughts makes one practiced in anger and resentment. Because we are trying to contain all that poison inside and not give it an outlet. Eventually the pustule will pop.
To clean up thoughts without cleaning up the intent ( the spirit) makes one practiced in recidivism. Poison will be perpetually reintroduced from the spirit in a person.
We can clean up our deeds for a while but at great personal cost. We can clean up our thoughts for a while but at even greater personal cost. Cleaning up our intent ( the spirit in us)?
This is beyond us. The continuing human experiment is absolute proof of this. We need help.
If one’s intent is poisoned with the spirit of griping at even an awesome gift given life, freedom to choose) one should expect no more gifts from those who love them. Unless the poison is cleansed from the spirit more gifts will mean more griping which will mean more poison. This includes gifts of substance of finances of jobs of consideration of Grace of Mercy.
And this by choice because a gift of change has been offered from the spiritual level. But poisonous thought taints this into griping, if we use the gift of our freedom to allow it.
It is common human practice to try to degrade Heaven into something physical that we can then control to our liking.
We call this religion.
“Yet according to Christian theology, Person A who thought of everything but 100% never was able to act was guilty as if they did heinous things and will go to hell – do not pass go, do not collect $200, whereas person B who did everything is cleansed, sanctified and is able to go to heaven.”
Again, that is not what Jesus taught. That is what legalists teach, that is how Pharisees saw it.
Jear77 wrote, “In order to be good, you really have to murder innocent people”.
Why do you say this? This is an awful thing to say. You are completely wrong.
That is rhetorical.
It is not nice to put words in other people’s mouths in order to win, or keep whatever it is you want to keep that you think God disallows.
Actually you’ve got the quote wrong…
That was the point, that is why I said the statement was rhetorical.
I am trying to get you away from making all inclusive statements about what all Christians believe. All this does is set up a strawman for you. You keep stating “what Christians believe”, and then put in there something which is not Christian. Sometimes, it is simply misinformation, such as here. Where, sure, many Christians are misinformed and believe these things.
But, even here, this is basic stuff. You are a very smart guy and definitely could have performed your own research, but I am not seeing that. It looks like you just got up with some sort of cult, and then left it, thinking that cult was “Christianity”. But, it is not.
Not by majority opinion, even. Certainly not by Scripture.
I certainly love to discuss my beliefs and the faith. But when someone puts words in your mouth… all the time, consistently? I do not know how to tell you that is really not good to do. So, I tried to do this backwards to you, to see if you finally got it.
I think both you and griz should read the following book: https://godisimaginary.com
it shows how rational people shouldn’t believe in a fairy tale, and it uses the bible’s very own words to show it,
“I think both you and griz should read the following book: https://godisimaginary.com
it shows how rational people shouldn’t believe in a fairy tale, and it uses the bible’s very own words to show it,”
You literally have no idea of what you are talking about.
Believe me, this? Does not offend me or bother me. When you put words in my mouth, trying to make me a teacher and believer in the cult you were in, that does. I feel like you are trolling me when you do that. And you are. You are a smart guy.
How many Christians you knew would use a nick like “Lucifer Rising”, for one thing? That is unspeakable from your background. You have no idea of anything about me, nor my world.
But, of course you don’t. And do not mistake my tone here, this delights me, it does not offend me.
There is nothing unusual or exceptional about your viewpoint. Everyone has unbelief to some degree, including Christians. The truth is that the difference between your knowledge and even saved Christian knowledge is so small, I can not make a difference.
At least, if I go by what I hear and see from people.
Though, Christians do have that knowledge required for salvation, but they have, today, still… not for long… very, very incomplete knowledge. So, I can say this.
My world I live in, my world I grew up in, is entirely alien from your world. If I were a rock star it would not be so alien. If I grew up in the jungles of South America, it would not be so alien.
Miracles are normal to me. Dealing with angels, face to face? Is normal to me. The supernatural is my normal.
Are you in on it? Of course not. I would not expect you to be.
I feel sorry for you. Frankly. But, again, relatively speaking the difference between you and an overworked billionaire… for me? Is negligible, just about. I feel sorry for them.
You have never even seen a miracle, much less talked to God.
Death and illness, and all bad things are real to you. Miracles are fake to you. Same with them.
I trust, but, I know.
I have earth secrets too which you do not know. Everyone does, but I certainly especially do. I know a lot about what really goes on in the world, and can prove that sort of thing. But, yes, proving these other matters, that is out of my hands. I am entirely accustomed to that.
I have to tell you something, though. In security, if you want to know how to detect fakes, you have to know the real thing. You studied fakes passed off as real. And you still think that fake is real. So, that really, really puts you at a disadvantage.
I am completely and wildly different from that fake counterfeit crap you learned.
But, unconsciously, you know. Consciously, you can not process these things. Because you do not have the language for it.
Do you think I am in misery or sad or something?
Dude, my life is somehow so fantastic, I pity billionaires. I have read their biographies, some of them. I am an honest man.
It is true, I recently made a post that my life does not feel like the movies anymore, but I was being sarcastic.
I totally can share, too. I mean, the people I work with are not even human. They operate reality like software coders operate virtual worlds. Your world, everything is finite. Their world? They are outside the game. They can “magically” create anything in house. There is no limit.
But… I can talk all day, and you can never believe.
It simply is not your time yet.
Maybe it never will be, I do not know.
I used to be a believer. The logical fallacies in it are too hard to overcome. The fact that all the world’s religions borrow the same iconography from each other are too hard not to spot. That there is the amount of sickness and disease in the world is too problematic, added to the fact that there’s simply too much ideas that don’t fit well with me in terms of the concept of salvation…. I will never believe again.
“I used to be a believer”
I do not believe this, you are sorely lacking in basic knowledge.
I do not even believe you have even read the Bible, much less ever stepped inside a church.
What is your game, I do not know.
Maybe you are a spy. Maybe you are just a lonely troll who spins out false personas. Maybe you have some criminal agenda. Very possibly, you could just be as some others are here, an artist, who creates various personas. The original site was, after all, created by an actor, and it remains full of writers, actors, artists of all sorts.
I am clearly not a spy, as, if I were, I would never, ever say this to you. On the otherhand, if you were a spy, you would be aware of my presence here regardless of how many times I have changed my nick. And I have never said this to you before.
But, that does not cancel out the fact, that if I were a spy, I would still never say this to you, regardless of how low rung I judged you as being. As even the most low rung of spies could be given delectable false information to lead their whole agency into a terrible trap.
Which means, evidence number 1 billion and fifty nine, I am no spy, my own self.
I do not know who you are, nor what your past is. I have some vague details of your cover story and legend.
I know these details because I have a super high IQ and have studied spies and forgeries as a hobby.
I think, whatever manner of fraud you are, you are simply getting off on trying to troll me, by attempting to slam my own belief system and keep up your nonsensical propaganda.
One thing I do know well are churches and their doctrines, so I can certainly tell a fake from a real ex-believer or current one. Even when their beliefs are deranged, as they were in a cult.
And nothing about you pans out.
I was a believer
I attended church multiple times weekly: Sundays, Wednesdays
I volunteered for VBS
I even taught Adult classes
I volunteered my time at the church office
I helped rebuild people’s houses
I was a part of a housing program where we housed difficult populations
yet all this “goodie two shoe” action was for naught. I would’ve been better off keeping my money.
No more. No more.
So you keep repeating. Again and again. Yet, you keep avoiding the simplest of questions:
What church? What denomination? Specifics.
We can start there. Again. For the fiftieth time. What church is it you went to?
Why evade that question so severely unless you are lying on the very fundamental of your persona?
Have I ever seen anyone do this online who speaks on the subject? No, never.
You won’t even give a reason for evading this simple question: What church did you go to.
Only one reason for that. You never even went to a church at all.
All these years…
A lutheran church. Was ELCA, now LCMC
What’s that have to do with the price of tea in china? Notihing,
“A lutheran church. Was ELCA, now LCMC
What’s that have to do with the price of tea in china? Notihing,”
That took long enough. Still, your scriptural understanding is far too poor to have ever gone to a Lutheran Church, though it is true, I know little of the difference between these two you speak of. Lutheran Churches generally should have decent doctrine, and your doctrine is ludicrous.
Still does not explain why you are so consistently vague and so consistently evasive.
You even post on here about some manner of crime you are privy to. In that matter, I can get your vagueness. But, you are awful well practiced in keeping your information close to your chest.
Regardless, you? I know nothing about. I know nothing about you. As far as I am concerned, everything about you is a lie. I do not know who you are or where you are from.
Your errors in Scripture are simply that severe. It is like someone in a non-Christian culture who gets their “Christian” understanding from their Communist government propaganda leaflets.
This absurd canard, that you left because God wouldn’t give you money is as absurd as it gets, especially in light of even remedial knowledge of such a basic book as Acts.
Never even mind you have brought this up before and at least fifty percent of the small population on this site is Christian.
That you could not even remember any of the previous answers about why your attempted monetary bargain with God was deeply wrong… only tells me you never even read the Bible at all.
What I could quiz you on in regards to Lutheran doctrine are the writings and viewpoint of Martin Luther, but I am quite sure your answers would be absolutely fail and full of evasiveness, strawmen arguments, and other nonsense.
Who knows what you really are, or what you really have experience or knowledge about. Maybe not much at all.
Unlike you, I don’t suppose to put my own imaginings on other folks, coloring in all about them.
Just leave me alone, why do you even bother?
How many years do you even have left? Why do you even waste your breath? If this life is all you have why are you wasting it trying to win arguments with immortals?
We will live, you will be gone… what is your point? Immortality is surely open to all, but many, such as your self, do not want nor seek it.
You wanted money… you went about it all wrong, that is for sure. Clearly, you could have gotten plenty, had you bothered to read the Bible and do your research.
Or even ask for help!
Sadly, anything I ask you specifically about Lutheran, you would just google and fake.
But, your overall lack of understanding even the basics of Christian doctrine certainly persuade me you never were any sort of church going Lutheran.
Unless, of course, Lutherans have fallen that far.
I know that luther says that it’s by grace alone we are saved. I know he wanted to throw out the book of james. I know all of the explanations for the 10 commandments start with “we are to so love and fear god.” I know the symbology of communion. So yes, I was confirmed.
I’m about an open as an individual as there is. If I miss questions, that’s not intentional.
This instance only I don’t wish to discuss because I am culpable in it as well. I simply don’t wish to go to prison over stupidity
I’ve said it many times before. I’m from the chicagoland area, specifically Joliet.
No, I simply see through the smoke and mirrors that is christian faith. No prayers are answered, and anyone who thinks that they are, are delusional. No prayer, no matter how small will be answered. A person prays that for a stain to come out… but how does the person know that the stain being lifted isn’t simply the detergent. And why hasn’t anyone (or a group – “wherever 2 or more are gathered in my name…”) engaged to have god cure all cases of — let’s say diabetes or cancer or aids — or hell, maybe even the common cold once and for all!? That’s because a god who can’t keep his word
First of all, now you change your tone after yanking me around for hours. Now it is like you are not the very same guy who said, “I left God because I asked God to give me X amount of money or I won’t believe anymore”.
Your paragraph above does, at least, seem like maybe you did more then just now google some basics of the Lutheran faith. Though, in general, your knowledge of Scripture remains extremely poor.
“No, I simply see through the smoke and mirrors that is christian faith. No prayers are answered, and anyone who thinks that they are, are delusional. ”
Your hate speech continues. You have no idea of what various Christians practice or believe, or even who is a Christian. You ranted on about how you knew all Christians have terrible lives just today, yet the majority in North America, Western Europe, South Korea, probably Eastern Europe, Russia, are Christian. Huge swathes of majority through Taiwan, and Central and South America. I think there has been less then five non-Christian US major politicians (Senator and up, judges included).
The list of rock stars, media elites, movie stars, millionares, billionares who are Christian is extensive.
You DO NOT KNOW JACK.
I lived around Chicago for a few years there, and never even been to Joliet. All I know about Joliet is there a prison there. I THINK. And probably was the one in the tv show Prison Break. I do not know. WOULD NOT CLAIM OTHERWISE.
But, you KNOW all CHRISTIANS! And all that all of them believe, huh??
And they are all stressed out and miserable??? And poor and all that other derogatory, hateful crap you said?!
You are just like any other racist or sexist, full of anti-Christian hate.
Really get sick of your sorts.
Plenty of stuff I did in Chicago and around you do not know about.
You know nothing about the inside of my house, or me, or anyone I know. Yet, you claim to know all things!
Sickening.
Really you are sickening. I get why you can never get a job, because you always go in there saying you know everything! But, when quizzed, you show you have done NO research, no leg work at all!
Your EXTORTION attempt to get a job from God is sickening. I see how you evade it. It requires me to keep bringing it up now, like you know it is WRONG and you never should have said it!
ACTS. Book of Acts. Three people tried to see God as a means to make money. No response from you. Just diversionary tactics on useless points. Again and again and again.
“”No, I simply see through the smoke and mirrors that is christian faith. No prayers are answered, and anyone who thinks that they are, are delusional. ”
Yeah… so many holes in that statement, it is absurd. I tried being direct with you and patiently wait for you to answer questions, which you evaded, again and again. Now, you claim, as if a different person, you never heard them. So, the above is all acting. As is my past post. Reality is, I do not believe your persona. It is fake.
Real people are not this way as you claim.
You don’t know, for instance, if anyone has ever had their prayers answered, unless you have literally never opened a history book nor performed any research, at all.
So, we both know you are lying to me. Why? To see if I can act? Nothing wrong with acting. People act one way in one situation, another way in another situation.
As for me, I have had many prayers answered, to many to even begin to really recount. But certainly I am not even going to begin to recount them to someone as close minded and hard hearted as your self who somehow discounts even the possibility of them!
The very concept that you can not know countless mundane facts about other people or places you have never been apparently is beyond your comprehension.
So you say. I do not believe you are so stupid. At all.
I deal with angels regularly, talk to them face to face. Can you believe that? Of course not. I have seen angels change from human form to glorified form. Can you believe that? Even less so!
What is the point, then?
If i tell you my shit was blue today, true or false? Maybe it was! I can’t prove that to you, either!
But, fact is… I CAN AND I WILL prove what I am saying about angels. One way or the other.
Because this is all going global. Sooner or later.
So… I mean, maybe, if you were a real simple mortal human being, you might die first, or not. Does not matter. Either way, you are going to see I was not lying.
But, as for those who can not believe even these everyday matters of mine, the list is long and wide. You are not special.
Special are the many who have enough of an open mind to even realize they may actually not just be unaware of many mundane matters of others, but great matters, too!
The gall to make a declaration as the one you just made and then claim you have an open mind.
*shakes head*
Evidence of answered prayers one easily finds studying history books. In the lives of the great and the ordinary alike. Christian and others alike.
If you even read the news you would find these things.
These are small things which are beyond your capacity to understand, how could you ever handle the big things?
But, yeah, either you really, really never have read the Bible, or you are throwing a tricksters wrench in things claiming you do not believe because God did not fall for your extortion attempt!
Not that any of your blabbing about Lutheran doctrine is scriptural, anyway. Transubstiantion nonsense, “confirmation” nonsense. A bunch of Roman Catholic nonsense.
On the level of selling coins for people to spend less time in “purgatory” (as if that concept ever were even in Scripture, either). These things were created in a time when Popes were mafia dons and the people did not even have Bibles read to them in their own language, much less any written copies. A shame Luther’s groups took on these things, but what does one expect from such an anti-semite?
“I’m about an open as an individual as there is.” & ” No prayers are answered, and anyone who thinks that they are, are delusional. No prayer, no matter how small will be answered.”
Finally, just to reiterate, you are one of the most close minded people I have come across. And, I come across a lot of people over the years on these subjects.
The very idea that you consider yourself an open minded person, yet at the very same time rule out the very possibility of anyone ever having had an answered prayer is nearly as absurd and as evidently hypocritical as possible!
At best, it is true, praying to God for money while demanding “if not, I will leave the faith” is a deep dishonest criteria. Not unlike your criteria, above, following your line, that people might pray to have dirt removed from their literal clothes by God and it not happening is “proof” “there is no God”.
This is akin to saying that there is no Bill Gates because you told Microsoft support he does not exist unless they remove the ransomware on your computer.
Only, a lot worse.
I could go on and on with comparisons here.
All of them ludicrous.
It is like saying that if you cause an auto accident, that it must be the fault of Henry Ford, because your car was a Ford.
Or, if you went to your doctor, and you had a health problem, and he could not help you, that he caused your health problem and you stop going.
Or if you stick your hand in your sink and it gets ground up, that it is the fault of the people who made your house.
Or if you get drunk and stab someone in the eye with an icepick, that it is their fault, because they should not have had an eye in the first place.
It is insane.
It is unreasonable.
It is illogical to the degree of absolute madness.
Claiming these sorts of things while also claiming to have been a good Lutheran for many years is as incredibly as bad. Dennis Radar, or some other serial killer was a Lutheran. Was he a serial killer because he was a Lutheran? No. He was a Lutheran because he loved to fool everyone. It helped his disguise.
There is no reasoning here available with your sort, no help possible.
You, at times, show some capacity for thinking, for reasoning. But, when your core beliefs in life are settled by these sorts of bizarre ramblings? What can be said? At your core, you are insane!
No one would ever claim that you should test God by bringing up such extortion attempts or crazy tests.
Not anyone with even a modicrum of scriptural understanding.
Televangelists of the most greedy and corrupt sort would never do something as ludicrous as this, and they make these sorts of ludicrous claims all the time!
So, cut it out.
1. You can not disprove information of any kind you are not privy to. This is obvious and easily understood. You have an IQ above 100. So cut out your bullshit.
2. These criteria you bring up as your “proof” as strongly against Scripture and you have even had this explained, again and again. Clearly, you either are deeply hard and retarded, or trolling.
That’s the most hilarious thing. EVERYONE is hypocritical. I just don’t care that I am!
“That’s the most hilarious thing. EVERYONE is hypocritical. I just don’t care that I am!”
Yeah… you lack the capacity for critical thinking, for one. You think that sound understanding of Scripture means that your extortion attempt “God, give me a ton of money or I am leaving” is sound… that is bad hypocrisy. Really seriously bad hypocrisy.
“Everyone is a hypocrite”, maybe, but not everyone is a hypocrite on this sort of level, where one of your thoughts is showing some manner of intelligence, and others is showing zero rationality. That is psychosis.
You are talking serial killer level of hypocrisy. Not “I try and not be a hypocrite but sometimes fail” level of decent person hypocrisy.
This is, “I don’t give a fuck if I say one thing that runs completely contrary to all logic, you should accept that I can have logic in other things anyway”. Or, you are making your mind into a psychotic mess level of hypocrisy.
That is “I killed my mom and had sex with her corpse, but go to church every Sunday” level of hypocrisy.
It reminds me of that guy who killed his whole family, including his little kids, and then went on the run… claiming he did it because they would have hard times as he lost his job and had no money. Thinking he was a good Christian the whole time. Level of hypocrisy.
I am really sort of starting to wonder what level of felonies you are engaging in at work, as you claim. I am starting to think they could be very severe.
Seriously, what other really terrible “hypocrisies” are you engaging in? Murder?
“That’s the most hilarious thing. EVERYONE is hypocritical. I just don’t care that I am!”
Anyway, clearly you do not care if you blatantly lie one minute, and tell the truth the next, mixing the two together regardless of how much nonsense it makes. In context, this level of hypocrisy one finds with severe psychopaths, not with everyday open minded, decent people, attempting to deal honestly with each other.
So, goodbye.
Ignored.
Spin your yarn to others, I don’t have time for someone committed to such levels of dishonesty. This is a forum where intellectual honesty and sincerity should be upheld, not mocked and laughed about.
Second response, as this is a very good question. I had to have the first response point out simply that this is not Christian doctrine. It is a strawman.
Why is it a good post? Because it is an extremely common error and has been so for a very long time.
That does not make it true.
It is Catholic, and the Catholic Church, like the Greek Orthodox Church (which two used to be one and the same)…. go back a very long way.
But I am Protestant! Or ‘none of the above’!
First of all, what sort of sin could Person A have actually done? Well, I have worked with paraplegics before, adults with cerebral palsy. Do you seriously think Jesus is going to throw them to hell?
Consider the parable of the poor leper Lazarus and the rich man. They both die, but Lazarus goes to heaven while the rich man goes to hell and suffering. What, on earth, could Lazarus have done to merit his place at the table?
He is described as a leper who could only beg on the street, so clearly, there was nothing he could do.
Why did Jesus not throw him into hellfire?
Are there people out there who think that the Lazarus’ of the world should be punished – tortured forever – in hellfire? Yes, there are. And they are very bad people.
I have already posted evidence of that on scripture. The traditional way which was taught is completely wrong by the book and even common sense.
God is not going to torture some paraplegic forever and ever. Would you do that? Would you put a roasting hot iron to a paraplegic? Of course not. And God is so much better then us.
But, the fact is, otherwise, there are many unknowns here. And that is why the churches got this wrong. They got it wrong for a reason. God let them get it wrong. But, it certainly is wrong.
Because what you are ultimately talking about nobody but the Father knows.
I can say this: so imagine if reincarnation were true. Say you had family B, work B, accomplishments B, prejudices B, and so on. Well, none of that is ‘who you are’, so all of that is gone. Now you have family A, work A, accomplishments A, prejudices A, and so on.
Are you a completely different person? No. But, you would be very different.
It is like a good actor, you can recognize them in this or that role, but it is still somehow “them”.
If you grew up, say, in a very prejudiced Southern US state, you might treat black people in a negative way. Then you die, reincarnate, and grow up in an entirely different context, where you are not racist at all.
If someone recognized you, say a black person whom you mistreated due to your misunderstandings, they would be shocked as before you were cold and distant, and now you are accepting.
So, this is all on the level of “will I see my loved ones in heaven”. The question is irrelevant, but there is no way you can process that as a human being.
In the end, only Christ survives.
Just as all men are as Adam, and all women are as Eve… in the world to come, all will be as Christ.
Joe Christ. John Christ. Jenny Christ…. ‘my name is Jenny, but what I am is a Christ’.
Notice here, we do not yet know what that looks like.
(I do, and I think you really do too, but what of such pretext, we have roles to play.)
This is also on the level of trope as people believing they will literally go up to Heaven.
Heaven comes to earth. Jesus coming on the clouds is metaphoric. A true metaphor, but metaphoric still. Revelation shows the city on earth, and one of my favorite verses is, “the knowledge of God will cover the earth as water covers the seas”.
Revelation is more distinct, presenting Heaven on earth as a heavily guarded and gated city, where there are those outside the city.
So, sinners would find themselves outside the city.
Can they ever come in? Sure, if they change their ways.
Revelation ends on a note about a day without light or darkness.
No more “good”, no more “evil”.
Can you even imagine that? A completely blank slate. Wiped clean.