Karlo Broussard explains why the souls of the deceased described in Ecclesiastes 9:5 do not know about anything on Earth, as opposed to the souls of the deceased who have the Beatific Vision after profiting from Christ’s sacrifice.
Transcript:
Host: Eric in Ann Arbor, Michigan, listening on Ave Maria Radio, your question for Karlo Broussard, please.
Caller: Hi Karlo, so I had a Protestant family member the other day just off-handedly mention that those who are in Heaven don’t know anything, that they’re too busy worshiping God to really worry about us on Earth.
Karlo: Okay.
Caller: And so they didn’t really give me a Bible passage, but doing some research, I believe it’s in Ecclesiastes 9:5, and…so what is King Solomon talking about here in Ecclesiastes, and what can I respond to this with?
Karlo: Okay, well, if we were to tackle, first of all, the text from Ecclesiastes chapter nine, the whole context is, right, verse five all the way to verse eleven. And what you find, when you read the text, is that the author is—you know, normally this is used in reference to the soul not existing, or the idea of “soul sleep.” But what you find is that the author is referencing a lack of knowledge in this life, a lack of knowledge of this life, which would be appropriate in the Old Testament because the souls in the afterlife, Eric, didn’t have the Beatific Vision. So if you read, you’ll notice, like verse six, it says “not knowing what is done under the sun.” We see it again, “under the sun,” in verse nine, we see it again, “under the sun,” in verse eleven. So the souls, not having the Beatific Vision, would not have that ability to know what is taking place “under the sun” in this life.
So there is an element of a lack of knowledge, but that in no way means the souls in heaven right now lack knowledge, because they are in the Beatific Vision, receiving powers above their nature to be aware of our prayers here on Earth; and you gotta check out Revelation 5:6-10, and there you’ll find it: the souls in Heaven before the Lamb, offering up the prayers of the saints.