Religious+Views+of+the+Afterlife

= = = = =Christianity= In Christianity, Christians believe that after a person has died that their soul immediately leaves their body and ascends to Heaven or descends to Hell. Whether you go to Heaven or Hell is based upon how you behaved during your time on Earth. For the people who have done bad deeds on Earth, God condemns them to Hell where they will stay for eternity in hellfire. Heaven is for those who have behaved well on Earth.The Catholic Church teaches of a place between Heaven and Hell that is called ‘Purgatory’. Purgatory is the place where people who are waiting for Heaven can be cleansed of their sins. There are some Christians that do not believe in Purgatory including the Protestants. They teach in Christianity that if you repent and dearly mean it then you will be forgiven of the sins that you have committed.

Some Christians say that there is a place in Heaven for the people of other faiths that may not have believed in God, but had done “the will of God” without knowing it. In Christianity there is the belief of the second coming of Jesus Christ. This will be the long awaited ‘Judgement Day’ that is described in the last book of the Bible, Revelations. =Islam= In Islam there is the belief that after someone dies their soul either goes to Paradise (Jannah) or Hell. They believe that the Quran is the word of Allah (Arabic word for God). When people die Allah judges them on how well they followed the instructions in the revelations that he sent through his prophets. When the time comes for judgment a person’s good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds for them to be rewarded with Paradise. In the Quran it say that each person receives a book that accounts for all of his/her deeds. If the book is placed in the person’s left hand they are destined for eternal flame, but if it is placed in the right hand they are destined for eternal pleasure.

In Hell their skin would continuously be refreshed so they could feel the pain of burning. Scorching hot water will be poured on their heads and if they try to run an iron hook will drag them back. In contrast, Heaven is a paradise where food and drinks are abundant. Everyone will be dressed in silk robes and relax on beautiful couches, while servants tend to their every need. There will also be a choir of angels singing in Arabic. In Islam they teach that God is more merciful than he is wrathful. Like in Christianity, if someone finds that they have committed a sin and they sincerely apologize, then they will be forgiven. =Judaism= In Judaism they refer to the spiritual afterlife as //Olam Ha-Ba//, “the World to Come”. The Torah is the first five books of the Tanakh (the name of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah says that only the righteous will be reunited with their loved ones after death. It says that the wicked would be excluded from the spiritual gathering. Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) is the place that the righteous go as a spiritual reward. You don’t have to be Jewish to have a share in Olam Ha-Ba. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, a medieval Jewish scholar, said that even Non-Jew people could have a spot in Olam Ha-Ba. In Gan Eden it is told to be the “Tree of Life” in the center, with its branches covering the whole garden. The tree is said to have five hundred thousand varieties of fruit all differing in appearance and taste. In Judaism only the very righteous people ascend straight to Gan Eden, but the average person descends to a place called Gehinnom for punishment/purification. In Gehinnom they would serve no more than twelve months being punished by the “Angel of Destruction” (demon/s) that they created by sinning. After twelve months the person’s soul ascends to take their place in Olam Ha-Ba. Some of the wicked souls do not get to go to Gan Eden after the twelve months. Those souls are either utterly destroyed or just exist in a state on consciousness of remorse. Some rabbis say that Gehinnom is limitless in size, but others say it depends on how many souls are occupying it. They describe Gehinnom as a place of fire and brimstone. It is also very dark in Gehinnom. =Hinduism= In Hinduism there are 14 realms of existence and Earth is in the middle. There are 6 realms above the human realm and 7 are lower than the human realm. Svarga is what the higher realms are called and Naraka is what the lower realms are called. Naraka is also referred to as Yamaloka, the world of Yama. Yama is the Lord of Justice, he punishes sinners for their sins. In Hinduism, where you go in the afterlife is based on your Karma. Karma is the sum of a soul’s previous moral actions in this or previous states of existence. What the person’s mind state is at the time of death is also important to where they go. If a person’s mind wonders at the time of death, they might have to go through some realms of Yama to be purified. The realms that the soul goes through after the die is a part of a cycle called Samsara. Samsara is the cycle of death and rebirth that a person goes through before they are born into a new body. Moksha is the ultimate salvation. Moksha is the release from the everlasting cycle of death and rebirth. A person can only accomplish Moksha when they have no Karma. In Hinduism when you are in Moksha you are “One with Brahman”. According to the Taittariya Upanishad, Brahman is of the nature of truth, knowledge and infinity. To be “One with Brahman” a person has to be absolute.

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