Ancient Egyptian papyrus depicting the journey into the afterlife.
Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru discovered at the
Mogao Caves.
In
philosophy,
religion,
mythology, and
fiction, the
afterlife (also referred to as
life after death or the
Hereafter) is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself (whether physical or
transcendental), in which an
essential part of an individual's identity or consciousness continues to reside after
the death of the body in the individual's
lifetime.
According to various ideas of the afterlife, the essential aspect of
the individual that lives on after death may be some partial element, or
the entire
soul, of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity. Belief in an afterlife, which may be
naturalistic or
supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in
eternal oblivion after death.
In some popular views, this continued existence often takes place in a
spiritual realm, and in other popular views, the individual may be
reborn into
this world
and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they
have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths
may take place over and over again continuously until the individual
gains entry to a spiritual realm or
Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from
religion,
esotericism and
metaphysics.
Some belief systems, such as those in the
Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead go to a specific
plane of existence after death, as determined by a
god, gods, or other
divine judgment, based on their
actions or
beliefs during life. In contrast, in systems of
reincarnation, such as those in the
Dharmic tradition,
the nature of the continued existence is determined directly by the
actions of the individual in the ended life, rather than through the
decision of another being.
The afterlife in different metaphysical models
In metaphysical models,
theists generally believe some sort of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions such as
Buddhism, tend to believe in an afterlife, but without reference to a God. The
Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife.
Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like Christianity, Islam and many
pagan
belief systems, or in reincarnation like many forms of Hinduism and
Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a reward or
punishment for their conduct during life.
Reincarnation
Main article:
Reincarnation
Reincarnation refers to an afterlife concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs,
Rosicrucians,
Spiritists, and Wiccans. Reincarnation is also a belief described in
Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot (Reincarnation of Souls).
[1] In reincarnation, spiritual development continues after death as the deceased begins another earthly life in the
physical world, acquiring a superior grade of consciousness and
altruism by means of successive reincarnations. This succession leads toward an eventual
liberation.
One consequence of the Hindu and Spiritist beliefs is that our
current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife. According to those
beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in
previous lives, or Karma.
Rosicrucians,
[2] in the same way of those who have had
near-death experiences, speak of a
life review period occurring immediately after death and before entering the afterlife's
planes of existence (before the
silver cord is broken), followed by a
judgment, more akin to a Final Review or End Report over one's life.
[3]
Heaven and hell
In
Abrahamic religions, the view is generally held that one goes to
hell or
heaven depending on one's deeds and/or
faith while on Earth,
[4] or
predestination and
Unconditional election, or to the
intermediate state to await the
Resurrection of the Dead.
In most denominations, Heaven is a place of everlasting reward for the
righteous to go after they die. Hell in comparison is a place of eternal
torment for the wicked. Similar places of torment and reward can be
seen in Greek Mythology with
Elysium versus
Tartarus.
Limbo
Despite popular opinion, Limbo, which was elaborated upon by
theologians beginning in the Middle Ages, never entered into the
teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, yet, at times, the Church
incorporated the theory in its ordinary belief. Limbo is a theory that
unbaptized but innocent souls, such as those of infants,
virtuous individuals who lived before
Jesus Christ was born on earth, or those that die before
baptism must wait before going to
heaven.
Therefore, neither merit the beatific vision, nor yet are subjected to
any punishment, because they are not guilty of any personal
sin although they have not received baptism, so still bear
original sin. On Friday, April 20, 2007
Pope Benedict XVI,
abolished the whole idea saying he "showed doubt about the concept of
limbo". He cited his concerns about it when he was a cardinal. In other
Christian denominations it has been described as an
intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion and neglect.
[5]
Purgatory
The notion of
purgatory is associated particularly with the
Catholic Church.
In the Catholic Church, all those who die in God's grace and
friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their
eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to
achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven or the final
purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the
punishment of the damned. The tradition of the church, by reference to
certain texts of scripture, speaks of a "cleansing fire" although it is
not always called purgatory.
Anglicans of the
Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief.
John Wesley, the founder of
Methodism, believed in an
intermediate state between death and the
resurrection of the dead
and in the possibility of "continuing to grow in holiness there", but
Methodism does not officially affirm this belief and denies the
possibility of
helping by prayer any who may be in that state.
[6]
Ancient religions
Ancient Egypt
The afterlife played an important role in
Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its soul known as
ka (body double) and the
ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in the
Fields of Aaru,
Osiris
demanded work as restitution for the protection he provided. Statues
were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased.
[7]
Arriving at one's reward in afterlife was a demanding ordeal,
requiring a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells,
passwords and formulae of the
Book of the Dead. In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased's heart was weighed against the
Shu feather of truth and justice taken from the headdress of the goddess
Ma'at.
[8] If the heart was lighter than the feather, they could pass on, but if it were heavier they would be devoured by the demon
Ammit.
[9]
Egyptians also believed that being mummified and put in a sarcophagus
(an ancient Egyptian "coffin" carved with complex symbols and designs,
as well as pictures and hieroglyphs) was the only way to have an
afterlife. Only if the corpse had been properly
embalmed and entombed in a
mastaba, could the
dead live again
in the Fields of Yalu and accompany the Sun on its daily ride. Due to
the dangers the afterlife posed, the Book of the Dead was placed in the
tomb with the body as well as food, jewellery, and 'curses'. They also
used the "opening of the mouth".
[10][11]
Ancient Egyptian civilization was based on religion; their belief in
the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral
practices. Death was simply a temporary interruption, rather than
complete cessation, of life, and that eternal life could be ensured by
means like piety to the gods, preservation of the physical form through
mummification,
and the provision of statuary and other funerary equipment. Each human
consisted of the physical body, the 'ka', the 'ba', and the 'akh'. The
Name and Shadow were also living entities. To enjoy the afterlife, all
these elements had to be sustained and protected from harm.
[12]
On March 30, 2010, a spokesman for the Egyptian Culture Ministry
claimed it had unearthed a large red granite door in Luxor with
inscriptions by User,
[13] a powerful adviser to the
18th dynasty Queen
Hatshepsut
who ruled between 1479 BC and 1458 BC, the longest of any woman. It
believes the false door is a 'door to the Afterlife'. According to the
archaeologists, the door was reused in a structure in
Roman Egypt.
Ancient Greek and Roman
The Greek god
Hades is known in
Greek mythology as the king of the
underworld, a place where souls live after death. The Greek god
Hermes,
the messenger of the gods, would take the dead soul of a person to the
underworld (sometimes called Hades or the House of Hades). Hermes would
leave the soul on the banks of the River
Styx, the river between life and death.
[14]
Charon,
also known as the ferry-man, would take the soul across the river to
Hades, if the soul had gold: Upon burial, the family of the dead soul
would put coins under the deceased's tongue. Once crossed, the soul
would be judged by
Aeacus,
Rhadamanthus and King
Minos. The soul would be sent to
Elysium,
Tartarus,
Asphodel Fields,
or the Fields of Punishment. The Elysian Fields were for the ones that
lived pure lives. It consisted of green fields, valleys and mountains,
everyone there was peaceful and contented, and the Sun always shone
there. Tartarus was for the people that blasphemed against the gods, or
were simply rebellious and consciously evil.
[15]
The Asphodel Fields were for a varied selection of human souls: Those
whose sins equalled their goodness, were indecisive in their lives, or
were not judged. The Fields of Punishment were for people that had
sinned often, but not so much as to be deserving of Tartarus. In
Tartarus, the soul would be punished by being burned in lava, or
stretched on racks. Some heroes of Greek legend are allowed to visit the
underworld. The Romans had a similar belief system about the afterlife,
with Hades becoming known as
Pluto. In the ancient Greek myth about the
Labours of Hercules, the hero
Hercules had to travel to the underworld to capture
Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog, as one of his tasks.
In
Dream of Scipio,
Cicero describes what seems to be an
out of body experience, of the
soul traveling high above the Earth, looking down at the small planet, from far away.
[16]
In Book VI of
Virgil's
Aeneid, the hero,
Aeneas,
travels to the underworld to see his father. By the River Styx, he sees
the souls of those not given a proper burial, forced to wait by the
river until someone buries them. While down there, along with the dead,
he is shown the place where the wrongly convicted reside, the fields of
sorrow where those who committed suicide and now regret it reside,
including Aeneas' former lover, the warriors and shades, Tartarus (where
the titans and powerful non-mortal enemies of the Olympians reside)
where he can hear the groans of the imprisoned, the palace of
Pluto, and the fields of Elysium where the descendants of the divine and bravest heroes reside. He sees the river of forgetfulness,
Lethe,
which the dead must drink to forget their life and begin anew. Lastly,
his father shows him all of the future heroes of Rome who will live if
Aeneas fulfills his destiny in founding the city.
Norse religion
The
Poetic and
Prose Eddas,
the oldest sources for information on the Norse concept of the
afterlife, vary in their description of the several realms that are
described as falling under this topic. The most well-known are:
- Valhalla: (lit. "Hall of the Slain" i.e. "the Chosen Ones") Half the warriors who die in battle join the god Odin who rules over a majestic hall called Valhalla in Asgard.
- Fólkvangr: (lit. "Field of the Host") The other half join the goddess Freyja in a great meadow known as Fólkvangr.
- Hel: (lit. "The Covered Hall") This abode is somewhat like Hades from Ancient Greek religion: there, something not unlike the Asphodel Meadows
can be found, and people who have neither excelled in that which is
good nor excelled in that which is bad can expect to go there after they
die and be reunited with their loved ones.
- Niflhel: (lit. "The Dark" or "Misty Hel") This realm is roughly analogous to Greek Tartarus.
It is the deeper level beneath Hel, and those who break oaths, abduct
and rape women, and commit other vile things will be sent there to be
among their kind to suffer harsh punishments.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
She'ol
Writing that would later be incorporated into the
Hebrew Bible names
Sheol as the place of the dead.
[17]
The Christian writer's traditional re-interpretation is that the Hebrew
word Sheol can mean many things, including "grave", "resort", "place of
waiting" and "place of healing". It can also mean "deep", as it is used
when the earth opens up and destroys the rebellious Korah, Dathan and
Abiram and their 250 followers (
Numbers 16:31-33).
One might take this as implying that Sheol is literally underground,
although it is as easily read literally, as signifying an earthquake or
split in the earth.
Solomon states in the book of
Ecclesiastes:
"For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing
befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one
breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to
one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. Who knows the
spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the
animal, which goes down to the earth?" (
Ecc. 3:19-21
NKJV)
"But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a
living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they
will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For
the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and
their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in
anything done under the sun." (Ecc. 9:4-6 NKJV)
Similarly Psalms 146:2-4 (NKJV) states: "Do not put your trust in
princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit
departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish."
In the book of Job it is stated: "But man dies and is laid away;
indeed he breathes his last and where is he? ... So man lies down and
does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be
roused from their sleep ... If a man dies, shall he live again?" (Job
14:10,12,14a NKJV)
Olam Haba
The Talmud offers a number of thoughts relating to the afterlife.
Talmudic authorities agree that any virtuous gentile will be given a
share in the world-to-come. After death, the soul is brought for
judgment. Those who have led pristine lives enter immediately into the "
Olam Haba"
or World to Come. Most do not enter the World to Come immediately, but
now experience a period of review of their earthly actions and they are
made aware of what they have done wrong. Some view this period as being a
"re-schooling", with the soul gaining wisdom as one's errors are
reviewed. Others view this period to include spiritual discomfort for
past wrongs. At the end of this period, not longer than one year, the
soul then takes its place in the World to Come. Although discomforts are
made part of certain Jewish conceptions of the afterlife, the concept
of "eternal damnation", so prevalent in other religions, is no tenet of
the Jewish afterlife. According to the Talmud, extinction of the soul is
reserved for a far much smaller group of malicious and evil leaders,
either whose very evil deeds go way beyond norms, or who lead large
groups of people to utmost evil.
[18][19]
Maimonides describes the
Olam Haba
("World to Come") in spiritual terms, relegating the prophesied
physical resurrection to the status of a future miracle, unrelated to
the afterlife or the Messianic era. According to Maimonides, an
afterlife continues for the soul of every human being, a soul now
separated from the body in which it was "housed" during its earthly
existence.
The
Zohar describes
Gehenna not as a place of punishment for the wicked but as a place of spiritual purification for souls.
[20]
Reincarnation
Jewish mystics who believed in reincarnation accepted it as a divine reality.
Although there is no reference to reincarnation in the Talmud or any prior writings,
[21]
according to rabbis such as Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman, reincarnation
is recognized as being part and parcel of Jewish tradition. Rabbi
Trugman explains that it is through oral tradition that the meanings of
the Torah, its commandments and stories, are known and understood. The
classic work of Jewish mysticism whose origins date back 2000 years,
[22]
the Zohar, is quoted liberally in all Jewish learning; in the Zohar the
idea of reincarnation is mentioned repeatedly. Rabbi Trugman states
that in the last five centuries the concept of reincarnation, which
until then had been a much hidden tradition within Judaism, was given
open exposure.
[22]
Rabbi Shraga Simmons commented that within the Bible itself, the idea
[of reincarnation] is intimated in Deut. 25:5-10, Deut. 33:6 and Isaiah
22:14, 65:6.
[23]
Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman wrote that reincarnation is an "ancient,
mainstream belief in Judaism". The Zohar, written by Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai close to two thousand years ago, makes frequent and lengthy
references to reincarnation. Onkelos, a righteous convert and
authoritative commentator of the same period, explained the verse, "Let
Reuben live and not die ..." (Deuteronomy 33:6) to mean that Reuben
should merit the World to Come directly, and not have to die again as
result of being reincarnated. The great Torah scholar, commentator and
kabbalist, Nachmanides (Ramban 1195–1270), attributed Job's suffering to
reincarnation, as hinted in Job's saying "God does all these things
twice or three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit
to ... the light of the living' (Job 33:29,30)."
[24]
Reincarnation, called
gilgul, became popular in folk belief, and is found in much
Yiddish literature among
Ashkenazi Jews.
Among a few kabbalists, it was posited that some human souls could end
up being reincarnated into non-human bodies. These ideas were found in a
number of Kabbalistic works from the 13th century, and also among many
mystics in the late 16th century.
Martin Buber's early collection of stories of the
Baal Shem Tov's life includes several that refer to people reincarnating in successive lives.
[25]
Among well known (generally non-kabbalist or anti-kabbalist) Rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are Saadia Gaon,
David Kimhi,
Hasdai Crescas, Yedayah Bedershi (early 14th century),
Joseph Albo,
Abraham ibn Daud, the
Rosh and
Leon de Modena.
Saadia Gaon, in
Emunoth ve-Deoth
(Hebrew: "beliefs and opinions") concludes Section VI with a refutation
of the doctrine of metempsychosis (reincarnation). While refuting
reincarnation, the Saadia Gaon further states that Jews who hold to
reincarnation have adopted non-Jewish beliefs. By no means do all Jews
today believe in reincarnation, but belief in reincarnation is not
uncommon among many Jews, including Orthodox. Most Orthodox siddurim
(prayerbooks) have a prayer asking for forgiveness for one's sins that
one may have committed in this gilgul or a previous one.
[citation needed]
Other well-known rabbis who are reincarnationists include Rabbi
Yonassan Gershom, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Talmud scholar Rabbi Adin
Steinsaltz, Rabbi DovBer Pinson, Rabbi David M. Wexelman, Rabbi Zalman
Schachter,
[26]
and many others. Reincarnation is cited by authoritative biblical
commentators, including Ramban (Nachmanides), Menachem Recanti and
Rabbenu Bachya.
Among the many volumes of the holy Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (known as the
"Ari"), most of which come downfrom the pen of his primary disciple,
Rabbi Chaim Vital, are profound insights explaining issues related to
reincarnation. His Shaar HaGilgulim, "The Gates of Reincarnation", is a
book devoted exclusively to the subject of reincarnation in Judaism.
Christianity
Mainstream Christianity professes belief in the
Nicene Creed, and
English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase: "We look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come."
Christian eschatology is concerned with
death, an
intermediate state,
Heaven,
Hell, the
Second Coming of Christ, the
resurrection of the dead, a
rapture, a
tribulation, the
Millennium,
end of the world, the
last judgment, a new heaven and a
new earth, and the ultimate consummation of all of God's purposes.
Eschatological passages are found in many places, especially
Isaiah,
Daniel,
Matthew 24,
Matthew 25, and the
Book of Revelation.
Although punishments are made part of certain Christian conceptions of
the afterlife, the prevalent concept of "eternal damnation" is a tenet
of the Christian afterlife.
When questioned by the
Sadducees about the
resurrection of the dead (in a context relating to who one's spouse would be if one had been married several times in life),
Jesus said that marriage will be irrelevant after the resurrection as the resurrected will be (at least in this respect) like the
angels in heaven.
[27]
Jesus also maintained that the time would come when the dead would hear the voice of the
Son of God,
and all who were in the tombs would come out, the faithful to the
resurrection of life, and the unfaithful to the resurrection of
judgment.
[28] According to the
Gospel of Matthew, at the death of Jesus tombs were opened, and at
his resurrection many
saints who had died emerged from their tombs and went into "the holy city", presumably
New Jerusalem.
[29] No other New Testament account includes this event.
The Last Day: Jesus compared the
kingdom of heaven,
over which He rules, to a net which was thrown into the sea and
gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and
sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it
will be at the close of the age also known as the Last Day. The angels
will separate the evil from the
righteous and throw them into
the furnace of unquenchable fire. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father.
The
Book of Enoch describes Sheol as divided into four compartments for four types of the dead: the faithful saints who await resurrection in
Paradise,
the merely virtuous who await their reward, the wicked who await
punishment, and the wicked who have already been punished and will not
be resurrected on Judgment Day.
[30]
It should be noted that the Book of Enoch is considered apocryphal by
most denominations of Christianity and all denominations of Judaism.
The book of
2 Maccabees
gives a clear account of the dead awaiting a future resurrection and
judgment, plus prayers and offerings for the dead to remove the burden
of sin.
The author of
Luke recounts the story of
Lazarus and the rich man, which shows people in Hades awaiting the resurrection either in comfort or torment. The author of the
Book of Revelation writes about God and the angels versus
Satan and
demons in an epic battle at the end of times when all souls are judged. There is mention of ghostly bodies of past prophets, and the
transfiguration.
The non-canonical
Acts of Paul and Thecla speak of the efficacy of
prayer for the dead, so that they might be "translated to a state of happiness".
[31]
Hippolytus of Rome pictures the
underworld (
Hades) as a place where the righteous dead, awaiting in the
bosom of Abraham their resurrection, rejoice at their future prospect, while the unrighteous are tormented at the sight of the "
lake of unquenchable fire" into which they are destined to be cast.
Gregory of Nyssa discusses the long-before believed possibility of purification of souls after death.
[32]
Saint Augustine counters
Pelagius, arguing that
original sin
means that the unbaptised go to hell, including infants, albeit with
less suffering than is experienced by those guilty of actual sins.
Pope Gregory I repeats the concept, articulated over a century earlier by
Gregory of Nyssa that the saved suffer purification after death, in connection with which he wrote of "purgatorial flames".
The noun
"purgatorium" (Latin: place of cleansing
[33])
is used for the first time to describe a state of painful purification
of the saved after life. The same word in adjectival form (
purgatorius -a -um, cleansing), which appears also in non-religious writing,
[34] was already used by Christians such as Augustine of Hippo and
Pope Gregory I to refer to an after-death cleansing.
During the
Age of Enlightenment, theologians and philosophers presented various philosophies and beliefs. A notable example is
Emanuel Swedenborg
who wrote some 18 theological works which describe in detail the nature
of the afterlife according to his claimed spiritual experiences, the
most famous of which is
Heaven and Hell.
[35] His report of life there covers a wide range of topics, such as
marriage in heaven (where all
angels are married), children in heaven (where they are raised by angel parents),
time and
space
in heaven (there are none), the after-death awakening process in the
World of Spirits (a place halfway between Heaven and Hell and where
people first wake up after death), the allowance of a free will choice
between Heaven or Hell (as opposed to being sent to either one by God),
the
eternity of
Hell (one could leave but would never want to), and that all angels or devils were once people on earth.
[35]
On the other hand, the enlightenment produced more rationalist philosophies such as
deism. Many deist freethinkers held that belief in an afterlife with reward and punishment was a necessity of reason and good morals.
Most Christians deny that entry into Heaven can be properly earned,
rather it is a gift that is solely God's to give through his unmerited
grace. This belief follows the theology of
St. Paul:
For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can
boast. The
Augustinian,
Thomist,
Lutheran, and
Calvinist theological traditions all emphasize the necessity of God's undeserved grace for salvation, and reject so-called
Pelagianism, which would make man earn salvation through
good works. Not all Christian sects accept this doctrine, leading many controversies on
grace and
free will, and the idea of
predestination.
In particular, the belief that heaven is a reward for good behavior is a
common folk belief in Christian societies, even among members of
churches which reject that belief.
Christian theologians
Thomas Aquinas and
Jonathan Edwards
wrote that the saved in heaven will delight in the suffering of the
damned. Hell, however, does not fit modern, humanitarian concepts of
punishment because it cannot deter the unbeliever nor rehabilitate the
damned, this however, does not affect the Christian belief which places
Biblical teaching above the ideas of society. Some Christian believers
have come to downplay the punishment of hell.
Universalists teach that salvation is for all. Jehovah's Witnesses and
Seventh-day Adventists,
though they have among the strictest rules on how to conduct their
lives, teach that sinners are destroyed rather than tortured forever.
John 3:16 says that only those that accept Jesus will be given
eternal life,
so the people that do not accept him cannot burn in hell for eternity
because Jesus has not given them eternal life, instead it says they will
perish.
In American pop culture depictions of Heaven, particularly in vintage cartoons such as those by
Looney Tunes in the mid-20th century, the
souls of virtuous people ascend to Heaven and are converted into
angels. However, this is not in accordance with the orthodox Christian theology. Christianity depicts a sharp distinction between
angels, divine beings created by God before the creation of humanity and are used as messengers, and
saints,
the souls of humans who have received immortality from the grace of God
through faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who dwell in Heaven
with God.
Latter Day Saints believe that the soul existed before earth life and
will exist in the hereafter. Angels are either spirits that have not
yet come to earth to experience their mortality, or spirits or
resurrected beings that have already passed through mortality and do the
will of God. See Job 38:4-7, D&C 93:29. According to LDS Doctrine,
Michael the Archangel became the first man on earth, Adam, to experience
his mortality. The Angel of Moroni visited the boy, Joseph Smith, after
living out his mortal life in ancient America. Later, he received
Angelic administrations from the Apostles Peter, James, and John, John
the Baptist, and others.
Seventh-day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventist Church, teaches that the first death, or
death brought about by living on a planet with sinful conditions
(sickness, old age, accident, etc.) is a sleep of the soul. Adventists
believe that the body + the breath of God = a living soul. Like
Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists use key phrases from the Bible, such as
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any
thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is
forgotten" (Eccl. 9:5 KJV). Adventists also point to the fact that the
wage of sin is death and God alone is
immortal.
Adventists believe God will grant eternal life to the redeemed who are
resurrected at Jesus' second coming. Until then, all those who have died
are "asleep". When Jesus the Christ, who is the Word and the Bread of
Life, comes a second time, the righteous will be raised incorruptible
and will be taken in the clouds to meet their Lord. The righteous will
live in heaven for a thousand years (the millennium) where they will sit
with God in judgment over the unredeemed and the fallen angels. During
the time the redeemed are in heaven, the Earth will be devoid of human
and animal inhabitation. Only the fallen angels will be left alive. The
second resurrection is of the unrighteous, when Jesus brings the New
Jerusalem down from heaven to relocate to Earth. Jesus will call to life
all those who are unrighteous. Satan and his angels will convince the
unrighteous to surround the city, but hell fire and brimstone will fall
from heaven and consume them, thus cleansing Earth of all sin. The
universe will be then free from sin forever. This is called the second
death. On the new earth God will provide an eternal home for all the
redeemed and a perfect environment for everlasting life, where Eden will
be restored. The great controversy will be ended and sin will be no
more. God will reign in perfect harmony forever.(Rom. 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:15,
16; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 11:11-14; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor.
15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; John 5:28, 29; Rev. 20:1-10; Rev. 20; 1 Cor.
6:2, 3; Jer. 4:23-26; Rev. 21:1-5; Mal. 4:1; Eze. 28:18, 19; 2 Peter
3:13; Isa. 35; 65:17-25; Matt. 5:5; Rev. 21:1-7; 22:1-5; 11:15.)
[36][37]
Mormonism
Joseph F. Smith of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
presents an elaborate vision of the Afterlife. It is revealed as the
scene of an extensive missionary effort by righteous spirits to redeem
those still in darkness—a spirit prison or "hell" where the spirits of
the dead remain until judgment. It is divided into two parts: Spirit
Prison and Paradise. Together these are also known as the Spirit World
(also Abraham's Bosom; see Luke 16:19-25). They believe that Christ
visited spirit prison (1 Peter 3:18-20) and opened the gate for those
who repent to cross over to Paradise.
"--- what Jesus' immortal
spirit did after His death and before His Resurrection is a mystery to
all but the Latter-day Saints ---" (Elder Spencer J. Condie, Liahona,
-Church magazine – July, 2003) "- - - unto the wicked he did not go, and
among the ungodly and the unrepentant - - his voice was not raised. - -
But behold, from among the righteous, He organized His forces and
appointed messengers ..." (D&C 138:20, 30–32). "Christ opened the
doors of hell to missionary work among the dead ..." (H. Donl Peterson,
"I Have a Question", Ensign, Apr. 1986, 36–38). This is similar to the
Harrowing of Hell doctrine of some mainstream Christian faiths.
[citation needed]
Both Spirit Prison and Paradise are temporary according to Latter-day
Saint beliefs. After the resurrection, spirits are assigned
"permanently" to three degrees of heavenly glory––Celestial,
Terrestrial, and Telestial––(1 Cor 15:44-42; Doctrine and Covenants,
Section 76) or are cast with Satan into Outer Darkness. (See Doctrine
and Covenants, Section 76.)
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses occasionally use the terms "afterlife" and "hereafter"
[38] to refer to any hope for the dead, but they understand
Ecclesiastes 9:5 to preclude common views of afterlife:
For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead,
they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they any more have
wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that death is the price for sinning.
[39][40] Individuals judged by God to be wicked, such as in the
Great Flood or at
Armageddon, are given no hope of an afterlife. After Armageddon there will be a resurrection in the flesh
[41]
of "both righteous and unrighteous" dead (but not the "wicked"), based
on Acts 24:15. Survivors of Armageddon and those who are resurrected are
then to gradually restore earth to a paradise.
[42] After Armageddon, unrepentant sinners are punished with eternal death (non-existence).
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy teaches that, "after the soul leaves the body, it journeys to the abode of the dead (
Hades). There are exceptions, such as the
Theotokos (the virgin
Mary),
who was borne by the angels directly into heaven. As for the rest, we
must remain in this condition of waiting. Because some have a prevision
of the glory to come and others foretaste their suffering, the state of
waiting is called "
Particular Judgment".
When Christ returns, the soul rejoins its
risen body to be judged by Him in the
Last judgment.
The 'good and faithful servant' will inherit eternal life, the
unfaithful with the unbeliever will spend eternity in hell. Their sins
and their unbelief will torture them as fire."
[43]
The Catholic Church
The Catholic conception of the afterlife teaches
after the body dies, the soul is judged, the righteous and free of sin enter Heaven. However, those who die in unrepented
mortal sin (or
original sin if unbaptized) go to hell. In the 1990s, the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
defined hell not as punishment imposed on the sinner but rather as the
sinner's self-exclusion from God. Unlike other Christian groups, the
Catholic Church teaches that those who die in a state of grace, but
still carry
venial sin go to a place called
Purgatory where they undergo purification to enter Heaven.
Islam
Main articles:
Barzakh and
Akhirah
The Islamic belief in the afterlife as stated in the
Qur'an is descriptive. The
Islamic word for Paradise is
jannat and Hell is
jahannam.
Jannat and
Jahannam both have different levels.
Jannat has eight gates and eight levels. The higher the level the better it is and the happier you are.
Jahannam possess 7 deep terrible layers. The lower the layer the worse it is. Individuals will arrive at both everlasting homes during
Judgment Day, which commences after the Angel
Israfil blows the trumpet the second time. Their level of comfort while in the grave depends wholly on their level of
Iman or faith in the one
God or
Allah.
In order for one to achieve proper, firm and healthy Iman one must
practice righteous deeds or else his level of Iman chokes and shrinks
and eventually can wither away if one does not practice
Islam long enough, hence the depth of practicing Islam is good deeds. One may also acquire
Tasbih and recite the names of Allah in such manner as "SubahannAllah" or
Glory be to
Allah over and over again to acquire good deeds. The levels in
Jannah are 7
[44] and 7 ((15) HİCR Suresi. Âyet - 44) for
Jahannam.
Islam teaches that the purpose of Man's entire creation is to worship the Creator of the Heavens and Earth—
Allah
alone that includes being kind to other human beings and life including
bugs, and to trees, by not oppressing them. Islam teaches that the life
we live on Earth is nothing but a test for us and to determine each
individual's ultimate abode be it punishment or
Jannat in the afterlife, which is eternal and everlasting.
In the 20th century, discussions about the afterlife address the
interconnection between human action and divine judgment, the need for
moral rectitude, and the eternal consequences of human action in this
life and world.
[45]
Bahá'í Faith
The teachings of the
Bahá'í Faith
state that the nature of the afterlife is beyond the nature of those
living, just as an unborn fetus cannot understand the nature of the
world outside of the
womb. The
Bahá'í writings state that the soul is immortal and after death it will continue to progress until it attains
God's presence.
In Bahá'í belief, souls in the afterlife will continue to retain their
individuality and consciousness and will be able to recognize and
communicate spiritually with other souls whom they have made deep
profound friendships with, such as their
spouses.
[46]
The Bahá'í scriptures also state there are distinctions between souls
in the afterlife, and that souls will recognize the worth of their own
deeds and understand the consequences of their actions. It is explained
that those souls that have turned toward God will experience gladness,
while those who have lived in error will become aware of the
opportunities they have lost. Also, in the Baha'i view, souls will be
able to recognize the accomplishments of the souls that have reached the
same level as themselves, but not those that have achieved a rank
higher than them.
[46]
Dharmic religions
Hinduism
Upanishads describe reincarnation (
punarjanma) (see also:
samsara). The
Bhagavat Gita, an important Hindu script, talks extensively about the afterlife. Here, the lord
Krishna
says that just as a man discards his old clothes and wears new ones;
similarly the soul discards the old body and takes on a new one. In
Hinduism, the belief is that the body is but a shell, the soul inside is
immutable and indestructible and takes on different lives in a cycle of
birth and death. The end of this cycle is called "Mukti" (Sanskrit:
मुक्ति) and staying finally with supreme God forever; is "
Moksha" (Sanskrit: मोक्ष) or salvation.
Garuda Purana,
a book solely deals with what happens to a person after death. The God
of Death Yama sends his representatives to collect the soul from a
person's body whenever he is due for death and they take the soul to
Yama. A record of each person's timings & deeds performed by him is
kept in a ledger by Yama's assistant "Chitragupta".
According to the Garuda Purana, a soul after leaving the body,
travels through a very long & dark tunnel towards South. This is why
an oil lamp is lit and kept beside the head of the corpse, to light the
dark tunnel and allow the soul to travel comfortably.
The soul, called "
Atman"
leaves the body and reincarnates itself according to the deeds or Karma
performed by one in last birth. Rebirth would be in form of animals or
other lower creatures if one performed bad Karmas and in human form in a
good family with joyous lifetime if the person was good in last birth.
In between the two births a human is also required to either face
punishments for bad Karmas in "
naraka"
or hell or enjoy for the good karmas in "svarga" or heaven for good
deeds. Whenever his or her punishments or rewards are over he or she is
sent back to earth, also known as "Martyalok" or human world. A person
stays with the God or ultimate power when he discharges only & only
yajna karma (means work done for satisfaction of supreme lord only) in
last birth and the same is called as "Moksha" or "Nirvana", which is the
ultimate goal of a self realised soul. Atma moves with "Parmatma" or
the greatest soul.According to Bhagwadgita an "Atma" or soul never dies,
what dies is the body only made of five elements—Earth, Water, Fire,
Air, and Sky. Soul is believed to be indestructible.None of the five
elements can harm or influence it.Hinduism through Garuda Purana also
describes in detail various types of "Narkas" or Hells where a person
after death is punished for his bad Karmas and dealt with accordingly.
Hindus also believe in 'Karma'. 'Karma' is the accumulated sums of
one's good or bad deeds.Satkarma means good deeds, vikarma means bad
deeds. According to
Hinduism
the basic concept of Karma is 'As you sow, you shall reap'. So, if a
person has lived a good life, they will be rewarded in the afterlife.
Similarly their sum of bad deeds will be mirrored in their next life.
Good 'Karma' brings good rewards and bad 'karmas' lead to bad results.
There is no judgment here. People accumulate karma through their actions
and even thoughts. In Bhagavad Gita when Arjuna hesitates to kill his
kith and kin the lord reprimands him saying thus "Do you believe that
you are the doer of the action. No. You are merely an instrument in MY
hands. Do you believe that the people in front of you are living? Dear
Arjuna, they are already dead. As a
kshatriya (warrior) it is
your duty to protect your people and land. If you fail to do your duty,
then you are not adhering to dharmic principles."
Buddhism
Buddhists maintain that
rebirth takes place without an unchanging
self
or soul passing from one form to another. The type of rebirth will be
conditioned by the moral tone of the person's actions (kamma or
karma).
For example, where a person has committed harmful actions of body,
speech and mind based on greed, hatred and delusion, rebirth in a lower
realm, i.e. an animal, a
ghost
or a hell realm, is to be expected. On the other hand, where a person
has performed skillful actions based on generosity, loving-kindness (
metta), compassion and wisdom, rebirth in a happy realm, i.e. human or one of the many heavenly realms, can be expected.
In
Tibetan Buddhism the
Tibetan Book of the Dead
explains the intermediate state of humans between death and
reincarnation. The deceased will find the bright light of wisdom, which
shows a straightforward path to move upward and leave the cycle of
reincarnation. There are various reasons why the deceased do not follow
that light. Some had no briefing about the intermediate state in the
former life. Others only used to follow their basic instincts like
animals. And some have fear, which results from foul deeds in the former
life or from insistent haughtiness. In the intermediate state the
awareness is very flexible, so it is important to be virtuous, adopt a
positive attitude, and avoid negative ideas. Ideas which are rising from
subconsciousness can cause extreme tempers and cowing visions. In this
situation they have to understand, that these manifestations are just
reflections of the inner thoughts. No one can really hurt them, because
they have no more material body. The deceased get help from different
Buddhas
who show them the path to the bright light. The ones who do not follow
the path after all will get hints for a better reincarnation. They have
to release the things and beings on which or whom they still hang from
the life before. It is recommended to choose a family where the parents
trust in the
Dharma and to reincarnate with the will to care for the welfare of all beings.
"Life is cosmic energy of the universe and after death it merges in
universe again and as the time comes to find the suitable place for the
entity died in the life condition it gets born. There are 10 life states
of any life: Hell, hunger, anger, animality, rapture, humanity,
learning, realization, bodhisatva and buddhahood. The life dies in which
life condition it reborn in the same life condition."
Sikhism
Sikhs
also believe in reincarnation. They believe that the soul belongs to
the spiritual universe which has its origins in God. It is like a
see-saw, the amount of good done in life will store up blessings, thus
uniting with God. It needs to be clarified whether the ideal is union or
link with 'Waheguru' (God) or merger in God (Hindu belief). Before the
creation of the world, God was all by Himself, in a Self-absorbed state.
In that state, God's Will, Naam or Attributes were not expressed, since
they have relevance only in the created world. At next stage, universe
was created. Since then God's Naam and Will have become expressed and
creative functioning in the universe goes on. The suggested merger in
God (Hindu belief)in this state involves virtually a reversion to the
first state of God being Self-absorbed. This reversal would evidently be
counter to the expressed Creative Will of God. So Sikhs believe in
union as opposed to merger. A soul may need to live many lives before it
is one with God. But there is more to it than this; there are four
classes that are included in this belief. Above these four classes is
God
"Waheguru"
and the soul can choose to stay with him it wishes, or take another
step and go to its people and serve them. Below these four classes are
non-humans such as plants and viruses. Souls move up and down according
to their deeds, a good life and death moves them up to a higher class
and a bad life and death results in going down a class.
Neopaganism
Wicca
The Wiccan afterlife is most commonly described as
The Summerland.
Here, souls rest, recuperate from life, and reflect on the experiences
they had during their lives. After a period of rest, the souls are
reincarnated, and the memory of their previous lives is erased. Many
Wiccans see The Summerland as a place to reflect on their life actions.
It is not a place of reward, but rather the end of a life journey at an
end point of incarnations.
[47]
Others
Unitarian Universalism
Some
Unitarian Universalists believes in
universalism that all souls will ultimately be saved and that there are no torments of hell.
[48] Unitarian Universalists differ widely in their theology hence there is no exact same stance on the issue.
[49]
Although Unitarians historically believed in a literal hell, and
Universalists historically believed that everyone goes to heaven, modern
Unitarian Universalists can be categorized into those believing in a
heaven, reincarnation and oblivion. Most Unitarian Universalists believe
that heaven and hell are symbolic places of consciousness and the faith
is largely focused on the worldy life rather than any possible
afterlife.
[50]
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism states that the
urvan, the disembodied spirit,
lingers on earth for three days before departing downward to the kingdom
of the dead that is ruled by Yima. For the three days that it rests on
Earth, righteous souls sit at the head of their body, chanting the
Ustavaiti Gathas with joy, while a wicked person sits at the feet of the corpse, wails and recites the
Yasna.
Zoroastrianism states that for the righteous souls, a beautiful maiden,
which is the personification of the soul's good thoughts, words and
deeds, appears. For a wicked person, a very old, ugly, naked hag
appears. After three nights, the soul of the wicked is taken by the
demon
Vizaresa (Vīzarəša), to Chinvat bridge, and is made to go to darkness (
hell).
Yima is believed to have been the first
king on earth to rule, as well as the first man to die. Inside of Yima's realm, the
spirits
live a shadowy existence, and are dependent on their own descendants
which are still living on Earth. Their descendants are to satisfy their
hunger and clothe them, through rituals done on earth.
Rituals which are done on the first three days are vital and
important, as they protect the soul from evil powers and give it
strength to reach the underworld. After three days, the soul crosses
Chinvat bridge which is the
Final Judgment of the soul. Rashnu and
Sraosha are present at the final judgment. The list is expanded sometimes, and include
Vahman and
Ormazd.
Rashnu is the
yazata
who holds the scales of justice. If the good deeds of the person
outweigh the bad, the soul is worthy of paradise. If the bad deeds
outweigh the good, the bridge narrows down to the width of a blade-edge,
and a horrid hag pulls the soul in her arms, and takes it down to hell
with her.
Misvan Gatu
is the 'place of the mixed ones' where the souls lead a gray existence,
lacking both joy and sorrow. A soul goes here if his/her good deeds and
bad deeds are equal, and Rashnu's scale is equal.
Parapsychology
Main article:
Parapsychology
A study conducted in 1901 by physician
Duncan MacDougall sought to measure the weight lost by a human when the
soul "departed the body" upon death.
[51]
MacDougall weighed dying patients in an attempt to prove that the soul
was material, tangible and thus measurable. Although MacDougall's
results varied considerably from "21 grams", for some people this figure
has become synonymous with the measure of a soul's mass.
[52] The title of the 2003 movie
21 Grams
is a reference to MacDougall's findings. His results have never been
reproduced, and are generally regarded either as meaningless or
considered to have had little if any scientific merit.
[53]
The
Society for Psychical Research
was founded in 1882 with the express intention of investigating
phenomena relating to Spiritualism and the afterlife. Its members
continue to conduct scientific research on the paranormal to this day.
Some of the earliest attempts to apply
scientific methods
to the study of phenomena relating to an afterlife were conducted by
this organization. Its earliest members included noted scientists like
William Crookes, and philosophers such as
Henry Sidgwick and
William James.
J. B. Rhine,
who was critical in the early foundations of parapsychology as a
laboratory science, was committed to finding scientific evidence for the
spiritual existence of humans. Scientists who have worked in this area
include
Raymond Moody,
Susan Blackmore,
Charles Tart,
William James,
Ian Stevenson,
Michael Persinger and
Pim van Lommel among others.
[54]
After 25 years of parapsychological research,
Susan Blackmore came to the conclusion that there is no
empirical evidence for an afterlife.
[55][56] David Fontana
however on the subject of parapsychology has said that "the evidence
for survival is so strong that anyone who cares to study it is likely to
end up convinced". He further says that the reason there is no complete
conclusive repeatable evidence is because that if the afterlife was so
demonstrable then it would become "another chapter in a school textbook"
and that "the whole process of questioning, probing, studying,
observing, meditating and of wanting so desperately and enduringly to
know, is part of the development of mind itself".
[57]
Some, such as
Francis Crick in 1994, have attempted a "scientific search for the soul".
[58] Frank Tipler has argued that
physics can explain immortality, though such arguments are not
falsifiable and thus do not qualify, in
Karl Popper's views, as science.
[59]
In 2008,
Penny Sartori, an intensive care nurse from
Swansea,
published a book about near death experiences following 10 years of
research. Sartori says that people who went through out-of-body
experiences felt as if they floated above themselves and were able to
accurately recount what had happened in the room even though their
bodily eyes were closed.
[60]
Investigation of the afterlife also includes the study of (among others) cases of
haunting,
apparitions
of the deceased (including, in some cases, information conveyed by
those same apparitions), instrumental trans-communication (recording of
electronic voice phenomena on tape), and
mediumship.
[61]
Hypotheses
An early
psychical researcher to propose an afterlife hypothesis was Edmund Fournier d'Albe he wrote that at the moment of death the
soul floats into the
atmosphere. The soul then inhabits a realm of the earth-atmosphere extending upwards for two- hundred miles, and that the souls live off
ultraviolet rays from the
sun.
[62][63]
The parapsychologist
H. H. Price
had also developed his own hypothesis about what the afterlife may be
like. According to Price after death the self will find itself in a
dream world of
memories
and mental images from their life. Price wrote that the hypothetical
"next world would be realms of real mental images". Price however
believed that the self may be able to draw upon its memories of previous
physical existence to create an environment of totally new images.
According to Price, the dream world will not follow the laws of
physics just as ordinary
dreams
do not. In addition, he wrote that each person will experience a world
of their own, though he also wrote that the dream world doesn't
necessarily have to be
solipsistic as different selves may be able to communicate with each other by
dream telepathy.
[64][65][66][67]
The most common criticism of HH Price's afterlife hypothesis has come
from the religious community as his suggestions are not consistent with
traditional
Christian teaching, nor the teachings of any other
monotheistic religion.
[68]
Gardner Murphy wrote that a persons
mind might survive death in a fragmentary state and merge itself into a
collective consciousness.
Murphy had opposed the idea that an individual mind with personality as
an entity would survive, instead he claimed the mind and all of its
memories would merge itself into a larger field of
consciousness. He wrote there would be no personal
ego left but the consciousness would be able to take on new qualities.
[69][70]
Patterson (1995) has proposed a form of afterlife equivalent to a
collective dream but concludes that the individual will still have
subjective consciousness.
[71]
Philosophy
Modern philosophy
There is still the position, based on the philosophical question of
personal identity, termed
open individualism, and in some ways similar to the old belief of
monopsychism,
that concludes that individual existence is illusory, and our
consciousness continues existing after death in other conscious beings.
Positions regarding existence after death were supported by some notable
physicists such as
Erwin Schrödinger and
Freeman Dyson.
[72]
Certain problems arise with the idea of a particular person continuing after death.
Peter van Inwagen, in his argument regarding resurrection, notes that the materialist must have some sort of physical continuity.
[73] John Hick also raises some questions regarding personal identity in his book,
Death and Eternal Life
using an example of a person ceasing to exist in one place while an
exact replica appears in another. If the replica had all the same
experiences, traits, and physical appearances of the first person, we
would all attribute the same identity to the second, according to Hick.
Process philosophy
In the
panentheistic model of
process philosophy and theology the writers
Alfred North Whitehead and
Charles Hartshorne rejected that the universe was made of
substance, instead reality is composed of living
experiences
(occasions of experience). According to Hartshorne people do not
experience subjective (or personal) immortality in the afterlife, but
they do have objective immortality because their experiences live on
forever in
God, who contains all that was. However other process philosophers such as
David Ray Griffin have written that people may have subjective experience after death.
[74][75][76][77]
Science
The scientific method demands much greater skepticism than is found
among most religions in relation to afterlife belief. It is generally
thought in scientific circles that the mind, psyche, consciousness and
personality are products of the functioning brain.
[78]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Gilgul Neshamot - Reincarnation of Souls
- ^ Max Heindel, The Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures (The Riddle of Life and Death), 1908, ISBN 0-911274-84-7
- ^ Max Heindel, Death and Life in Purgatory—Life and Activity in Heaven
- ^ Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001)
- ^ limbo - definition of limbo by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia
- ^ Ted Campbell, Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials (Abingdon 1999), quoted in Feature article by United Methodist Reporter Managing Editor Robin Russell and in FAQ Belief: What happens immediately after a person dies?
- ^ Richard P. Taylor Death and the afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia ABC-CLIO, 2000 ISBN 0-87436-939-8
- ^ Bard, Katheryn (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge.
- ^ Kathryn Demeritt Ptah's Travels: Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt 2005, p. 82
- ^ Glennys Howarth, Oliver Leaman Encyclopedia of death and dying 2001, p. 238
- ^ Natalie Lunis Tut's Deadly Tomb 2010, p. 11
- ^ Fergus Fleming, Alan Lothian Ancient Egypt's Myths and Beliefs 2011, p. 96
- ^ "Door to Afterlife found in Egyptian tomb". www.meeja.com.au. 2010-03-30. Retrieved 2008-09-30.[dead link]
- ^ Social Studies School Service Ancient Greece 2003, pp. 49–51
- ^ Perry L. Westmoreland Ancient Greek Beliefs 2007, pp. 68–70
- ^ N. Sabir Heaven Hell Or 2010, p. 147
- ^ Harris, Stephen. Understanding the Bible.
- ^ Tractate Sanhedrin: Interpolated Section: Those Who have no Share in the World to Come
- ^ Jehoiakim
- ^ soc.culture.jewish
FAQ: Jewish Thought (6/12)Section - Question 12.8: What do Jews say
happens when a person dies? Do Jews believe in reincarnation? In hell or
heaven? Purgato...
- ^ Saadia Gaon in Emunoth ve-Deoth Section vi
- ^ a b Reincarnation in the Jewish Tradition - YouTube
- ^ Ask the Rabbi - Reincarnation
- ^ Reincarnation « Ask! « Ohr Somayach
- ^ Martin Buber, "Legende des Baalschem" in Die Chassidischen Bücher, Hellerau 1928, especially Die niedergestiegene Seele
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Matthew 22:23-33
- ^ John 5:29
- ^ Matthew 27:50-54
- ^ Fosdick, Harry Emerson. A guide to understanding the Bible. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1956. page 276.
- ^ Acts of Paul and Thecla 8:5
- ^ He wrote that a person "may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body,
he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds
that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire" (emphasis added)—Sermon on the Dead, AD 382, quoted in The Roots of Purgatory
- ^ "purgatory". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 06 Jun. 2007.
- ^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
- ^ a b Swedenborg, E. Heaven and its Wonders and Hell. From Things Heard and Seen (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946)
- ^ White, E.G. (1858). The great controversy. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association
- ^ Adventist.org: The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist world church
- ^ "The Hereafter—Where Will It Be?", The Watchtower, January 1, 2000, page 3, Read online
- ^ Reasoning From the Scriptures pp 168–175
- ^ Jehovah's Witnesses website on Hell
- ^ Acts 24:15 KJV
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Further reading
- Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions edited by Hiroshi Obayashi, Praeger, 1991.
- Beyond Death: Theological and Philosophical Reflections on Life after Death edited by Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Christopher Lewis, Pelgrave-MacMillan, 1995.
- The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection by Jane Idelman Smith and Yazbeck Haddad, Oxford UP, 2002.
- Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion by Alan F. Segal, Doubleday, 2004.
- Brain & Belief: An Exploration of the Human Soul by John J. McGraw, Aegis Press, 2004.
- Beyond the Threshold: Afterlife Beliefs and Experiences in World Religions by Christopher M. Moreman, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
- Is there an afterlife: a comprehensive overview of the evidence by David Fontana, O Books 2005.
- Conceptions of the Afterlife in Early Civilizations: Universalism, Constructivism and Near-Death Experience by Gregory Shushan, New York & London, Continuum, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8264-4073-0.
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From the publisher's website: The importance of spiritual and
religious frames of reference in making sense of and recovering from
mental health difficulties is increasingly being recognized by mental
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