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Home , Fire and brimstone, Jahannam

The goal of the religious quest is often described as immortality or eternal life. Humanity has always chafed under the limitations of mortality, and people have found in religion the means to transcend the which seems to proscribe the possibilities of human existence. Yet we have already gathered under Immortal Soul, pp. 326-34, passages from scripture which recognize that every person has an eternal spirit as his or her birthright. Everyone will continue eternally in some form of existence after the end of this physical life. The question of eternal life, therefore, does not mean eternal existence per se, but rather what form it will take, and whether death will remain a barrier to human fulfillment.

We find that the scriptures of many religions give two meanings to the terms "life" and "death." There is the physical : existence in this physical realm, and there is the spiritual meaning of life: the state of blessedness which is enduring from life to life and hence transcends death. There is the physical death: the dropping of the body which is an event in the voyage of every soul, and the spiritual death: the condition of distance from , ignorance, and a hellish existence in the hereafter.

Hence when the question of is at issue, the outcomes called "eternal life" and "immortality" are often ciphers to describe the condition of blessedness. This condition is present already in the physical life of the person who realizes Truth or lives in God's grace, and it will continue, unabated, in the hereafter. The person who gains "eternal life" has accomplished the goal of life, and hence death is not to be feared as a limitation, as it is for a worldly person who has tied all hopes to his possessions and pleasures in the world.

Some Taoist scriptures, on the other hand, promote the ideal of physical immorality. The eternal youth of the Taoist Immortals is a consequence of their life being totally at one with the Tao of nature. Likewise, the doctrine of the resurrection is interpreted by some , Jews, and as requiring the reconstitution of the dead in their physical bodies, to dwell forever on this earth. Yet these physical interpretations are also based on a spiritual concept of

1 life and death: only the spiritually alive are qualified to enjoy immortality or the fruits of the resurrection.

We note that Buddhist scriptures generally avoid speaking of the state of blessedness as eternal life. Buddhist teaching views the desire for life as a kind of grasping, and hence a fetter to liberation.

For the wages of is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord (Romans 6.23).

Let us see some beliefs of various religions about the .

Christianity

Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between denominations and individual Christians, but the vast majority of Christians believe in some kind of , in which believers enjoy the presence of God and other believers and freedom from suffering and sin.

Views differ as to whether those of other faiths or none at all will be in heaven, and conceptions of what heaven will be like differ as well.

A slightly lesser majority of Christians believe in the existence of , where unbelievers or sinners are punished. Views differ as to whether hell is eternal and whether its punishment is spiritual or physical. Some Christians reject the notion altogether.

Catholic Christians also believe in , a temporary place of punishment for Christians who have died with unconfessed .

Assemblies of God:

The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church. The second coming of Christ includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His saints to reign on earth for one thousand years. This

2 millennial reign will bring the salvation of national Israel, and the establishment of universal peace. There will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life, together with the devil and his , the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake which burns with , which is the second death. We, according to His promise, look for new and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

Evangelical Free Church of America:

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.

Friends United Meeting (Quaker):

We believe, according to the Scriptures, that there shall be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and of the unjust, (Acts 24:15) and that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ whom He has ordained. (Acts 17:31) For, as says the apostle, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Cor 5:10). We sincerely believe, not only a resurrection in Christ from the fallen and sinful state here, but a rising and ascending into glory with Him hereafter; that when He at last appears we may appear with Him in glory. But that all the wicked, who live in rebellion against the light of grace, and die finally impenitent, shall come forth to the resurrection of condemnation. And that the soul of every man and woman shall be reserved, in its own distinct and proper being, and shall have its proper body as God is pleased to give it. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; (1 Cor 15:44) that being first which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual.

3 We believe that the punishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteousness shall be everlasting, according to the declaration of our compassionate Redeemer, to whom the judgment is committed, "These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (RV, Matt 25:46)

Lutheran Church (Augsburg Confession, 1530):

Also they [Lutheran churches] teach that at the Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment, and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed.

Mennonite Church in the USA:

We believe that, just as God raised Jesus from the dead, we also will be raised from the dead. At Christ's glorious coming again for judgment, the dead will come out of their graves"--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." The righteous will rise to eternal life with God, and the unrighteous to hell and separation from God. Thus, God will bring justice to the persecuted and will confirm the victory over sin, evil, and death itself.

We look forward to the coming of a new heaven and a new earth, and a new , where the people of God will no longer hunger, thirst, or cry, but will sing praises: "To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen!"

Presbyterian Church in the USA:

If there is a Presbyterian narrative about life after death, this is it: When you die, your soul goes to be with God, where it enjoys God's glory and waits for the final judgment. At the final judgment bodies are reunited with

4 souls, and eternal rewards and punishments are handed out. As the Scots Confession notes, final judgment is also “the time of refreshing and restitution of all things.” And it is clearly the case that both the Scots Confession and the Westminster Confession of Faith want to orient the present- day life of believers around this future. But the Bible spends more time focusing on new life here than on life after death. So do all our more recent confessions. Although the Confession of 1967 mentions life after death, it does so only briefly. Its focus is on new life now and on the church's ministry of reconciliation.

Southern Baptist Convention:

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

United Church of Christ:

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

United Methodist Church (on purgatory):

The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God.

Judaism

Jewish Beliefs on the Afterlife Jewish sacred texts and literature have little to say about what happens after

5 death. This may seem surprising to non-Jews, since the sacred texts of and (both of which have their foundations in ) elaborate rather fully about the afterlife.

But Judaism is much more focused on actions than beliefs, so it is actually to be expected that its prophets and sages have not spent as much time on speculations about the world to come as elaborations on the mitzvot to be performed in this life.

The and alike focus on the purpose of earthly life, which is to fulfill one's duties to God and one's fellow man. Succeeding at this brings reward, failing at it brings punishment. Whether rewards and punishments continue after death, or whether anything at all happens after death, is not as important.

Despite the subject's general exclusion from the Jewish sacred texts, however, Judaism does incorporate views on the afterlife. Yet unlike the other monotheistic religions, no one view has ever been officially agreed upon, and there is much room for speculation.

This section will begin with a look at biblical texts addressing the afterlife, then explore various Jewish views on subjects such as the resurrection of the dead, judgment, heaven and hell, and the messianic age.

The Hebrew word Olam Ha-Ba ("the world to come") is used for both the messianic age (see below) and the afterlife (see Gan Eden, below). The world to come is important and something to look forward to. A Mishnah passage says, "This world is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall." The tractate Moed Katan teaches, "This world is only like a hotel. The world to come is like a home."

Yet it is also emphasized that this world provides the ability and privilege of doing good works and performing the mitzvot: "Rabbi Yaakov also used to say, 'Better one hour in and good deeds in this world than all the life in the world to come. And better one hour of tranquility of spirit in the world to come than all the life of this world.'" (Pirkei Avos, Chapters of the Fathers)

6 The Afterlife in the TorahFor the most part, the Torah describes the afterlife in vague terms, many of which may simply be figurative ways of speaking about death as it is observed by the living.

An early common theme is that death means rejoining one's ancestors. Abraham, Isaac, , Moses, and other patriarchs are "gathered to their people" after death (see Gen. 25:8, 25:17, 35:29, 49:33; Deut. 42:50; 2 Ki. 22:20). In contrast, the wicked are "cut off (kareit) from their people" (Gen. 17:14; Ex. 31:14). Other imagery emphasizes the finality of death: the dead are like dust returning to dust (Genesis; Ecc. 3:19-20) or water poured out on the ground (2 Samuel 14:14).

Another recurring biblical image of the afterlife is as a shadowy place called . It is a place of darkness (Psalm 88:13, 10:21, 22) and silence (Psalm 115:17), located in low places (Numbers 16:30, Ezekiel 31:14, Psalm 88:7, Lamentations 3:55; 2:7, Job 26:5). In 1 Samuel 2:6, God puts people in Sheol. In Isaiah 14:9-10, the departed in Sheol rise up to greet leaders who have now been brought low as they are. The author of Psalm 88 laments his impending death with these words:

I am sated with misfortune; I am at the brink of Sheol.

I am numbered with those who go down to the Pit;

I am a helpless man abandoned among the dead, like bodies lying in the grave of whom You are mindful no more, and who are cut off from Your care.

You have put me at the bottom of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths.

(Psalm 88:4-7)

7 Taken together, these early biblical descriptions of death seem to indicate that the soul continues to exist in some way after death, but not consciously. Later in the Torah, the concept of conscious life after death begins to develop. Daniel 12:2 declares, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence." Neh. 9:5.

Tehiyat Hameitim: Resurrection of the Dead.

More developed concepts of the resurrection of the dead and afterlife seem to have entered Judaism under Hellenistic influence after the Torah was completed. It became one of the fundamental beliefs in rabbinic Judaism, the intellectual successors of the Pharisees. The Sadduccees, familiar to readers as those who denied the resurrection, were an exception. As seen above, the resurrection of the dead is one of Maimonides' "13 Articles of Belief," and the frequently-recited Shemoneh Esrei prayer contains several references to the resurrection.

How this resurrection might occur has been a matter of speculation. Rabbi Hiyya ben Joseph suggested that "the dead will come up through the ground and rise up in Jerusalem... and the righteous will rise up fully clothed" (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Ketubot 111b). Saadia ben Yosef al-Fayyumi (892-942 C.E.), the head of the academy of Sura, offered this explanation:

Even fire, which causes things to be burned so quickly, merely effects the separation of the parts of a thing causing the dust part to return to ashes. It does not however, bring about the annihilation of anything. Nor is it conceivable that anyone should have the power to annihilate anything to the point where it would vanish completely except its Creator, who produced it out of nothing.

Since then the matter can be thus explained, in view of the fact that none of the constituent parts of the human being who has been devoured could have been annihilated, they must all have been set aside, wheresoever they may have taken up, whether it be on land or sea, until such time as they are restored in their entirety. Nor would such

8 restoration be any more remarkable than their original creation.

Today, most traditional Jewish movements accept the concept of the resurrection of the dead. A notable exception is Reform Judaism, which official rejects the doctrine.

Judgment:

Traditional Judaism includes belief in both heaven and hell, as we will see below. How is one's destination decided? The School of Shammai offered this description:

There will be three groups on the Day of Judgment: one of thoroughly righteous people, one of thoroughly wicked people and one of people in between. The first group will be immediately inscribed for everlasting life; the second group will be doomed in Gehinnom [Hell], as it says, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence" [Daniel 12:2], the third will go down to Gehinnom and squeal and rise again, as it says, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name and I will answer them" [Zechariah 13:9]... [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah 16b-17a]

The school of Hillel suggested a more merciful view, in which the middle group are sent directly to Gan Eden (Heaven) instead of Gehinnom after death. Rabbi Hanina added that all who go down to Gehinnom will go up again, except adulterers, those who put their fellows to shame in public, and those who call their fellows by an obnoxious name [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Metzia 58b].

The Talmud teaches that all Israel will have a share in Olam Ha-Ba, but makes some notable exceptions:

All Israelites have a share in the world-to-come... [However], these are they that have no share in the world- to-come: one who says there is no resurrection of the dead prescribed in the Torah, and that the Torah is not from Heaven, and an Epicurean. (Sanhedrin 10:1)

9 General Jewish belief is that one need not be Jewish to enjoy Heaven. "Moses Maimonides, echoing the Tosefta to Sanhedrin, maintained that the pious of all the nations of the world have a portion in the world-to-come [Mishneh Torah, Repentance 3:5]."

Gan Eden: Heaven.

In Judaism, the eternal destination for the righteous is Gan Eden (the ). It is generally described as a place of great joy and peace. Talmudic imagery includes: sitting at golden banquet tables (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Taanit 25a) or at stools of gold (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Ketubot 77b), enjoying lavish banquets (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Batra 75a), or celebrating the Sabbath, enjoying sunshine and sexual intercourse (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berachot 57b).

On the other hand, other sages have offered a more spiritual view of Gad Eden. Rav suggested that there will be neither eating nor drinking; no procreation of children or business transactions, no envy or hatred or rivalry; but sitting enthroned, their crowns on their heads, enjoying the Shechinah [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berachot 17a (3rd century CE)]. Maimonides agreed, explaining:

In the world to come, there is nothing corporeal, and no material substance; there are only souls of the righteous without bodies -- like the ministering angels... The righteous attain to a knowledge and realization of truth concerning God to which they had not attained while they were in the murky and lowly body. (Mishneh Torah, Repentance 8)

Gehinnom: Hell.

The Jewish concept of the afterlife for the wicked is less developed. Known as Gehinnom ( in Yiddish) or Sheo'l, it has its foundations in the dark pit described in the Torah (see above) and an actual place where a pagan cult conducted rituals included burning children (see the description in II Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31).

Gehinnom is the postmortem destination of unrighteous Jews and Gentiles. In one reference, the souls in Gehinnom are

10 punished for up to 12 months. After the appropriate period of purification, the righteous continue on to Gan Eden (Rabbi Akiba and Babylonian Talmud, tractate Eduyot 2:10). The wicked endure the full year of punishment then are either annihilated ("After 12 months, their body is consumed and their soul is burned and the wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous (Rosh Hashanah 17a)") or continue to be punished.

This belief is the basis for the Jewish practice of mourning and asking blessings on deceased loved ones for only 11 months (one would not wish to imply that the departed needed the full 12 months of purification).

The Messianic Age: The messianic age is a period in human history that will be initiated when the messiah comes. At that time the righteous dead will be resurrected, but the wicked will not. The messianic age will be a time of peace and the restoration of the land and organizations of Israel.

Jainism

Karma

In and , is the natural moral law of the universe in which every good and bad action has a corresponding effect on the doer. This karma accounts for why some are richer, prettier or luckier than others and why otherwise similar people are at different spiritual levels. It is also the determining factor of the form into which one is reborn. "Good karma" results in a higher spiritual state and more favorable physical state, while "bad karma" has negative physical and spiritual results.

Jainism teaches that there are two different kinds of karma, ghati ("destructive") and aghati ("non- destructive"). The former affects the soul and the latter affects the body. Within each category are several kinds of karma, each of which has particular results and a way of being shed. One can only attain liberation when he or she has shed all karma.

11 Bad actions related to physical life accumulate aghati karma, which result in negative consequences for physical life (in the present life and/or the next). There are four kinds of aghati karma:

1.Happiness-determining (vedniya)

2.Body-determining (nam)

3.Status-determining (gotra)

4.Longevity-determining (ayushya)

For example, being proud of one's status will accumulate gotra karma, and cause one to be born with lower status in the next life. But admiring the ugly as well as the beautiful will shed nam karma and result in a more beautiful appearance. Compassion and helpfulness towards others sheds vedniya karma and results in greater happiness. Killing someone earns ayushya karma, which results in a shorter lifespan.

Death and Afterlife

Depending on one's karma and level of spiritual development, death may mean being reborn in another physical appearance in the earthly realm, suffering punishment in one of eight or joining other liberated souls in the highest level of heaven.

Unlike hell imagery in most other systems, the eight hells of Jainism become progressively colder as they go down. Suffering in these hells is not eternal. Once a soul has been severely punished, he or she is reborn into another form.

Hinduism

Karma and Samsara

12 Karma is a Sanskrit word whose literal meaning is 'action'. It refers to the law that every action has an equal reaction either immediately or at some point in the future. Good or virtuous actions, actions in harmony with dharma, will have good reactions or responses and bad actions, actions against dharma, will have the opposite effect.

In Hinduism karma operates not only in this lifetime but across lifetimes: the results of an action might only be experienced after the present life in a new life.

Hindus believe that human beings can create good or bad consequences for their actions and might reap the rewards of action in this life, in a future human rebirth or reap the rewards of action in a heavenly or hell realm in which the self is reborn for a period of time.

This process of reincarnation is called samsara, a continuous cycle in which the soul is reborn over and over again according to the law of action and reaction. At death many Hindus believe the soul is carried by a subtle body into a new physical body which can be a human or non-human form (an animal or divine being). The goal of liberation () is to make us free from this cycle of action and reaction, and from rebirth.

Sikhism

Karma and Reincarnation

Sikhism retains the general Hindu conception of the universe and the doctrine of samsara, or rebirth, based on karma. Human birth is the only chance to escape samsara and attain salvation.

Islam

Like Christianity, Islam teaches the continued existence of the soul and a transformed physical existence after death.

13 Muslims believe there will be a day of judgment when all humans will be divided between the eternal destinations of and Hell.

Resurrection and the Day of Judgment

A central doctrine of the Qur'an is the Last Day, on which the world will be destroyed and Allah will raise all people and from the dead to be judged.

The Last Day is also called the Day of Standing Up, Day of Separation, Day of Reckoning, Day of Awakening, Day of Judgment, The Encompassing Day or The Hour.

Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time.

The resurrection that will take place on the Last Day is physical, and is explained by suggesting that God will re- create the decayed body (17:100: "Could they not see that God who created the heavens and the earth is able to create the like of them"?).

On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity. The day of judgment is described as passing over Hell on a narrow bridge in order to enter Paradise. Those who fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will remain in Hell forever.

The Qur'an specifies two exceptions to this general rule:

1.Warriors who die fighting in the cause of God are ushered immediately to God's presence (2:159 and 3:169); and

2."Enemies of Islam" are sentenced immediately to Hell upon death.

14 Paradise

"O soul who is at rest, return to thy Lord, well-pleased with Him, well-pleasing Him. So enter among My servants, and enter My garden." (89:27-30)

Paradise (firdaws), also called "The Garden" (Janna), is a place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty mansions (39:20, 29:58-59), delicious food and drink (52:22, 52:19, 38:51), and virgin companions called (56:17-19, 52:24-25, 76:19, 56:35-38, 37:48-49, 38:52-54, 44:51-56, 52:20-21). There are (17:46, 23:88, 41:11, 65:12).

Hell

Hell, or (Greek gehenna), is mentioned frequently in the Qur'an and the using a variety of imagery. It has seven doors (Qur'an 39:71; 15:43) leading to a fiery crater of various levels, the lowest of which contains the tree and a cauldron of boiling pitch. The level of hell depends on the degree of offenses. Suffering is both physical and spiritual.

Being a Muslim does not keep one out of Hell, but it is not clear whether Muslims remain in Hell forever. Non-Muslims (), however, will be punished eternally. A Muslim author on IslamOnline.net explains it this way:

"Ultimately, God will remove from Hell those believers whose sins were not forgiven nor atoned for by good deeds in their lifetimes, and they will then enter Paradise. The remaining inhabitants of Hell will stay there eternally."

Other Muslim commentators, noting that Allah can rescue people from hell as he chooses, and that he is merciful and compassionate, have hypothesized that eventually hell will be empty. Alternatively, Hell can be seen as a place of progress where souls are instructed until they are fit to go to heaven:

"Life after death is actually the starting-point of further progress for man. Those in paradise are advancing to higher and higher stages in knowledge and perfection of faith. Hell is meant to purify those in it of the effects of their

15 bad deeds, and so make them fit for further advancement. Its punishment is, therefore, not everlasting."

Jehovah's witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses deny the existence of hell. Instead, they hold that the souls of the wicked will be annihilated. The death that Adam brought into the world is spiritual as well as physical, and only those who gain entrance into the Kingdom of God will exist eternally. However, this division will not occur until Armageddon, when all people will be resurrected and given a chance to gain eternal life. In the meantime, "the dead are conscious of nothing."

Witnesses also have a slightly different view of heaven than mainstream Christianity. Based on their reading of prophetic books like Daniel and Revelation, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven to rule with God and Jesus. The remainder of the righteous will enjoy paradise on earth - a restored Garden of Eden in which there is no sickness, old age, death or unhappiness.

Buddhism

The Buddha said of death:

Life is a journey. Death is a return to earth. The universe is like an inn. The passing years are like dust.

Regard this phantom world As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, A flash of in a summer cloud, A flickering lamp - a phantom - and a dream.

According to Buddhism, after death one is either reborn into another body (reincarnated) or enters . Only Buddhas - those who have attained enlightenment - will achieve the latter destination.

16 Reincarnation (Transmigration)

Based on his no-soul (anatta) doctrine, the Buddha described reincarnation, or the taking on of a new body in the next life, in a different way than the traditional Indian understanding. He compared it to lighting successive candles using the flame of the preceding candle. Although each flame is causally connected to the one that came before it, is it not the same flame. Thus, in Buddhism, reincarnation is usually referred to as "transmigration."

Nirvana

Nirvana is the state of final liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. It is also therefore the end of suffering. The literal meaning of the word is "to extinguish," in the way that a fire goes out when it runs out of fuel. In the Surangama, the Buddha describes Nirvana as the place in which it is recognized that there is nothing but what is seen of the mind itself; where, recognizing the nature of the self- mind, one no longer cherishes the dualisms of discrimination; where there is no more thirst nor grasping; where there is no more attachment to external things.

But all these descriptions only tell us what is not Nirvana. What is it like? Is it like heaven, or is it non- existence? The answer is not clear, due in large part to the Buddha's aversion to metaphysics and speculation. When he was asked such questions, he merely replied that it was "incomprehensible, indescribable, inconceivable, unutterable."

Chinese Religion

17 The Chinese conception of the afterlife is based on a combination of Chinese folk religions, and Mahayana Buddhism.

At the moment of death, Chinese believe one's spirit is taken by messengers to the god of walls and moats, Ch'eng Huang, who conducts a kind of preliminary hearing. Those found virtuous may go directly to one of the Buddhist , to the dwelling place of the Taoist immortals, or the tenth court of hell for immediate rebirth.

After 49 days, sinners descend to hell, located at the base of the mythical Mount Meru. There they undergo a fixed period of punishment in one or more levels of hell. The duration of this punishment may be reduced by the intercession of the merciful Ti-ts'ang.

When the punishment is complete, the souls in hell drink an elixir of oblivion in preparation for their next reincarnation.

They then climb on the wheel of transmigration, which takes them to their next reincarnation, or, in an alternative account, they are thrown off the bridge of pain into a river that sweeps them off to their next life.

Greco-Roman Religious Beliefs

"I'd rather be a day-laborer on earth working for a man of little property than lord of all the hosts of the dead." --Achilles, in The Iliad

As illustrated by the above remark by the hero Achilles, death was not a glorius thing for the ancient Greeks. In Homer's epics, the dead are "pathetic in their helplessness, inhabiting drafty, echoing halls, deprived of their wits, and flitting purposelessly about uttering batlike noises."5 While undesirable when compared with life on earth, this vague, shadowing existence was not generally cause for fear of the afterlife. Only terrible sinners (like Tantalus, Tityus and Sisyphus) were punished after death; similarly, only a select few ended up in the paradisical Elysian Fields.

Hades

18 With the rare exceptions mentioned above, was the universal destination of the dead in Greek religion until the latter half of the 5th century BCE. Hades was a cold, damp and dark realm that was guarded by the god of the same name. The "gates of Hades" were guaded by the fearsome hound Cerberus, who wags his tail for new arrivals but does not allow anyone to leave. Without proper burial, one cannot enter the gates of Hades. The river Styx is the boundary between earth and Hades, but Hades has other rivers as well (e.g. Phlegethon, Acheron, Cocytus). A similar concept is found in Japanese Buddhism in the Sanzu River, which the dead must cross on the way to the afterlife.

Tartarus

In Greek religion, was the deepest region of the , lower than Hades. Hesiod wrote that it would take an anvil nine days to fall from heaven to earth and another nine to fall from earth to Tartarus. Hades, not Tartarus, is the place of the dead but some especially wicked characters have been imprisoned in Tartarus to be punished. It is where Sisyphus, thief and murderer, must repeatedly push a boulder up a hill for eternity; where Ixion, who killed his father-in-law, is attached to a flaming wheel; and where Tantalus is kept just out of reach of cool water and grapes for sharing the secrets of the with humans. Tartarus is also where monsters and other enemies have been cast after being defeated by the gods, including the Cyclopes, the Titans and Typhus. In , Tartarus was the eternal destination of sinners in general.

Elysium

Elysium (also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain) was a paradise inhabited at first only by the very distinguished, but later by the good. Elysium first appears in Homer's Odyssey as the destination of Menelaus. It is located at the western ends of the earth and is characterized by gentle breezes and an easy life like that of the gods. Closely related to Elysium is Hesiod's Isles of the Blessed, mentioned in his Works and Days, which was located in the western ocean.

Reincarnation

19 The notion that the human soul enters another body upon death, though unfamiliar in popular Greek religion, was widespread in Greek philosophy. The doctrine of transmigration is first associated with the Pythagoreans and Orphics and was later taught by Plato (Phaedo, Republic) and Pindar (Olympian). For the former groups, the soul retained its identity throughout its reincarnations; Plato indicated that souls do not remember their previous experiences. Although Herodotus claims that the Greeks learned this idea from Egypt, most scholars do not believe it came either from Egypt or from India, but developed independently.

Scientology

Scientology does not include an official belief about the afterlife. However, it reports that during auditing, a person often recalls memories of past lives and that Scientology ascribes to the idea of being born again into another body.

Zoroastrianism

The Zoroastrian afterlife is determined by the balance of the good and evil deeds, words, and thoughts of the whole life. For those whose good deeds outweight the bad, heaven awaits. Those who did more evil than good go to hell (which has several levels corresponding to degrees of wickedness). There is an intermediate stage for those whose deeds weight out equally.

Stoicism

The Stoics did not have a clear conception of an afterlife. Some held that the soul survives until the next conflagration; others taught that the soul is part of the World Soul and would reappear in the new world. But a personal immortality was not part of the Stoic worldview.

Mormonism

20 Mormons believe that all humans who die will live eternally. Their spirits will go to the spirit world, where they will undergo instruction and preparation. Then, "after a time," there will be the Resurrection, at which time the spirits will be reunited with their bodies forever. [1]

Mormons believe in heaven, which is defined as "the place where God lives and the future home of those who follow Him." Faithful Mormons and their families will live in the presence of God and be rewarded in accordance with what they have done during their lives.

Joseph Smith also taught that families can live together forever in heaven if they are "sealed" through special temple ceremonies.

What about non-Mormons? "Those who choose not to follow our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will receive a reward according to what they have done in this life, but they will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God."

Mormons do believe in hell. Those who did not repent while on Earth will experience a temporary hell after death (during the time that all spirits go to the spirit world before the Resurrection), but will have an opportunity to repent afterwards and avoid the eternal hell. Hell as an eternal place of misery it is inhabited only by and those who explicitly reject "the Heavenly Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost" even after the period of instruction after death.

Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is a sleep during which the "dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This view maintains that the person has no conscious form of existence until the resurrection, either at the second coming of Jesus (in the case of the righteous) or after the millennium of Revelation 20 (in the case of the wicked). Because of this view, Seventh-day Adventists do not believe hell currently exists and believe further that the wicked will be destroyed at the end of time.

Summary:

21 Though Various religions has different beliefs, The scriptures clearly state that eternal life comes from God through his son Jesus Christ (John 3:16; 14:6; Heb. 5:9 ), and is the "greatest of all the gifts of God". The phrase "eternal life" refers not only to everlasting life but also and more particularly to the quality of life God lives. Eternal life is available to all people who have lived on earth who accept this gift by their obedience to God's laws and ordinances.

God's work, and the source of his glory, is bringing to pass "the immortality and eternal life" of his children. In other words, God works to enable his children's return to his presence so that they may both live with him and live as he lives.

So allied is Christ with the Father that the scriptures sometimes define eternal life as "knowing" them: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3)

Knowing Christ in this world comes by receiving him and his law. Jeremiah spoke for the Lord: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me" (Jer. 31:33-34). As stated in the Gospel of John, one begins to know Christ and his will by searching the scriptures, for, as Jesus affirmed, "they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

Having the law written in one's heart implies an acceptance that prompts action; indeed, the scriptures mention many actions that one must take in order to receive the gift of eternal life. To enter the path leading toward eternal life, one must exercise faith in Christ (John 3:36; 6:47), repent, be baptized for the remission of one's sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The scriptures state that once on the path, the believer must strive to keep the commandments —that is, to do the works of righteousness, primary among which is charity (1 Cor. 13; Matt. 25:34-36). The believer must also endure to the end.

While in mortality, individuals may come to a stage of knowing the Father and the Son that allows the Lord to promise them eternal life. This occurrence is described in scripture as receiving the Holy Spirit of promise and the Second Comforter (John 14:16) having the more sure word of

22 prophecy and having one's calling and election made sure (2 Pet. 1:10).

God invites all people to seek and ask earnestly for eternal life, and reassures all who do so that they will not be given a stone (cf. Matt. 7:7-11). They are promised "revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge," which brings an understanding of "peaceable things — that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal". Those who will receive eternal life in its fullest come forth in the first resurrection and inherit the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom.

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