McLaughlin,+Jordan

The Mysteries of the After-Life Jordan McLaughlin's Religion Project

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Introduction

After-life can be defined as transition to another level of existence after a person dies. The method to reach the after-life and the content of what the afterlife includes depends upon the specific religion and their sacred text. While Christianity, Judaism, and the Islam religions all share similarities their differences are significant. Followers of the Christian faith believe that death is not the end but the beginning of a new way of life, each person determines if they will get into a heaven paradise or a fiery hell depending on their actions in life. The followers of Islam faith believe that death is not the end of life but a stepping stone to a new level of their existence, each person gets into a paradise depending on their free moral decisions for which they are judged on the Resurrection Day. The Jewish afterlife is not as clearly defined in Hebrew textures as in the Christianity Bible and the Islam Koran, but the basic concept is that there are three levels to the after-life and the last one is a paradise (Renard, 2006). This paper will compare and contrast the Christianity, Judaism, and Islam faiths as they relate to after-life.

Interpretation and Analysis

The Christian faith has multiple branches or sub-denominations of believers. Since there are many different branches of the Christian faith there are often differences between the opinions on the path to after-life. The general belief of Christian followers is that there is a heaven, and a hell. Heaven is a paradise while hell is a fiery, torture chamber. You get into heaven for proving your self worthy, following the Ten Commandments, and being faithful to God while on earth. People who prove they are worthy to be admitted to heaven will be rewarded with a paradise that is non- imaginable to the human mind (Robinson, 2008). A person who is unworthy, or a sinner, will spend eternity in hell beside Satan where they will be punished and suffered for all of eternity (Robinson, 2008). Some sub-dominations of the Christian faith, such as the Roman Catholics, believe in Purgatory. Purgatory is a place where people that loved God “imperfectly” are transported immediately after their death and where they will wait to get into heaven (Hanna, 2009). There is a generalization about non-believers of the Christian faith “going straight to hell” which is traced to the Bible when “Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 RSV). He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16 RSV)”. Even though quotes that are straight from the Bible state that all none believers go to hell some interpret the fate of non-believers in other ways.

The Islam religion believes that there are many different levels of paradise. Each person’s fate, according to the Koran, is determined by their actions and their intentions. The Koran is their sacred text which describes the different levels of heavenly reward and that hell is not a permanent situation since God has the ability at anytime to move someone to a heavenly state. The concept of hell can be compared to Purgatory in the Roman Catholic religion since hell is not permanent. The Koran explains that judgment will be made on the Day of Resurrection when the person will cross a passage of no return called the Bazakh to their final destination (Renard, 2006).

The Jewish religion believes that the purpose of life on earth is to prove himself or herself to God. There are references in Hebrew scripture that after-life is a warehouse of souls (Anonymous, 2006). The warehouse is a dreary place called a Sheol, which is a synonym for death (Renard, 2006). In the late centuries of the first millennium BCE the notions of a heaven emerged as Rabbis began to consider whether there was a place where good and deserving people would be rewarded. Over the years the idea of heaven has evolved into the belief that there are multiple levels with the third level being a paradise for the deserving.

Compare and Contrast

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all Abraham religions and there are similarities and differences. All three of the religions teach that to enter a paradise or heaven a person must be deserving in some way. The interpretation of deserving or worthy is different for each religion. All three religions believe death is not the end of life but a new beginning and each religion has spiritual leaders that create rules about the afterlife. Purgatory was created at a convention for Roman Catholic Priests. A key difference between the religions is that both the Jewish and Islam faiths have different levels of paradise while Christianity has one heaven and one hell. In the Christian faith’s sacred text, the Bible, there was a detailed explanation of heaven and hell. The Jewish and Islam sacred texts don’t explain paradise in as great detail as the Bible. The Torah, the Jewish sacred text, didn’t have a lot of information or quotes about the afterlife. In the Islam religion a person is not admitted to a paradise right away you but will wait to go to a paradise on Resurrection Day. Christians believe they will go straight to heaven or hell, there is no wait to be taken to heaven or hell with the exception of Purgatory which is a concept followed by the Roman Catholics. The three religions have many similarities regarding after-life. All have the same basic concept on how to get into heaven, what heaven is, and how a person gets into heaven. There are minor differences in the religions studied which makes each religion unique.

Final thoughts/reflections

I was surprised at how similar the Christianity, Judaism, and Islam religions are regarding after-life. Even with similarities, the differences set each religion apart. The research connected to my life because now I understand what other people believe in and I am more knowledgeable. I learned that a lot of different religions fall under the category of an Abraham religion and are similar to my religious beliefs. It is important to learn about religion because there are so many different people and I believe that everyone should show knowledge and respect to other people’s beliefs.

References Renard, 2006. The Handy Religion Answer Book. Visible Ink Press. New York, NY.

Robinson, B. A. "What Happens after We Die." ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 5 Dec. 2008. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .

Hanna, Edward. "Purgatory." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 7 September. 2009, 5 Dec. 2010.

Anonymous "Jewish Beliefs on the Afterlife - Religion Facts." Religion, World Religions, Comparative Religion - Just the Facts on the World's Religions. 16 Nov 2006. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .

Kerr, III, Stuart R. "Selected Quotations From The Koran." The Urantia Book Fellowship Reader Resources. The Urantia Book Fellowship, 02 May 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. 

Simmons, Rabbi. "Ask the Rabbi - Afterlife in Judaism - Heaven and Hell." About Judaism. About.Com, 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. .

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Wittenberg, Jonathan. Torah. London: Leo Baeck College, Sternberg Centre for Judaism, 1995. Print.

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