Argumentative Essay On Death And Death

Religion is an important aspect for understanding both life and death in many cultures. It provides a structure and set of moral guideline for many people all over the world. Religion especially plays an important role in the process of dying and in death because it is often what people turn to in their last days of life in anticipation of what, if anything, comes after life. While the belief in an afterlife is not consistent throughout all religions and cultures, many of them do believe in some sort of an altered state of existence or consciousness.

Death in historical Jewish beliefs came to be as a result of the sins of Adam and Eve and was thought to be a punishment because of the loss of immortality cursed upon them by God (Leming & Dickinson,

In this theory, the dead go into a shadowy underground to a place called Sheol, where the soul exists in a state of obscurity. The idea of resurrections is first seen in the writings of Ezekiel in the 6th century, B.C.E. and expresses the concept of the dead being reunited with their bodies at the end of time for a final judgment, to live in a kingdom on earth (Flannelly, Ellison, Galek, & Koenig, 2008). Many others, however, are uncertain of any belief of existence in afterlife because of little indication from Jewish biblical references to immortality. Leming and Dickinson (2016) note that while many different beliefs of death and afterlife exist among Jews in today’s society, nearly all Jewish funeral rituals “emphasize that God does not save us, as individuals, from death, but saves Israel for history, regardless of death” (p. 129). One important aspect of Jewish funeral rituals is the practice of burying the

For instance, the tradition of Shiva in Jewish culture is a specific amount of time expected for mourning and community support for the family of the deceased, while community support and family mourning in Christian traditions generally happens in the days leading up to the funeral, as well as after it. Modern funeral practices, however, have started to shift from a traditional mourning ceremony to more of a celebration of life in remembrance of the deceased. In Christianity, death is regarded as a transition into an eternal life in which the person’s soul remains eternally with God. Leming and Dickinson (2016) note that “there is a strong belief in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and a divide judgment of one’s earthly life after death,” which results in either an eternity in heaven or hell (p.130). This belief is apparent in traditional Christian funeral practices. According to the Order of Christian Funerals (OCF), the funeral serves two purposes: to commend the deceased to the eternal love of God and to plead for forgiveness for their sins (Field, 2011). The Christian funeral also serves as an opportunity for remembrance and closure for those close to the deceased person. It is not uncommon for funerals to have open caskets in which the body of the