What's it Like After Death?
Death: the final frontier. It is the last great adventure, but, sadly, most people do not know what this last adventure will be like or where they are going. So…what will it be like after death? Will it be torment, bliss, or will it just be nothingness? Fortunately, the Christian Bible will shed some light on this dark subject. The Bible says that after the mortal body is dead, the soul will live eternally in a place called Heaven or a place called Hell. Heaven is a place of eternal life with God where there is no suffering or pain. Hell, on the other hand, is a place of eternal punishment and separation from God. Where will you go? Do you know? The Bible says that wide is the gate to hell, but narrow is the gate to heaven (Matthew 7:13-4) This verse claims that many more people will end up in Hell than in Heaven. Maybe if people understood what Hell really is, what it is like and how to stay out of it, then they might choose to go to Heaven instead. Some people believe that Hell is not real or that it is just a prison for the mind, and some people believe that good works will be sufficient to keep them out of Hell. The Bible says differently though. The Bible claims that Hell is a literal place where souls go after their mortal bodies have died to be eternally tormented. The only way to keep from this eternal punishment is to have a personal relationship with and a belief in Jesus Christ.
First of all, to understand Hell, there has to be a basic understanding of Christianity and the soul. Christianity is based on the Bible. The Bible is God’s holy words: it is God inspired not man inspired. The Bible is a compilation of 66 different books, written by differ...
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...w Christ and stay out of the place of endless torment, Hell.
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In my mind I see hell as this place of immense torment bestowed on sinners. My faith has taught me that those who sin go to hell to be punished. Dante's adventure clearly shows that the souls of hell are punished, as I thought. Punishments range from living in filth to painful tortures.
Hell is like a government. The bureaucracy is, of course, run by their “Father Below” who is Satan (Lewis 6). In other words, the system is a dictatorship. Additionally, the demons in Hell think that they can only “advance at the expense of another” (Schultz 368). Hell was not the intention God had when He gave His people free will, but it was rather a side effect (Hill and Smith). Hell was a consequence for what Satan and his followers tried to do. God created Hell for everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). In return, Satan and his followers have devoted themselves to corrupt societies so it is easier to tempt those societies (Schultz 368). This consequence had eternal effect on everyone including God and His angels (Hill and
My idea of Hell would not be a permanent destination, but rather a place of rehab where someone’s soul could be changed. From experience, I know that when someone dies, their body is placed in a casket and buried in the ground. It is doubtful that there is a system in which the body is removed from the casket and escorted to Hell. With this in mind, my hell would only consist of the souls of those who have passed on.
The big question. No not that, the other one. The "what happens to us after life" question. It is something that has intrigued people everywhere. It has prompted the beliefs and semantics of different cultures all around the world. It started wars, divided people, and now dictates how we are all to act. "We should do this, we should do that. If we don't, we will be punished." I, for one, am tired of it. By all means, think what you will. But this is my writing, and you will have to open your mind to my thinking if you wish to continue. If you do wish to continue, I will be brutaly honest in what I think. There will be no sugar-coating in this oppinionated essay of mine.
There is no greater unknown in this world than what happens after a person dies. Throughout our lives we are told that there is a world to come, olam haba, which consists of Gan Eden and Gehenom. Olam Haba is greater than any reward in the physical world, and Gehenom is worse than any pain in the physical world. No human has been able to come back from the dead and confirm this for mankind, but we do have strong evidence that supports the idea that there is an after-life filled with reward and punishment. The books of Judaism are largely focused on being a good Jew in this life, and scarcely on the afterlife. Since the Torah does not focus a great deal on the afterlife, we have a limited source of knowledge on the topic. The answers to the question for what happens after we die are mainly derived from pesukim throughout Tanach.
One of the greatest and oldest human mysteries on Earth is death, and the fate that lies beyond it. The curious minds of human beings constantly wonder about the events that occur after death. No person truly knows what happens after a person ceases to live in the world, except for the people themselves who have passed away. As a result, over the course of history, people of various backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions have speculated and believed in numerous different possibilities for the destiny that awaits them beyond the world of the living. The great ambiguity of the afterlife is extremely ancient that many different beliefs about it have been dated back to several centuries ago. These beliefs go as far back to the beliefs of Ancient Egyptians, which outline the journey that the dead travels to the land of Osiris; and the belief of Ancient Greeks that all souls eventually find themselves in Hades’ realm, the Underworld. Throughout history, views and beliefs from emerging religions continue to develop as the human conscience persists in finding answers to this ancient, unresolved mystery. Prime examples of the various and separate beliefs regarding death and the afterlife are found in the diverse faiths of Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Buddhism.
“Early in the spring of 1300, "midway along the road of our life," Dante is lost and alone in a dark, foreboding forest. To survive this ordeal, he must visit the three realms of the afterlife, beginning with Hell.” (Smith) Dante’s Inferno, one of the great classical poems that have come out of literature that’s topic is hell. Dante’s Inferno, gives a descriptive look into hell, from the eyes of Dante. Dante goes into detail about every part of hell. The people, what it looks like, sins to go there, the whole shah-bang. Dante splits up hell into nine different parts. In which he sends different types of sinners to each part. Each hell is made up differently, each has different systems that make up that particular systems. For example, circle three, has Cerberus the three headed dog, and another circle is completely frozen over. There are three circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno that are the best in the book: Circle one, circle six, and circle three.
What is Hell? According to the online Oxford Dictionary, “ A place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.” A horrible place to be. Have you ever see someone tortured? I hope not, it is a terrible thing. Imagine this scene: An individual, engulfed in flames. Screaming for help but no one can do anything about it. Skin boiling, shrieks of agony, truly a horrid scene. What crime could someone have done to deserve such a punishment. Let us use an illustration. A good father would punish his child when he has done something wrong. But a cruel father would torture him. Hell from this perspective is illogical.
Hell will exist forever as place to hold Satan. The demons and those who choose him rather than Christ. But Heaven is the throne of God's glory and the reward for the righteous. We will receive our resurrection body and all pain of any kind will be gone for those in Heaven.
Life after death is a topic of controversy in which Bertrand Russell and John Hick discusses the idea of whether it is possible to have life after death. Russell addresses his argument against the idea through his brief essay titled “The Illusion of Immortality” (1957). In addition, Hick also discusses the topic through his work “In Defense of Life after Death” (1983) of why life after death is a plausible idea. In this paper I will be discussing Russell’s argument against the belief of life after death. As well, I will also be addressing the opposing view by explaining Hick’s argument in defense of life after death. My goal in this paper is to highlight through the analysis of life after death how Russell in my opinion holds the strongest position.
Many people, before they read Dante’s Inferno, thought that the devil was the God or symbol of Hell. After reading Dante’s Inferno many begin to change their opinions on who or what is actually in charge of Hell. People began to think that instead of the devil being in charge, that there is now a monster like creature in charge. Many people’s views on good and evil behavior (as well as mine) have changed. Most people thought that there was only one Hell. After reading Dante’s Inferno, and listening to Dante’s descriptions of the different levels of Hell, people began to think that there are many different levels in Hell. Dante’s strict descriptions of each level help the reader to visualize what the different levels actually look like. Many people’s views began to change about afterlife, therefore many start to express their new beliefs in everything that they
pits, different cells in hell and there is a heart of hell. As Mary and JESUS went through hell their were people there who are begging god to let them in heaven and god says no because judgement has been set. He said there has been many people their way to introduce them to god and they refused. Souls are in hell begging for repentance and the answer is no because they had their chance and they turned their backs on god. Some souls even were at one time of another saved and they were going through something to make them stronger in the word and they though god was being unfair to them and blamed god for the mistake; therefore turning their backs on god. There are many false prophets in hell. As god walks through and stop to talk to these prophets they beg and pled for forgiveness and when god says judgement has been set they began to curse god and talk to him in the manner where they are really disrespecting god.
Christians ultimately believe in two places to go after death, Heaven where eternity is spent in a state that is beautiful beyond our ability to conceive, or Hell, where eternity is spent with Satan and his demons. All are tormented and tortured, in isolation from God, without any hope of mercy or relief (Robinson).
What is going to happen to us when we will die? Some people never considered what it could happen to them after life. For many people, death is a redoubtable event because they do not know what to expect after their death. However, other persons, such as religious people are conscious of what to expect after their death because of their beliefs. Each religion has different ideas and different ways of looking life. Death, therefore, is viewed by different religions in many ways. Although, different religions have a distinct conception of death, they all have something in common: they all give hope to people. Among all different religions in the world, four of the most common ones - Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu- view death in different ways.
The Bible describes Hell as a place of darkness, a lake of fire and brimstone. Matthew 25:41, describes Hell as a pit of fire that is prepared for Satan the devil, his demonic cohorts, and the other souls that chose to serve him during the trials of life on earth. The citizens of Hell will be populated with the souls of those who died without accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. These souls will experience the nashing of teeth, endless pain from the tortureous fire, and ultimately eternal death. The citizens of Hell will not reunite with God`s presence. The Bible states in Luke 16:19-28, that souls cannot pass from Hell to Heaven or vice versa. Fire is not the only form of eternal punishment. Eternal thirst and great pain are other forms of punishment that will be experienced by the citizens of Hell. Christians believe that the souls in Hell will be able to see the souls that are in Heaven and vice versa. The souls in Hell simply chose a life of sin, non-repentance, and rebellion against God Word. Revelations 20:12-15, states the following: "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for aeons of aeons."