The Great Ambiguity of the Afterlife

1876 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Afterlife in ancient Greece

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. The religion of Roman Catholicism draws a prominent image of life after death. To begin, the Roman Catholic Church believes in the grant of eternal life among their believers. The death of a person simply puts an end to their mortal life; the soul itself is eternal. Everlasting life is determined by the person, through their acceptance or refusal of the Lord’s divine grace (Catholic Church 1021). Although the Church mainly speaks of the Final Judgment, Christ’s second coming, the... ... middle of paper ... ...rlife/>. —. "Islamic Belief about the Afterlife." 2014. The Immortality Project. 11 May 2014 . "Islamic Beliefs about the Afterlife." 28 April 2013. ReligionFacts. 11 May 2014 . Leatham, Jeremy. "Islamic Afterlife." 12 March 2013. Faithology. 11 May 2014 . "Secular Thoughts on Life after Death." 2014. Beliefnet. 12 May 2014 . Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 . Wikipedia. "Zaqqum." 20 April 2014. Wikipedia. 11 May 2014 .

Show More
Related

  • Lucretius' Writing on the Fear of Death

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the most basic level of subconscious thought, every living animal possesses a desire to stay alive. Usually, this instinct lays dormant, although in dire situations, we can be led to do unexpected things. In addition to this subconscious drive, there is a socially constructed motivation for fearing death. Thanks to the pervasive nature of religion throughout history, much of humanity has, at some point or another, feared the prospect of eternal damnation and torture during one’s life after death. Although not every religion has a negative aspect of the afterlife, or even any semblance of an afterlife at all, those religions which do contain some such construct receive much more attention in this regard. Throughout history, many academics have countered people’s irrational fear of the unknown by noting that there is no definitive evidence to prove the existence of such a postmortem experience. According to Lucretius, this fundamental fear of death is completely speculative, and wholly illogical; he argues that we have no reason to fear death because there is nothing after death. What makes Lucretius’ argument so significant, is not how he counters religion, but how he bases it upon his own revision of atomism. It is because of this foundation of logical thought that Lucretius’ writing on the nature of death can still be thought of as a sound hypothesis.

    Read More

  • Hell: United Yet Contrasted By Fear

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Johnson, Christopher Jay., and Marsha G. McGee. How Different Religions View Death & Afterlife. Vol. 2. Philadelphia, PA: Charles, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Seven Dimensions of Religion in Buddhism

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.

    Read More

  • Description of Theories of an Afterlife

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is interesting because some variations of the afterlife are of a belief in heaven or hell, reincarnation, or a step program by which you judged upon. Man has always been trying to understand what happens when they die, and understand the causes of déjà vu’ that have been witnessed for thousands of years. People need something to believe in because they are fearful of the unknown; therefore, theories of an afterlife vary from religion to religion.

    Read More

  • Death And Afterlife In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are multiple views on death and the afterlife and each view is different depending on the religion or belief that someone practices. Some religions believe in a heaven but not a hell, some believe in both and others do not believe in either. The religions that are practiced today were created by our ancient ancestors who had the ability to think beyond themselves. Practicing a religion and having an idea of death and an afterlife back in ancient times laid a foundation on how religion is seen and practiced today. Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Hindu’s created the concept of death and life after death through what they believed and practiced in ancient times.

    Read More

  • The Book Of Dead: The Book Of The Dead

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is much activity as it as for the living. In ancient Egypt death in this life was not the end of them intraorally. Ancient Egyptians studied and had knowledge of the afterlife, which they wrote about and is now called the book of dead. Through its history, development, unforgotten languages controversies, gods and the understandings the book of dead has fascinated many.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Religions of Christianity and Hinduism

    2515 Words  | 6 Pages

    Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999

    Read More

  • Afterlife Beliefs

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    The National Geographic article discuss the topic of how the ancient religions viewed the afterlife. The article breaks down the vision of Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans view of the immortality and spirit realm. When reading through this article as well as the lecture notes that we had in class it seems that most ancient religions believe in a type of immortality or spirit realm. They are not exactly the same from start to finish of death but all have a type of version of heaven and hell.

    Read More

  • Buddhism Afterlife Beliefs

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Catholic religion, the understanding of the afterlife is that history is directed towards salvation. Catholics believe that they are bonded in their own sinfulness in servitude to death, but God became incarnate in Jesus and broke the bondage, allowing saviour to everyone who believes in God. Religion says that God gifts us with salvation, it is not considered a payment for good deeds and actions.

    Read More

  • Role Of Mummification In Ancient Egypt

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    After death, where does our souls transport to? In Ancient Egypt, many believe that death wasn’t the final stage; Egyptians believe that their souls are sent to the afterlife, where they suspected a new life awaits for them in the afterlife. The reader will be able to understand the purpose for mummification, it’s beliefs and the events that lead to this particular burial method.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Death And Life After Death

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    As far as humanity is concerned, death eventually captures all of us. We may be able to delay death, but eventually our physical life will end. As a result, some of the fundamental questions surrounding human existence include: What happens after we die? Is there life after death? Throughout history the great religions have provided answers to these questions. In this paper, the western religion of Judaism and the eastern religion of Hinduism will be evaluated through some of their many different principles and rituals relating to death and life after death.

    Read More

  • Comparative Study: Judaism and Christianity

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    Judaism also firmly believes in this concept; however, because Judaism mainly focuses on how one lives their life here and now rather than in the afterlife, the Jewish religion has very little dogma regarding the afterlife. This fact that there is very little dogma relating to the afterlife leaves a great deal of room for personal opinions. The spiritual afterlife is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as Olam Ha-Ba, the world to come. There are two main beliefs that the Jews hold: the first one is that they believe that the souls of righteous people go to a similar place as the Christians heaven OR the second belief is that they simply wait until the coming of the messiah and then they will be resurrected. Regarding the unrighteous dead, Jews believe that their souls are tormented by demons of their own creation or that their souls simply cease to exist. Christians also believe that human existence does not end at physical death. In Christianity after the body ceases to exist, the soul is judged and the righteous and free of sin enter into the kingdom of heaven; however, those who die while still having mortal sin on their hearts are damned to hell. Certain Christian groups believe in a place called Purgatory where an individual undergoes a purification process before they can enter into the paradise of heaven. The core of the Christian faith is the belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of everlasting life to all who accept his

    Read More

  • Life After Death

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Is The Afterlife?

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Our sense of self, our sense of humor, our ability to think ahead — gone within the first 10 to 20 seconds” (Shaw, 2017). The afterlife has been questioned so much, especially throughout the thoughts of religion. “Theories abound from logical to irrational, yet there is no concrete evidence about the afterlife.” (Shaw, 2017). The idea of there being an afterlife may be hard to grasp because it is based on having faith. Due to this, hoping there is a heavenly estate after death is not wrong, but there is no significant evidence to support this idea. Therefore, what waits after death, maybe neither heaven nor hell due to the variety of influential factors that can contribute to the idea of the afterlife. In the Thoughtco, an article of the

    Read More

  • Albert Einstein

    1406 Words  | 3 Pages

    "I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual who survives his physical death; let feeble souls, for fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts." 1930 (1)

    Read More

More about The Great Ambiguity of the Afterlife

Open Document