Afterlife in Religions

Afterlife in Religions

What are the main views of afterlife of the five main religions? Well first let me explain my views of afterlife. I believe that there are two places you go to after death and live for eternity. One is heaven and the other is hell. Heaven is where you would go if you are saved as well as being forgiven of all your sins and will be with God and many others who have also been saved and forgiven. On the other hand, hell is where you will go if you are not saved or have not been forgiven of all your sins and you will live with Satan and many other sinners. You will be judged by God and God alone when you die and He will be the one who decides on where you will live for eternity. Now how will Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism view the afterlife?

Christianity is made up of many different orthodox Christian beliefs, but the core Christian belief of afterlife is that there is one. Our conduct on earth, how we behave, is the afterlife determining factor of where we will end up eventually. They believe there is a heaven for the well behaved people and a hell for the sinners, the ill-behaved people. Also, the Catholic Church claims there is a state of afterlife that is between heaven and hell which the Catholic Church calls purgatory. Purgatory is the final purification of all who die in God's grace and friendship, but are still imperfectly purified. Therefore, after a time in purgatory a person's soul will be perfectly purified and then will go on to live in heaven. Not all of the Christian religions believe in purgatory, for example the protestants do not accept purgatory. This is the view of afterlife for Christianity. How does this compare to the afterlife view of Judaism.

What concepts does Judaism have on the afterlife? Traditional Judaism thoroughly believes that death is not the end of human existence. On the other hand, because Judaism primarily focuses on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, it does not have many teachings on the afterlife, and leaves a great amount of room for personal opinion. It is possible for an orthodox Jew to believe that the souls of the righteous dead go to a place similar to the Christian heaven, or that they are reincarnated through many lifetimes. They will also just simply wait until the coming of the messiah, when they will be resurrected. Likewise, orthodox Jews can believe that the souls of the wicked are tormented by demons of their own creation, or that wicked souls are simply destroyed at death, ceasing to exist. This is the complicated and opinionated view of Judaism and afterlife, but how will the Islamic religion view it?

Do the Muslims believe in life after their death? According to the tenets of the Muslim faith, death is the complete end of physical life and the beginning of the period of rest until the day of resurrection when Allah judges the living and the dead. Many Muslims believe that the pure are able to see visions of God after death and that the evil are able to see visions of hell. Excluding these possible visions of heaven or hell, Muslims believe after death the soul remains in in a state of "soul sleep" until Judgment Day. When the Day of Judgment arrives everyone is sentenced upon the deeds throughout their lives. Various Muslims believe that non-Muslims can reach heaven only after a period of time being in purification in the fires of purgatory. This is the concept of afterlife for Islam and now how are the views of afterlife for Hinduism.

What beliefs does Hinduism have on the afterlife? Well Hindu's believe that time is reoccurring. This means that they don't believe people live and die just one time but that they are reborn over and over again until they eventually reach their final state.