Christianity: The nature of the afterlife

There are two main views about what the afterlife is like. It could be spiritual or physical.

1. Physical afterlife – resurrection

- Christians have traditionally believed that there will be a physical resurrection after death.
This means that bodies will physically be raised from the dead at the general resurrection.

- Jesus’ physical resurrection is understood to be evidence of a future general resurrection

- Nothing happens immediately at the moment of death. The deceased person is buried and
they are not aware of time passing. On the Day of Judgement, Jesus will return to Earth to
judge and decide their place in heaven or hell.

- The Apostles Creed ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.’

- Christians who take this view: Catholics (both views), Evangelicals, some Protestants

2. Spiritual afterlife – immortality of the soul

- According to this belief, human consist of a body which dies and an immortal soul which was
given to them by God. Upon the death of the body, the soul immediately goes to a spiritual
place.

- This is based on what Jesus said to the repentant criminal on the cross beside him
‘today you will be with me in paradise’ Luke 23

- Christians who take this view: Liberal protestants, Catholics (both views)

Christianity: what happens when you die?

• 1. Evangelicals believe in the resurrection of the body

• After death, the soul awaits the time when Jesus returns and the world ends.

• On the Day of Judgement, the dead will be physically raised and come into the
presence of Jesus.

• Jesus will judge based on their Christian faith and behaviour.

• The Apostles Creed ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.’

2. Many protestants believe in the immortality of the soul.

• Many Protestants believe in the immortality of the soul. When people die, the soul
immediately goes before God to be judged. Jesus said ‘today you will be with me in
paradise’ Luke 23

• Good Christians go to heaven.

• Christians who have sinned and not repented as well as non-Christians will go to hell.
 • OR liberal protestants believe there is no hell - all people will have an afterlife where
they can continue to grow in relationship with God.

3. Catholics believe in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul

• Straight after death:

• They believe that at death the souls of those who have not sinned since their last
confession will go straight to heaven.

• the souls of Christians who have committed venial sins (less serious sins) will go to
purgatory to be cleansed of their sins.

• the souls of those who have refused to believe in God or who have committed
mortal sins (sins deserving hell) will go to hell.

• On the Day of Judgement:

• Jesus will come back to Earth, the dead will be raised, and the souls will be reunited
with their bodies.

• Then God will judge everyone - the souls who are in heaven or purgatory will go to
heaven and the souls in hell will return to hell.

Christianity: what is heaven/hell/purgatory?

Heaven

• Could be a physical heaven – the ‘new heaven and the new earth’ Revelation 21. Believers
will physically dwell with God. (evangelicals, Catholics, some protestants)

• Or could be a spiritual heaven (some protestants, liberal Christians) where our soul goes to
be with God forever.

Either way, Christians think heaven will be a place of perfect peace and happiness ‘He will
wipe every tear from their eyes’ Revelation 21

Hell

Christians believe that if a person is judged negatively, they could be condemned to hell.

• Could be a physical hell, a place of eternal torture, fire and suffering.

• Or could be a spiritual hell or annihilation, where someone ceases to exist. Hell is eternal
separation from God.

• Many Christians think destruction rather than eternal suffering is more fitting with
the loving character of God.

Depart from me into the eternal fire Matthew 25

• Purgatory

• Catholic Christians believe that after death, souls which are not yet ready for heaven go to
purgatory to be purified. Purgatory is sometimes seen as a more loving option as fewer
people might go to hell.
 • Catholics understand purgatory to be a ‘purifying fire.’

Christianity: how are we saved?

1. Salvation through faith in Jesus

Christians believe that all people sin and need to be saved in order to be with God. Many Christians
believe that Christians need only to have faith in Jesus to be saved.

• God freely offers salvation to all – the free gift of salvation is called ‘grace.’

• Jesus’ death atoned (made up for) Original Sin and brings those who believe in him back to
God.

• God wants all people to go to heaven and anyone who asks for his forgiveness will received
it.

• However, those who do not believe or are unrepentant will still be judged negatively.

• ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life’ John 3:16

2. Salvation through good works

Many Christians believe that Christians should also do ‘good works’ in order to be saved. This shows
that someone is truly a follower of Jesus.

• Being a Christian should mean following Jesus’ commandments, including caring for those in
need.

• The New Testament questions whether faith is genuine if it isn’t accompanied by good
works. ‘Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ James 2

• Jesus tells two parables to illustrate the importance of good works for salvation.

• In the Parable of the sheep and the goats, judgement is compared to a shepherd
separating the sheep from the goats. The sheep are judged favourably ‘when I was
hungry, you fed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink’ and enter
God’s kingdom. The goats are judged negatively for failing to do these actions. (Note:
this is enough detail for the exam. Try to refer to specific deeds e.g. feeding the
hungry)

• In the story of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man who treated poor Lazarus cruelly
during life is condemned to hell. He failed to do good works and care for Lazarus
during his lifetime. Lazarus goes to be with God in heaven.

Evidence of life after death?

1. In this story, Ian McCormack recounts his experience of a near death experience. For McCormack,
this provides evidence that there is an afterlife. Some Christians may understand near death
experiences to be evidence of life after death.

However, a problem with near death experiences is that they are impossible to prove to anyone else.
2. However, for most Christians, the resurrection of Jesus is much more important evidence of life
after death. They believe that the empty tomb and the appearances of the resurrected Jesus provide
evidence of life after death Because Jesus was raised from the dead, so all will one day be raised.

Buddhism: Rebirth

Beliefs Buddhists share about rebirth:

• Most Buddhists believe that all living beings are trapped in samsara and will continue to be
reborn until they achieve liberation.

• Death is not a single final moment but a process of transition in which consciousness passes
from one form to another.

• Rebirth occurs in six realms of existence in accordance with the deceased person’s kamma. In
the Pali Canon, the Buddha recounts how he saw his own rebirth and gained an
understanding of this process when he became enlightened. He says:

• ‘I saw beings passing away and being reborn… I understood beings fare in
accordance with their kamma’ Pali Canon (full quotation is in your notes)

When does rebirth happen?

• According to Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana) there is a period of up to 49 days, called the

• Similar views are held in other Mahayana schools of thought.

• Theravada Buddhists believe that rebirth can be immediate.

• Secular Buddhists reject the concepts of karma and rebirth. They interpret the traditional
Buddhist teachings as a moving between states of mind rather than actual realms of
existence.

Buddhism: The six realms

There are three higher realms. These are happier and more pleasant realms to be reborn into.

- The human realm:

- humans suffer from hunger, thirst, heat, cold, separation from friends, being
attacked by enemies, not getting what they want, and getting what they don't want.
They also suffer from the general sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death.

- Yet the human realm is considered to be the most suitable realm for practicing the
dhamma, because humans are not completely distracted by pleasure (like the gods
or demi-gods) or by pain and suffering (like the beings in the lower realms).

- The God realm:

- The gods lead long and enjoyable lives full of pleasure and abundance, but they
spend their lives pursuing meaningless distractions and never think to practice
the dharma.
 - When death comes to them, they are completely unprepared; without realizing it,
they have completely exhausted their good karma (which was the cause for being
reborn in the god realm) and they suffer through being reborn in the lower realms.

- The demi-God realm:

- the demi-gods have pleasure and abundance almost as much as the gods, but they
spend their time fighting among themselves or making war on the gods. When they
make war on the gods, they always lose, since the gods are much more powerful.

- The demi-gods suffer from constant fighting and jealousy, and from being killed and
wounded in their wars with each other and with the gods.

There are three lower realms. These are realms with greater suffering than the higher realms.

- The Animal realm:

- Unpleasant as wild animals suffer from being attacked and eaten by other animals;
they generally lead lives of constant fear.

- Domestic animals suffer from being exploited by humans; for example, they are
slaughtered for food, overworked, and so on.

- The hungry ghost realm:

- hungry ghosts suffer from extreme hunger and thirst. They wander constantly in
search of food and drink, only to be miserably frustrated any time they come close to
actually getting what they want.
On the rare occasions that they do manage to find something to eat or drink, the
food or water burns their neck as it goes down to their belly, causing them intense
agony.

- The hell realm:

- hell beings endure unimaginable suffering for eons of time.

- There are actually eighteen different types of hells, each inflicting a different kind of
torment.

- In the hot hells, beings suffer from unbearable heat and continual torments
of various kinds.

- In the cold hells, beings suffer from unbearable cold and other torments.

Buddhism: Evidence of rebirth?

- Buddhist scholars have argued that rebirth may be empirically verifiable through paranormal
experiences, e.g. near-death experiences, past-life regression, past-life memories or
unexplained knowledge and skills.

- In the Tibetan tradition, it is believed that the current Dalai Lama is the 14 th reincarnation of
Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama (as well
as other advanced religious teachers), the search for his reborn form is begun. The current,
14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935. He was identified by a team on monks
after a number of signs:

- The head of the embalmed body of the 13th Dalai Lama had turned to face the
north-east direction and the leading monk later has a vision of the Lhamo La-tso
lake, indicating this as the region to search.

- The vision also included a small house with distinctive eaves opposite a twisting path
that led to a large monastery with a gilded roof and turquoise tiles.

- The Panchen Lama then gave the team the names of 3 boys whom he had identified
as candidates after investigating the births of unusual children in the area since the
death of the 13th Dalai Lama. The team found the house from the vision, the home of
one of the three boys, 2-year old Lhamo Dhondup. The lead monk was holding the
13th Dalai Lama’s mala and, when the boy approached him and asked for it, he told
him he could have it if he knew who he was. The child identified him by name and
spoke with him in a Lhasa, a dialect the family did not speak.

- He was then tested with various pairs of objects, one of which had belonged to the
13th Dalai Lama and one which had not. In every case, the child chose the right
object. He was selected as the tulku of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, in 1937
and formally recognised as the 14th Dalai Lama in 1939. His enthronement ceremony
was held in Lhasa in 1940 and he eventually assumed full temporal (political) duties
in 1950, aged 15