The goal of the religious quest is often described as

immortality or eternal life. Humanity has always chafed

under the limitations of mortality, and people have found
in religion the means to transcend the death which seems to
proscribe the possibilities of human existence. Yet we
have already gathered under Immortal Soul, pp. 326-34,
passages from scripture which recognize that every person
has an eternal spirit as his or her birthright. Everyone
will continue eternally in some form of existence after the
end of this physical life. The question of eternal life,
therefore, does not mean eternal existence per se, but
rather what form it will take, and whether death will
remain a barrier to human fulfillment.

We find that the scriptures of many religions give two

meanings to the terms "life" and "death." There is the
physical meaning of life: existence in this physical realm,
and there is the spiritual meaning of life: the state of
blessedness which is enduring from life to life and hence
transcends death. There is the physical death: the dropping
of the body which is an event in the voyage of every soul,
and the spiritual death: the condition of distance from
God, ignorance, and a hellish existence in the hereafter.

Hence when the question of salvation is at issue, the

outcomes called "eternal life" and "immortality" are often
ciphers to describe the condition of blessedness. This
condition is present already in the physical life of the
person who realizes Truth or lives in God's grace, and it
will continue, unabated, in the hereafter. The person who
gains "eternal life" has accomplished the goal of life, and
hence death is not to be feared as a limitation, as it is
for a worldly person who has tied all hopes to his
possessions and pleasures in the world.

Some Taoist scriptures, on the other hand, promote the

ideal of physical immorality. The eternal youth of the
Taoist Immortals is a consequence of their life being
totally at one with the Tao of nature. Likewise, the
doctrine of the resurrection is interpreted by some
Christians, Jews, and Muslims as requiring the
reconstitution of the dead in their physical bodies, to
dwell forever on this earth. Yet these physical
interpretations are also based on a spiritual concept of

1
life and death: only the spiritually alive are qualified to
enjoy immortality or the fruits of the resurrection.

We note that Buddhist scriptures generally avoid speaking

of the state of blessedness as eternal life. Buddhist
teaching views the desire for life as a kind of grasping,
and hence a fetter to liberation.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6.23).

Let us see some beliefs of various religions about the

afterlife.

Christianity

Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between

denominations and individual Christians, but the vast
majority of Christians believe in some kind of heaven, in
which believers enjoy the presence of God and other
believers and freedom from suffering and sin.

Views differ as to whether those of other faiths or none at

all will be in heaven, and conceptions of what heaven will
be like differ as well.

A slightly lesser majority of Christians believe in the

existence of hell, where unbelievers or sinners are
punished. Views differ as to whether hell is eternal and
whether its punishment is spiritual or physical. Some
Christians reject the notion altogether.

Catholic Christians also believe in purgatory, a temporary

place of punishment for Christians who have died with
unconfessed sins.

Assemblies of God:

The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ

and their translation together with those who are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and
blessed hope of the church. The second coming of Christ
includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed
hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His
saints to reign on earth for one thousand years. This

2
millennial reign will bring the salvation of national
Israel, and the establishment of universal peace. There
will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be
raised and judged according to their works. Whosoever is
not found written in the Book of Life, together with the
devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will
be consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death. We, according to His promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

Evangelical Free Church of America:

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the

believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord;
of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious
punishment.

Friends United Meeting (Quaker):

We believe, according to the Scriptures, that there shall

be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and of
the unjust, (Acts 24:15) and that God has appointed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus
Christ whom He has ordained. (Acts 17:31) For, as says the
apostle, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his
body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or
bad." (2 Cor 5:10). We sincerely believe, not only a
resurrection in Christ from the fallen and sinful state
here, but a rising and ascending into glory with Him
hereafter; that when He at last appears we may appear with
Him in glory. But that all the wicked, who live in
rebellion against the light of grace, and die finally
impenitent, shall come forth to the resurrection of
condemnation. And that the soul of every man and woman
shall be reserved, in its own distinct and proper being,
and shall have its proper body as God is pleased to give
it. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body; (1 Cor 15:44) that being first which is natural and
afterward that which is spiritual.

3
We believe that the punishment of the wicked and the
blessedness of the righteousness shall be everlasting,
according to the declaration of our compassionate Redeemer,
to whom the judgment is committed, "These shall go away
into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life." (RV, Matt 25:46)

Lutheran Church (Augsburg Confession, 1530):

Also they [Lutheran churches] teach that at the

Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment,
and will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly
and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly
men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without
end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there
will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and
devils. They condemn also others who are now spreading
certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of
the dead the godly shall take possession of the kingdom of
the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed.

Mennonite Church in the USA:

We believe that, just as God raised Jesus from the dead, we

also will be raised from the dead. At Christ's glorious
coming again for judgment, the dead will come out of their
graves"--those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
condemnation." The righteous will rise to eternal life with
God, and the unrighteous to hell and separation from God.
Thus, God will bring justice to the persecuted and will
confirm the victory over sin, evil, and death itself.

We look forward to the coming of a new heaven and a new

earth, and a new Jerusalem, where the people of God will no
longer hunger, thirst, or cry, but will sing praises: "To
the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing
and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen!"

Presbyterian Church in the USA:

If there is a Presbyterian narrative about life after

death, this is it: When you die, your soul goes to be with
God, where it enjoys God's glory and waits for the final
judgment. At the final judgment bodies are reunited with

4
souls, and eternal rewards and punishments are handed out.
As the Scots Confession notes, final judgment is also “the
time of refreshing and restitution of all things.” And it
is clearly the case that both the Scots Confession and the
Westminster Confession of Faith want to orient the present-
day life of believers around this future. But the Bible
spends more time focusing on new life here than on life
after death. So do all our more recent confessions.
Although the Confession of 1967 mentions life after death,
it does so only briefly. Its focus is on new life now and
on the church's ministry of reconciliation.

Southern Baptist Convention:

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the
world to its appropriate end. According to His promise,
Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to
the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge
all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned
to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous
in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive
their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

United Church of Christ:

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of

sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for
justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial
and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has
no end.

United Methodist Church (on purgatory):

The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon,

worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics,
and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, vainly
invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but
repugnant to the Word of God.

Judaism

Jewish Beliefs on the Afterlife Jewish sacred texts and

literature have little to say about what happens after

5
death. This may seem surprising to non-Jews, since the
sacred texts of Christianity and Islam (both of which have
their foundations in Judaism) elaborate rather fully about
the afterlife.

But Judaism is much more focused on actions than beliefs,

so it is actually to be expected that its prophets and
sages have not spent as much time on speculations about the
world to come as elaborations on the mitzvot to be
performed in this life.

The Torah and Talmud alike focus on the purpose of earthly

life, which is to fulfill one's duties to God and one's
fellow man. Succeeding at this brings reward, failing at it
brings punishment. Whether rewards and punishments continue
after death, or whether anything at all happens after
death, is not as important.

Despite the subject's general exclusion from the Jewish

sacred texts, however, Judaism does incorporate views on
the afterlife. Yet unlike the other monotheistic religions,
no one view has ever been officially agreed upon, and there
is much room for speculation.

This section will begin with a look at biblical texts

addressing the afterlife, then explore various Jewish views
on subjects such as the resurrection of the dead, judgment,
heaven and hell, and the messianic age.

The Hebrew word Olam Ha-Ba ("the world to come") is used

for both the messianic age (see below) and the afterlife
(see Gan Eden, below). The world to come is important and
something to look forward to. A Mishnah passage says, "This
world is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare
yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet
hall." The tractate Moed Katan teaches, "This world is only
like a hotel. The world to come is like a home."

Yet it is also emphasized that this world provides the

ability and privilege of doing good works and performing
the mitzvot: "Rabbi Yaakov also used to say, 'Better one
hour in repentance and good deeds in this world than all
the life in the world to come. And better one hour of
tranquility of spirit in the world to come than all the
life of this world.'" (Pirkei Avos, Chapters of the Fathers)

6
The Afterlife in the TorahFor the most part, the Torah
describes the afterlife in vague terms, many of which may
simply be figurative ways of speaking about death as it is
observed by the living.

An early common theme is that death means rejoining one's

ancestors. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and other
patriarchs are "gathered to their people" after death (see
Gen. 25:8, 25:17, 35:29, 49:33; Deut. 42:50; 2 Ki. 22:20).
In contrast, the wicked are "cut off (kareit) from their
people" (Gen. 17:14; Ex. 31:14). Other imagery emphasizes
the finality of death: the dead are like dust returning to
dust (Genesis; Ecc. 3:19-20) or water poured out on the
ground (2 Samuel 14:14).

Another recurring biblical image of the afterlife is as a

shadowy place called Sheol. It is a place of darkness
(Psalm 88:13, Job 10:21, 22) and silence (Psalm 115:17),
located in low places (Numbers 16:30, Ezekiel 31:14, Psalm
88:7, Lamentations 3:55; Jonah 2:7, Job 26:5). In 1 Samuel
2:6, God puts people in Sheol. In Isaiah 14:9-10, the
departed in Sheol rise up to greet leaders who have now
been brought low as they are. The author of Psalm 88
laments his impending death with these words:

I am sated with misfortune; I am at the brink of Sheol.

I am numbered with those who go down to the Pit;

I am a helpless man

abandoned among the dead,

like bodies lying in the grave

of whom You are mindful no more,

and who are cut off from Your care.

You have put me at the bottom of the Pit,

in the darkest places, in the depths.

(Psalm 88:4-7)

7
Taken together, these early biblical descriptions of death
seem to indicate that the soul continues to exist in some
way after death, but not consciously. Later in the Torah,
the concept of conscious life after death begins to
develop. Daniel 12:2 declares, "And many of them that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence."
Neh. 9:5.

Tehiyat Hameitim: Resurrection of the Dead.

More developed concepts of the resurrection of the dead and

afterlife seem to have entered Judaism under Hellenistic
influence after the Torah was completed. It became one of
the fundamental beliefs in rabbinic Judaism, the
intellectual successors of the Pharisees. The Sadduccees,
familiar to New Testament readers as those who denied the
resurrection, were an exception. As seen above, the
resurrection of the dead is one of Maimonides' "13 Articles
of Belief," and the frequently-recited Shemoneh Esrei
prayer contains several references to the resurrection.

How this resurrection might occur has been a matter of

speculation. Rabbi Hiyya ben Joseph suggested that "the
dead will come up through the ground and rise up in
Jerusalem... and the righteous will rise up fully clothed"
(Babylonian Talmud, tractate Ketubot 111b). Saadia ben
Yosef al-Fayyumi (892-942 C.E.), the head of the academy of
Sura, offered this explanation:

Even fire, which causes things to be burned so quickly,

merely effects the separation of the parts of a thing
causing the dust part to return to ashes. It does not
however, bring about the annihilation of anything. Nor is
it conceivable that anyone should have the power to
annihilate anything to the point where it would vanish
completely except its Creator, who produced it out of
nothing.

Since then the matter can be thus explained, in view of the

fact that none of the constituent parts of the human being
who has been devoured could have been annihilated, they
must all have been set aside, wheresoever they may have
taken up, whether it be on land or sea, until such time as
they are restored in their entirety. Nor would such

8
restoration be any more remarkable than their original
creation.

Today, most traditional Jewish movements accept the concept

of the resurrection of the dead. A notable exception is
Reform Judaism, which official rejects the doctrine.

Judgment:

Traditional Judaism includes belief in both heaven and

hell, as we will see below. How is one's destination
decided? The School of Shammai offered this description:

There will be three groups on the Day of Judgment: one of

thoroughly righteous people, one of thoroughly wicked
people and one of people in between. The first group will
be immediately inscribed for everlasting life; the second
group will be doomed in Gehinnom [Hell], as it says, "And
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and
everlasting abhorrence" [Daniel 12:2], the third will go
down to Gehinnom and squeal and rise again, as it says,
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold
is tried. They shall call on My name and I will answer
them" [Zechariah 13:9]... [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Rosh
Hashanah 16b-17a]

The school of Hillel suggested a more merciful view, in

which the middle group are sent directly to Gan Eden
(Heaven) instead of Gehinnom after death. Rabbi Hanina
added that all who go down to Gehinnom will go up again,
except adulterers, those who put their fellows to shame in
public, and those who call their fellows by an obnoxious
name [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Metzia 58b].

The Talmud teaches that all Israel will have a share in

Olam Ha-Ba, but makes some notable exceptions:

All Israelites have a share in the world-to-come...

[However], these are they that have no share in the world-
to-come: one who says there is no resurrection of the dead
prescribed in the Torah, and that the Torah is not from
Heaven, and an Epicurean. (Sanhedrin 10:1)

9
General Jewish belief is that one need not be Jewish to
enjoy Heaven. "Moses Maimonides, echoing the Tosefta to
Sanhedrin, maintained that the pious of all the nations of
the world have a portion in the world-to-come [Mishneh
Torah, Repentance 3:5]."

Gan Eden: Heaven.

In Judaism, the eternal destination for the righteous is

Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden). It is generally described as
a place of great joy and peace. Talmudic imagery includes:
sitting at golden banquet tables (Babylonian Talmud,
tractate Taanit 25a) or at stools of gold (Babylonian
Talmud, tractate Ketubot 77b), enjoying lavish banquets
(Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Batra 75a), or
celebrating the Sabbath, enjoying sunshine and sexual
intercourse (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berachot 57b).

On the other hand, other sages have offered a more

spiritual view of Gad Eden. Rav suggested that there will
be neither eating nor drinking; no procreation of children
or business transactions, no envy or hatred or rivalry; but
sitting enthroned, their crowns on their heads, enjoying
the Shechinah [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berachot 17a
(3rd century CE)]. Maimonides agreed, explaining:

In the world to come, there is nothing corporeal, and no

material substance; there are only souls of the righteous
without bodies -- like the ministering angels... The
righteous attain to a knowledge and realization of truth
concerning God to which they had not attained while they
were in the murky and lowly body. (Mishneh Torah,
Repentance 8)

Gehinnom: Hell.

The Jewish concept of the afterlife for the wicked is less

developed. Known as Gehinnom (Gehenna in Yiddish) or
Sheo'l, it has its foundations in the dark pit described in
the Torah (see above) and an actual place where a pagan
cult conducted rituals included burning children (see the
description in II Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31).

Gehinnom is the postmortem destination of unrighteous Jews

and Gentiles. In one reference, the souls in Gehinnom are

10
punished for up to 12 months. After the appropriate period
of purification, the righteous continue on to Gan Eden
(Rabbi Akiba and Babylonian Talmud, tractate Eduyot 2:10).
The wicked endure the full year of punishment then are
either annihilated ("After 12 months, their body is
consumed and their soul is burned and the wind scatters
them under the soles of the feet of the righteous (Rosh
Hashanah 17a)") or continue to be punished.

This belief is the basis for the Jewish practice of

mourning and asking blessings on deceased loved ones for
only 11 months (one would not wish to imply that the
departed needed the full 12 months of purification).

The Messianic Age: The messianic age is a period in human

history that will be initiated when the messiah comes. At
that time the righteous dead will be resurrected, but the
wicked will not. The messianic age will be a time of peace
and the restoration of the land and organizations of Israel.

Jainism

Karma

In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is the natural moral law of

the universe in which every good and bad action has a
corresponding effect on the doer. This karma accounts for
why some are richer, prettier or luckier than others and
why otherwise similar people are at different spiritual
levels. It is also the determining factor of the form into
which one is reborn. "Good karma" results in a higher
spiritual state and more favorable physical state, while
"bad karma" has negative physical and spiritual results.

Jainism teaches that there are two different kinds of

karma, ghati ("destructive") and aghati ("non-
destructive"). The former affects the soul and the latter
affects the body. Within each category are several kinds of
karma, each of which has particular results and a way of
being shed. One can only attain liberation when he or she
has shed all karma.

11
Bad actions related to physical life accumulate aghati
karma, which result in negative consequences for physical
life (in the present life and/or the next). There are four
kinds of aghati karma:

1.Happiness-determining (vedniya)

2.Body-determining (nam)

3.Status-determining (gotra)

4.Longevity-determining (ayushya)

For example, being proud of one's status will accumulate

gotra karma, and cause one to be born with lower status in
the next life. But admiring the ugly as well as the
beautiful will shed nam karma and result in a more
beautiful appearance. Compassion and helpfulness towards
others sheds vedniya karma and results in greater
happiness. Killing someone earns ayushya karma, which
results in a shorter lifespan.

Death and Afterlife

Depending on one's karma and level of spiritual

development, death may mean being reborn in another
physical appearance in the earthly realm, suffering
punishment in one of eight hells or joining other liberated
souls in the highest level of heaven.

Unlike hell imagery in most other systems, the eight hells

of Jainism become progressively colder as they go down.
Suffering in these hells is not eternal. Once a soul has
been severely punished, he or she is reborn into another
form.

Hinduism

Karma and Samsara

12
Karma is a Sanskrit word whose literal meaning is 'action'.
It refers to the law that every action has an equal
reaction either immediately or at some point in the future.
Good or virtuous actions, actions in harmony with dharma,
will have good reactions or responses and bad actions,
actions against dharma, will have the opposite effect.

In Hinduism karma operates not only in this lifetime but

across lifetimes: the results of an action might only be
experienced after the present life in a new life.

Hindus believe that human beings can create good or bad

consequences for their actions and might reap the rewards
of action in this life, in a future human rebirth or reap
the rewards of action in a heavenly or hell realm in which
the self is reborn for a period of time.

This process of reincarnation is called samsara, a

continuous cycle in which the soul is reborn over and over
again according to the law of action and reaction. At death
many Hindus believe the soul is carried by a subtle body
into a new physical body which can be a human or non-human
form (an animal or divine being). The goal of liberation
(moksha) is to make us free from this cycle of action and
reaction, and from rebirth.

Sikhism

Karma and Reincarnation

Sikhism retains the general Hindu conception of the

universe and the doctrine of samsara, or rebirth, based on
karma. Human birth is the only chance to escape samsara and
attain salvation.

Islam

Like Christianity, Islam teaches the continued existence of

the soul and a transformed physical existence after death.

13
Muslims believe there will be a day of judgment when all
humans will be divided between the eternal destinations of
Paradise and Hell.

Resurrection and the Day of Judgment

A central doctrine of the Qur'an is the Last Day, on which

the world will be destroyed and Allah will raise all people
and jinn from the dead to be judged.

The Last Day is also called the Day of Standing Up, Day of
Separation, Day of Reckoning, Day of Awakening, Day of
Judgment, The Encompassing Day or The Hour.

Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their

graves awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to
feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those
bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those
bound for heaven will be in peace until that time.

The resurrection that will take place on the Last Day is

physical, and is explained by suggesting that God will re-
create the decayed body (17:100: "Could they not see that
God who created the heavens and the earth is able to create
the like of them"?).

On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged

by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal
destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in
life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where
they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever,
or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical
torment for eternity. The day of judgment is described as
passing over Hell on a narrow bridge in order to enter
Paradise. Those who fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will
remain in Hell forever.

The Qur'an specifies two exceptions to this general rule:

1.Warriors who die fighting in the cause of God are ushered

immediately to God's presence (2:159 and 3:169); and

2."Enemies of Islam" are sentenced immediately to Hell upon

death.

14
Paradise

"O soul who is at rest, return to thy Lord, well-pleased

with Him, well-pleasing Him. So enter among My servants,
and enter My garden." (89:27-30)

Paradise (firdaws), also called "The Garden" (Janna), is a

place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty
mansions (39:20, 29:58-59), delicious food and drink
(52:22, 52:19, 38:51), and virgin companions called houris
(56:17-19, 52:24-25, 76:19, 56:35-38, 37:48-49, 38:52-54,
44:51-56, 52:20-21). There are seven heavens (17:46, 23:88,
41:11, 65:12).

Hell

Hell, or Jahannam (Greek gehenna), is mentioned frequently

in the Qur'an and the Sunnah using a variety of imagery. It
has seven doors (Qur'an 39:71; 15:43) leading to a fiery
crater of various levels, the lowest of which contains the
tree Zaqqum and a cauldron of boiling pitch. The level of
hell depends on the degree of offenses. Suffering is both
physical and spiritual.

Being a Muslim does not keep one out of Hell, but it is not
clear whether Muslims remain in Hell forever. Non-Muslims
(kafir), however, will be punished eternally. A Muslim
author on IslamOnline.net explains it this way:

"Ultimately, God will remove from Hell those believers

whose sins were not forgiven nor atoned for by good deeds
in their lifetimes, and they will then enter Paradise. The
remaining inhabitants of Hell will stay there eternally."

Other Muslim commentators, noting that Allah can rescue

people from hell as he chooses, and that he is merciful and
compassionate, have hypothesized that eventually hell will
be empty. Alternatively, Hell can be seen as a place of
progress where souls are instructed until they are fit to
go to heaven:

"Life after death is actually the starting-point of further

progress for man. Those in paradise are advancing to higher
and higher stages in knowledge and perfection of faith.
Hell is meant to purify those in it of the effects of their

15
bad deeds, and so make them fit for further advancement.
Its punishment is, therefore, not everlasting."

Jehovah's witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses deny the existence of hell. Instead,

they hold that the souls of the wicked will be annihilated.
The death that Adam brought into the world is spiritual as
well as physical, and only those who gain entrance into the
Kingdom of God will exist eternally. However, this division
will not occur until Armageddon, when all people will be
resurrected and given a chance to gain eternal life. In the
meantime, "the dead are conscious of nothing."

Witnesses also have a slightly different view of heaven

than mainstream Christianity. Based on their reading of
prophetic books like Daniel and Revelation, Jehovah's
Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people will go to
heaven to rule with God and Jesus. The remainder of the
righteous will enjoy paradise on earth - a restored Garden
of Eden in which there is no sickness, old age, death or
unhappiness.

Buddhism

The Buddha said of death:

Life is a journey.
Death is a return to earth.
The universe is like an inn.
The passing years are like dust.

Regard this phantom world

As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp - a phantom - and a dream.

According to Buddhism, after death one is either reborn

into another body (reincarnated) or enters nirvana. Only
Buddhas - those who have attained enlightenment - will
achieve the latter destination.

16
Reincarnation (Transmigration)

Based on his no-soul (anatta) doctrine, the Buddha

described reincarnation, or the taking on of a new body in
the next life, in a different way than the traditional
Indian understanding. He compared it to lighting successive
candles using the flame of the preceding candle. Although
each flame is causally connected to the one that came
before it, is it not the same flame. Thus, in Buddhism,
reincarnation is usually referred to as "transmigration."

Nirvana

Nirvana is the state of final liberation from the cycle of

death and rebirth. It is also therefore the end of
suffering. The literal meaning of the word is "to
extinguish," in the way that a fire goes out when it runs
out of fuel. In the Surangama, the Buddha describes Nirvana
as the place in which

it is recognized that there is nothing but what is seen of

the mind itself; where, recognizing the nature of the self-
mind, one no longer cherishes the dualisms of
discrimination; where there is no more thirst nor grasping;
where there is no more attachment to external things.

But all these descriptions only tell us what is not

Nirvana. What is it like? Is it like heaven, or is it non-
existence? The answer is not clear, due in large part to
the Buddha's aversion to metaphysics and speculation. When
he was asked such questions, he merely replied that it was
"incomprehensible, indescribable, inconceivable,
unutterable."

Chinese Religion

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The Chinese conception of the afterlife is based on a
combination of Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Mahayana
Buddhism.

At the moment of death, Chinese believe one's spirit is

taken by messengers to the god of walls and moats, Ch'eng
Huang, who conducts a kind of preliminary hearing. Those
found virtuous may go directly to one of the Buddhist
paradises, to the dwelling place of the Taoist immortals,
or the tenth court of hell for immediate rebirth.

After 49 days, sinners descend to hell, located at the base

of the mythical Mount Meru. There they undergo a fixed
period of punishment in one or more levels of hell. The
duration of this punishment may be reduced by the
intercession of the merciful Ti-ts'ang.

When the punishment is complete, the souls in hell drink an

elixir of oblivion in preparation for their next
reincarnation.

They then climb on the wheel of transmigration, which takes

them to their next reincarnation, or, in an alternative
account, they are thrown off the bridge of pain into a
river that sweeps them off to their next life.

Greco-Roman Religious Beliefs

"I'd rather be a day-laborer on earth working for a man of

little property than lord of all the hosts of the dead."
--Achilles, in The Iliad

As illustrated by the above remark by the hero Achilles,

death was not a glorius thing for the ancient Greeks. In
Homer's epics, the dead are "pathetic in their
helplessness, inhabiting drafty, echoing halls, deprived of
their wits, and flitting purposelessly about uttering
batlike noises."5 While undesirable when compared with life
on earth, this vague, shadowing existence was not generally
cause for fear of the afterlife. Only terrible sinners
(like Tantalus, Tityus and Sisyphus) were punished after
death; similarly, only a select few ended up in the
paradisical Elysian Fields.

Hades

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With the rare exceptions mentioned above, Hades was the
universal destination of the dead in Greek religion until
the latter half of the 5th century BCE. Hades was a cold,
damp and dark realm that was guarded by the god of the same
name. The "gates of Hades" were guaded by the fearsome
hound Cerberus, who wags his tail for new arrivals but does
not allow anyone to leave. Without proper burial, one
cannot enter the gates of Hades. The river Styx is the
boundary between earth and Hades, but Hades has other
rivers as well (e.g. Phlegethon, Acheron, Cocytus). A
similar concept is found in Japanese Buddhism in the Sanzu
River, which the dead must cross on the way to the
afterlife.

Tartarus

In Greek religion, Tartarus was the deepest region of the

underworld, lower than Hades. Hesiod wrote that it would
take an anvil nine days to fall from heaven to earth and
another nine to fall from earth to Tartarus. Hades, not
Tartarus, is the place of the dead but some especially
wicked characters have been imprisoned in Tartarus to be
punished. It is where Sisyphus, thief and murderer, must
repeatedly push a boulder up a hill for eternity; where
Ixion, who killed his father-in-law, is attached to a
flaming wheel; and where Tantalus is kept just out of reach
of cool water and grapes for sharing the secrets of the
gods with humans. Tartarus is also where monsters and other
enemies have been cast after being defeated by the gods,
including the Cyclopes, the Titans and Typhus. In Roman
mythology, Tartarus was the eternal destination of sinners
in general.

Elysium

Elysium (also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain) was a

paradise inhabited at first only by the very distinguished,
but later by the good. Elysium first appears in Homer's
Odyssey as the destination of Menelaus. It is located at
the western ends of the earth and is characterized by
gentle breezes and an easy life like that of the gods.
Closely related to Elysium is Hesiod's Isles of the
Blessed, mentioned in his Works and Days, which was located
in the western ocean.

Reincarnation

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The notion that the human soul enters another body upon
death, though unfamiliar in popular Greek religion, was
widespread in Greek philosophy. The doctrine of
transmigration is first associated with the Pythagoreans
and Orphics and was later taught by Plato (Phaedo,
Republic) and Pindar (Olympian). For the former groups, the
soul retained its identity throughout its reincarnations;
Plato indicated that souls do not remember their previous
experiences. Although Herodotus claims that the Greeks
learned this idea from Egypt, most scholars do not believe
it came either from Egypt or from India, but developed
independently.

Scientology
Scientology does not include an
afterlife. However, it reports
person often recalls memories
Scientology ascribes to the idea
another body.
official belief about the
that during auditing, a
of past lives and that
of being born again into

Zoroastrianism
The Zoroastrian afterlife is determined by the balance of
the good and evil deeds, words, and thoughts of the whole
life. For those whose good deeds outweight the bad, heaven
awaits. Those who did more evil than good go to hell (which
has several levels corresponding to degrees of wickedness).
There is an intermediate stage for those whose deeds weight
out equally.

Stoicism
The Stoics did not have a clear conception of an afterlife.
Some held that the soul survives until the next
conflagration; others taught that the soul is part of the
World Soul and would reappear in the new world. But a
personal immortality was not part of the Stoic worldview.

Mormonism

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Mormons believe that all humans who die will live
eternally. Their spirits will go to the spirit world, where
they will undergo instruction and preparation. Then, "after
a time," there will be the Resurrection, at which time the
spirits will be reunited with their bodies forever. [1]

Mormons believe in heaven, which is defined as "the place

where God lives and the future home of those who follow
Him." Faithful Mormons and their families will live in the
presence of God and be rewarded in accordance with what
they have done during their lives.

Joseph Smith also taught that families can live together

forever in heaven if they are "sealed" through special
temple ceremonies.

What about non-Mormons? "Those who choose not to follow our

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will receive a reward
according to what they have done in this life, but they
will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God."

Mormons do believe in hell. Those who did not repent while

on Earth will experience a temporary hell after death
(during the time that all spirits go to the spirit world
before the Resurrection), but will have an opportunity to
repent afterwards and avoid the eternal hell. Hell as an
eternal place of misery it is inhabited only by Satan and
those who explicitly reject "the Heavenly Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost" even after the period of instruction
after death.

Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is a sleep during
which the "dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This view
maintains that the person has no conscious form of
existence until the resurrection, either at the second
coming of Jesus (in the case of the righteous) or after the
millennium of Revelation 20 (in the case of the wicked).
Because of this view, Seventh-day Adventists do not believe
hell currently exists and believe further that the wicked
will be destroyed at the end of time.

Summary:

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Though Various religions has different beliefs, The
scriptures clearly state that eternal life comes from God
through his son Jesus Christ (John 3:16; 14:6; Heb. 5:9 ),
and is the "greatest of all the gifts of God". The phrase
"eternal life" refers not only to everlasting life but also
and more particularly to the quality of life God lives.
Eternal life is available to all people who have lived on
earth who accept this gift by their obedience to God's laws
and ordinances.

God's work, and the source of his glory, is bringing to

pass "the immortality and eternal life" of his children. In
other words, God works to enable his children's return to
his presence so that they may both live with him and live
as he lives.

So allied is Christ with the Father that the scriptures

sometimes define eternal life as "knowing" them: "This is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3)

Knowing Christ in this world comes by receiving him and his

law. Jeremiah spoke for the Lord: "I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbour saying, Know
the Lord: for they shall all know me" (Jer. 31:33-34). As
stated in the Gospel of John, one begins to know Christ and
his will by searching the scriptures, for, as Jesus
affirmed, "they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

Having the law written in one's heart implies an acceptance

that prompts action; indeed, the scriptures mention many
actions that one must take in order to receive the gift of
eternal life. To enter the path leading toward eternal
life, one must exercise faith in Christ (John 3:36; 6:47),
repent, be baptized for the remission of one's sins, and
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The scriptures state
that once on the path, the believer must strive to keep the
commandments —that is, to do the works of righteousness,
primary among which is charity (1 Cor. 13; Matt. 25:34-36).
The believer must also endure to the end.

While in mortality, individuals may come to a stage of

knowing the Father and the Son that allows the Lord to
promise them eternal life. This occurrence is described in
scripture as receiving the Holy Spirit of promise and the
Second Comforter (John 14:16) having the more sure word of

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prophecy and having one's calling and election made sure (2
Pet. 1:10).

God invites all people to seek and ask earnestly for

eternal life, and reassures all who do so that they will
not be given a stone (cf. Matt. 7:7-11). They are promised
"revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge,"
which brings an understanding of "peaceable things — that
which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal".
Those who will receive eternal life in its fullest come
forth in the first resurrection and inherit the highest
degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom.

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