What Happens When You Die?

I have always been fascinated by the different interpritations of the after life. It seems to me that this is the main reason you should look at when deciding which religion you should join concidering the fact that this life is significantly shorter than eterinty. Heaven is a pretty big part of your existence, so you better make a good educated descision before just picking the one your parents told you to pick. Here are some alternate choices: 

After death, the soul is brought for judgment. Those who have lead pristine lives enter immediately into the “World to Come.” Most do not enter the World to Come immediately, but now experience a period of review of their earthly actions and they are made aware of what they have done wrong. Some view this period as being a “re-schooling”, with the soul gaining wisdom as one’s errors are reviewed. Others view this period to include punishment for past wrongs. At the end of this period, approximately one year, the soul then takes its place in the World to Come. Although punishments are made part of certain Jewish conceptions of the afterlife, the concept of “eternal damnation,” so prevalent in other religions, is not a central tenet of the Jewish afterlife.

Deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection. 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. On the Last Day, resurrected humans will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. 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.

When you die you go to the Spirit World. This Spirit World is made up of the Spirit Prison and Paradise. Mormons believe that Christ visits spirit prison and opens the gate for those who axcept Christ as their Savior to cross over into Paradise. Both Spirit Prison and Paradise are temporary according to Latter-day Saint beliefs. After the resurrection spirits are assigned “permanently” to three degrees of heavenly glory or are cast with Satan into Outer Darkness.

When the body died, parts of its soul known as ka (body double) and the ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. Arriving at one’s reward in afterlife was a demanding ordeal, requiring a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells, passwords, and formulae of the Book of the Dead. In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased’s heart was weighed against the Shu feather of truth and justice taken from the headdress of the goddess Ma’at. If the heart was lighter than the feather, they could pass on, but if it were heavier they would be devoured by the demon Ammit. Egyptians also believed that being mummified was the only way to have an afterlife.

Buddhists believe that rebirth takes place without a self (similar to soul) and that the process of rebirth is simply a continuation of the previous life. The process of being reborn as any other being is based on your karma. From a Buddhist perspective, the current life is a continuation of the past life. If one dies with a peaceful state of mind, this will cause fortunate karma to ripen and a fortunate rebirth as a human or god will follow. If one dies with a negative state of mind, this will ripen negative karma and a lower rebirth such as an animal, ghost, or hell-being will follow.

When someone dies, that person is “born again into the flesh of another body.” Every human being is really an immortal spiritual being known as a thetan and that the “meat bodies” we inhabit are merely vessels we shed upon death. Scientologist do not see “life” and “afterlife.” There is just life. One lives, one inhabits or manages a succession of bodies through birth, maturation and body death, and one continues on. Life is in the being themselves, and the being does not pass away. Only the body does.

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven, over which He rules, to a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age also known as the Last Day. The angels will separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.