Afterlife World View

1145 Words3 Pages

I am choosing to write about the "View of the afterlife." The reasons I am choosing this section of the World View Chart are: I enjoyed researching on this topic of all the religions that we have covered. I myself have been curious about the afterlife.
What happens to us when we die? This has always been a million dollar question. A near-death experience usually can make you think about the afterlife. A near death experience is when the individual experiences a detachment from the world during the process of dying. They may experience a sense of peace, a separation of consciousness from the body, entering darkness, seeing a light, meeting spiritual entities, having a panoramic life review, and a sense of judging their lives. Near-death experiences …show more content…

Jainism: Reincarnation. After death one is either reborn into another body (reincarnated) or enters nirvana. Only Buddha’s (those who have attained enlightenment) will achieve nirvana. Daoism hoped to live forever in human form, with supernatural powers of an immortal. They were interested in realms of the immortals believed to be invisible to the human eye. Confucianism – Hoped to be worshipped by their descendants and their families. Zoroastrian tradition, after the death of the body, the soul remains in this world for three days and nights, one of the Yazatas or angels. During this period, prayers are said and rituals performed to assure a safe passage of the soul into the spiritual realm. On the dawn of the fourth day, the spirit is believed to have crossed over to the other world, where it arrives at the allegorical Chinvat Bridge. The Jewish afterlife is called Olam Ha-Ba (The World to come). Resurrection and reincarnation are within the range of traditional Jewish belief. Temporary (but not eternal) punishment after death is within traditional belief. 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 the deceased enjoy the presence of God …show more content…

Different religions have provided belief structures that support the religious and social needs of practitioners. Rituals and sacred writings support the various religious interpretations of what death is and what it will be like in the afterlife. However, even with the differences in religious beliefs, there are similarities between many different religious groups regarding afterlife beliefs. One similarity among religious groups is the belief in an afterlife following physical death. Another similarity is the presence of "the two polar images of life after death - the abode of the righteous. A belief in the immortality of the spirit has been present in most religions for centuries. The belief that there is a life after death is one of the oldest concepts of human history. Proving the immortality of the human soul has been the objective of many philosophers, theologians, and

Open Document