Christianitys Belief in Afterlife - Essay Example

Christianity’s Belief in Afterlife The core image of Christianity is afterlife as a faith. According to this religion each and every person is destined to enjoy afterlife in heaven, which they mostly refer to as paradise, if he/she is a true follower of Christ. However, if someone is not a follower of Christ, such a person will not escape hell. Hell according to the Christian belief is the prime punishment and signifies absence of God and presence of Saturn. Therefore, the ultimate goal of Christians is eternal life in the presence of the Lord (God). In the Bible, which is the guiding book in the communication between God and people according to the Christian faith, the New Testament (with concentration on Paul) gives a clear vision of the life of Christians as that which already takes part in the realities of heaven. Such Christian life is to be put into experience only after the return of Jesus Christ as well as the resurrection of human bodies. On the other hand, the Old Testament book in the bible, (Note that the Bible usually is divided into two testaments- the New and the Old) shows the images of afterlife less vividly in comparison with the New Testament. As a matter of fact, the image of afterlife in the Old Testament is only developed in a modest manner. Thus, the Old Testament, instead of concentrating on the issue of afterlife, gives a wide focus on the care that God offers to people in the context of earthly bestowments like offspring and land. It also touches on the punishment of God to the people such as the Israelites who were not faithful as well as the pagan nations in the form of death or exile. Christians, though, view the Old Testament as promising afterlife to God’s people. For instance, there is the part in the Old Testament that talks about the promises to Abraham by God in terms of offspring/land as symbolic to his afterlife blessing. This is due to the fact that the promises given by God to Abraham were not really experienced until a long time subsequent to his demise. This sense is fully expounded upon once one reads the New Testament of the Bible. (Ryken, et al, 1998 pp16,17) Those beliefs that Christians uphold are put in what is called Creeds. There are two majorly essential creeds according to the Christianity religion and these are the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. They (Christians) only believe that there exists only a single God, and his nature is that of Love and relationship. God’s nature is vividly expressed in the Trinity belief for majority Christians and that these are three persons by the names the Father, Son and lastly the Holy Spirit in the being of God. The Son of God is Jesus Christ, who was sent by God to the Earth in the bid to restore the past relationship that had existed between God and Mankind, prior to the sinning of man. Jesus was seen after his resurrection and Christians know him to be alive following his demise upon the cross after the criminal execution carried out on him by the Romans. The belief held by Christians regarding Jesus is that God was always with him during his life here on earth and He (God) did not necessarily overwhelm him during his human life nor destroy him, but rather maintained him wholly as God and Wholly as Human both in one being. The death of Christ on the cross is viewed by Christians as the bringing back of harmony between mankind and God. The most important duty for Christians is for them to live their lives based on the example set out by Jesus Christ while he was here on Earth, to show love to God again through Jesus, to love the other people as oneself as well as to spread the Christian message to other human beings. Thus, the response by Christians to be sure to be living life according to the way God would like it to be lived is the overcoming of sin and the achievement of salvation via the Holy Spirit that is said to be alive in all Christian believers. Based on the same belief that Jesus died for Christian’s sins and the reconciliation between God and man, Christians now believe in life following their demise since Jesus resurrected after his execution. They hold the belief that they possess just a single life to live and at the same time thus they will be judged on the basis of how they live that one life. Therefore, they (Christians) must have accepted Jesus- the Son of God, as well as followed his teachings to be assured of life after death. Jesus clearly puts this in the book of John 14:6, that he is … “the way, the truth and the life..” and that… “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) After the life experienced on earth, the soul of Christians goes up to Heaven to await God’s judgment at the set Day of Judgment or at that particular moment. According to the teachings given by Jesus, there would be a separation into two major groups of Christians- those that showed love in their behavior in that they found him hungry and fed him, thirsty and gave him a drink to quench the thirst and when he was a stranger they welcomed him to their homes and on the other hand the ones who never showed love as per the details of the book of Mathew 25: 31-46. Thus, the ones who have behaved according to the teachings would go to Heaven and if otherwise would head for hell. However, it does not always lead to hell if a person does not obey the teachings since there is always that opportunity for the ones who have behaved in a sinful manner to do a true repentance of the sins they have committed and remain with God forever. Majority of Christians today do not view hell as the place where one is punished and tortured, but as that place where persons who have segregated from God’s love remain for always subsequent to their rejection of the chance to repent their sins. (world-faiths.com, 2011) However, it is of essence to take note that the belief of afterlife amongst Christians is not similar to all Christians in entirety. The belief of afterlife varies between various Christian denominations as well s among individuals. The vast majority, believe in paradise or heaven where believers enjoy God’s presence amongst other believers and the freedom of sin and suffering. Also another thing that differs amongst Christians is whether persons of other faiths would be in paradise as well as the holistic idea of how heaven would be like. Few Christians hold the belief of the existence of hell, in which the non-believers receive their punishment. As to whether hell is forever and whether the punishment in hell is physical or spiritual also varies amongst the Christians that believe in the presence hell. A group of Christians refute the idea of hell altogether. Alongside other Christians, there is the Catholic Christians who believe in purgatory. Purgatory is a place where Christians receive some punishment if they have died without confessing some of their sins. (religionfacts.com, 2011) As Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury puts in his authored works of Why God became Man incarnation presented a logical process through which God would seek to maintain the moral order. This is due to the fact that God could not manage to ignore sin. As Anselm writes, sin is unforgivable without some consideration. This debt owed to God by humankind was too great to be paid by humans, though. It was only possible for humans to get relieved of the debt if a redeemer intervened and that would secure freedom for the entire humanity. Such a redeemer would have to be God and man at the same time. Therefore, the demise of the incarnate God would present an infinite value through which sins would be paid for as regards all humans. The Orthodox of the Eastern side pays less emphasis on the notion brought across by Anselm that argues about the debt satisfaction. The Eastern Christians put emphasis upon the triumphant and victorious King upon the cross, who is glorified in the divine conquering of death and sin. The interpretation by the Easterners concentrates on Jesus as the defeater of the entire evil. The death of Christ, therefore, marked God’s final victory as far as sin’s entry in the world was concerned. Various Christianity branches vary in the context of how people can or are able to react to this gift by God, but despite all that Christians agree in unison that Jesus’ resurrection made humans to be able to have eternal life. This said eternal life does not commence following death but at the moment of new birth spiritually, which is taken by some traditions of Christianity as happening at the point of baptism while in others happening at that point when one becomes conscious of the trust in Jesus. Through this belief, then, death is just but an eternal soul’s passage. Here, although there is the death of the physical body, the human soul is rewarded or faces punishment on the basis of the life of the person as regards faith. The persons who put their belief in the works of Christ and as well made an expression of faith in those good works would receive a reward from God such that they will live in His presence and on the other hand for those people who did not believe in Christ and their live was wicked they would receive punishment in hell. Christianity as a religion also teaches that come the end of time, following a divine judgment, those who get the eternal life would also have a physical resurrection just as it was done for Jesus. Most contemporary Christians often get themselves struggling with the idea that a God who is a loving God would not take either all humans in entirety or majority into paradise. These Christians opt to leave that query to the mercies and the love of God. With the promise by Christ that he would come back to judge people, most Christians are not in fear but rather are relieved by this promise. Christians believe that salvation is what holds eternal life, which cannot be gained through the normal striving of humans since nobody would stand a chance of salvation if people were to be judged on merit. Thus, Christianity as a religion believes that Eternal life after death is God’s gift. (patheos.com, 2011) Work Cited: patheos.com. Christianity Afterlife and Salvation, 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011 http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Beliefs/Afterlife-and- Salvation?offset=1&max=1 religionfacts.com. Christian Beliefs about the Afterlife, 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011 http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/beliefs/afterlife.htm Ryken, Leland, et al. Dictionary of biblical imagery. InterVarsity Press, 1998. pp 16,17. world-faiths.com.Christianity, 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011 http://www.world- faiths.com/Christianity/christianity.htm Read More