History of the afterlife - Essay Example

History of the Afterlife in the religion Lutheran The oldest Protestant Christian tradition is encompassed by the Lutheran Church, which s back to Protestant Reformation. Lutherans voluntarily accept the teachings of Martin Luther. While the Christian beliefs over afterlife have slight variation between different denominations and Christians, most Christians hold the belief that after dying, believers go to heaven which is a place where they would have the presence of God and other believers. It is a place where the believers are freed from sin as well as from all of its manifestations including pain and suffering.

While in the afterlife, people will have physical presence like they have in this world, life there would be very different from what it is in this world. A vast majority of Christians also believe in the existence of hell and believe that it is a place meant for punishment. Fire has been included in the description of hell in several passages of New Testament. Many Christians believe in the intense sensation of burning caused by the fire in hell in its literal sense whereas there are others who think of fire as a symbol to reflect the pain and agony that will be caused to the people in hell in the afterlife.

Many Christians also believe that people will be made to experience the punishment temporarily, after which they would be destroyed just like the flames destroy an object. Lutheran Churches also teach that Christ will appear at the world’s consummation for judgment, when he will raise all dead up; “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” (“Christian Beliefs about”).Works Cited:“Christian Beliefs about the Afterlife.” 2014. Web.

9 June 2014. .