what happens to a person after death from the point of view of Christianity? will life continue in some other reality, or will it be like a dream before the Last Judgment and the subsequent resurrection? what are your thoughts on this matter?
Depends on the Christian. This Christian believes all will be well for all because Jesus does what He says on the tin. Saves. Being the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen (One) in whom all are chosen. There is nothing that can separate anyone from that. Nothing He can’t fix in paradise. Including the disbelief of that by most Christians.
Please understand that what I say is only an opinion. I am a Christian who loves what is written in the Bible, and I will be using comments from the Bible.
Will we cease to exist once we physically die? Jesus says the following:
Luk 12:4-5 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
I believe this is saying we should learn to respect and love our father in heaven who has the final authority to either accept us as one of His or reject us.
Please note that in verse 5 he says our body will die one way or the other, but we will still remain alive.
Paul says: Php 1:22-24 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
My personal opinion is when we have our last breath here on this earth, judgment occurs immediately. I say that based on what I find in the book of Revelation.
Rev 6:9-11 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
First of all look where they are located, they are in heaven after they have been killed. In questioning, they are asking the Lord when will the ones who killed them be judged? Notice the answer was that the inhabitants of the earth continue to live on until they are killed or die.
Cant happen.The second comming hasnt occured yet. Im affraid.And before i open some sort of debate here about the Second Comming ,the preterist view doesnt have any ecidence or explanation about when the Second Comming happened according to them
God gets the same results either way.
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Probably a relevant passage. But my answer is I don’t know and neither does anyone else. I don’t think Jesus offered any systematic theology on the concept of heaven nor do any of the other NT authors. He may have merely spoke in conventional terms. We probably can’t even understand what the afterlife is like. We just have hope and scriptural confirmation of a continued existence and hopefully seeing our loved ones again (but will we even have eyes in heaven?).
Notice how Paul says we will be taken up into the clouds with the Lord. Is this literal? Should I press all these details and build a model of heaven and the afterlife and the process that occurs after death based on them and some sort of dictated model of inspiration where every passage teachers truths based on superhuman knowledge? Is heaven really up? It’s located in the troposphere? It exists in regions where air is saturated with water vapor and condenses into visible droplets? I seriously don’t that. Is Paul Just phrasing the afterlife generally in terms of Jewish expectation of the resurrection of the dead and assuaging the fears of his audience who were worried about their dead loved ones and and the delay of the Lord’s return with the hope of heaven?
I still look up when I pray, which is down to someone on the other side of the earth. I just can’t see taking these details as if they tell us any actual specifics about heaven which is ultimately beyond our current capacity to understand. Look at the forest, not the trees.
Vinnie
hi Nick. you are Orthodox just like me. what do you think about life after death?
1 Like
Im having a faith crisis currently,so much that i hadnt before .But i will answer. I believe we just wait for the second comming.No bible verse supports that we "enjoy a temporqry heaven"or something that the church claims .So i guess we do wait with our soul bounded to our body
understand you. I have the same situation. so many questions have piled up. I hope we can handle it.
1 Like
I dont know mate.I hope too as well.Im one step away of becoming agnostic or something
if you want, we could discuss issues of concern on the forum or in a personal conversation
1 Like
Im basically drained oout.I have asked all my questions basically here.If you want you can ask me anything on a pm and i can help you if i know the answer.But since we are both struggling with questions i dont know how much we can help eachother.But feel free to dm me if you want to
1 Like
The following is a story Jesus gave concerning a rich man and a begger what happened to them after death?
Luk 16:19-31 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 "But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 "He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 "Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 "‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
- Both of the gentleman were in different places after death.
- The rich man was in a place of torment. The poor man is it a place of comfort.
- The rich man wanted to tell his brothers how important it was for them to understand while they’re living on the earth to listen to God’s prophets.
- Notice they will not listen even if someone comes back from the dead.
The story was taking place before the coming of Christ.So it doesnt arguing against my comment. Pls you have to take the story with a grain of salt.I dont believe hell is a fire filled place as the verse is implying
It was only after Jesus was crucified, that the gates of heaven were opened. however before this happened God provided a place of comfort for those who had salvation with Him.
I believe too often we want to discount stories in the Bible because it does not comply with our own narratives.
Very mature of you .Anyway the story needs to be taken with a grain of Salt.
Any arguments to back it up?
Joh 17:24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Luk 23:43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Mat 27:50-52 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
God dwelt in the most holy place in the temple behind the veil by visible symbols, and was to be approached by removing the veil; and God dwells in heaven, in the most holy place there, and is to be approached only through the offering of the body of Christ.
2 Peter 1:11 And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
???Ummm these verses does not promote that people didnt went to heaven before Christ at all
Here is a few more verses that does imply that through Christ all is saved.
“[The prophets and Moses said] that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:23)
In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:20
Later on I can give more detail but I am also working on a post for a defense of conditional immortality. It’s for another site, but I’ll retrofit it for here also.
The Bible has some key verses to help us understand life after death.
First it states that both the living and the dead will be resurrected and one will receive eternal life snd another will receive the eternal punishment of death.
When we die we are dead. When we get resurrected we will all be alive. Those in the book of life will be given eternal life through Christ. They will be alive forever. Those who are not found in the book of life will die again and remain dead forever.
A great website that really digs into this with several hundred hours of podcast debates, interviews and hundreds of blogs is Rethinking Hell. They also have a Facebook group dedicated to this.
A good book on it one by Edward Fudge. Ive read his other book and dozens of blogs.
