Conditional Immortality: Theories Surrounding The Perils Of The Afterlife

washed in scented water. This has to be done by a member of the same

“What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?”(Loy)

In John Perry's A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Gretchen Weirob argues that an individual has different character traits that split that person into diverse identities, no one is simple and he or she may have a complex identity. A person who experiences false memory may not be the same person Gretchen makes a careful distinction between two types of identities; these are the numerical and qualitative identities. The writer declares the former to be the identity and the later as the exact similarity. Same body same soul does not necessarily mean it resides in one person. I am numerically identical to myself. The same body could be equated to being numerically identical to oneself, for instance as they could be two and both of them boys, but in essence, they are still two people.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world nothing can be certain, expect death and taxes”. (www.brainyquote.com). Death is something a lot of people are scared of, even though it a natural life cycle and it happens to everyone and everything. Everybody agrees death happens, but not everyone agrees what happens after death. Different people have different views of what happens after death, but one thing they all agree on is that it happens to everybody and there is no way around it, you don’t know when or where it’ll happen but it will always happen.

Christianity has several different variations on the theme of immortality. These variations are related to the many different denominations under the umbrella of Christianity. In general, liberal Christians accept the idea that the authors of the bible held different beliefs involving heaven and hell. Some of the oldest biblical writings described an underground cavern in which all people regardless of their deeds spent eternity in after death. The books within the New Testament more commonly described hell as a place of

The afterlife is usually thought of as something even better than life as we know it. Having certain beliefs about one’s destiny after passing can help with coping and believing that one is where they belong. Thoughts about the afterlife have always varied greatly. Even so, all cultures and religions are alike in one way; they stick with their own specific beliefs because their way is the only “right” way. Although all believed in deities, the views on the afterlife of Egypt and Early Greece believed in something greater after passing while Mesopotamia was more of being fearful and not knowing, but living.

What happens to a person at death is a belief we acquire from our religion and culture. In Christianity we believe heaven is our reward for living a meaningful life. On the other hand as Christians we were taught to preserve life and avoid intentional death to selves or others.

How should we die? Many people have not consider discussing plans for dying and the afterlife. Death can take families by surprise sometimes; therefore, they have to make quick decision and may not have all the details need. There are times when families are able to successful plan for their death and afterlife.

The aim of my report is to explain how the view of the afterlife in Ancient Greece has shaped works of art, books and the mentality of people. In order to do this I am going to explore how ancient Greek people saw the underworld as well as Roman people and the Renaissance period. Because Greeks saw the underworld as a dark, dreadful and gloomy place, many of the works that refer to it, either in Roman times or the Renaissance, are influenced by this view. In particular works like the Odyssey by Homer or The Phaedo by Plato, explained to a certain level the structure of the afterlife in ancient Greece. These two pieces of literature severely influenced works like the book VI of the Aeneid by Virgil where he depicts the underworld referencing to the Greek point of view. But a deeper description of the underworld is given by Dante in his Divine Comedy where he uses Virgil as his guide, from the depths of hell to the Purgatory while Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, guides him through heaven. All these time periods shared the idea of the underworld as being a place where souls pay the sins they committed during their lives.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaimed, “A whole gospel for a whole man!” In an exposition of Romans, he explained that the Gospel cannot be watered down or taken apart; it must be preached for what it is, in its entirety (Jones). If it is true that the complete Gospel takes up the entire person, one must ask what exactly is the entire person? Traditionally, humans have been defined by a combination of body, soul, and spirit. The human body is the connection to the physical world. Most religions agree that humans were created like the rest of creation. The soul is the connection to the psychological world; it is thought to be the mind, consciousness, knowledge, reason and “uniqueness” of a

They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they 'd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn 't cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn 't quite dying, because in a curious way, it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. "

Nearly everything could be represented by a god or goddess. Death and the afterlife was represented by Osiris. Aten and Ra were sun gods. The Egyptians felt that they needed to pray and build temples for these gods and goddesses to stay in their favor. These gods were believed to control everything, and if the Egyptians pleased them they would be rewarded. They worshipped their gods by making offerings. They would leave flowers and food in temples to show their respect. Commoners were not often allowed in temples. Priests had plenty of power because the gods were often feared. Most Egyptians did not actually love the gods, but feared their wrath. Commoners could occasionally attend ceremonies. At these ceremonies animals were often sacrificed.

Plato has roused many readers with the work of a great philosopher by the name of Socrates. Through Plato, Socrates lived on generations after his time. A topic of Socrates that many will continue to discuss is the idea of “an immortal soul”. Although there are various works and dialogues about this topic it is found to be best explained in The Phaedo. It is fair to say that the mind may wonder when one dies what exactly happens to the beloved soul, the giver of life often thought of as the very essence of life does it live on beyond the body, or does it die with it? Does the soul have knowledge of the past if it really does live on?

that if X can be without Y then X and Y are distinct. This view that a

There are so many ways of looking at the afterlife. Every religion has its own views and even within those religions there are different groups with their own perspectives. I chose to read a little more about the beliefs of Judaism because I have not had much experience with that religion in my life. I am hoping to see if I can apply any of my ideals as a Catholic to their beliefs and possibly agree with them. I would like to present my opinions on these beliefs as I summarize the article. As a background, I believe that there is an afterlife and I support most Christian views of heaven and hell. This is mainly because of the close family that I have lost over the years. Regardless of my scientific thought process, I refuse to believe that my grandparents are just simply dead.