Doctrine Of The Afterlife : The Old Testament

The conception of Heaven and Hell is meant to provide a means of justice in the afterlife, C.S. Lewis has a different view than the traditional idea on what that may look like. In “The Great Divorce”, Lewis defends that God is just by writing about a just version of Heaven and Hell. First, I summarize a general image of the traditional Christian idea of Heaven and Hell and explain the issues that come with it. Next, I offer C.S. Lewis’s counter position on Heaven and Hell. Lastly, I assess Lewis’s conception, arguing that it does not escape the justice issue of the traditional image of the afterlife.

Heaven and Hell are ambiguous topics discussed and debated throughout all of human existence. Particularly, if there is a heaven or hell, and if so, what do they entail? Where are they? What do they look like? The 1990 film, Flatliners, explores one possible option for what happens to human essence after death. The film explores where this essence, whatever it may be, may go. It also explores what this place will look like for each of the different characters, as well as hints at the idea that deeds on earth may affect a person’s place, status, or experiences in the afterlife. Some of the ideas in the film related to some of the ideas brought about in the Bible, as well as some of the ideas and beliefs of the Essences that are discussed in the book Heaven: a history by Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang. The hint of redemption from sins in the movie is related to the Bible, but the individual experiences were similar to the beliefs of the Essenes for an individualized hope in the afterlife. Both the Bible and the Essenes expressed a setting for the afterlife that is portrayed in the film.

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.

In complete contrast to this, the Christian Hell is a place of punishment for crimes committed on Earth. There are tons of depictions of Hell across tons of books, movies, and TV shows, but the most widely accepted version of damnation comes from the writer Dante Alighieri, in his world famous title Dante’s Inferno. Alighieri described Hell as a sort of giant funnel, with seven layers on the inside, representing the seven deadly sins, and in Inferno, he and Virgil Maro traverse these layers, and battle their inner demons, while also witnessing the cruel, and ironic torture of those sent to this unholy plain of existence. For example those who were wrathfully in life find themselves trapped in the filthy slime of the Styx, violently beating each other for all of eternity, while those who were sullen in life are drowned just underneath the river, and stepped on by the wrathful. The Buddhist realm of the damned, Naraka, is the most similar to Dante’s Hell, but unlike the Inferno, Naraka is less a place of eternal suffering, and more a place of

For the past three years, I have taught Scripture to our ninth grade religious education classes. Reading the Old Testament, there appeared to be a belief in an afterlife, but what those beliefs are was not clear to me at all. They used terms like “the world to come” and “going to be with our fathers”. There are several passages where people appear to be taken up without dying, like Elijah and Enoch, but it doesn't say where they went. In __________________, it talks about people going to the netherworld. I couldn't help but wonder - if Jewish people believe in an afterlife, why is the Torah so vague and how did their beliefs develop?

Robert Herrick, an English poet, once said, “Hell is no other but a soundlesse pit, where no one beame of comfort peeps in it.” Picture any type of Hell with relief, happiness, or even the smallest crack of a smile. There is no place. In fact, one can only think of the complete opposite, whether it is a Hell filled with neglect, pain, disgust, or a never-ending life of horror. This is the place created by Dante Alighieri; The Inferno is exactly the type of Hell where no person would want to be. Even those who acted upon the lightest of sins suffered greatly. While each realm contained a different sinner, the punishment that each were forced to face was cruel, repulsive, and sometimes rather disgusting. Through grieving tears without an

Hell has been featured in myths and literary works throughout history. However, it is portrayed differently from culture to culture, and even the most popular representations of the afterlife have evolved over time, adopting the views of older cultures to fit new beliefs and social systems. Each portrayal of the afterlife is unique, offering diligent readers an insight into the beliefs of the author, as well as those of his society. There are innumerable depictions of an afterlife in literature and mythology; however, two of the most common are the Underworld, also known as Hades, and Hell, which, thanks to its Christian roots, is still commonly acknowledged today. Also historically significant is Dis, the afterlife described by Virgil in The

This particular interactive oral illustrates both the similarities and the differences of the theological Christian hell portrayed in the Bible and the hell displayed in No Exit. Hell is defined in many different ways in both cases. The biblical hell paints a picture of fire, brimstone, ongoing torture, and isolation. On the other hand, a more psychological hell is described in No Exit, a place where hell is other people. A place where there is not physical pain, but everlasting mental anguish. Both hells feature stifling heat, solitary confinement, and a complete absence of rest. However in the Bible, there are clearly defined wages paid for our sins, with the backdrop of this hell consisting of fire, the devil, destruction, darkness, sorrow,

The dictionary describes the word Hell as: a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death. People often associate the words fire, torture, dark, and evil when thinking of the place hell. Dante’s Inferno is about the dividing of hell into 9 different levels; The ninth and final circle of Hell called Judecca and the sinners there completely encased in the ice. This image totally contradicts the view of Hell as a blazing place where Satan roams around carrying a pitchfork. Through the first cantos, Dante shows how each level of his hell is an expression of human weakness and a loss of hope. Hell

The similarities and differences between Heaven and Hell give meaning to Hell physical and emotional presence. As the audience analyzes the physical descriptions of Hell given in

The preacher writes in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” The preacher believes nothing new will happen during his life. Everything will stay the same during his time on Earth. The world is vanity, a waste of breath. Why waste your time in the world when something new is not possible? He mentions the world being under the sun multiple times throughout Ecclesiastes. Although, the world is not below the sun. The sun is referred to as Sheol in Ecclesiastes, the Hebrew underworld. The preacher doesn’t look at Sheol as being the form of the afterlife that it is. He believes it is a place of nonexistence. That is how he uses the term throughout the

As a young child, you are taught that the underworld is a place for anyone that did wrong when they were living. We were also taught that it was a blazing inferno down there for those people.

Times have changed and different lifestyles are accepted by society. The structure of Hell has been completely restructured by society as we have created a standard we should follow now. The

The basic beliefs about heaven and hell is that our lives extend beyond the grave. Although the body gets cremated or buried the soul lives on and is raised to new life by god. The belief is that like gods resurrection after 3 days of his crucifixion if we believe in his teachings and accept him as your lord and saviour you will also rise from the dead after 3 days and are resurrected just like god. Christian’s beliefs in heaven and hell is that heaven is a place where your soul lives on, and that heaven is a state of being united with god. For hell they believe it is a place of suffering, and of separation from God it is also thought that it could possibly believe that it is a spiritual place where you are separated from god for eternity. Purgatory is also a big believe in the ultimate reality of life after death, purgatory is the place between hell and heaven where you can be cleansed from sin and being prepared for heaven.

In both the old times and modern time of Christianity, one of the main controversial topics has surrounded one single word. Hell. Some people hear it and thing noting of it. Others shutter at the name. But everyone has questions about it, whether hell is real or a fable, eternal or temporary, physical or spiritual. Being in the Baptist community since birth, I have believed in a hell since I can remember because “to believe in God and not in hell is ultimately to disbelieve in the reality of human choices.” (Ross Douthat). My definition of hell comes straight from the Bible. That there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mathew 13:42) and that God will say, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil