Immortality Views Among Different Cultures and Religions

Since ancient civilizations people have been trying to explain what goes on after death. Throughout history, many cultures have had different theories about what happens. Two distinguished ideas of where people go after death are the underworld and Hell. The idea of the underworld came from the Greeks and Romans. A few famous works by the Greeks and Romans that talk about the underworld are The Iliad, The Aeneid, and, The Odyssey. A famous work that discusses Hell is Dante's Inferno. Hell is an accepted part of the Christianity religion and taught all over the world. The two beliefs are very similar but some distinct differences can be seen.

Neanderthal burials that have been excavated and researched in the past have produced convincing evidence suggesting that they exhibited similar characteristics to humans when it comes to religiosity. Nikki Basset explains in her article about burial rituals that “Gargett recognized that often Neanderthals were believed to have buried their dead and performed rituals that suggest an emotional capacity equal to our own.” (basset) The common theme and emotional capacity that Gargett was speaking of was that of death, and that “…they treated death similarly to other people, as an extension of life, and thus they believed that people post-mortem play similar social roles as in everyday life.”

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “The real question of life after death isn 't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.” The idea that death is inevitable is well known by everyone, yet no one is certain as to what happens afterwards. Even though the subject of life after death has been argued for centuries by many philosophers and theologians. In the article Sign Here If You Exist, Jill Sisson Quinn adequately employs figurative language, rhetoric questionings, and personal anecdotes to demonstrate a controversial argument on the topic of life after death.

First, the religious concept views death as the commencement of a new life (Campione, 2004). Next, the

hell for entirety. In his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Jonathan Edwards

We have to learn to balance the spectrum for the quality and quantity of life. Next, we have to discuss the biblical, theological, and cultural perspectives on end of life issues. Then, we will view potential impact on afterlife outcomes. Also, we will discuss variables involved in potential life trajectories. Finally, we will discuss challenges of integrated personal preferences and public policy in end of life standards and

On the contrary, this view stems from looking at the punishment from the standpoint of human justice systems. This is not a valid way to view hell as a punishment because God determined what acts deserved what punish meant a great number of years before the creation of any human justice systems. Although you must “die” an earthly to be sent to Hell, you are not “dead” while in Hell because you can not be tormented if you are dead. The unsaved will have everlasting consciousness which enables them to suffer the torment.

These ideals are very different from modern-day beliefs about death. Christian views about the afterlife include the two options for our souls after death: heaven- the happy, safe, and comfortable place where the good people go, and hell-the fiery, and dangerous place some go to if they made bad choices on Earth. Others believe in reincarnation, where a person’s soul lives on and takes the form of something else. Many people, no matter their religious stance, want to believe that there is something else after death, because it makes it easier when the time comes. It certainly eases some of the grief and anxiety that people face over death, and is far more comforting than the beliefs that ancient Mesopotamians held about death.

The concept of hell can be viewed as three distinct underworld concepts in the Old and New

The subject of where people go after death has been a debate for a long time. everyone knows people have to die, and they is no debate on that. In Radford’s essay on how death works, he says, “Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them anymore.” (Radford). The real question is what happens after you die. Some people believe in the human having two bodies, a physical body and a spiritual body. They think that once you die, your body is put in the ground and your spirit is sent to either hell or heaven. There are also people who believe that there is only a body, and that once you die, you are done, and nothing else happens. Dante joined the discussion and wrote on hell. In his book Inferno he writes of all the levels of hell. He writes of the different sins and their punishments. In Inferno written by Dante, the worst punishments in hell are being drowned in boiling blood, turned into snakes, and being frozen in ice with you head sticking out.

When a person commits a sin on earth, their punishment awaits in hell unless the sinner repents of their wrongdoing. In Christian theology, hell is the place or state that God's authoritative judgment condemns the person to spend eternity. There are three predominant theories on the nature of hell. The first, the traditional view, held by many, that when a person dies, they face judgment and based upon the outcome of the judgment, they will either be granted eternal life or eternal damnation and punishment. Secondly, the annihilationist theory that believes that the continuation of the soul is a gift given from God only to the redeemed. The unrepentant sinners will be punished in a state of hell, but it will cease at the time of the final resurrection

One thing that ponders almost all who live is what happens after one dies. There are multiple theories about life after death, or the absence of it, many dependent on one’s religious beliefs. However, this is also a question philosophers have faced and come up with theories for. Bertrand Russell, a well-known philosopher from the twentieth century, has a theory on the matter. His theory on life after death, in standard form, is as follows: There is a strong correlation between brain states and mental states. In particular, the correlation between brain damage and impairment in mental capacity. So, probably all the mental states and capacities that we associate with a particular person are ontologically dependent on the continued functioning of that individual 's brain. So, if one 's brain ceases to function, then one 's mind ceases, as well. If you survive death, then your mind must survive. But, brain functioning ceases with death. Therefore, you will not survive death (Zelinski “On”). The argument is valid but some question whether it is sound. Russell 's argument is sound because the third premise, if one’s brain ceases to function, then one’s mind ceases to function, is true; the fifth premise, brain functioning ceases with death, is also true; that all leads to the conclusion, your mind will not survive death, being true.

A study of American undergraduates indicated that the beliefs about the nature of life after death were quite complicated. A 41-item questionnaire produced 12 independent groups of beliefs. Belief in an internal locus of control and that one’s life is owned by God were associated with a more positive view of the afterlife, as was being Roman Catholic rather than Protestant. The most common beliefs were that one is reunited with family and friends, that the afterlife is comforting, that there is Heaven and that the transition is peaceful, all believed by more than 90 percent of the students.

The third description of Hell is considered the place of the lost for eternity after the resurrection. This is the place where bodies are thrown and burned. It is a place of everlasting punishment where the fire is constantly burning to keep the smell of the burning flesh from becoming too strong. It is described as a place where lost spirits live, where “their worm never dies and their fire is never quenched” according to the warnings of Jesus.

Sheol we already spoke about and can be found in Psalms 49 13-14 and using a version other than King James to find the wording. Another word for hell is translated as Hades and is similar to Sheol. It is described as a prison with gates, bars, and locks, and its location is downward. The Greek word Gehenna is translated "the fires of hell," and expresses the place of punishment for those that have sinned. It is usually associated with the final judgment and eternal, unquenchable fire. And of course last but not least is a Greek term Tartarus used to indicate hell or the "lower