In honor of Ash Wednesday I present my college essay on the
afterlife...Enjoy :)
Steven Gracey 9/24/10
Religion 80: Life Death and Immortality
“Dead:
Are you loving it?”
In
Chapters 6—9 of Death and Afterlife the Jewish, Christian and Muslim
perspectives of life after death are presented.
For both Jews and Christians, there seems to be no clear cut idea of a
life after death. Muslims on the other
hand seem to have a clear idea of what is going to happen when they die. Whatever the concept of the afterlife, it
seems that the three religions of the book have something to look forward to
when they die. Does anyone have to agree
with these religions various concepts? The answer is no, for wherever we end up
and when is always dependant on our conduct in life.
I
do not have a typical concept of the afterlife.
I am a byproduct of both Irish and Roman Catholic faiths. Thus the Druidic influences on the Irish
Catholics and the current Roman Catholic dogma affect how I believe in the
afterlife. My personal view is that all of
Gods creatures go to heaven, animals included, and all that is material on
earth (man made) is stuck to rot and decay.
In addition, paradise in heaven is a place where friends and family are
reunited in Gods good graces with the exception of those who end up in hell. In hell the sinners will be punished based
upon what sins they have committed. As
to being judged on if a person goes to heaven or hell, it to me is decided on
the day we die and we are immediately sent to where we belong. According to Leander E. Keck in chapter 6 of Death
and Afterlife Christians in general do not have a cohesive idea of what the
afterlife is or what it will look like.
My concept of the afterlife is evidence of that. However, I must disagree with Keck on whether
or not some members of the Christian faith follow the bible to the letter or
not. According to the History Channel
documentary “Hillbilly: The Real Story” there are groups of Christians who do
follow the bible to the letter and even attempt to perform various acts in the
bible to become closer to God.
Apparently various State and local governments in the United States have
tried to ban or regulate such practices including the handling of venomous
snakes as part of Church worship.
As
to the point about how one concept of death and afterlife affects people’s
thoughts about their mortal lives, I believe without a doubt that is true. I myself, while not the best example of a
Catholic, do try to at least follow the 10 commandments which were not
originally 10, but 613 according to the History Channel documentary “The Ten
Commandments”. Those commandments while
still fitting on two stone tablets also out lined various rituals and other
religious practices. The commandment
thou shalt not kill had three exceptions being self—defense, war and capitol
punishment. Eagleton the author of The
Meaning of Life would no doubt agree as well that a concept of an afterlife
would affect people’s thoughts on everyday life. Eagleton might even postulate that people’s
thoughts on the afterlife would become their meaning of life and would create a
collective religious dogma on what the meaning of life is for its
practitioners. This is neither wrong nor
is it right because how a faith operates guides how people will use a concept
of the afterlife to ascertain if the afterlife has anything to do with the
meaning of life.
In
chapters 6—9 of Death and Afterlife we see each religions concept of
resurrection. Jews before Christians
arrived only believed in resurrection and all of the dead went to a place
called Sheol. Although even before
Christianity, not all Jews believed in resurrection till 200 C.E. when a group
called the Mishnah ruled that any who denies resurrection will be excluded from
the next world. There is nothing like
the fear of isolation and being kept out of paradise to get someone to
believe. Resurrection for Christians is
not clear either, specifically the fact that we don’t know if we will be in the
grave, heaven or hell when we are resurrected.
Personally the Day of Judgment when resurrection occurs should be held off
as long as possible because on that day, to me, many of the people of earth are
not at a point where they can be saved.
That however is just a personal thought.
This mentality of wanting as many people to be saved probably is why in
Christian dogma it emphasizes that what you do in life is what you will be
judged upon in death.
I
have to say Muslims are lucky. Their
afterlife seems to be well defined and thus don’t have to concern themselves
much on that issue. They know that they
will be questioned and stored in a good or bad place till resurrection where
scales will be used to judge them. Not
to mention that for Muslims there is 8 levels of heaven and 7 levels of hell
each with its own unique compartment for each individual. There is even a tenant that sinners will be
redeemed. It’s a nice idea and I do
agree that sinners can be redeemed if they repent for their sins. In similar concept to the Muslim vision of
hell, rather than different subsections of hell, I believe in customized
punishments in a location where they can see the penalties their fellow sinners
face. With that, ones thoughts and
motivations for repenting and the impression one gets from witnessing the
punishment of others will be the qualifier to earn a place in heaven. Think of it as when the two criminals were
crucified alongside Jesus. One told
Jesus that if he had so much power he should save them from death. The other criminal recognized that Jesus did
not belong there on the cross and said to Jesus that you committed no crime and
that Jesus should not be punished. For
that Jesus granted the man salvation, for he had recognized his sins and
thought of others who were being wrongfully punished.
As
to immortality, I agree with what is described in chapter 8 that living in
common with God is true immortality and that immortality on earth is just a
myth. This is a stark contrast to the
immortality in Gilgamesh which had the concept of the kind of
immortality that conquered death. If we
were immortal on earth then there would be no need for a pious life for a
person would not need to earn salvation if they are never to die in the first
place. Also, to me immortality is more
of a punishment as one is forced to watch the living wither away and die, much
the same way Gilgamesh watched Enkidu die leaving him alone in mourning. On the other hand, purgatory seems perfectly
logical. It acts as a proving ground for
minor sinners to redeem themselves. As
to whether it is paradise or not, I do not know. However, I do believe that if anyone enters
purgatory, life there will be set up as a constant test to aid in the cleansing
of ones minor sins.
Then
there is this notion that heaven does not have pain, sorrow and the like. I believe that is wrong. In the infinite of heaven, the only true pain
and sorrow that are gone are the pain and sorrow of loss and the symptoms that
cause it. Beyond that all other pain is
necessary to keep the soul pious and clean.
On
to the theory that the concept of eternal life on the Christian idea that
liberating mankind from the “yokes of the stifling past” (122 Obayashi)
inspires various theologies. Those
theologies being Black theology, liberation theology, feminist theology and
even political theology (122 Obayashi) all set to change the present to further
the groups they advocate for. However,
while some are inspired by such Christian notions they are not all good. Anyone of them that seeks a collectivist
salvation is not inspired by Christianity, but by Marxism as well. For Marx’s teacher, the philosopher Hegel
despised Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.
The reason being that when Jesus died, he died so that people will be
judged by their individual actions, while Hegel believed it should have
remained the way it was before, a collective salvation. True Christianity believes in Jesus’
sacrifice for the individual. The
collectivist notion to salvation is counter to religious thought. Individuals are judged and thus incentivized
to be pious. Groups are a mob who
ignores the rules thinking they can piggy back on someone else’s merits and
piousness. Thus the unworthy will either
overwhelm the pious or the sinners can slip through unpunished for their
sins. This is not to say that wanting to
relieve others from suffering is wrong, but a theology that saves one at the
expense of others saves none.
All
in all, Death and Afterlife is a good reminder of how my faith looks at
the afterlife. It is also a good
introduction to both Jewish and Muslim beliefs in regards to the
afterlife. To me it is acceptable that
others will disagree with my own notions of the afterlife. Disagreement is a
good thing as we should not know what the afterlife will be like till after we
die. If we did know what heaven and hell
would be like, then what would we look forward to. In the end, it is preferable to dream of an
idealistic heaven than have one set down by the dreams and ideas of those who
came before us.
Works
Cited
Eagleton, Terry. The Meaning of
Life Oxford University Press, New York, 2007.
Hegel, G.W.F. Reason in History:
A General Introduction to the Philosophy of History
The
Liberal Arts Press, Inc., The Bobbs—Merrill Company, Inc, United States,
1953.
“Hillbilly: The Real Story” History
Channel Documentary, aired September, 26, 2008.
Mason, Herbert. Gilgamesh: A
Verse Narrative A Mariner book: Houghton Mifflin
Company. Boston,
New York, 2003.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The
Communist Manifesto Penguin Classics, England,
2002.
Obayashi, Hiroshi. Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World
Religions
Praeger
Publishers, New York, 1992.
“The Ten Commandments, Part 1: The
Laws of God and Part 2: The Laws of Man”
History Channel
Documentary, DVD release April, 12, 2006.
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