What’s your faith’s view of the afterlife?

Natalie Sikavi —

The truth is that Judaism is a religion that focuses mainly on life in this world. There is little written about the Olam Habah, literally, “the world to come,” in the Torah, but there are some hints, and it’s expounded upon in the Gemara. There’s also the fact that no one has ever died and come back to life with a description of the next world. This leaves the subject somewhat obscure and debated among rabbinical authorities.

Still, belief in the Olam Habah is integral to Jewish ideology. But the Jewish interpretation of the afterlife is far from the image portrayed in popular culture. There is no heaven abounding with wings and white robes, and no hell with flames, pitchforks and devils.

When a soul passes from this life, we believe it goes to Gan Eden, a place where a soul will experience godliness. The amount of pleasure experienced in the world to come is directly proportional to the merits performed by a person in this world. But before a soul can go to Gan Eden, it must spend time being purified in Gehenom.

Gehenom is a place for the soul to be cleansed from the mistakes made in the physical world. It’s not scary and no one is “eternally damned.” The maximum amount of time one can spend there is one year. This is why when a person dies, the special prayer for the dead, the Kaddish, is recited for 11 months. We don’t want to believe that our loved ones will spend the maximum time in Gehenom.

There are several interpretations of what exactly goes on in Gehenom. One explanation is that there are two stages. The “Gehenom of Fire” is a punishment for all sins that were done with passion. The “Gehenom of Snow” is for all sins that were due to laziness.

It’s widely accepted that everyone has a place in the world to come. The size of one’s share is determined by a merit system based on actions and not by what religion he or she observes. The Jewish belief is that a good person of any background will merit a place in the world to come because G-d judges each person according to his or her own level.

Maimonides, one of the greatest scholars of all time, includes belief in the resurrection of the dead as one of the 13 principles of the Jewish faith. The belief is that when the messiah comes to initiate a perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life.

Among the mystical texts of Judaism, including the Zohar, there is mention of reincarnation. The purpose of reincarnation is seen as a chance for a soul to achieve a goal not achieved in a previous life. Reincarnation has also been viewed as a chance to reward man for fulfilling the desires of his creator or as punishment for a sinner’s previous deeds. For example, a rich man who abused his power may come back as poor.

Judaism embraces a holistic approach to this world, and not the next. Nonetheless, the topic is important and should be discussed, as the way we live our lives today will impact how we spend our life in the next world.

Zakariya Dehlawi —

Death: It can come at any time.

The longboarder, Chase Anderson, didn’t know his life was going to be cut short when he was killed in a bus collision last week. Most people will agree that death (at least in the physical sense) is inescapable and will affect us all. For Muslims, death is a transition point to the rest of our spiritual lives, which is dictated by our actions during our physical lives.

I know death is a pretty gloomy topic, and as a culture we spend a lot of time avoiding it. But we need to discuss it in order to talk about the afterlife, an important part of Islam.

When talking about things as metaphysical as the afterlife, it’s easy to make mistakes. The topic is often discussed among Islamic scholars, and the opinions are varied. I’m not a scholar of Islam, but I will present my understanding. I apologize in advance for my errors, while any benefit is thanks to God.

Central to the Islamic belief about the afterlife is ultimate justice. Everyone will be judged on the Day of Judgment, according to their actions during his or her physical life. People who led virtuous lives in accordance with God’s laws and were beneficial to society will be rewarded, while those who were evil and malignant will be punished.

I admit ‘virtuous’ and ‘evil’ sound like arbitrary qualities, but Muslims believe that God is al-Hakam, the Judge, and al-’Adl, the Utterly Just. God alone adjudicates, and being omnipotent and omniscient, makes God uniquely qualified to dispense justice. In the Quran, in chapter 21, verse 47, God says, “We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (in him but) the weight of a mustard seed (of good or evil), we will bring it (to account): and enough are we to take account.”

The rewards for earning the pleasure of God is heaven, while the punishment is hell. The Quran mentions both of these ‘locales’ (usually in close proximity to each other), referring to heaven as a garden-like paradise. But we believe they really can’t be understood with our limited human faculties, and that their references in the Quran are just labels to give us a conceptual framework.

I find it comforting to believe that everyone will get what he or she deserves, be it good or bad. The important idea here is that life is temporal. Given a finite amount of time, how are we living our lives? Regardless of your beliefs, spiritual or otherwise, death just serves as a reminder.

So let’s not waste our life. We only get one.

Celeste Flint —

Sinners go to hell — but they go to heaven, too.

Someone once told me this arrangement is unfair. I agreed. We all deserve to go to hell.

Most secular intellectuals view hell as an archaic tool used by Christians to persuade people into conversion.

So many don’t talk about hell anymore because it’s a “turn-off” to the faith. In our iPod generation, which picks and chooses its beliefs like best hits, it’s not one belief people like to add to the mix.

Most Christians do believe in hell. Jesus talks about it more than anyone else. However, most don’t talk about it anymore. They call this omission of truth “loving their fellow man.”

While I’m all for loving whomever God puts in my life, lying to them about hell is like a doctor lying to his patients about their cancer.

So what is hell, exactly? Jesus described hell as a dark, fiery place of judgment. There is no contentment or happiness in hell. However, many scholars suggest the worst part of hell is the people.

On Earth, God keeps us from tearing each other apart by helping governments stand and preventing nuclear holocaust. So annihilate all human authority and conscience and you have hell.

It’s not God who makes hell bad, it’s people.

What frustrates me most about those Christians who refuse to talk about hell is that they do it for the sake of sharing Jesus’ love. However, it’s impossible to grasp the depth of Jesus’ love without first understanding how fallen we truly are. Everyone knows it’s in our nature to be selfish.

Imagine creating humans, giving them intellect, a soul and a place to live. Then one day they give you the middle finger, abuse the world you’ve created, enslave and kill one another and use their intellect to create new ways insult you.

Is your instinct to continue to love them and to die for them? Jesus died for us well knowing that although he was paying the price of our rebellion, we would continue to act the same way. This grace is received by faith in Jesus.

Those in hell rejected heaven. People stay in hell for all eternity because they choose to be there.

So what’s heaven? It’s not full of naked babies with harps and wings.

Scripture offers several descriptions of heaven that talk about its beauty. However, what makes heaven so great is God. His love and mercy are seen in full glory.

Heaven is free of politics, social worries and physical concerns. Marriages don’t exist, because they’re not necessary. Without sin to separate people, it’s easy to imagine relationships in heaven are more intimate than what’s possible on Earth.

Scripture continually talks about angels’ worship of God. As Christians, we look forward to joining in.

It’s easy to understand how those who reject Jesus would also reject heaven. As a believer, I can’t imagine a greater joy than sitting before the throne of God and listening to his praises. However, if I loathed someone, it would be torture to spend eternity hearing people worship him.

Just as hell is the natural result of our rebellion and selfishness, so heaven is the natural result of Jesus’ grace. The afterlife isn’t about who gets what they deserve, because we all fit quite well into hell.

Rather, it’s about whom God chooses to bless.