Death and the Afterlife Flashcards
What happens in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)?
Jesus uses the analogy of sheep and goats to talk about final judgement.
“All nations will be gathered” and people will be separated like sheep from goats. People who have helped the needy (sheep) will be invited to Heaven and those who haven’t helped (goats) will be cast to Hell. Jesus is found in the outcast and needy.
There is no purgatory, both Heaven and Hell seem physical and permanent.
What does Thomas Aquinas believe Heaven is?
A beatific vision: a state of eternal happiness when we are face-to-face with God. Because we have intelligence and eternal souls, we can use reason to reach the reward of the beatific vision.
What is Heaven like in traditional views?
- A place of no hunger or pain.
- A place of no sadness.
- People like Abraham are there, as well as the angels.
- Those who have worked for righteousness are there.
Are we with our family in Heaven?
Protestant churches see Heaven as everlasting and we will spend the rest of time in the presence of God alongside family and friends, joined together in worship.
Catholics would say we are with our family and friends, but our relationships with them changed.
Why would Heaven be a non-physical place?
- Heaven could be a spiritual place as our bodies are not needed since the soul captures our essence.
- Heaven is not a ‘place’ but a ‘state’.
- Heaven is the moment our souls leave our bodies upon death.
- Heaven could be a symbol of a person’s moral or spiritual life on Earth.
What does N.T. Wright say about the nature of Heaven?
The world could be expected to transform into God’s kingdom. Heaven is not another place but rather a future state of the universe. The book of Revelation explores this, suggesting that Christ will come again (the Parousia) and turn the world into God’s kingdom.
What is the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus?
Lazarus was a poor man who was a beggar whilst the Rich Man never helped him. They both died on the same day and Lazarus went to Heaven but the Rich Man went to Hell. The Rich Man begs Abraham to send Lazarus down to cool his tongue, but Abraham says no because the Rich Man didn’t help Lazarus in life.
The Rich Man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his family and warn them. Abraham refuses because they have the prophets and Moses, and if they don’t believe them, they won’t care if someone rises from the dead.
How could one argue that Hell is an actual place?
In Revelation, the image of Hell is one of a “burning lake of fiery sulphur.” It is a place of pain and torment. Many argue that Hell must exist because there would be no point of judging us and setting moral laws otherwise.
The Catholic Church argues that Hell’s main punishment is separation from God. The purpose of Hell is to guide people to using their free will properly and God doesn’t want to send us there anyway.
How could one argue that Hell is a spiritual state?
Because Hell could be deemed as separation from God, many see it as a spiritual place. There would be no need to get punished by fire because absence from God is punishment enough. Biblical and medieval images are products of their time; we know hell is not in the centre of the Earth.
Paul Tillich understands Hell as a metaphor of psychological alienation.
How could one discuss Hell in symbolic terms?
Hell could be a symbolic manifestation of negative elements of someone’s life.
Some say that because a loving God wouldn’t subject us to eternal torment, Hell is symbolic of the soul being annihilated with no further life.
Why is the Nature of God problematic when considering heaven and hell?
- If God was all-powerful and all-knowing, couldn’t he stop us from doing evil enough to save us from Hell?
- Why would an all-loving God condemn someone to eternal suffering?
- If God is firm but fair, why would he advocate for eternal punishments where we can’t learn?
Why is continuity and identity problematic when considering heaven and hell?
The person who sinned or did good should be punished/rewarded respectively, so we need our bodies after death. But what age would we be in the afterlife, would we be disfigured or healed?
Why is it an issue to rely on the Bible when considering heaven and hell?
- Much evidence for an afterlife comes from the Bible, which is not clear or consistent.
- Not all Christians believe the Bible should be taken literally so symbolic understanding of the Bible will lead to symbolic understanding of the afterlife.
- The Bible does suggest something exists after death, so many would reject claims of nothingness.
Why is the existence of heaven and hell hard to believe?
- If they are physical places, where are they?
- It seems strange that there is only one punishment and one reward for a whole variety of life experiences.
- Any form of Heaven with a passage of time would be boring (although the idea of a beatific vision gets past this since our relationship with time will change.)
What is purgatory?
A state of cleansing that takes place if someone is judged ‘good’ at death but not perfect enough to enter Heaven. It is a Catholic view that acknowledges most people are not bad enough for Hell, but not worthy to meet God face-to-face.
