Immortality

Question 1

Define ‘Immortality’

Answer 1

Living forever.

Question 2

Define ‘Dualism’

Answer 2

The idea that a human is made up of two parts, body and soul.

Question 3

Define ‘Materialism’

Answer 3

The belief that a person’s mind is inseparable from it’s body, meaning no survival of the soul after death.

Question 4

Define ‘Body’

Answer 4

The physical part of a person.

Question 5

Define ‘Soul’

Answer 5

The non-physical part of a person.

Question 6

Define ‘Resurrection’

Answer 6

When your soul and body rise from the dead and come back to life.

Question 7

Define ‘Legacy’

Answer 7

Something handed down from an ancestor, a way of being remembered.

Question 8

Define ‘Heaven’

Answer 8

The state of eternal happiness in the presence of God.

Question 9

Define ‘Hell’

Answer 9

The state of eternal separation from God.

Question 10

Define ‘Reincarnation’

Answer 10

The soul is born again in another body.

Question 11

Define ‘Moksha’

Answer 11

Hindu belief that you can break free from the cycle of life-death-reincarnation to become one with Brahma (God).

Question 12

Define ‘Karma’

Answer 12

The law of cause and effect.

Question 13

Define ‘Rebirth’

Answer 13

A transfer of energy from one body to the next.

Question 14

Define ‘Scripture’

Answer 14

Sacred writings of a religion (Bible, Qur’an etc.).

Question 15

Define ‘Ghost’

Answer 15

A soul without a body.

Question 16

Define ‘Channeling’

Answer 16

Communicating with the dead through a medium.

Question 17

Define ‘Near Death Experience’

Answer 17

When someone is on the verge of death, they sometimes claim that they had an experience where their soul left their body and saw what exists beyond this life.

Question 18

Briefly explain the Christian idea of resurrection.

Answer 18

• Resurrection is the act of the body and soul rising from the dead, coming back to life.
• Jesus died on the cross but was resurrected 3 days later, rising from the dead.
• Christians believe that, depending on how we lived our lives, we will be resurrected in either heaven or hell.

Question 19

Briefly explain the Hindu idea of reincarnation.

Answer 19

• Reincarnation is where the body dies yet your soul lives on in a different body.
• The believe that your next body depends on how well you lived your life and so gained good karma.

Question 20

Briefly explain the Buddhist idea of rebirth.

Answer 20

• Buddhists do not believe in a soul, instead that everybody has a cosmic energy.
• When a human dies, their energy will be passed onto another being.

Question 21

Briefly explain how scriptures show evidence for immortality.

Answer 21

• In the Bible, Jesus said “He who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live.”
• Believers shall live on in heaven, in a spiritual body. Non-believers will go to hell.

Question 22

Briefly explain how ghosts show evidence for immortality.

Answer 22

• Manifestations of dead people. Often more than one person sees them so they cannot be hallucinations.
• Same ghost is seen by multiple people in the same place at different times.
• Evidence that the soul lives on after death.

Question 23

Briefly explain how channeling shows evidence for immortality.

Answer 23

• Some people believe that certain people can communicate with the dead.
• These are known as mediums.
• They are able to provide accurate information about a dead person to a relative or friend by apparently communicating with them.
• This shows the dead person is still around in some form to communicate via the medium.

Question 24

Briefly explain how NDEs show evidence for immortality.

Answer 24

• People who have been declared clinically dead are brought back to life.
• They tell stories of visions that they witnessed whilst ‘dead’.
• Generally referring to a long dead family member, going towards a light or a feeling of happiness. Sometimes they even proclaim they saw heaven itself.
• These people were pronounced clinically dead and with no hope of revival, so anything they may have experienced may be legitimate. This may prove the existence of the afterlife.

Question 25

Suggest four arguments against immortality.

Answer 25

1. Science - Science cannot prove we have a soul, just cells and DNA.
2. Cryonics - Preserving humans until they could be resuscitated. Afterlife may be considered to be spent in the future.
3. Space - Humans have explored space in search of any evidence of an afterlife, no evidence to date.
4. Body Decay - People can see for themselves that bodies are not everlasting, the physical form of humans does not survive death.