Philosophy of Religion: ☁️ Life After Death ☁️ Flashcards
What is the Christian idea of resurrection?
Christianity
- Christians believe Jesus died rose from the dead on Thursday and ascended into heaven 40 days later
- In doing so he granted eternal life to his followers e.g Jesus said to the repentant thief that he would go to heaven clearly indicates there is life after death
- Shows Jesus defeated death
- Resurrection is not the same as resuscitating a dead body

What is the Christian idea of final judgement?
- future judgement of humanity, determine where individuals spend eternity
- Jesus will return to judge humanity- for what they have done or fail to do throughout their lives - “second coming” of Christ, “Parousia”
What is reincarnation?
What is a near death experience?
- phrase coined by American philosopher Raymond Moody in 1975
- People sensed that they have left their bodies and have seen something beyond this life
- used as evidence that the soul lives on after the physical body has died
- near death or clinically dead and resuscitated
What is a remembered past life?
What is general judgement?
Last judgement when God will pass judgement on the whole of humanity and each individual
What is particular judgement?
Judgement given to every soul when a person dies
Purgatory
- Catholic teaching - people have to go to Purgatory to pay for their sins before they can enter heaven
- prayers for the dead can shorten a persons time in Purgatory
What is the Christian idea of Heaven?
- scripture – in heaven there will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared
- Aquinas - perfect happiness the beatific vision – direct union with God
- St Paul - Christians in the afterlife will get a new spiritual body as opposed to a physical one
What is the Christian idea of Hell?
- place of Eternal Fire
- Punishment for abuse of human free will
- Parable of the rich man – rich man – “I am in agony in this fire”
- Final day of judgement – God will decide who will be saved and who will be sent to hell – parable of the sheep and goats, wicked will go away to eternal punishment
- The book of Revelation – hell is lake of fire
Dualism
Belief that humans are made up of two natures - the body and the soul (mind)
What did the French philosopher René Descartes believe about dualism?
He believed that the mind and body did interact even though they were separate e.g. thoughts influenced by what is happening to the body and bodies can be directed by the frame of mind we are in
What will the dualist believe?
They will accept a disembodied existence after death – an existence without a body
What is the Islamic belief in resurrection?
Islam
- life on earth is preparation for life after death
- they believe in the resurrection of the body and the dead being brought back to life
- analogy of a plant dying in the winter and coming back to life in the spring time to illustrate hi Alan will give new life to the dead
What is the Islamic belief in final judgement?
- when a person dies they understand between death and resurrection – Barzakh
- Angels ask them questions
- If they answer correctly they have had a good life, a window opens where they can see different levels of paradise
- If they answered incorrectly a window open on hell
 - Muslims believe through other lives we have two recording angels – one recording on good deeds + one recording or bad deeds
- Allah will open the final record and judge people on how they have lived their lives – a person is judged based on both their beliefs or faith and actions or good deeds
What do Muslims believe will happen at the end of time?
- end of time will be announced by the sound of a trumpet
- the world will disappear
- the dead will be raised to life and will join the living
- Muslims believe through other lives we have two recording angels – one recording on good deeds + one recording or bad deeds
- Allah will open the final record and judge people on how they have lived their lives – a person is judged based on both their beliefs or faith and actions or good deeds
What is the Islamic idea of Heaven?
- Qur’an - describes Heaven/Jannah as a “garden of bliss” or Paradise
- eternal youth
- Lie on jewel encrusted couches, served fine foods, will drink wine taken from fountains
What is the Islamic idea of hell?
- Muslims believe that hell is full of fire boiling water and black smoke
- people will be desperate for a drink and will only have boiling water to drink
Heaven and hell are physical places and eternal
What is the Hinduist belief in reincarnation?
- idea of birth, death and rebirth – key aspect
- dualist view
- soul is eternal since Brahman is Eternal and the source of everything in the universe
- when living things die their soul (atman) is reborn into another living being
- rebirth depends on good or bad karma built up in a previous life
Samsara
An escape from the constant cycle of birth and rebirth in Hinduism so that the soul will return to Brahman
Non-religious view of dualism
The logic – located in the head, tries to guide the soul
The spirit – part of the soul, makes us angry or temperamental and is located in the chest area
The appetitive – Part of the soul makes us desire pleasure and is located in the stomach

What do non-religious dualists believe will happen to the soul after death?
The soul is immortal and lives on, it is eternal and exist forever, it even existed before being joined to the body
What is the dualist belief of “the place of forms” ?
- the perfect version of important ideas
- the soul is trapped in the body until it can be free and return to the eternal world where values like justice, truth, beauty and goodness exist
Humanism - materialism
- Hume argued that there is no scientific or empirical evidence for the existence of a soul or for life after death
- therefore like other life forms clinical death is the end
- humans are merely random collections of atoms
- there is no ultimate or eternal purpose to humanity and no reward or punishment
- no separate soul
- Dawkins death is “ Terminal rather than transitional”
Humanism - monism
- rejects possibility of separate soul claims everyone exists as one
- our mental aspect and consciousness are connected to a physical bodies
- therefore mind and body are one
Arguments against life after death - atheists
- atheists – humanity has invented the notion of life after death to ease the fear of death and the unknown
- Russell - idea of a God was constructed by humans to combat fear
- Dawkins and Atkins reject the idea of the afterlife
Proofs of life after death
- sacred text
- experience of others
- near death experience
- the summum bonum
- ultimate justice
- resurrection of Jesus
Why do people believe in the afterlife?
- provides comfort to people who are suffering death is not the end
- injustices will be punished
- belief in judgement and how motivates goodness and obedience
What are near death experiences - NDEs ?
- phrase coined by American philosopher Raymond Moody in 1975
- People sensed that they have left their bodies and have seen something beyond this life
- used as evidence that the soul lives on after the physical body has died
- near death or clinically dead and resuscitated
What are the characteristics of near death experiences?
- pleasant emotions of calmness and peacefulness or intense feeling of love and acceptance 🌱 ❤️ ☮️
- a sense having died 💀
- a sense of separation from the physical body 🕺➡️ ☁️
- movement towards a bright light ☁️➡️🔦
- the feeling of being drawn down a tunnel 🕳️
- being in a beautiful garden 🪴
- meeting dead friends and relatives 💀
- feeling of being pulled back 🧶💃
Arguments against near death experiences
- could be hallucinations – Robert Todd Carroll – “dying, demented or drugged brain “
- remains of brain activity or a sudden change in blood pressure can create a floating sensation
- Constructed memory from their surroundings
- oxygen reduction to the brain causes hallucinations
- Pleasant feeling of death makes us feel less afraid of dying – more likely to sacrifice ourselves in order to protect the species
- psychologists – our brains were protecting our mind from the reality of our death
- Might provide insight into what happens when the physical body dies
What are remembered past lives?
- Memories from previous lives 💭
- 3000 cases of children from all over the world who have had passed life experiences, able to get intricate details from previous life – checked after speaking to deceased’s family and death certificates 👶=👨🦳
- physical abnormalities matching causes of death from previous life 🦾 = 💪🗡️
Arguments against remembered past lives
- Details from a historical period could’ve been subconsciously absorbed from films and books 📚💭
- birthmarks can be attributed to genetic 🧬factors, virus🦠 infections or chemical🧪 causes leading to abnormal blood vessels🩸 under the skin – not injuries from a past life🩸🧬🦠
Arguments for the resurrection of Jesus
- people met with Jesus after he rose
- There were guards outside the tomb, Jesus’ mother spoke to him
- disciples spent the rest of their lives telling the world that Jesus had risen, if it had not been true, they would’ve been prepared to suffer and die
- authorities would’ve produce the body very quickly when people were going to say Jesus was alive
- someone would’ve shown the grieving family to the correct tomb, women witness Jesus‘s death and knew where he was buried
- appeared to James and then all the apostles, appeared to 500 brothers and sisters
- Roman soldiers trained an execution killed him – spear in his side proved he was dead
Arguments against the resurrection of Jesus
- Someone else was crucified – not Jesus
- the disciples of Jesus stole the body
- the Jewish or Roman authorities stole the body of Jesus
- women who went to anoint the body went to the wrong tomb
- disciples had hallucinations causing them to believe they’ve seen Jesus
- Jesus wasn’t dead – he was only in a coma
- story of Jesus is symbolic
How does belief in the afterlife bring comfort?
- Death is not the end –
– we’ll see again
– injustice will be corrected
How does believe in the afterlife effect way to believers live in this life?
- Will act “Morally to receive eternal blessing eg Moksha Hinduism Islam recording angels
Barzakh
- when a person dies they understand between death and resurrection –
Hume argue - materialism
there is no scientific or empirical evidence for the existence of a soul or for life after death
- therefore like other life forms clinical death is the end
- humans are merely random collections of atoms
- there is no ultimate or eternal purpose to humanity and no reward or punishment
- no separate soul
What is - used as evidence that the soul lives on after the physical body has died
NDEs
swarg
Hindu heavenly realm
narak
Hindu hellish realm
Akhirah
Islam- life after death
