Topic 1 & 2 Death & Human Destiny

Question 1

What do Christians believe about death and human destiny?

Answer 1

1. Fundamentalists:
   - at eschaton ppl judged by God (good Christian -> heaven, in new resurrection body, bad + non Christian -> hell)
   • John 14 -> jesus ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me.’
2. Conservatives:
   - judged according to deeds (souls of good -> heaven w god)
   • omnibenevolence -> wouldn’t send ppl to Hell + Matt 25 sheep + goats
3. Liberals:
   - souls of all ppl -> with God (inclusivist)
   - good = nearer to god
   • Matt 25 + John 14 ‘in my Father’s house there are many rooms’

Question 2

What are the problems with Christian views on death?

Answer 2

1. Fundamentalist: contradicts god’s omnibenevolence (too exclusivist, what about other ppl with faith just not in Jesus?)
2. Liberal + conservatives: disembodied soul - can’t identify loved ones (no bodily resurrection)
3. Bible - predictions on future unreliable?

4. Fundamentalists: 
Literal hell (omnibenevolent god wouldn’t deliberately put ppl to burn for eternity - punish finite sins in an infinite way?)

Question 3

What are non religious views on life after death?

Answer 3

1. Physicalist : when we die we die (no afterlife)
2. Continue in memory of loved ones, their actions + children
3. Ghosts, souls of ppl who seek something on earth
4. Mediums contacting dead eg through ouiji boards + tarot cards
5. Reincarnation stories evidence- reincarnation without believing in god
6. Out of body and NDEs -> separate soul + continues after death

Question 4

What are the problems with the non religious views?

Answer 4

1. Mediums/ghosts = hoaxes (not sufficient evidence for afterlife, not reproducible)
2. Living in memory not form of afterlife

Question 5

Why do Christians believe in an afterlife?

Answer 5

1. Jesus’ resurrection - fundamentalists/conservatives (afterlife for others)
2. Jesus brought ppl back from dead, warned abt judgement day + promised eternal life for faith (bible inerrant, life after death = true)
3. Creeds, basis of christian faith for centuries, must be true
4. Soul goes back to god (spiritual + immortal part of human, ‘divine spark’ that should return to god)

Question 6

Problems with why christians believe in an afterlife

Answer 6

1. Rising from dead (exaggerated, against science)
2. Just cos mentioned in creeds, does not mean it’s true (primitive optimism of ppl who can’t cope w mortality)
3. No empirical for soul - physicalists reject afterlife

Question 7

Why do non Christians believe in life after death?

Answer 7

1. NDEs - common features: tunnel, light, paradise garden, meeting divine figure (gives credence to these stories)
2. Mediums - accurate messages, true + thus communicating w a soul
3. Ghosts - feel presence
4. Reincarnation = James Leiniger (remembered being WWII pilot, had dreams about crashing, recognised technical features of an aeroplane, named details etc)

Question 8

What are the problems with non religious views on why they believe in life after death?

Answer 8

1. NDEs = brain’s method of dealing w trauma eg euphoria = side effect of medicine, tunnel light = overstimulated visual cortex
2. Money motivations for reincarnation hoaxes
3. Mediums, hoax / ppl too willing to believe when grieving, same as ghosts

Question 9

Why do some people not believe in an afterlife?

Answer 9

1. No god, nothing non physical (no heaven/place for ppl to go after death)
2. Diff ideas abt afterlife in diff religions (if true, would say same thing, difference between reincarnation in Buddhism + heaven/hell in Christianity)
3. Mind/soul cannot exist w out brain (contradicts view that soul can live on w out body)
4. Space exploration (no heaven above sky), physics = nothing non material on earth, where is the afterlife then?