Around the World

Ancient Greece

While philosopher Socrates accepted death calmly, in general the Greeks feared death. The journey after death was to a land known as Hades, ruled by a god named Hades. The first part of the journey required crossing the river Styx by being buried with a coin for the boatman Charon. Next, Cereberus, the three-headed guard dog, would have to be appeased with honeycake.

The Underworld offered punishment for the bad and pleasure for the good. On the one hand, the Elysian Fields, a sunny and green paradise, was the home to those who had led a good life. Others were condemned to be tortured in Hades. Tantalus, for example, was forced to be perpetually hungry and thirsty while next to a fruit tree and lake that he just barely failed to reach. Sisyphus was forced to a roll a rock up a hill, only to have it return to the bottom where he began the task. Prometheus had his liver eaten everyday by an eagle. Most were not actually tortured, however. Rather, they went on shadows of their previous selves.

The mystic and mathematician, Pythagoras, was one of the earliest known advocates of the doctrine of reincarnation. Pythagoras claimed that he had lived as a prophet named Hermotimus, who was burned to death by his rivals about 200 years earlier. In one of Plato's dialogues, Socrates indicates that teaching is not a matter of something being placed in one person by another, but of eliciting something already present. He was not interested in drawing out the petty things like names and dates that we retrieve under hypnosis, but "traces of knowledge garnered by the soul in its timeless journey."

Ancient Rome

A life spent in service and good deeds, cultivating justice, piety and honor for one's family and country was a highway to the glorious Milky Way, a guarantee of joy to follow. The mortal world was seen as being the center of a revolving universe, the lowest of nine spheres through which the moon and stars turned. The mortal body was only viewed as the outer representation of the spirit, the immortal aspect of man. In that sense, all men were gods, immortal, controlling their own body, feeling, remembering and having awareness of the greater things beyond.

Buddhism

Buddhism sees ignorance rather than sin as the roadblock to salvation. That is, the belief that the world and self truly exist, keeps the illusory wheel of existence rolling - only destruction of that belief will stop the mad course of the world.
Its doctrine is based on the belief that life is basically suffering, or dissatisfaction. It follows that the origin of that suffering lies in craving or grasping. This cessation of suffering is possible through the cessation of craving and the way to cease craving and so attain escape from continual rebirth is by following Buddhist practice, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.

Original Buddhist teaching place emphasis on the individual monk working through self-control and a series of meditative practices that progressively lead him to lose a sense of his grasping self. The ultimate state, Nirvana literally means "blowing out," as with the flame of a candle. That is, nothing can be said about it except that it is a transcendent, permanent state. The experience is also likened to a lotus flower unfolding in the sun.
The afterworld was seen as lying to the West in China, on the other side of Mount T'ai.

Tibetan Buddhism

Buddhism, which originated in India, reached a height of consciousness exploration in Tibet. All states of existence for the Tibetan Buddhists other than pure Nirvana are reflections of the limited illusion of self-consciousness. The Tibetan Book of the Dead (also called the Bardo Thodoöl) is a major document within this tradition; it describes the passage of consciousness from death to rebirth and guides the dying by asking him to accept death. The body will supposedly pass by various false demons on its journey back to life.

Existence is divided into six bardos, three of which are experienced from birth to death and three of which occur from death to rebirth. In the eternal cycle of deaths and rebirths, the different bardos refer to the mental processes of the soul during the periods of life and rebirth. All of these states are in flux. Entrance to this reality is attained by recognizing at any point that the images and apparitions of the bardo state are merely the projections of one's own consciousness.

chikhai bardo: The experience of the primary clear light and the secondary clear light at the moment of death.

chonyd bardo: The state of psychic consciousness. Experiencing lights, sounds and rays. Seeing the peaceful deities and then the wrathful deities.

sidpa bardo: Visions of the world into which one's karma leads one to be born. Visions of males and females in sexual union. Feelings of attachment and repulsion. Choosing and entering the womb.

bsam-gtan bardo: The dream state.

skye-gnas bardo: The everyday waking consciousness of being born into the human world.

In the sidpa bardo, before rebirth, there occurs a judgment of the good and bad deeds of the soul of the dead.

Polynesia

For the Maoris of New Zealand death was represented as a journey. In common with many such beliefs, it included crossing a river. A key hope and expectation was that of reunion with family and friends who had gone before. The deceased would be greeted with wailing and chanted to commemorate their arrival. The path to the other side featured monstrous creatures, dangerous cliffs and fear, but once there, life would be familiar and comfortable. In exceptional circumstances the path between the two worlds could be traveled in either direction, though eating the food of the dead would bind a spirit to stay in the land of the dead. The hut in which a person had died was then abandoned and sealed as a sign of respect.

The Aztecs

Similarities can be seen between the Polynesian beliefs described above and the beliefs of the Aztecs. The perils ahead included mountains, deserts, confrontations with serpent and lizards, and a place where the wind would drive with obsidian knives. Once the person had overcome the perils of the Underworld Way, the soul would arrive before Miclantecutli, where it would stay for four years. The final stage required the help of the man's dog, sacrificed at his death, to travel across the Ninefold Stream, and then hound and master, to enter the eternal house of the dead, Chicomemictlan.

Australian Aborigines

For traditional aborigines, the spirit world was closely interwoven with the physical world, so the transition between one and the other was explained in terms of traditional relationships with the land. Death marked the end of the physical life only, with the spirit then released to rejoin the spirits of ancestors, and of the features of the land itself. The "dreamtime" was the world of creation, of the earliest tribal memories, but also of the continuing abode of all those who could not be immediately seen in the physical world. Some tribes believed that the spirit remained to inhabit the place where the person had died, while others believed that it was carried across the sea to the land of the dead. In some tribes, the spirit was believed to have a chance to be reborn at some future time and live another earthly existence.

Modern Christian Beliefs

Liberal Christians recognize that the writers of the Bible held a variety of beliefs concerning Heaven and Hell. The earliest books of the Bible described an underground cavern where all people, good and bad, spent eternity after death. The later books described Hell as either a place of annihilation or of eternal punishment. Generally speaking, this system of beliefs looks upon Hell as a concept, not as a place of punishment. The idea that a person would suffer eternal punishment for a single oversight, error or sin during life is seen as unjust. They feel that a loving God would be incapable of creating such a place.

Conservative Protestant Beliefs

Heaven is a glorious location where there is an absence of pain, disease, sex, depression, etc. and where people live in new, spiritual bodies, in the presence of Jesus Christ. Hell is a location where its inmates will be punished without any hope of relief, for eternity. The level of punishment will be the same for everyone..
The second major belief is that most humans will be sent to Hell after they die. Only those few who have been "saved" will go to heaven. Salvation requires repentance of sins and trusting Jesus as one's Lord and Savior. People who have been saved and make it to heaven will not all be treated equally. Believers who have done many good deeds will be rewarded more in heaven; believers who have led an evil life will be rewarded less.

Roman Catholic Beliefs

In Hell, punishment will be in the form of isolation from God, and some supernatural form of fire which causes endless pain but does not consume the body. The Church teaches that "the souls of those who have died in the state of grace suffer for a time a purging that prepares them to enter heaven." They spend time in Purgatory until fully cleansed of imperfections, venial (less serious) sins etc. Purgatory will be terminated at the time of the general judgement. Sincere confession of a mortal sin to an authorized priest and making restitution if required, leads to absolution of the sin, and the avoidance of Hell. The level of punishment will be meted out in accordance with the seriousness of the individual's sin. The intensity and duration of the punishment can be reduced by friends and family, if they offer Masses, prayers "and other acts of piety and devotion." For babies who died unbaptized, they entered heaven after staying in limbo for a while.

The concept of reincarnation existed in Christianity until it was attacked in 543 A.D. by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian and finally condemned by the Second Council in Constantinople in 553 A.D. Recent evidence advanced by Catholic scholars throws a new light on the whole matter.

Nevertheless, some catholic scholars disclaim that the Roman Church actually took any official part in the anathemas against the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul. Pope Vigilius, although he was in Constantinople at the time, refused to attend, in protest for the way in which the Emperor Justinian exerted absolute control over the Church patriarchy.

Dante

Poet Dante Alligheri wrote The Divine Comedy to describe his own vision of the afterlife. It incorporated a wide variety of visions, from the river Styx of the Greeks to vision of hell and purgatory offered by the Christian faiths. His syntheis also included a degree of social commentary, since his inferno involved a ranking of the relative harm of various sins.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Members of The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (WTS) believe that Hell does not exist. They interpret Hell symbolically as the "common grave of mankind." Most people simply cease to exist at death; they are annihilated. The Heavenly Kingdom was established in 1914 CE. A "little flock" or "Anointed Class" of about 135,400 people are believed by this group to currently inhabit Heaven. Another 8,600 are still alive and will also spend eternity with God at a later date. The battle of Armageddon will start soon. Jesus, under Jehovah's divine rage, will execute vengeance upon the rest of Christendom and followers of "Babylon the Great" (other religions). After the world is purified, a theocracy "God's Kingdom" will be established on earth for 1000 years. Those who survive Armageddon, the "other sheep," will live in peace in the newly created utopia. They will be joined by the worthy dead who have been resurrected. After 1000 years of God's Kingdom, Satan, his demon forces and all those rebellious ones who turn against God will be finally destroyed. In order to be saved, a person must accept the doctrines formulated by the WTS Governing Body, be baptized as a Jehovah's Witness, and follow the program of works as laid out by the Governing Body.

Mormons

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that not one, but three heavens exist. The highest levels of the Celestial Kingdom are reserved for Mormon couples who have been married in a Mormon temple and thus have had their marriage sealed for eternity. The couples can eventually become a God and Goddess; the husband will then be in control of an entire universe. The Terrestrial Kingdom, is the destination for most individuals. The Terrestrial Kingdom is for "liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers"
Hell exists, but very few people will stay there forever. Most will eventually "pass into the terrestrial kingdom; the balance, cursed as 'sons of perdition', will be consigned to partake of endless wo [sic] with the devil and his [fallen] angels." Sons of perdition have been defined as once devout Mormons who have become apostates and have left the church. Others define them as persons who have knowingly committed one of the most serious sins and have not repented and sought God's forgiveness. Among these almost unforgivable sins are murder and pre-marital sex.

Seventh Day Adventists

The Seventy-Day Adventists believe in the traditional concept of Heaven and Hell. However, they do not believe that Hell is a place of eternal punishment "with sinners screaming in agony without end." They view Hell as a place where the unsaved will be burned up, reduced to ashes, and annihilated. They cite Biblical verses to show that the "'everlasting' in 'everlasting hell' means 'as long as there is something to burn in hell.' Our God is a loving God and to portray sinners as screaming in agony forever and ever does not portray God in such light."

Hinduism

The final goal of salvation in Hinduism is escape from the endless round of birth, death, and rebirth. That can mean an eternal resting place for the individual personality in the arms of a loving, personal God, but it usually means the dissolving of all personality into the unimaginable abyss of Brahman.

Four ways of reaching such salvation, are described. Jnana yoga, the way of knowledge, employs philosophy and the mind to comprehend the unreal nature of the universe. Bhakti yoga, the way of devotion or love, reaches salvation through ecstatic worship of a divine being. Karma yoga, the way of action, strives toward salvation by performing works without regard for personal gain and Raja yoga, "the royal road," makes use of meditative yoga techniques.

Most Hindus consider that they have many incarnations ahead of them before they can find final salvation, although some sects believe that a gracious divinity will carry them along the way more quickly.

Islam

The Islamic holy book, the Koran, says that salvation depends on a man's actions and attitudes. However, repentance can turn an evil man toward the virtue that will save him. The final day of reckoning is described in awesome terms. On that last day every man will account for what he has done, and his eternal existence will be determined on that basis.

The Koran has vivid descriptions of both heaven and hell. Heaven is depicted in terms of worldly delights, and the torments of hell are shown in lurid detail. Muslims disagree as to whether those descriptions are to be taken literally or not.

Each man will be judged according to his situation, and every man who lives according to the truth to the best of his abilities will achieve heaven. However, infidels who are presented with the truth of Islam and reject It will be given no mercy. God judges all men, and the infidels will fall off the bridge al-Aaraf into hell while the good men continue on to heaven.

While reincarnation is not emphasized in contemporary Islamic faith, the Koran (2.28) explicitly asks, "How can you make denial of Allah, who made you live again when you died, will make you dead again, and then alive again, unti you finally return to him?"

Judaism

Moral behavior and attitudes determine one's eternal existence in the hereafter. Although there is no Christian notion of saving grace in Judaism, it is taught that God always offers even the most evil men the possibility of repentance. But the notion of individual salvation and heavenly existence is not prominent in Judaism.
Jews still hope for the coming of the Messiah, who will hand out eternal judgment and reward to all. This hope is largely communal; the entire Jewish race and the whole of creation is in view more than individual men.
The Jewish historian Josephus (died A.D. 101) wrote, "All pure and holy spirits live on in heavenly places, and in course of time they are again sent down to inhabit righteous bodies." Josephus refers to reincarnation as being commonly accepted among the Jews of his time. The Zohar (Vol. II, fol. 99, et seq.), the basic text of Jewish Kabbalistic mysticism is also quite explicit:

"All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them; they know not how they are being at all times judged, both before coming into this world and when they leave it. They do not know how many transmigrations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the divine king.
The souls must reenter the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God.”

The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia also states that reincarnaton became a "universal belief" in the mystical Jewish hassidic tradtion. The beloved Jewish writer Sholem Asch (1880- 1957) provides a vivid description of reincarnation in his novel, The Nazarene:
Not the powerto remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition of our existence. if the lore of the transmigration of souls is a true one, then these, between their exchange of bodies, must pass through the sea of forgetfulness. According to the Jewish view we make the transition under the overlordship of the Angel of Forgetfulness. But it sometimes happens that the Angel of Forgetfulness himself forgets to remove from our memories the records of the former world; and then our senses are haunted by framentary recollections of another life. They drift like torn clouds above the hills and valleys of the mind, and weave themselves into the incidents of our current existence....then the effect is exactly the same as when, listening to a concert broadcast through the air, we suddenly hear a strange voice break in, carried from afar on another ether-wave and charged with another melody.

Existentialism

The Existential system of beliefs is very simple - nothing comes after death. We simply cease to be. This creates what is known as the Existential dilemma. That is, our life becomes absurd and meaningless without an afterlife to strive toward. In fact, many believe that the genesis of contemporary religion can be found in the desire for purpose. Thus, the Existential person must try to find meaning in a life that is essentially meaningless and without end culmination.

Zoroastrianism

In this Persian religion, the Chinvat Bridge is a site of judgement. Thoughts, words and actions during life determine placement in death.

Native American

In some Native American religions, spirits sometimes have to walk balance beams and require the aid of holy people's prayers to make it to the better part of the afterworld. Those who made it were rewarded with happy hunting grounds.


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		. Ancient Greece While philosopher Socrates accepted death calmly, in general the Greeks feared death. The journey after death was to a land known as Hades, ruled by a god named Hades. The first part of the journey required crossing the river Styx by being buried with a coin for the boatman Charon. Next, Cereberus, the three-headed guard dog, would have to be appeased with honeycake. The Underworld offered punishment for the bad and pleasure for the good. On the one hand, the Elysian Fields, a sunny and green paradise, was the home to those who had led a good life. Others were condemned to be tortured in Hades. Tantalus, for example, was forced to be perpetually hungry and thirsty while next to a fruit tree and lake that he just barely failed to reach. Sisyphus was forced to a roll a rock up a hill, only to have it return to the bottom where he began the task. Prometheus had his liver eaten everyday by an eagle. Most were not actually tortured, however. Rather, they went on shadows of their previous selves. The mystic and mathematician, Pythagoras, was one of the earliest known advocates of the doctrine of reincarnation. Pythagoras claimed that he had lived as a prophet named Hermotimus, who was burned to death by his rivals about 200 years earlier. In one of Plato's dialogues, Socrates indicates that teaching is not a matter of something being placed in one person by another, but of eliciting something already present. He was not interested in drawing out the petty things like names and dates that we retrieve under hypnosis, but "traces of knowledge garnered by the soul in its timeless journey." Ancient Rome A life spent in service and good deeds, cultivating justice, piety and honor for one's family and country was a highway to the glorious Milky Way, a guarantee of joy to follow. The mortal world was seen as being the center of a revolving universe, the lowest of nine spheres through which the moon and stars turned. The mortal body was only viewed as the outer representation of the spirit, the immortal aspect of man. In that sense, all men were gods, immortal, controlling their own body, feeling, remembering and having awareness of the greater things beyond. Buddhism Buddhism sees ignorance rather than sin as the roadblock to salvation. That is, the belief that the world and self truly exist, keeps the illusory wheel of existence rolling - only destruction of that belief will stop the mad course of the world. Its doctrine is based on the belief that life is basically suffering, or dissatisfaction. It follows that the origin of that suffering lies in craving or grasping. This cessation of suffering is possible through the cessation of craving and the way to cease craving and so attain escape from continual rebirth is by following Buddhist practice, known as the Noble Eightfold Path. Original Buddhist teaching place emphasis on the individual monk working through self-control and a series of meditative practices that progressively lead him to lose a sense of his grasping self. The ultimate state, Nirvana literally means "blowing out," as with the flame of a candle. That is, nothing can be said about it except that it is a transcendent, permanent state. The experience is also likened to a lotus flower unfolding in the sun. The afterworld was seen as lying to the West in China, on the other side of Mount T'ai. Tibetan Buddhism Buddhism, which originated in India, reached a height of consciousness exploration in Tibet. All states of existence for the Tibetan Buddhists other than pure Nirvana are reflections of the limited illusion of self-consciousness. The Tibetan Book of the Dead (also called the Bardo Thodoöl) is a major document within this tradition; it describes the passage of consciousness from death to rebirth and guides the dying by asking him to accept death. The body will supposedly pass by various false demons on its journey back to life. Existence is divided into six bardos, three of which are experienced from birth to death and three of which occur from death to rebirth. In the eternal cycle of deaths and rebirths, the different bardos refer to the mental processes of the soul during the periods of life and rebirth. All of these states are in flux. Entrance to this reality is attained by recognizing at any point that the images and apparitions of the bardo state are merely the projections of one's own consciousness. chikhai bardo: The experience of the primary clear light and the secondary clear light at the moment of death. chonyd bardo: The state of psychic consciousness. Experiencing lights, sounds and rays. Seeing the peaceful deities and then the wrathful deities. sidpa bardo: Visions of the world into which one's karma leads one to be born. Visions of males and females in sexual union. Feelings of attachment and repulsion. Choosing and entering the womb. bsam-gtan bardo: The dream state. skye-gnas bardo: The everyday waking consciousness of being born into the human world. In the sidpa bardo, before rebirth, there occurs a judgment of the good and bad deeds of the soul of the dead. Polynesia For the Maoris of New Zealand death was represented as a journey. In common with many such beliefs, it included crossing a river. A key hope and expectation was that of reunion with family and friends who had gone before. The deceased would be greeted with wailing and chanted to commemorate their arrival. The path to the other side featured monstrous creatures, dangerous cliffs and fear, but once there, life would be familiar and comfortable. In exceptional circumstances the path between the two worlds could be traveled in either direction, though eating the food of the dead would bind a spirit to stay in the land of the dead. The hut in which a person had died was then abandoned and sealed as a sign of respect. The Aztecs Similarities can be seen between the Polynesian beliefs described above and the beliefs of the Aztecs. The perils ahead included mountains, deserts, confrontations with serpent and lizards, and a place where the wind would drive with obsidian knives. Once the person had overcome the perils of the Underworld Way, the soul would arrive before Miclantecutli, where it would stay for four years. The final stage required the help of the man's dog, sacrificed at his death, to travel across the Ninefold Stream, and then hound and master, to enter the eternal house of the dead, Chicomemictlan. Australian Aborigines For traditional aborigines, the spirit world was closely interwoven with the physical world, so the transition between one and the other was explained in terms of traditional relationships with the land. Death marked the end of the physical life only, with the spirit then released to rejoin the spirits of ancestors, and of the features of the land itself. The "dreamtime" was the world of creation, of the earliest tribal memories, but also of the continuing abode of all those who could not be immediately seen in the physical world. Some tribes believed that the spirit remained to inhabit the place where the person had died, while others believed that it was carried across the sea to the land of the dead. In some tribes, the spirit was believed to have a chance to be reborn at some future time and live another earthly existence. Modern Christian Beliefs Liberal Christians recognize that the writers of the Bible held a variety of beliefs concerning Heaven and Hell. The earliest books of the Bible described an underground cavern where all people, good and bad, spent eternity after death. The later books described Hell as either a place of annihilation or of eternal punishment. Generally speaking, this system of beliefs looks upon Hell as a concept, not as a place of punishment. The idea that a person would suffer eternal punishment for a single oversight, error or sin during life is seen as unjust. They feel that a loving God would be incapable of creating such a place. Conservative Protestant Beliefs Heaven is a glorious location where there is an absence of pain, disease, sex, depression, etc. and where people live in new, spiritual bodies, in the presence of Jesus Christ. Hell is a location where its inmates will be punished without any hope of relief, for eternity. The level of punishment will be the same for everyone.. The second major belief is that most humans will be sent to Hell after they die. Only those few who have been "saved" will go to heaven. Salvation requires repentance of sins and trusting Jesus as one's Lord and Savior. People who have been saved and make it to heaven will not all be treated equally. Believers who have done many good deeds will be rewarded more in heaven; believers who have led an evil life will be rewarded less. Roman Catholic Beliefs In Hell, punishment will be in the form of isolation from God, and some supernatural form of fire which causes endless pain but does not consume the body. The Church teaches that "the souls of those who have died in the state of grace suffer for a time a purging that prepares them to enter heaven." They spend time in Purgatory until fully cleansed of imperfections, venial (less serious) sins etc. Purgatory will be terminated at the time of the general judgement. Sincere confession of a mortal sin to an authorized priest and making restitution if required, leads to absolution of the sin, and the avoidance of Hell. The level of punishment will be meted out in accordance with the seriousness of the individual's sin. The intensity and duration of the punishment can be reduced by friends and family, if they offer Masses, prayers "and other acts of piety and devotion." For babies who died unbaptized, they entered heaven after staying in limbo for a while. The concept of reincarnation existed in Christianity until it was attacked in 543 A.D. by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian and finally condemned by the Second Council in Constantinople in 553 A.D. Recent evidence advanced by Catholic scholars throws a new light on the whole matter. Nevertheless, some catholic scholars disclaim that the Roman Church actually took any official part in the anathemas against the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul. Pope Vigilius, although he was in Constantinople at the time, refused to attend, in protest for the way in which the Emperor Justinian exerted absolute control over the Church patriarchy. Dante Poet Dante Alligheri wrote The Divine Comedy to describe his own vision of the afterlife. It incorporated a wide variety of visions, from the river Styx of the Greeks to vision of hell and purgatory offered by the Christian faiths. His syntheis also included a degree of social commentary, since his inferno involved a ranking of the relative harm of various sins. Jehovah's Witnesses Members of The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (WTS) believe that Hell does not exist. They interpret Hell symbolically as the "common grave of mankind." Most people simply cease to exist at death; they are annihilated. The Heavenly Kingdom was established in 1914 CE. A "little flock" or "Anointed Class" of about 135,400 people are believed by this group to currently inhabit Heaven. Another 8,600 are still alive and will also spend eternity with God at a later date. The battle of Armageddon will start soon. Jesus, under Jehovah's divine rage, will execute vengeance upon the rest of Christendom and followers of "Babylon the Great" (other religions). After the world is purified, a theocracy "God's Kingdom" will be established on earth for 1000 years. Those who survive Armageddon, the "other sheep," will live in peace in the newly created utopia. They will be joined by the worthy dead who have been resurrected. After 1000 years of God's Kingdom, Satan, his demon forces and all those rebellious ones who turn against God will be finally destroyed. In order to be saved, a person must accept the doctrines formulated by the WTS Governing Body, be baptized as a Jehovah's Witness, and follow the program of works as laid out by the Governing Body. Mormons Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that not one, but three heavens exist. The highest levels of the Celestial Kingdom are reserved for Mormon couples who have been married in a Mormon temple and thus have had their marriage sealed for eternity. The couples can eventually become a God and Goddess; the husband will then be in control of an entire universe. The Terrestrial Kingdom, is the destination for most individuals. The Terrestrial Kingdom is for "liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers" Hell exists, but very few people will stay there forever. Most will eventually "pass into the terrestrial kingdom; the balance, cursed as 'sons of perdition', will be consigned to partake of endless wo [sic] with the devil and his [fallen] angels." Sons of perdition have been defined as once devout Mormons who have become apostates and have left the church. Others define them as persons who have knowingly committed one of the most serious sins and have not repented and sought God's forgiveness. Among these almost unforgivable sins are murder and pre-marital sex. Seventh Day Adventists The Seventy-Day Adventists believe in the traditional concept of Heaven and Hell. However, they do not believe that Hell is a place of eternal punishment "with sinners screaming in agony without end." They view Hell as a place where the unsaved will be burned up, reduced to ashes, and annihilated. They cite Biblical verses to show that the "'everlasting' in 'everlasting hell' means 'as long as there is something to burn in hell.' Our God is a loving God and to portray sinners as screaming in agony forever and ever does not portray God in such light." Hinduism The final goal of salvation in Hinduism is escape from the endless round of birth, death, and rebirth. That can mean an eternal resting place for the individual personality in the arms of a loving, personal God, but it usually means the dissolving of all personality into the unimaginable abyss of Brahman. Four ways of reaching such salvation, are described. Jnana yoga, the way of knowledge, employs philosophy and the mind to comprehend the unreal nature of the universe. Bhakti yoga, the way of devotion or love, reaches salvation through ecstatic worship of a divine being. Karma yoga, the way of action, strives toward salvation by performing works without regard for personal gain and Raja yoga, "the royal road," makes use of meditative yoga techniques. Most Hindus consider that they have many incarnations ahead of them before they can find final salvation, although some sects believe that a gracious divinity will carry them along the way more quickly. Islam The Islamic holy book, the Koran, says that salvation depends on a man's actions and attitudes. However, repentance can turn an evil man toward the virtue that will save him. The final day of reckoning is described in awesome terms. On that last day every man will account for what he has done, and his eternal existence will be determined on that basis. The Koran has vivid descriptions of both heaven and hell. Heaven is depicted in terms of worldly delights, and the torments of hell are shown in lurid detail. Muslims disagree as to whether those descriptions are to be taken literally or not. Each man will be judged according to his situation, and every man who lives according to the truth to the best of his abilities will achieve heaven. However, infidels who are presented with the truth of Islam and reject It will be given no mercy. God judges all men, and the infidels will fall off the bridge al-Aaraf into hell while the good men continue on to heaven. While reincarnation is not emphasized in contemporary Islamic faith, the Koran (2.28) explicitly asks, "How can you make denial of Allah, who made you live again when you died, will make you dead again, and then alive again, unti you finally return to him?" Judaism Moral behavior and attitudes determine one's eternal existence in the hereafter. Although there is no Christian notion of saving grace in Judaism, it is taught that God always offers even the most evil men the possibility of repentance. But the notion of individual salvation and heavenly existence is not prominent in Judaism. Jews still hope for the coming of the Messiah, who will hand out eternal judgment and reward to all. This hope is largely communal; the entire Jewish race and the whole of creation is in view more than individual men. The Jewish historian Josephus (died A.D. 101) wrote, "All pure and holy spirits live on in heavenly places, and in course of time they are again sent down to inhabit righteous bodies." Josephus refers to reincarnation as being commonly accepted among the Jews of his time. The Zohar (Vol. II, fol. 99, et seq.), the basic text of Jewish Kabbalistic mysticism is also quite explicit: "All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them; they know not how they are being at all times judged, both before coming into this world and when they leave it. They do not know how many transmigrations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the divine king. The souls must reenter the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God.” The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia also states that reincarnaton became a "universal belief" in the mystical Jewish hassidic tradtion. The beloved Jewish writer Sholem Asch (1880- 1957) provides a vivid description of reincarnation in his novel, The Nazarene: Not the powerto remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition of our existence. if the lore of the transmigration of souls is a true one, then these, between their exchange of bodies, must pass through the sea of forgetfulness. According to the Jewish view we make the transition under the overlordship of the Angel of Forgetfulness. But it sometimes happens that the Angel of Forgetfulness himself forgets to remove from our memories the records of the former world; and then our senses are haunted by framentary recollections of another life. They drift like torn clouds above the hills and valleys of the mind, and weave themselves into the incidents of our current existence....then the effect is exactly the same as when, listening to a concert broadcast through the air, we suddenly hear a strange voice break in, carried from afar on another ether-wave and charged with another melody. Existentialism The Existential system of beliefs is very simple - nothing comes after death. We simply cease to be. This creates what is known as the Existential dilemma. That is, our life becomes absurd and meaningless without an afterlife to strive toward. In fact, many believe that the genesis of contemporary religion can be found in the desire for purpose. Thus, the Existential person must try to find meaning in a life that is essentially meaningless and without end culmination. Zoroastrianism In this Persian religion, the Chinvat Bridge is a site of judgement. Thoughts, words and actions during life determine placement in death. Native American In some Native American religions, spirits sometimes have to walk balance beams and require the aid of holy people's prayers to make it to the better part of the afterworld. Those who made it were rewarded with happy hunting grounds.







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