A religious debate about heaven and hell
I think there IS an afterlife
This lens records various religious beliefs - and gives you the option of really deciding which is best. From Ancient Egypt and Plato, to Christianity and Buddhism... most religions I know of have an afterlife of sorts - but modern science reduces us all to our most physical parts and denies an afterlife as a matter of course.
This lens will tell you about the afterlife in various spiritual and religious traditions, as well as give you the opportunity to vote for the afterlife (or lack thereof) you personally believe in.
Lots here about the afterlife - or is there one?
My points in this religious debate
- There IS an afterlife - links from various religious traditions
- There isn't an afterlife - links
- Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
- Egyptian Myths about the afterlife
- Books on the afterlife and Near Death Experience
- Protestant Christianity
- Heaven in Islam
- Show what believe about the afterlife
- Plato's views on death and the afterlife
- Heaven and Hell in Buddhism
- Heaven and Hell according to Theosophy
- Bid on afterlife stuff
- There is NO afterlife - according to most atheists and agnostics
- So which after life state appeals most to you?
- Is there an afterlife? What is your belief or opinion?
- More about the afterlife
- What did you think about this religious debate?
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There IS an afterlife - links from various religious traditions
I don't think there is proof about the afterlife, but these sites make it's existence likely
Add links on life after death in various spiritual traditions. Vote for the one that you believe in or that appeals to you most.
karma and buddhism - Buddha's World
Articles on Karma and reincarnation or rebirth wit more...2 points
Karma and Reincarnation in theosophy, buddhism and with J. Krishnamurti
A selection of articles on reincarnation and karma more...1 point
What's left after we die?
Jiddu Krishnamurti in conversation after the death more...1 point
Jiddu Krishnamurti: Death and Life
On death as the end - letting go.1 point
Purgatory explained
A place or condition of temporal punishment for th more...1 point
Six Realms of Existence in Buddhism
Six States of Existence (Samsara) and Tibetan Whee more...1 point
Many Mansions
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it we more...1 point
Devachan - theosophical heaven, H. P. Blavatsky
Life after death? Devachan (roughly heaven) explai more...0 points
Heaven in Roman Catholicism
In the Holy Bible the term heaven denotes, in the more...0 points
Purgatory: History and current beliefs
With biblical quotes to support various beliefs.0 points
Suicide is not death
On what happens to the suicidal soul after 'death' more...0 points
Views of the Afterlife: The Realm of Hades
Three major ancient authors taken together provide more...0 points
What Happens When We Die? - Yahoo! News
Dr. Sam Parnia talks to TIME about his three-year more...0 points
90 Minutes In Heaven
Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes In Heaven, died in more...0 points
There isn't an afterlife - links
Proving there ISN'T an afterlife
So why isn't there an afterlife? Please help me find links on that (they are hard to find, so I do need help).
Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
Roman Catholic Church on the afterlife
Egyptian Myths about the afterlife
Before a soul could go to the afterlife, their heart had to be weighed. Had you been a good girl? Your heart would be weighed against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice. If the heart was heavy with sins and bad deeds, your heart would be eaten and that would be the end of you. If however the heart was lighter than the feather of truth, you were lead to Osiris, the king of the afterlife.
Books on the afterlife and Near Death Experience
90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
Amazon Price: $8.47 (as of 01/07/2010) 
Hello from Heaven: A New Field of Research-After-Death Communication Confirms That Life and Love Are Eternal
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 01/07/2010)
Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 01/07/2010)
THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD (The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between)
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 01/07/2010)
The Tibetan Book Of Living & Dying
Amazon Price: (as of 01/07/2010)
Protestant Christianity
The belief in protestant Christianity is simpler than the one in Roman Catholicism: There is no place for souls to get purified - souls get saved or not, based on the grace of God. Souls that will get saved are ones that are more devoted to God in this lifetime.[I know that there are various ways in which this may pan out in Protestant theology - please express your precise version in the comments]
Source of the picture
Heaven in Islam
Muslims believe in a version of Heaven and Hell are pretty close to the Christian versions.Hell is the abode which Allaah (swt) has prepared for those who do not believe in Him (swt), those who rebel against His (swt) laws and disbelieve in His Messengers. It is the punishment for His (swt) enemies, the prison for evildoers.
Source of the picture
Show what believe about the afterlife
"Ghost Hunter" Women's Tank Top
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Reincarnation Women's Pink T-Shirt
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Reincarnated hot dog
Price: 20.99
Plato's views on death and the afterlife
First of all: Plato makes a differentiation between what kind of soul you have. There are sinners and virtuous people. The virtuous people are the philosophers. Don't think he meant cerebral people. Philosophy didn't just imply thinking, but also trying to live right. We might translate his 'philosophers' as those who practice mindfulness...
In both cases each soul got a thousand years of afterlife. After that, they had to drink from the river of forgetfulness, before going into a new life.
This afterlife could have two forms. The virtuous people, the philosophers, got a thousand years of bliss and rest. The sinners, those who hadn't lived mindful, got a thousand years of torment. The torment depending on how sinful the person was. Very sinful people never got to leave the afterlife.
Heaven and Hell in Buddhism
This is where it gets interesting. Classical Buddhist texts talk about six realms of existence, of which the human realm (the one we are all in) is one.These are the six - starting with the most hell-like end ending with the heavenly realm:
1 Hell
People in Hells; the lowest and worst realm, wracked by torture and characterized by aggression.
2 Hungry Ghosts
Characterized by great craving and eternal starvation.
3 Animals
The realm of animals and livestock, characterized by stupidity and servitude.
4 Asura
The realm of anger, jealousy, and constant war; the Asura (Ashura) are demigods, semi-blessed beings; they are powerful, fierce and quarrelsome; like humans, they are partly good and partly evil.
5 Humans
The human realm; beings who are both good and evil; enlightenment is within their grasp, yet most are blinded and consumed by their desires.
6 Deva
The realm of heavenly beings filled with pleasure; the deva hold godlike powers; some reign over celestial kingdoms; most live in delightful happiness and splendor; they live for countless ages, but even the Deva belong to the world of suffering (samsara) -- for their powers blind them to the world of suffering and fill them with pride -- and thus even the Deva grow old and die; some say that because their pleasure is greatest, so too is their misery.
Nirvana
Nirvana is the release of all these realms - only in Nirvana is one out of the cycle of existence. Heaven and hells are merely distractions from the true goal.
Six states and More on the six worlds
Heaven and Hell according to Theosophy
If your highest dreams and wishes are about heavenly virgins - that's what you will get in devachan if your life has been reasonably well lived. Only the very wicked don't get devachan - they get a hell-like experience, because they did not have high dreams and wishes.
Bid on afterlife stuff
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There is NO afterlife - according to most atheists and agnostics
So which after life state appeals most to you?
Is there an afterlife? What is your belief or opinion?
What is your view in this religious debate?
Is there an afterlife?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes, there is some sort of life after death (tell me which kind you believe in)
jrnjames says:
When our body dies, our Awareness [conscious mind/spirit] transfers to the spirit world [another dimension] with our memory intact.
Posted October 20, 2009
JoDeeVale says:
I say that there is an afterlife. As they say in quantum physics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, therefore, we have to go somewhere.
Posted May 07, 2009
Dean says:
It's a series of journey.
First those who leave this mortal world before the whole universe was destroyed will be in transit in a 'temporary place' a.k.a the grave with taste of torture or reward that they will later get. Then after this whole world is destroyed, we will be gathered in a place for individual reckoning which later be decided to the place or reward or place or torture according to the life we live in this mortal world for eternity.
Posted March 20, 2009
GODCHASER says:
I belive that there is heaven and hell when we die, but we make the choice of which one we want to go to by accepting Jesus as the savior or not....going to heaven, or forever burning in hell!!
Posted January 27, 2009
AgentTerrific says:
I believe that after we die, our material body and brain will cease to exist but the immaterial mind(consciousness) will continue to exist indefinitely and be transferred to a new body host of a newborn child.
I do not believe that the description of heaven and hell should be taken literally and that they are metaphors to describe pleasant and the un-pleasant. God with his infinite mercy would not sentenced a wrongdoer to an infinite suffering. I have written a lens on that focused on that topic after much research and finger-cramps lol.
Please visit my lens and make it featured, Thanks and regards : )
http://www.squidoo.com/are-heaven-and-hell-just-metaphors
Posted December 28, 2008
TerraScene says:
There is only life. Life doesn't end. There is life before "we" take human bodies; there is life as we animate human bodies; there is life after we leave human bodies. Life goes on. Birth and death are similar transitions of life's experiences. It is our thoughts and beliefs that create what we experience in what ever phase of life we are in, with or without a physical body. You believe in hell - you will experience it. You choose enlightenment, & release thoughts of anything else - enjoy, in joy! Don't like what you are experiencing? Choose anew. Choose what supports life/love, benefiting All. It will change your world.
Posted October 06, 2008
Sifu says:
I believe in the classical Christian versions of Heaven and Hell, but with strong emphasis on our part in sentencing ourselves to these fates. We have the distinct choice to either shackle ourselves to our sins or to release them, accept love, and in turn commune with God.
Posted September 13, 2008
FlashAllen says:
Yes there is an afterlife if there wasn't what would happen eventually every one will die and if there wasn't an afterlife the universe would be empty and eventually every thing will become a big black nothing and if there was nothing time would end and what would happen after there was no time nothing and how could the universe exist if there was nothing.
Posted May 19, 2008
No, we die - our bodies decay, nothing is left but mud.
Kylyssa says:
No, I don't think that there is life after death.
Life is this amazing and delicate combination and balance of matter and energy - once the balance is fatally disrupted and that particular matter and energy lose that relationship between composition and energy the life of that being ends.
Everything around us kindles into life, burns brightly and briefly, then dies down to ash. The components of that ash are all still there but they are no longer assembled the same way, nor do they relate the same way as when the being was alive. In time, other beings will use bits of that matter and energy as parts of themselves, but each bit is not the same as the whole. Each life is a unique event, precious and amazing.
Posted April 30, 2009
flowski says:
No, and I've seen belief in an afterlife result in poor decisions, compromises and complacency in real life. It steals your personal power. What I do believe, is that everything you do is a vital part of the fabric of eternity for all of infinity, your ripple effect goes on forever. I feel it's more empowering personally, but to each their own!
Posted May 19, 2008
EelKat says:
Yes, our bodies decay, and nothing is left but mud; however, by that time our spirit bodies have already left of physical bodies. I believe that it the actual act of the spirit (or soul) leaving the body that causing one to die.
Posted May 17, 2008
spirituality says:
Our physical bodies do die. I don't believe in resurrection of the physical body. Why would it just reassemble at the end of all time?
Posted April 26, 2008
More about the afterlife
Some of these lenses take heaven for granted, others wonder if there is even a soul... Without a soul, no afterlife, is there? Anyhow - happy exploring.-
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Many people don't know that the Bible gives us a way to have assurance of our place in heaven. God loves us and has a perfect plan for us.
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We DO have a soul
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There is no way to describe what I experience without a soul that transcends the personality. There is something in us which is more than my habits, limitations and combined past. According to Christianity and Islam we each have an immortal soul, tha...
What did you think about this religious debate?
Did it change your point of view about the afterlife?
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Reply
- OhMe OhMe Sep 2, 2009 @ 9:58 am
- Interesting to read other's thoughts on the subject of Afterlife. Lensrolling to 90 Minutes In Heaven.
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Reply
- Kylyssa Kylyssa Apr 30, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
- "So which after life state appeals most to you?" "Which kind of afterlife do you believe in (of feel is likely)?" - I think these are two very different questions. What is appealing and what you believe are often vastly different.
Personally, I don't believe in life after death but the idea of any afterlife is quite appealing. The idea that good will be rewarded and evil punished in a sort of ultimate fairness - seriously, who wouldn't find that appealing? It doesn't make it real, though.
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Reply
- spirituality spirituality Mar 20, 2009 @ 3:20 am | in reply to Dean-ReviewGuy
- Well, that's a hard one isn't it? Especially with all the spiritual and religious traditions to choose from. WHICH Hell do you believe in? Do you really think it makes a difference to God whether we believe in the Christian or the Muslim Hell? Not very kind of Him if He did mind, would it be?
But I'd rather be in Hell with the crowds of people that must be out there, than live in Heaven with the few people who made it there.
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Reply
- Dean-ReviewGuy Dean-ReviewGuy Mar 20, 2009 @ 2:35 am
- I have one question.
What if in the afterlife we discover that what we believed in our mortal life is wrong,
and realize that we are too late te revert to make a change,
and in the end have to suffer for all eternity?
Just a thought...
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Reply
- Rewards4life Rewards4life Jan 15, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
- Great topic, I have the Tibetan Book of the Living and Dying, it's a beautiful concept but after reading this the Devachan way of Reincarnation, Karma and a heaven in between lives sounds like it would be a pleasurable experience. I do believe in an afterlife but I'm not quite sure for what reasons, others views can inspire. 5*
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