What happens after death?

No Afterlife

• Materialism: Consciousness ends with death. There is no afterlife, as the mind is a product of brain activity.
  • “We are born, we live, we die, and that is it.” — Secular Humanist view.

Legacy and Impact

• Meaning in Life: Some atheists find comfort in leaving a positive legacy or contributing to the advancement of humanity.

• Samsara: Death leads to rebirth based on karma, with the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth continuing until Nirvana is attained.
  • Dhammapada 153: “Through many births I wandered… seeking, but not finding, the builder of the house (body).”

• End of Suffering: The ultimate goal is to escape the cycle of rebirth by attaining Nirvana, a state of liberation from suffering.
  • Dhammapada 202: “There is no fire like passion… no greater happiness than Nirvana.”

General Christian Belief

• Heaven or Hell: Upon death, the soul is judged by God and sent to either heaven or hell based on faith and deeds.
  • John 14:2-3: “In my Father’s house are many rooms… I will come back and take you to be with me.”
  • Matthew 25:46: “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Catholic Belief

• Purgatory: Some souls undergo purification in purgatory before entering heaven.
  • 2 Maccabees 12:46: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”

Protestant Belief

• Immediate Judgment: Most Protestants believe that upon death, the soul is immediately judged and goes to heaven or hell.

Focus on the Living

• No Strong Afterlife Doctrine: Confucianism places little emphasis on the afterlife and instead focuses on ethical living, filial piety, and the proper conduct of relationships. Life is seen as more important than speculating on what happens after death.
  • Analects 11.11: “You do not understand even life. How can you understand death?”

Ancestral Veneration

• Respect for Ancestors: Although Confucianism doesn’t have a specific teaching about the afterlife, it encourages honoring ancestors through rituals and veneration. The dead continue to influence the living through ancestral worship and moral legacy.
  • Analects 2.5: “When your parents are alive, serve them according to the rites; when they die, bury them according to the rites, and sacrifice to them according to the rites.”

• Immediate Rebirth: Druze believe in the reincarnation of the soul, where the soul immediately reincarnates into a new body upon death. This cycle continues until the soul reaches perfection.
  • Sayings from Druze doctrine: “The soul transmigrates until it is purified.”

• Spiritual Perfection: Eventually, after several cycles of rebirth, the soul may achieve unity with the divine and no longer need to reincarnate.

• Samsara: The soul is reborn into a new life based on karma (actions in the previous life).
  • Bhagavad Gita 2:22: “Just as a man discards worn-out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn-out bodies and wears new ones.”

• Liberation: The ultimate goal is to break free from the cycle of rebirth (samsara) and attain Moksha, unity with the divine.
  • Bhagavad Gita 4:9: “One who knows the truth about my divine birth and activities does not take birth again.”

• Barzakh: The soul enters an intermediary state called Barzakh, awaiting Judgment Day.
  • Surah Al-Mu’minun 23:100: “Behind them is a barrier until the Day they are resurrected.”

• Heaven (Jannah) or Hell (Jahannam): After Judgment Day, souls are sent to either eternal paradise or eternal punishment.
  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:82: “But those who believe and do righteous deeds – those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally.”

No Immortal Soul

• Soul Ceases to Exist: Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that when a person dies, their soul does not continue to live independently. The dead are unconscious, in a state of nonexistence.
  • Ecclesiastes 9:5: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.”

Resurrection

• Hope of Resurrection: Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Faithful servants of God, as well as many who did not know Jehovah, will be resurrected and given the opportunity to live forever in a paradise on Earth.
  • John 5:28-29: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.”

Judgment Day

• 1000-Year Reign: After the resurrection, during Christ’s 1000-year reign, all resurrected humans will be given the opportunity to learn Jehovah’s ways and attain eternal life.

• Varied Views: The afterlife is not emphasized, and beliefs range from bodily resurrection to the existence of a soul after death.
  • Daniel 12:2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”

• Resurrection and Judgment: Many believe in the resurrection of the dead and judgment by God at the end of time.

• Spiritual Continuation: Focuses more on the soul continuing in some form, with less emphasis on physical resurrection.

• Uncertainty: Agnostics typically assert that what happens after death is unknown or unknowable.

• Focus on the Present: Existentialists often focus on finding meaning in life rather than worrying about an afterlife.

Continuing with Kami

• Spirit Lives On: In Shinto, the soul does not cease to exist after death. Instead, it joins the ranks of the kami (spirits or deities) and becomes part of the spiritual world. The dead may continue to influence the living as protective spirits or ancestral deities.
  • Kojiki: “The dead live on as kami, watching over their descendants and the world of the living.”

Ancestral Spirits

• Ancestral Worship: Shinto emphasizes the ongoing connection between the living and the dead through rituals and shrines, honoring ancestors who are believed to still play an active role in the lives of their descendants.

No Definite Afterlife

• Focus on Life and Purity: Shinto does not have a clearly defined concept of heaven or hell. The focus is more on living a life of purity, harmony with nature, and fulfilling one’s duty in this world.

• Karma and Rebirth: The soul goes through cycles of birth and death until it merges with God through righteous living.
  • Guru Granth Sahib 1412: “Those who meditate on God attain liberation; those separated from Him are subject to birth and death.”

• Mukti (Liberation): The ultimate goal is to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation and unite with Waheguru (God).

Immortality and Balance

• Immortality of the Spirit: Taoists believe in the possibility of immortality, not through bodily resurrection but through spiritual cultivation and harmony with the Tao (the Way). Death is viewed as a transformation, where the spirit returns to the universe and becomes one with nature.
  • Tao Te Ching 50: “The Sage embraces death with simplicity and grace. His spirit returns to the Tao.”

Spirit World

• Spiritual Continuation: Taoists believe that after death, the soul continues to exist in a spirit world, with good spirits possibly achieving immortality and wicked spirits facing some form of punishment or reincarnation.

Reincarnation: Some Taoist schools hold a belief in reincarnation, where the soul may be reborn based on the actions in the previous life.