Anjli Chotai                PRE Assessment

11MW

Life After Death

All of the major religions believe in life after death. However the ideas from religion to religion can vary greatly. I am going to look at Hinduism and Christianity, two religions that I have been surrounded by all my life, and the different perceptions they have of life after death, and then I will give my own view.

“For certain is death for the born and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable thou shouldst not grieve.” This quote from the Bhagwat Gita (Hindu holy book) sums up the Hindu perspective on life after death. Hindus believe that the time they will spend on earth is decided from the moment they are born, and that how long they will live, chosen by God, can not be changed. Therefore, if a young person dies the family can be consoled by the thought that the tine they had spent on earth was what God had intended for them. Another thought that comforts Hindus after the death of a loved one is their belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation means to be born again. According to the teachings of Lord Krishna, a person dying is “only like the shedding of old clothes and putting on news ones”. People can be confident that the person that has died would have gone on to a better life because they would have fulfilled their karma in life. Karma is duties from God that humans must fulfil, such as praying, being good to others and not killing man or animal. When someone is reincarnated the soul transfers to another body and will eventually become one with God.

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When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden they brought sin into the world. This meant that from then on all people would be born with original sin (the sin of Adam and Eve) and would be more likely to do wrong than right. It also meant than human beings would not be immortal and would eventually die. There was no suggestion that they would go to heaven. Christianity developed from Judaism. This religion believed originally that when people died they went to a dark place under the earth called Sheol. Later, Jews began to believe ...

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