To understand life after death, I have taken the beliefs of christians as well as the beliefs of hindus in this context.
Christian vision on life after death:
To understand christian vision, three topics are considered here.
a) 1 Peter 3: 19
"And in his spiritual existence, he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat"
b) During the crucifixion of Jesus, he tells the thief on his right side that "From now on you will be with me in paradise".
c) After the death of the rich man and Lazarus, we can see that the rich man in mourning and Lazarus in a state of happiness.
From the above three examples, we can assume the following conclusions.
1. The experience of spirits in Noah's days remind us that we can make spiritual progress even after death. Therefore it is proper to pray for the dead.
2. The thief on the right side of Jesus recognized the unconditional love of God just before his death. So as Jesus told, we can assume that he might have reached the state of happiness after his death.
3. The story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that based on our good and bad actions which were performed during the life on earth will lead us to a state of happiness or state of sorrow on life after death.
Hindu vision on life after death:
Based on the good and bad actions we performed during the life on earth, state of happiness or state of sorrow will follow us after death. Also at the time of death, if we can completely surrender ourselves to God by abandoning all our selfish desires, then such people will be able to make union with God or in othercase, will reborn in another form.
From the above mentioned christian and hindu beliefs, to say which one is correct, the author of this article has not acquired that much knowledge. But still we will try to find a conclusion for our question below. To find a conclusion for our question, we need to find answers for another two questions.
1. Where is heaven located?
2. Where is hell located?
Heaven is a place where we accept and apologize our own mistakes which has been done to our fellow creatures. To understand this, let us look at some examples. When the prophet Isaiah lived, King Uzziah was the most beloved among all the people. During that time, people thought that leprosy is a disease caused when God is angry. King Uzziah fell ill because of leprosy and died. All the people thought that God was unfair to the king and started blaming God. There is a possibility that prophet Isaiah might also have blamed God in his mind. Once while Isaiah was meditating in church, he saw a peculiar vision. In his vision, angels were prasing God by telling that He is Holy! By seeing this, Isaiah understood that God is alone holy and immediately he accepted his mistake. He also recognized that people are blaming God for no reason. At the moment he accepted his mistake, Isaiah was given permission to praise God with great joy.
Let us look at another example. In the garden of Eden, if Adam and Eve did accept their mistakes without blaming each other, God would have given permission to stay in heaven itself.
Let us look at one more example. In the story of prodigal son, when he came back to his father's unconditional love after accepting his mistakes, the house became more and more joyful like heaven.
Now let us see where is hell located. Where there is no mutual acceptance, where there is no forgiveness of one another, wherever blame one another, a hell is created.
If heaven and hell above mentioned are true, then how are they related to life after death?
The main summary of the above can be summarized as follows: Heaven and hell are created in our hearts. It is not required to consider heaven and hell as geographical places. That is why Jesus christ said in Luke 5:17 " The kingdom of heaven is within you". When the kingdom of heaven is established in our hearts, it is certain that bliss will follow us even after death. Therefore there is no need for such people to fear what will happen after death. If we are in union with God right now, we don't have to worry about what happens after death.
On the contrary, if hell is created in our hearts, life after death also will be terrible for us.
Suggested Related Links:
1. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/04/my-eureka-discovery-of-meaning-of.html?m=1
2. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/03/jesus-view-of-god.html?m=1
3. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/?m=1
Christian vision on life after death:
To understand christian vision, three topics are considered here.
a) 1 Peter 3: 19
"And in his spiritual existence, he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits. These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat"
b) During the crucifixion of Jesus, he tells the thief on his right side that "From now on you will be with me in paradise".
c) After the death of the rich man and Lazarus, we can see that the rich man in mourning and Lazarus in a state of happiness.
From the above three examples, we can assume the following conclusions.
1. The experience of spirits in Noah's days remind us that we can make spiritual progress even after death. Therefore it is proper to pray for the dead.
2. The thief on the right side of Jesus recognized the unconditional love of God just before his death. So as Jesus told, we can assume that he might have reached the state of happiness after his death.
3. The story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that based on our good and bad actions which were performed during the life on earth will lead us to a state of happiness or state of sorrow on life after death.
Hindu vision on life after death:
Based on the good and bad actions we performed during the life on earth, state of happiness or state of sorrow will follow us after death. Also at the time of death, if we can completely surrender ourselves to God by abandoning all our selfish desires, then such people will be able to make union with God or in othercase, will reborn in another form.
From the above mentioned christian and hindu beliefs, to say which one is correct, the author of this article has not acquired that much knowledge. But still we will try to find a conclusion for our question below. To find a conclusion for our question, we need to find answers for another two questions.
1. Where is heaven located?
2. Where is hell located?
Heaven is a place where we accept and apologize our own mistakes which has been done to our fellow creatures. To understand this, let us look at some examples. When the prophet Isaiah lived, King Uzziah was the most beloved among all the people. During that time, people thought that leprosy is a disease caused when God is angry. King Uzziah fell ill because of leprosy and died. All the people thought that God was unfair to the king and started blaming God. There is a possibility that prophet Isaiah might also have blamed God in his mind. Once while Isaiah was meditating in church, he saw a peculiar vision. In his vision, angels were prasing God by telling that He is Holy! By seeing this, Isaiah understood that God is alone holy and immediately he accepted his mistake. He also recognized that people are blaming God for no reason. At the moment he accepted his mistake, Isaiah was given permission to praise God with great joy.
Let us look at another example. In the garden of Eden, if Adam and Eve did accept their mistakes without blaming each other, God would have given permission to stay in heaven itself.
Let us look at one more example. In the story of prodigal son, when he came back to his father's unconditional love after accepting his mistakes, the house became more and more joyful like heaven.
Now let us see where is hell located. Where there is no mutual acceptance, where there is no forgiveness of one another, wherever blame one another, a hell is created.
If heaven and hell above mentioned are true, then how are they related to life after death?
The main summary of the above can be summarized as follows: Heaven and hell are created in our hearts. It is not required to consider heaven and hell as geographical places. That is why Jesus christ said in Luke 5:17 " The kingdom of heaven is within you". When the kingdom of heaven is established in our hearts, it is certain that bliss will follow us even after death. Therefore there is no need for such people to fear what will happen after death. If we are in union with God right now, we don't have to worry about what happens after death.
On the contrary, if hell is created in our hearts, life after death also will be terrible for us.
Suggested Related Links:
1. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/04/my-eureka-discovery-of-meaning-of.html?m=1
2. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/2019/03/jesus-view-of-god.html?m=1
3. https://johnkunnathu.blogspot.com/?m=1
The question we need to ask ourselves is not
ReplyDelete"Where we will go after death? "
but "Where we are right now? In heaven or in hell?"