I figured that it would be a rather interesting discusion if we checked what people know about their own religions. As an atheists I have no religion, hence I have no limitations on information. And I really don't need to know much about my "atheism" (apart of the not believing in in imaginary friends) in order to be an atheist. Christians, Jews and Muslims actually have rules and limitations and I was wondering if you know them. Simple question therefore: According to your religion, what exactly happens when you die? I wonder how many Christians, Jews and Muslims know what their books says happens...
I think I know a fair amount about my religion, both in and beyond the book. I also know quite a bit about Islam. By default that means I'd have to know a lot of Judaism too, seeing the obvious connections...
So do you feel you could answer the question for all three? What happens when you die according to the Jewish faith? What happens when you die according to the bible? What happens when you die according to the koran? Simple questions, with maybe not as simple answers as you may think...
The first half of the Bible was written by and for Jews so the question is somewhat redundant. the Jewish faith has many visions of what happens. There is not just one answer. The difference between us and other Abrahamic faith is that we see our duty on earth as more important than what comes next.
My understanding is that Jews are not in agreement on what happens after death. In Jesus' time, the Sadducees believed there was no life after death, and attempted to trip him up with a question as to what happens when a woman has seven husbands in her lifetime. Who is she married to in heaven? Jesus' answer: no one, marriage ends at death.
What "our books" say happens when a person dies - encompasses possibly millions of words written over thousands of years. So, it would be a tad difficult to explain in a forum to an ethereal, ostensibly disinterested collection of bits and bytes on a computer screen... However, the basic concept in the Torah (Judaism, in case you were still wondering) is that This World; the material world; the world of the senses; Olam Hazeh; is a World of Lies. This World is, indeed, in every way possible, a place where nothing is what it seems. We travel through our lives trying to overcome the flaws in our Souls, using the confusion of life and the struggles we face in order to do so. The World to Come; Gan Eden; Olam Habah; the World of Truth, the Real World, is where we go when we pass on from This World. In the World to Come, our souls are laid bare and we are able to see and remember and understand the Life that we left behind - for good or bad. Depending on how we have prepared in This World will determine how much we are able to gain in the World to Come.
our moral application to 'god' is what theology describes. The pinnacle is knowing the truth of application. "naming' god is pinnacle the quest of sion
