Heaven. Hell And The Walking Dead

This week we begin a three week Halloween series we’re calling - Heaven, Hell and The Walking Dead. It’s a series to answer three of the most asked questions by Christians and non-Christians: what happens after we die.

There’s an interesting phenomenon that takes place during funeral services. Those who get up to speak on behalf of the newly departed color the person’s life in platitudes. They normally try to make the person out to be a good person, whether they were or not, and then they talk about seeing them in heaven or what St. Peter will be saying to them when they reach the mythical pearly gates of heaven.

I think this type of conversation is comforting to some because they don’t want to address the deeper issue: what happens after we die?

The 5 major religions have different teachings about what happens after our heart stops ticking and what is next.

Muslims believe that the present life is only a preparation for the next realm of existence. Muslims believe the soul remains in a kind of "soul sleep" until Judgment Day. When the Day of Judgment arrives, everyone is judged according to their deeds in life.

Death in Hinduism is very spiritual, and it strongly believes in the rebirth and reincarnation of souls. So, according to Hinduism, death is regarded as a natural process in the existence of the soul as a separate entity. When a person dies, the soul travels for sometime to another world and finally returns again to the earth to continue its journey.

Buddhists look at death as taking a break from this materialistic world. Buddhist people do not think death as a continuation of the soul but consider it as an awakening. They believe in reincarnation: once a person dies on this earth, he will be reborn to a new life here and the status of that life depends on the work he did before his previous death.

http://www.religiousmovements.org/views-on-death-according-to-different-religions/

Post-biblical Judaism offers a range of beliefs about life after death. Resurrection is by no means the only option; and, when it is specified, it is not a general word for life after death, but a term for one particular belief. In fact, resurrection is not simply a form of ‘life after death’; resurrection hasn’t happened yet. People do not pass directly from death to resurrection, but go through an interim period, after which the death of the body will be reversed in resurrection. Resurrection does not, then, mean ‘survival’; it is not a way of describing the kind of life one might have immediately following physical death. It is not a description of death and/or the state which results from death. It refers to the reversal, the undoing, the conquest of death and its effects. That is its whole point. That is what Homer, Plato, Aeschylus and the others denied; and it is what some Jews, and all early Christians, affirmed. http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/jesus-resurrection-and-christian-origins

Unfortunately or fortunately, I have never been to the next realm but I am encouraged by the scriptures. The scriptures declare that when we arrive in heaven, we will “be like Jesus; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2;1 Corinthians 15:47-53). Many people recognized Jesus after His resurrection (John 20:16, 20; 21:12; 1 Corinthians 15:4-7). If Jesus was recognizable in His glorified body, we also will be recognizable in our glorified bodies. Being able to see our loved ones is a glorious aspect of heaven, but heaven is far more about God, and far less about us.

I can remember speaking to my mother about her first visit to heaven. My mom had an aneurysm at the base of the brain burst when she was packing for my father’s first retirement trip. It killed her for a few minutes and if it weren't for the great medical staff at the hospital she would have departed on that day. She ended up having brain surgery and being in a coma for a while. However, she eventually came to and described floating above the operating table, hearing all the voices, seeing all the people and then feeling pulled higher towards a very bright light. She said she probably wouldn’t have come back had she not heard my sister’s voice calling to her. She was never quite the same afterward but she was my mom. She has gone on now, and so has my dad, but their memory lives with me.

As a Christ follower, my understanding of heaven is informed by the teachings of Jesus. The New Testament speaks of heaven some 276 times. Jesus spoke of heaven on a regular basis and His principles. "Your Father in heaven” Jesus was fond of saying (Matt 5:16,45;6:1,8;7:11,21;10:32-33; 12:50;16:17;18:10,14,19).

One of the greatest descriptions of heaven comes from the Apostle John. He had the privilege to see and report on the heavenly city (Revelation 21:10-27). John witnessed that heaven (the new earth) possesses the “glory of God” (Revelation 21:11), the very presence of God. Because heaven has no night and the Lord Himself is the light, the sun and moon are no longer needed (Revelation 22:5).