After Life: Various Theories and Beliefs

This is an older article, I decided that the page where I usually keep such articles deserved to be deleted, so I did just that. I'll post the articles that were once stored there here on the main page. 

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AFTERLIFE THEORIES AND BELIEFS

By Timothy Gagnon

Death is the end of life as we know it. The termination of body activity,the death of the brain.

150,000 people die around the world each day.

So,what happens after death?

or what is the After Life?

The popular ,non-religious belief would be that,well,nothing happens after death.Your soul,your inner-being is transported into a world of complete and utter darkness,time does not exist.You do not exist,but you do.And well if you dont agree that you have a soul you just cease to exist,you disappear.Your gone.

So is there a afterlife?

There is no scientific way to prove that there indeed is a real physical after life.If you cant touch it,see it,or smell it.Than technically,it does not exist.

But there are many theories and beliefs about a after life.We will discuss a few.

Ancient Egyptians for example, believed that having a corpse mummified was the only way to enter the after life.And once you die,you enter into the Kingdom of the Dead,where you must work for the god known as Osiris for the protection he has offered you while you were alive.

To claim ones reward, one must have a sin free heart,and be able to recite the various spells and passwords from the Book of the Dead.

Once you have past this test your are allowed to enter in the the Hall of Two Truths,where your heart is weighed against the Shu feather,taken from the goddess Ma'ats headpiece.

If your heart was lighter than the feather,you were allowed entrance to your reward.But if your heart was heavier than the feather,you were consumed by the demon Ammit.

The Ancient Egyptian religion is one of the oldest religions in the world.

Another belief,worth of note would be Zoroastrianism.

Zoroastrianism,a religion based on the prophet Zoroaster who lived during the 5th century.

The Zoroastrianism belief is that once a person dies their soul lingers or earth for 3 days,after which it departs downward into the kingdom of the dead.

For the soul which are sin-free or righteous a beautiful fine maiden arrives,This maiden is believed to be the physical form of every good deed the soul has committed through out its time on earth. This fine maiden than leads the soul to its resting place.However, a sinful soul is given no fine maiden,it is given a ugly old hag, and after 3 nights of torment the soul is led to the demon Visaresa,and is condemned to eternal darkness or hell.During the final judgement the soul is led along Chinvat bridge,various gods are present in the judgment.

If the good deeds out weigh the bad the soul is allowed into paradise,but if the bad out weighs the good the soul is dragged to hell by the wretched hag.

The Greeks version of afterlife is this:Once a person dies he is immediately judged and sent either to heaven or to hell for punishment.Once the punishment in hell is over,the soul is reincarnated and allowed to choose another body.The greek god Hades is master of the underworld.

Than of course theres the typical Christian belief that states that we all are already cleansed of our sins,thanks to Jesus when he died on the cross.And if we believe in him we can go to heaven when we die.But if we choose not to accept Jesus we will be sent to hell.

And this is all i have to say about this,I hope you found it interesting enough.

I personally believe that the afterlife is whatever you as an individual wish it to be.