Afterlife

I was using Fedora for a while, but it’s developed some bugs and switched to Ubuntu, Satanic Edition. Does the fact that I’m using a Satanic Themed Operating system mean I’m going to hell? What is the preferred operating system of Christianity, Islam, Judaism? Where does Winblows belong in the spectrum of religious faith? Shouldn’t there be an Ubuntu Linux Atheist Edition?

Yes it does! If you use Windows XP u’ll get so many bluescreen of death. When you die after using XP you’ll reach the bluescreen and get stuck in between like the ghosts! (Yes all the existing ghosts used Windows XP)

all three answers are enough for explanation

besides the whole jesus thing, obviously. i’m especially interested in differences in their views of the afterlife?

answer: there are many views because the afterlife isn’t described in Judaism. Most Jews don’t focus on the afterlife, they let G-d worry about that. Jews focus on the here-and-now: keeping G-d’s commandments, studying Torah, caring for others and helping to repair the world.

Some Jews believe that when someone dies and they are righteous, they go to join G-d immediately. If they aren’t righteous they spend a short time away from G-d.

Some Jews believe that we enter a sleep-like state until the Messiah/Messianic age and then join in the new world to come.

Some Jews believe in reincarnation until the Messiah/Messianic age or until one becomes righteous enough to join G-d.

JUDAISM
- says that no human can ever die for the sins of others
CHRISTIANITY
- says that Jesus died for the sins of mankind

JUDAISM
- says that all humans are born pure, and innocent
CHRISTIANITY
- some say that all humans are born with ‘original sin’.

JUDAISM
- says that G-d would never allow/enable a ‘virgin birth’
CHRISTIANITY
- says that Mary gave birth, though a virgin

JUDAISM
- says that no man gets a ’second coming’
CHRISTIANITY
- says that Jesus will have a ’second coming’

JUDAISM
- says that every human should speak directly to G-d
CHRISTIANITY
- Jesus claims in the ‘new testament’ that the ‘only way’ to G-d is via him

JUDAISM
- says G-d is one, indivisible, cannot be separated into three aspects/incarnations
CHRISTIANITY
- some sects speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

JUDAISM
- says that we are ALL equally G-d’s children
CHRISTIANITY
- says that Jesus was ‘god’s son’ above all others

JUDAISM
- has no concept of ‘hell’
CHRISTIANITY
- *some* Christians believe non-believers go to ‘hell’

JUDAISM
- has no ‘devil’, the Jewish ‘Satan’ is just an ordinary angel, under G-d’s control
CHRISTIANITY
- describes ‘Satan’ as a devil and ‘fallen’ angel

JUDAISM
- the ‘messiah’ will be a normal, mortal man who must fulfill all the Jewish messianic prophecies in one normal, mortal lifetime
CHRISTIANITY
- Jesus was the ‘messiah’ and will fulfill the prophecies when he ‘returns’

JUDAISM
- says that the righteous of ALL faiths will reach ‘gan eden’ or ‘garden of eden’.
CHRISTIANITY
- some Christians insist that only those who ‘know Christ’ can reach heaven

JUDAISM
- forbids Jews from trying to convert anyone to Judaism
CHRISTIANITY
- believes in actively ‘witnessing’ and encouraging people to convert to Christianity
JUDAISM
- no concept of original sin
CHRISTIANITY
- some sects of Christianity believe in “original sin” to justify the need for a savior. Others believe that humankind cannot keep from sinning and requires a savior to cleanse them.

Thanks Paperback for the majority of this with some tweaking by Qua Patet Orbis and Myself.
http://www.angelfire.com/al/AttardBezzinaLawrenc/JewCathDifference.htm
http://www.ajewwithaview.com

the religion of christianity. Hi i have a 2000 word essay to do and I was thinking of talking about hellenism and how the greek language had an effect on the hebrew scriptures, also the belief system of an afterlife, baptism and circumsicion could anyone give me some suggestions, other things i could talk about as well , what others factors affected judaims there was also the political forces alexander and the differnet forms of judaism the pharissess and sadduccess thanks

Judaism is over 2,000 years older than christianity, so how do you say christianity is the parent faith ?

Judaism and christianity are diametrically opposed systems. christianity adopted the Greek interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which were a poor interpretation at best, The Greek and then later the Latin were not translations, but interpretations, lacking the depth of the Hebrew language.

Baptism is a shallow copy of the Hebrew Mikvah, which the Creator instructed the Nation of Israel, as not a 1 time thing but an on going observance for a myriad of reasons.

All righteous have a part in the world to come.

Perhaps you can come back when you come to realize the wayward child does not give birth to the parent.

If someone (former Christian) converts to Judaism..Will that person in death be able to be reunited with there still Christian family members in the afterlife..What does Judaism say about this topic?

We believe in the same God. There is only one God, He is just given different names. If you are a good person you will go to heaven… there is not right or wrong religion. What religion you are depends where you were born and what your parents are, not to do with whether you are good or bad.

Apparently you go to hell in islam and christianity, and simply don’t enter the afterlife in judaism. Are there any exceptions?

No exceptions but there may be extenuating circumstances.

+ Suicide +

Catholics believe suicide when committed in full knowledge and deliberate consent is a complete turning away from God (a mortal sin) and will send a person to hell.

There are 3 conditions of a mortal sin: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent.

While suicide (or any kind of murder) is always a grave matter, people who commit suicide may not always have full knowledge of what they’re doing. Drugs can definitely impair one’s thinking, as can other things, such as diseases, intense pain, or anguish.

Therefore, suicide is not automatically treated as a mortal sin.

We are commanded by Christ not to judge others so we leave final judgment to God who alone knows each person’s heart.

The Code of Canon Law does not list suicide as a reason to deny a person a Catholic funeral or burial in a Catholic cemetery. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4C.HTM
http://www.holycrosscemeteries.com/faq/#Section_17
http://home.att.net/~faithleap/suicide.htm

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
On mortal sin, paragraphs 1857-1859: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt1art8.shtml#1857
On suicide, paragraphs 2282-2283: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2art5.shtml#2282

+ Self Sacrifice +

Self sacrifice is not suicide.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

A parent that sacrifices himself or herself to save their child’s life is choosing death over life but is not committing suicide.

A soldier who accepts a "suicide" mission to help win a war and protect the citizens of his country is choosing death over life but is not committing suicide.

A Christian who chooses to remain faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be put to death instead of renouncing his or her faith and living is choosing death over life but is not committing suicide.

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

With love in Christ.

If you’re Christian or Muslim you’re taught to be terrified of the afterlife as you might end up in eternal hell (most conveniently assume they themselves won’t end up there).

As Judaism doesn’t seem to have any of this eternal hell stuff, do Jews have any fear of the afterlife at all?

Wow, i’m an observant orthodox jew and i actually did not know that! didn’t realize the reason for saying the kaddish prayer for a loved one – said for one year following a direct relative’s passing – was specifically for the purpose of protecting them from hell during that one year. but i did just confirm it with my dad. i’m thinking, as with most issues though that there may be than one opinion on the matter.

I guess that fact is somewhat comforting, but seriously, I don’t think it makes an entire year of excruciating burning, if that is what happens, any more pleasant. If analogies work for you, perhaps just as in the physical world a serious injury or illness may leave a person miserable for the rest of their days, a year of burning in gehinnom may affect the soul in heaven. Just a thought, but this is not a topic that is typically taught in any depth in religious schools – at least where I went.

I once heard it said jokingly that perhaps heaven and hell are one and the same, and it depends on the way you look at it. A truly religious person may love to study the Torah for eternity, while for the less pious person, such a prospect might be worse than the most excruciating torture.

The answer to the question, in any case, is that a Jew is supposed to follow G-d’s laws out of love and gratitude for creating us, giving us the Torah and performing all the miracles for us – the small ones each and every day, and the big ones throughout history such as taking us out of Egypt. There is an idea in Judaism that doing something for the wrong reasons can lead to doing it for the right reasons. In that way, perhaps serving G-d out of fear can lead to serving out of love. The same goes for one’s parents.

So building on my first comments, I don’t think this really lessens the fear. Imagine the horror of sitting before G-d [and all your ancestors] as all your sins are read aloud in the most intricate detail. If one is in fact comforted in the possibility that hell will only last one year, this should not diminish his desire to serve G-d and avoid sin. Once again, observance should come from the heart – not out of fear. Good deeds should come from the heart, not in the hopes of receiving reward.

P.S. On a sour note, and I know this is not the topic at hand, it is very hard to fathom how "Muslims" in the Middle-East might have a stronger fear of the afterlife than Jews. People who train their kids to hate, send their people to blow up innocent families in restaurants and buses. If this is in fact their belief, and these people are true Muslims, then they are materially lacking in this fear of divine retribution. People are the product of their parents, teachers and leaders. I hope the people who were determined to raise a generation of terrorists and murderers, and those who continue this path of destruction and inhumanity, burn for eternity in the fires of hell. Let those Muslims who avoid their leaders’ quest for destruction and follow the goodness in their heart to achieve peace in this world all the health and prosperity that they rightfully deserve.

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I can only agree partially with allonyoav, because while every Jew is assured a place in the World to Come, the only way to not worry about what comes before heaven is to have a complete disregard for the consequence of sin. We pray every month in the "Blessing of the New Month" – said this past Shabbat – that G-d grant us a "life with fear of G-d and fear of sin, a life devoid of embarassment and shame." You cannot be an observant Jew and not have any fear of sin and G-d. As recited in Tehillim, We do not fear in this world – "Even as I walk in the valley of death, I will not fear evil because G-d is with me." However, in death, just as a defendant in this world is full of embarassment as he/she is convicted before entire family, the sinner who must sit before his/her creator will feel such deep worthlessness as sins are read aloud. Fear of sin out of love & respect for G-d and His commandments is the way to go. Live your life to the best of your abilities. Be true to yourself and always strive to do more than you thought possible without getting too stressed out. Always live with the fear of G-d upon you for He sees all and knows all that you do. In fact, this past week’s Torah reading of Kedoshim mentions the importance of fearing G-d several times. Don’t go into depression or anything, but try your hardest and be honest about it.

im doing an oral report on the afterlife of judaism. according to this website it says you can go to hell, and still get into heaven is this true? http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/beliefs/afterlife.htm

Would you like a *Jew* to answer your question?

Strictly speaking, your question is meaningless in Jewish terms. Jews do not believe in hell or eternal damnation. Some of us don’t exactly believe in Heaven either. Actually, while we firmly believe that there is an afterlife, we don’t spend much time thinking about it, preferring to focus our attention on the demands of being a good person in *this* life.
In general, Jewish tradition teaches us that upon dying, a soul experiences some kind of purgatory, which lasts up to eleven months, in which the soul confronts the mistakes and shortcomings it committed while on earth. After that, the purified soul moves on to Paradise or Eden, our equivalent of Heaven.

Edit: The asker’s link took me to Christian sources. Carmelite’s links are legitimate Jewish sites.

I know that Judaism doesn’t focus on the afterlife, but I’d like to just see how these things fit together. In Judaism, there’s Heaven, Sheol, and then there’s the whole idea of the Messianic age. I know these things aren’t the main concern (they aren’t to me either), I’d just like to understand how they fit together, or how they work. For instance, the dead are supposed to be resurrected during the Messianic age. Where does that leave Heaven and Sheol? I’m aware that there are many different ideas as to how the afterlife works, but could you give me your opinion on it?
@ gina: Thank you for your answer, but I would really like this from a Jewish viewpoint, and not Christian.

Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion. It is possible for an Orthodox Jew to believe that the souls of the righteous dead go to a place similar to the Christian heaven, or that they are reincarnated through many lifetimes, or that they simply wait until the coming of the messiah, when they will be resurrected. Likewise, Orthodox Jews can believe that the souls of the wicked are tormented by demons of their own creation, or that wicked souls are simply destroyed at death, ceasing to exist.

Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the Pharisees (intellectual ancestors of Rabbinical Judaism) from the Sadducees. The Sadducees rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain verses.

Belief in resurrection of the dead is one of Rambam’s 13 Principles of Faith. The second blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, which is recited three times daily, contains several references to resurrection. (Note: the Reform movement, which apparently rejects this belief, has rewritten the second blessing accordingly).

The resurrection of the dead will occur in the messianic age, a time referred to in Hebrew as the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, but that term is also used to refer to the spiritual afterlife. When the messiah comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked dead will not be resurrected.

There are some mystical schools of thought that believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process. The souls of the righteous are reborn in to continue the ongoing process of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that reincarnation is a routine process, while others indicate that it only occurs in unusual circumstances, where the soul left unfinished business behind. Belief in reincarnation is also one way to explain the traditional Jewish belief that every Jewish soul in history was present at Sinai and agreed to the covenant with G-d. (Another explanation: that the soul exists before the body, and these unborn souls were present in some form at Sinai). Belief in reincarnation is commonly held by many Chasidic sects, as well as some other mystically-inclined Jews.

The spiritual afterlife is referred to in Hebrew as Olam Ha-Ba (oh-LAHM hah-BAH), the World to Come, although this term is also used to refer to the messianic age. The Olam Ha-Ba is another, higher state of being.

In the Mishnah, one rabbi says, "This world is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall." Similarly, the Talmud says, "This world is like the eve of Shabbat, and the Olam Ha-Ba is like Shabbat. He who prepares on the eve of Shabbat will have food to eat on Shabbat." We prepare ourselves for the Olam Ha-Ba through Torah study and good deeds.

The Talmud states that all Israel has a share in the Olam Ha-Ba. However, not all "shares" are equal. A particularly righteous person will have a greater share in the Olam Ha-Ba than the average person. In addition, a person can lose his share through wicked actions. There are many statements in the Talmud that a particular mitzvah will guarantee a person a place in the Olam Ha-Ba, or that a particular sin will lose a person’s share in the Olam Ha-Ba, but these are generally regarded as hyperbole, excessive expressions of approval or disapproval.

Some people look at these teachings and deduce that Jews try to "earn our way into Heaven" by performing the mitzvot. This is a gross mischaracterization of our religion. It is important to remember that unlike some religions, Judaism is not focused on the question of how to get into heaven. Judaism is focused on life and how to live it. Non-Jews frequently ask me, "do you really think you’re going to go to Hell if you don’t do such-and-such?" It always catches me a bit off balance, because the question of where I am going after death simply doesn’t enter into the equation when I think about the mitzvot. We perform the mitzvot because it is our privilege and our sacred obligation to do so. We perform them out of a sense of love and duty, not out of a desire to get something in return. In fact, one of the first bits of ethical advice in Pirkei Avot (a book of the Mishnah) is: "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead, be like servants who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward, and let the awe of Heaven [meaning G-d, not the afterlife] be upon you."

Nevertheless, we definitely believe that your place in the Olam Ha-Ba is determined by a merit system based on your actions, not by who you are or what religion you profess. In addition, we definitely believe that humanity is capable of being considered righteous in G-d’s eyes, or at least good enough to merit paradise after a suitable period of purification.

Do non-Jews have a place in Olam Ha-Ba? Although there are a few statements to the contrary in the Talmud, the predominant view of Judaism is that the righteous of all nations have a share in the Olam Ha-Ba. Statements to the contrary were not based on the notion that membership in Judaism was required to get into Olam Ha-Ba, but were grounded in the observation that non-Jews were not righteous people. If you consider the behavior of the surrounding peoples at the time that the Talmud was written, you can understand the rabbis’ attitudes. By the time of Rambam, the belief was firmly entrenched that the righteous of all nations have a share in the Olam Ha-Ba.

The place of spiritual reward for the righteous is often referred to in Hebrew as Gan Eden (GAHN ehy-DEHN) (the Garden of Eden). This is not the same place where Adam and Eve were; it is a place of spiritual perfection. Specific descriptions of it vary widely from one source to another. One source says that the peace that one feels when one experiences Shabbat properly is merely one-sixtieth of the pleasure of the afterlife. Other sources compare the bliss of the afterlife to the joy of sex or the warmth of a sunny day. Ultimately, though, the living can no more understand the nature of this place than the blind can understand color.

Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom (guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but sometimes as She’ol or by other names. According to one mystical view, every sin we commit creates an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the very demons that we created. Some views see Gehinnom as one of severe punishment, a bit like the Christian Hell of fire and brimstone. Other sources merely see it as a time when we can see the actions of our lives objectively, see the harm that we have done and the opportunities we missed, and experience remorse for our actions. The period of time in Gehinnom does not exceed 12 months, and then ascends to take his place on Olam Ha-Ba.

Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period; their souls are punished for the entire 12 months. Sources differ on what happens at the end of those 12 months: some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse.

This 12-month limit is repeated in many places in the Talmud, and it is connected to the mourning cycles and the recitation of Kaddish.

1) the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism, believed in an afterlife, prayed in the streets

2) elitists who wanted to maintain the priestly caste, but they were also liberal in their willingness to incorporate Hellenism into their lives, didn’t believe in an afterlife

3) emerged out of disgust with the other two, moved out of Jerusalem

1) Pharisees

2) Sadducees

3) Essenes