“Windows To Spirituality”
Problem Of Hell The problem of Hell is an ethical problem in religion in which the existence of Hell for the punishment of souls is regarded as inconsistent with the notion of a just, moral, and omnibenevolent God. It derives from four key propositions: that Hell exists; that it is...
How Can We Save Our Lives In The Hereafter? Being assaulted by the deceptive, seductive amusements of the present time, a group of young people were asking: “How can we save our lives in the Hereafter?” The grave is there and no one can deny it. Whether they want to...
What Is Second Death? The second death is an eschatological concept in Judaism and Christianity, related to punishment after the first, natural death. Judaism Main article: Jewish eschatology Although the term is not found in the Hebrew Bible, Sysling, in his study (1996) of Teḥiyyat ha-metim (“resurrection of the dead”) in the Palestinian Targums,...
Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies This article covers Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies. The universality of religious beliefs, including some kind of existence after death, is generally admitted by modern anthropologists. Some exceptions have been claimed to exist; but on closer scrutiny the provided evidence breaks...
The Quran and The Resurrection This article covers The Quran and The Resurrection. Quranic Arguments About The Resurrection Although scientific findings like the second law of thermodynamics show that existence is gradually disappearing, and even a collision of two planets could destroy the universe. If existence began with a big...
The Resurrection In Revealed Scriptures This article covers The Resurrection in Revealed Scriptures. The Qur’an, the last heavenly Scriptures, has four main themes: God’s Existence and Unity, the Resurrection and afterlife, Prophethood, and worship and justice. It emphasizes the Resurrection far more than all previous Scriptures. Despite the distortion it...
What Is Reincarnation? Reincarnation refers to the transmigration of souls, the doctrine that after death the soul moves on to inhabit another body, then die again and then another body, and so on. Belief in some form of this doctrine of endless cycles of birth, death and re-birth can be...
Creation And Resurrection Your Creation And Your Resurrection Are As But A Single Soul What does the verse: Your creation and your resurrection are as but a single soul (31:28) mean? Answer: That the Divine Power can create and resurrect humanity as easily as it creates and resurrects one person. For...
Benefits Of Belief In The Resurrection After belief in God, belief in the Resurrection has the primary place in securing a peaceful social order. Why should those who do not believe that they will be called to account strive to live an honest, upright life? But those of us who...
Rebirth In Buddhism Rebirth in Buddhism refers to its teaching that the actions of a person lead to a new existence after death, in endless cycles called saṃsāra. This cycle is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops only if liberation is achieved by insight and the extinguishing of desire. Rebirth is one of the foundational doctrines of...
Underworld The underworld is the world of the dead in various religious traditions, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization, and “may be as old as humanity itself”. Common...
Reincarnation Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being starts a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. It is also called rebirth or transmigration, and is a part of the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. It is...
A’raf (Araf) A’raf (الأعراف) is the Muslim separator realm or borderland between heaven and hell, inhabited by the people who are evenly balanced in their sins and virtues. This place may be described as a kind of beneficent purgatory with privation but without suffering. The word is literally translated as...
Ancient Mesopotamian Underworld The ancient Mesopotamian underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, although it had many names in both languages, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to continue “a shadowy version of life on earth”. The...
Afterlife In Ancient Religions This article covers Afterlife in Ancient Religions. The concept of resurrection is found in the writings of some ancient non-Abrahamic religions in the Middle East. A few extant Egyptian and Canaanite writings allude to dying and rising gods such as Osiris and Baal. Sir James Frazer...
Afterlife In Christianity This article covers Afterlife in Christianity. Mainstream Christianity professes belief in the Nicene Creed, and English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase: “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”. Christian eschatology is concerned...
Naraka In Jainism This article covers Naraka in Jainism. Naraka (नरक) is the realm of existence in Jain cosmology characterized by great suffering. Naraka is usually translated into English as “hell” or “purgatory“. However, Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as...
Naraka In Buddhism This article covers Naraka in Buddhism. Naraka (नरक; निरय Niraya) is a term in Buddhist cosmology usually referred to in English as “hell” (or “hell realm”) or “purgatory“. The Narakas of Buddhism are closely related to diyu, the hell in Chinese mythology. A Naraka differs from the hell of Christianity...
What Is Gehenna? Gehenna is a small valley in Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Thereafter, it was deemed to be cursed (Jer. 7:31, 19:2–6). In rabbinic literature Gehenna is a destination of the wicked. This is...
Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (Τάρταρος, Tartaros) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato’s Gorgias (c. 400 BC), souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Tartarus...
