“Windows To Spirituality”
What Is Euthanasia? Euthanasia (“good death”: εὖ, eu; “well” or “good” thanatos; “death“) is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. Different countries have different euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as “a deliberate intervention undertaken with the...
Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. Mental disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse—including alcoholism and the use of benzodiazepines—are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, such as from financial difficulties, troubles with relationships, or bullying....
Lost And Found This article is the story of a young man’s relationship with his abusive father and loving mother. It is a family drama. The long corridor with a hole at the end of it-a doorway, of course-made him feel uneasy. The sound of his fellow-students’ footsteps, their talking...
What Is Thanatos? In Greek mythology, Thanatos (“Death”, from θνῄσκω thnēskō “to die, be dying”) was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person. His name is transliterated in Latin as Thanatus, but his equivalent in Roman mythology is Mors or Letum. Mors is sometimes erroneously identified with Orcus,...
Hayah (Life) Hayah (Life), which can be translated as liveliness and being alive, means that a heart which is already dead because of ignorance, misguidance and disbelief, comes to life through belief, and knowledge and love of God. The verse, He who was dead (in spirit), and We raised him...
Christian Views On Suicide This article covers Christian Views On Suicide. There has been much debate over the Christian view on suicide, with early Christians believing that suicide is sinful and an act of blasphemy. In modern times, some Christian churches reject this idea, although others still espouse and teach this view. Early Christianity...
Religious Views On Suicide Many of the world’s religions have traditionally condemned suicide because, as they believe, human life fundamentally belongs to God. In recent years many faith traditions have modified their views of suicide and looked more closely at what their role should be, in both prevention and healing....
Jewish Views On Suicide Jewish views on suicide are mixed. In Orthodox Judaism, suicide is forbidden by Jewish law, and viewed as a sin. Non-Orthodox forms of Judaism may instead recognize the act as more akin to a death by a disease or disorder (except in cases of purposeful assisted suicide). Rabbinical scholars (certainly...
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,...
Taoism And Death There is significant scholarly debate about the Taoist understanding of death. The process of death itself is described as shijie or “release from the corpse”, but what happens after is described variously as transformation, immortality or ascension to heaven. For example, the Yellow Emperor was said to have...
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...
