Assumption Of Mary The Assumption of Mary into Heaven (often shortened to the Assumption) is, according to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. The Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course...
Prayer For The Dead There are many different prayer for the dead in different religions and traditions. Praying can bring relief and comfort at a very difficult time. Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of human personality through and after death, religion naturally concerns itself with the...
Eschatology? Eschatology is a part of theology concerned with the final events of history or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as the “end of the world” or “end times“. The word arises from the Greek ἔσχατος eschatos meaning “last” and -logy meaning “the study of”, and first appeared in English around 1844. The Oxford...
What Is Afterlife? The afterlife (life after death) is the belief that the essential part of an individual’s identity or the stream of consciousness continues after the death of the physical body. According to various ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on after death may...
The Book Of Life In Christianity and Judaism, the Book of Life (Sefer HaChaim; Biblíon tēs Zōēs) is the book in which God records the names of every person who is destined for Heaven or the World to Come. According to the Talmud it is open on Rosh Hashanah, as is...
Virtues Of Faith This article covers Virtues of Faith. Through the light of belief, man rises to the highest of the high and acquires a value worthy of Paradise. And through the darkness of unbelief, he descends to the lowest of the low and falls to a position fit for...
The People Of Paradise Will Be Given A Place This article is about Paradise. The Messenger Muhammad said: ‘Some of the people of Paradise will be given a place as large as the world, and hundreds of thousands of palaces will be granted to them.’ What is the reason for...
What Is Heaven? Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, or transcendent place where beings such as gods, angels, spirits, Saint, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can...
Necessity Of Hell And Heaven This article is about necessity of Hell and Heaven. The confrontation, co-existence, and intermingling of good and evil, pleasure and pain, light and darkness, heat and cold, beauty and ugliness, and guidance and misguidance in the universe are there for an extremely important purpose and...
Resurrection And Afterlife This article covers Resurrection And Afterlife. My dear friend, if you wish for a discussion of resurrection and the hereafter in simple and common language, in a straightforward style, then listen to the following comparison, together with my own soul. Once two men were travelling through a...
Why Is Atheism So Widespread? Atheism means denying God’s existence, rejecting His commandments, avoiding religious reflection and seriousness, and considering oneself independent of Him. As such beliefs negate the concept of sin, people imagine that they can live as they please and thus begin to corrupt their hearts and minds....
What are the Greatest Dangers and Pitfalls for Faithfuls? Humanity is being tested in this world. Life itself, from the beginning until the end, is full of tests that are different in shape and level of difficulty. Said Nursi mentioned the most dangerous six categories of these pitfalls in the...
Unbelief Is An Infinite Destruction Unbelief Is An Infinite Destruction. However insignificant the part of the free will seems in man’s actions, and however slight sin unbelief may seem to some, at first sight, it is a denial and negation and therefore destructive, and deserving eternal punishment. Remember that we...
Faith And Reason This article covers Faith And Reason. It was fascinating to read Pope Benedict XVI’s speech the other day before members of the British parliament. The Pope spoke on “the proper place of religious belief within the political process.” Having just visited Ephesus and Urfa, two of the...
Belief And Guidance Question: Since the way of misguidance is easy, and is destruction and aggression, many take that way. But you have proved decisively that the way of unbelief and misguidance is so fraught with difficulties and problems that no one should take it; that it is not possible...
The Reality Of Worldly Life The Old Said (Bediuzzaman) saw the reality of worldly life in a vision. It transformed him into the New Said. You too listen to it in the form of a comparison: I saw that I was a traveler and was going on a long journey;...
Can Our Intention Save Us? Is Man’s Intention Enough to Save Him? An intention, which leads to the appropriate intended action, being taken may save a person. An intention, which does not result in determination, in an ardent effort to bring about the intended result, cannot do so. To have...
Should We Fear Death? What Happens After Death? Those who believe and do righteous deeds have no reason to fear death. Although it appears to us as decomposition and the extinction of life and its pleasures, in fact it is no more than a discharge from the heavy duties of...
The Seeds To Harvest In The Hereafter The World Is A Field To Sow with The Seeds To Harvest In The Hereafter. Besides being the arena of test and trial for man, the world is also the realm of troubles. When God warned Adam not to eat of the forbidden...
The Right Judgment Of Man’s Worth The world does not suffice for the right judgment of man’s worth. Although, physically, he is a small body, through his mental and spiritual faculties he embraces the whole of the universe. His acts do not relate only to the visible world and cannot...