Anne Griffiths, our speaker for June 2010, gave a fascinating introduction to the topic: ” Is There Life After Death?”
Jeanne has been traveling overseas with her family in the US State Department for 26 years. In Bangkok, she has been involved in ESL education, refugee work, and the National Museum Volunteers, where she has been an active docent/guide in the National Museum, and attended many its informal Study Groups. The talk Jeanne presented was based on research prepared and presented for a recent NMV Comparative Religions study group. Her talk:
Every religion seems to have these beliefs in common:
1. The soul is immortal,
2. The Law of the Hardiest, or “What you sow is what you reap,” that good and bad behavior will get rewarded or not in the end.
3. Heaven exists
4. There is Final Judgment
5. There is a Concept of Hell
Ancient Egypt has the oldest documented belief in an afterlife where departed souls left on a perilous journey to travel to heaven above. Burial with luxury items was to sustain one in heaven, and bodies were embalmed in a process of mummification by high priests to reach the afterlife intact, believing if the body was destroyed in any way it couldn’t reach heaven.
China venerated the dead to be certain they would be happy and content in their afterlife, so as to be no trouble for the living. If the living did not take proper care, the dead would come back as ‘hungry ghosts’ to make serious trouble for the living. Anything needed in heaven, TVs, cars, houses, are sent by ritualized burning to waft up to heaven. In Xian, a terracotta army of 100s of statues were buried with the 13th year old monarch who died, to protect him in heaven. In China, July is ‘ghost month.”
Judaism, the base of monotheistic religions. From 2000 BC, the 10 commandments of Abrahamism gave the moral foundation for most of Western laws and ethics and to all the monotheistic religions that came from it. There is the belief in an immortal soul that returns to its creator, and the righteous dead will be resurrected upon the coming of the Messiah..
The Four Religions of the East:
In Hinduism: the body is disgarded while the sol is indistructable being reincarnated in a cycle of rebirths. There are 6 heavenly levels, 7 neither regions, 28 levels of hells, ith Chantragupta serving as the God of Hell and the afterlife.
In Buddhism: 6th C Buddha teachings on heaven and hells is an outgrowth of India, There are 31 levels of being,. If good karma is collected one Is reborn into a temporary world, then reborn again. With form or formless conditions. Nirvana being the highest attainment…As there is no God in Buddhism, it is the Law of Karma that is your guide. Theravada form, you practice the boddisatva vow, but in Mahayana Buddhism, the Boddasatvas guide your way.
In Sikkism: Similar to the others Eastern beliefs, the soul needs to be reincarnated according to the deeds of the living.
In Zoroastrianism; Originating in Persia 6-7thC BC A savior figure reunites man with god. The Soul lingers near the body for 3 days, then crosses a bridge over a river into the underworld where gods judge, the bridge narrowing escape routes.
A religious side group of interest: In the Agarias of India, in their alcoholic and canabalistic rituals one is imbued with supernatural powers to attains a spiritual unity to achieve immortality.
Christianity: A similar 3 day period of rest for the soul, Lazarath waited until the 4th day before trying to ascend to heaven. In Roman Catholics, there is Heaven, hell and Purgatory, a belief in a physical resurrection to reunite body and spirit. St Michael carries the soul to heave, St Peter meets it at heaven’s gate to judge.
Islam: 7AD has 28 prophets of Allah. Mohammed 570-632 AD its first prophet. Allah is the same god as Judia-Christian. There are 7 levels In Islamic heaven for the immortal soul, and is described in details, jewelry, sexual pleasure, for eternity, If evil done, one goes ot Hell for correction time.
Eastern Orthodox Chruch, 10thC in Balkans, split from Rome, and were excommunicated. There is a same belief in afterlilfe, but no concept of purgatory.
Baha’i Faith, from a Persian nobleman, belief there is one God, belief in unity among all mankind. Banned in Iran because soul will retain individuality and remember its earth life, and will recognize and communicate with other souls.
Protestanism: the 2nd largest gody of Christians after Roman Catholics, belief the soul’s worth is its strength of belief, not of ones conduct. , belief in physical ressurection.
Annihilism believes all sinners are destroyed rather than tormented forever in Hell.
Mormons: one of the ‘Revealed’ Religions, stems from the Book of Mormons found by Joseph Smith in 18th C upstate New york. Belief we all lived previously in a pre-earth life, with heavenly mother and heavenly father. We die and go to a Spirit World where we are tested, there are 3 degrees of kingdoms of heaven, celestial terrestrial and a little place of Hell. There is Baptism for the dead, and a belief that we see people again in the next life. Thank you. Jeanne, this wide-ranging talk of afterlife gave fruit to the interesting discussions that followed.
