by Reynold Conger

Created on: January 19, 2009   Last Updated: January 24, 2009

The rich young ruler asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Life here on Earth is finite. We see people die and know that eventually there will be the day when our bodies will stop functioning. What will happen then? A few people believe that death is simply the end, but the majority of the people in the world believe in some form of continuity after death. Athiests may not believe in an after life, but all religions teach that a part of a person that we call the soul persists for eternity. Some religions believe in some form of reincarnation. Others believe that a person's soul goes either to Heaven, a place of reward, to Hell, a place of punishment, or to some "holding pen" such as Pergatory pending a disposition to either Heaven or Hell.

Two of the great religions of the world, Christianity and Islam, hold parallel views of what happens to the soul of a dead person, but they hold completely divergent doctrines regarding how one reaches Heaven or is consigned to Hell.

For the purpose of this article, I am using the words man and he generically. The term man encompasses all humans, both male and female. The term he is used only as a convenience to avoid having to say things like he or she. The pronoun he is used to indicate a person of either gender.

For both religions, Hell is a place of eternal torment and punishment. Both the Bible and the Koran talk of a Hell in graphic language. Regardless of whether one takes such scripture literally or whether one interprets the scripture metaphorically, Hell is definately a destination to be avoided.

Heaven is a place of reward. To the Christian, the focus of Heaven is God. There are rewards such as mansions and crowns, but the focus of existance in Heaven is a close and loving relationship with God and with other Christians. While the Bible tells us that there is no sorrow or pain in Heaven, it also tells us that there is no marriage in Heaven. This implys that sex and other carnal pleasures are replaced in Heaven by something better, but unspecified. The common picture of Heaven expressed by most Muslims is a devine theme park. Muslims interpret the Koran to say that souls in Heaven enjoy all of the carnal pleasures of life and enjoy them in abundance. A case in point are the radical Muslim etreemists who expect that their martyrdem will earn them an eternal orgy with 57 virgins. Except on the basis of faith, one can not be sure which religion is correct, but members of both religions desire to go to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>