This is one question but there are many answers given. Which one is the correct answer? Many Christians believe in the heaven and hell concept. Hindus, on the other hand, believe in reincarnation. According to Islamic belief, Allah will assess each one's life course and consign a person to paradise or to hellfire. No matter what your religion, most religions agree on one fundamental idea: Something inside a person is immortal and continues living after death. Belief in the immortality of the soul is all but universal in thousands of religions and sects.
Some, although minority, take the opposite view, that conscious life ends at death. Ancient philosophers like Aristotle and Epicurus, refused to believe in immortality.
So the question is, Is there an immortal soul that lives on? Where did the belief in an immortal soul come from? And if there is not an immortal soul then is there any hope for the dead?
To find out what happens when we die we must ask the giver of life for the answer. Of course we can't interview the creator but we can read his words on the matter that he had written for us to answer these sorts of questions.
The word soul is used in the Bible many times. To understand the meaning of the word used in God's word we need to look a little closer at the original words used.
In the Old Testament soul is used over 700 times. The Hebrew word translated "soul" is nephesh. According to The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, it "refers to the entire living being, to the whole individual."
For example, Genesis 2:7 states: God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive-a living soul! -the message Note that Adam did not have a soul; he was a soul. This is heavily supported in the OT-Leviticus 5:1; Psalm 119:28; Judges 16:16; Leviticus 23:30; Deuteronomy 24:7; Job 19:2.
In the New Testament the word translated "soul" is used more than a hundred times. The Greek word translated "soul" is psykhe. Like nephesh, this word refers to a whole person or to their life. Some examples in the NT are: Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 3:20; John 12:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Acts 2:43; Matthew 10:28.
To understand what happens at death we first need to understand why we die. Romans 5:12 explains simply that we die because we inherited sin or imperfection from our father, the first man, Adam. He was created perfect and was told that he would only die if he was disobedient to God. When he sinned against God he became imperfect and spread sin and death to all mankind. What happened to him when he died? Genesis 3:19 tells us, "In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return." So God said Adam would return from where he was created. Before he was created he did not exist and when he died he no longer existed. Simple as that! Wise King Solomon, under God's inspiration wrote what happens to us when we die. "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."-Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 KJ
So when we go to the grave we are not conscience anymore. We don't have some part of us that lives on. We simply do not exist any longer.
Does this mean that the dead have no hope of living again? No! Jesus showed what he would do for the ones that have died when he resurrected his friend Lazarus. (John11:1-44) "The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment."-John 5:28, 29
Each person who has died, whether good or bad, has a chance to have a resurrection. In a sense, God keeps the memory of each person's life with him. The vast majority of those who have died will be resurrected to life on earth. -Psalm 37:29; Matthew 5:3; 6:10.
God has promised that this earth will be turned into a paradise where people will never get sick, old or die.- Psalm 37:11; Isaiah 33:24; Revelation 21:4.