Throughout the history of man one of the biggest questions that haunt human existence is the

question of the Afterlife. Is there a “God”? Is there a heaven or a hell? Do we have souls? And
what happens to it once it leaves this earth and the physical body? The prospect of the unknown
has brought about many different ideas and theories; each religion, culture and era has developed
their own notions and set truths in order to explain what will happen once we die. In order to
gain some understanding on this subject this paper will exam the four biggest religions;
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism and how they explain the unknown and the divine
plane beyond ours. Christianity In the Christian religion they believe in the concept that after
physical death the soul maintains consciousness and there is an in-between state between death
and the resurrection of the body. Another concept is that until the resurrection, which will
happen during the Second Coming or the return of Jesus Christ also known as Judgment day, the
spirit sleeps. These two ideas are divided into three main sects; The Catholic Church, the
Orthodox Church, and Protestantism. Although all three of these groups are similar in that they
believe that upon death the soul will face judgment for his or her actions while on earth, they
each have their different perception of when and how it will happen. These in-between states
mentioned above are classified into two planes, Heaven and Hell, within the New Testament.
Even though Hades appears in both the New Testament and in the Revelation, to express the
concept of hell, the idea of hell does not derive from the place in Greek mythology that is the
underworld the place of the dead. This is due to the fact that it is a place that consists of the
undead both good and bad. Therefore to better understand hell one talk’s about Tartarus a place
in the underworld even lower than Hades were the wicked go. Hell is described to be a place or
state, were souls who have not repented for their sins and/or have rejected Jesus Christ as their
savior, suffer eternal damnation. In biblical teachings it is said that the soul passes into hell after
God has judged them irredeemable for their actions while on earth. Hades also consist of
Elysium, a utopia were those who have lived worthy lives go. This is known as the kingdom of
God or Kingdom of heaven, discussed mostly in Revelations in the New Testament. It is
considered a place or state that is inherited by the righteous a place of paradise and eternity with
god. Although the literalness of heaven is debatable, it is said while on earth, Jesus often
preached about the heven as a reward, a final destination, for those who have been virtuous and
followed the word of his father. Christians believe that in the end of time Jesus Christ will rise
again and all who have died will be resurrected for the Last Judgment. This is when the kingdom
of God will be fully established; in Revelation 21 it states that an army of angels will come down
from heaven to fight those who oppose God and reestablish Gods eternal reign over all of his
creations. It is the final day ware the wicked will be punished and the righteous rewarded.
Therefore those who want to be saved must repent for their sins and follow the teachings of Jesus
Christ so that they can be with him after Judgment day. The Catholic Church believes that upon
death those souls who have been saved do not go straight to heaven but go through a process of
purification in purgatory in order to be cleansed before they can be in God’s presence. Souls who
have not been saved however go straight to hell to be damned for all eternity. They also believe
that those who have not been baptized cannot go to heaven for they commit original sin, but
dwell in Limbo, if they have died without moral sin. Waiting for the Day of Judgment when
Jesus will come back to earth to bring those souls to heaven. The Orthodox Church believes that
both heaven and hell are in the same dimension, and one does not experience either separated
from God, hell just like heaven is simply being with God although hell still means living in
eternal damnation and suffering. According to the orthodox tradition God loves all human being
including the sinners, therefore he does not cut anyone off from himself but instead those who go
to hell are those who self-exclude themselves from everybody else .The Protestants believe that
hell was created by God in order to punish the devil, and his fallen angels. It is believed that after
judgment day those souls who did not seek deliverance from God while on earth would be sent
to hell to be punished for their sins, which are most people. However unlike Martin Luther who
believed that the soul stayed unconscious and slept after death, John Calvin, believed that souls
maintain awareness after physical death and went straight to hell upon dying. He based this off
of the fact that Protestants believed that because Jesus Christ had already paid for our sins on the
cross, there should be nothing stopping ones soul from going straight into heaven or hell.