Friday, December 5, 2014
PHILOSOPHER'S CORNER:- Is There Heaven?
In today’s world, most people do not have a problem believing that the spirit is eternal. Even those who do not consider themselves “religious” often believe in some form of life after death. They just are not sure what it is, and many do not want to know. Hell is an unfashionable topic. New Age teachings have settled in almost every facet of our society with vague, cozy feelings of the “afterlife.”
In philosophy, religion, mythology, and fiction, the afterlife (also referred to as life after death or the Hereafter) is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself (whether physical or transcendental), in which an essential part of an individual's identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body in the individual's lifetime. According to various ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on after death may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death.
In some popular views, this continued existence often takes place in a spiritual realm, and in other popular views, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Other world. Major views on the afterlife are derived from religion, esotericism and metaphysics.
Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by a god, gods, or other divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life. In contrast, in systems of reincarnation, such as those in the Indian religions, the nature of the continued existence is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the ended life, rather than through the decision of another being.
Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Matthew 10:28 - And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
We have read many documented accounts of people who have died in their physical bodies and have given testimony that they entered into a spiritual dimension beyond this life. Life did not cease for them. They then returned to their bodies to tell of their experiences. Some tell of seeing a “white light,” others give descriptions of hell; still others see Jesus or angels. What awaits us on the other side? This will be determined by what we did in this life. Just because people report they saw a “white light” does not mean they will go to heaven when they die.
Yet the troublesome question still remains–why must we die in the first place? The truth is, God never made us to die. Death of the body was not God’s original plan. It is the result of sin. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin (disobedience to God), sin entered into this world; as a result of it, every single one of us will face death at sometime. When we die, we will also face judgment before God.
Muslims believe that the present life is a trial in preparation for the next realm of existence. When a Muslim dies, he or she is washed and wrapped in a clean, white cloth (usually by a family member) and buried after a special prayer, preferably the same day. Muslims consider this a final service that they can do for their relatives and an opportunity to remember that their own existence here on earth is brief.
All the Prophets of God called their people to worship God and to believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on the belief in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God and made all other beliefs meaningless.
God has given man besides perceptual consciousness, rational, aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is this consciousness that guides man regarding realities that cannot be verified through sensory data. That is why all the Prophets of God while calling people to believe in God and life after death, appeal to the aesthetic, moral and rational consciousness of man.
For example, when the idolaters of Makkah denied even the possibility of life after death, the Quran exposed the weakness of their stand by advancing very logical and rational arguments in support of it:
And he (i.e. man) presents for Us an example (i.e. attempting to establish the finality of death) and forgets his [own] creation. He says, “Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?” Say, “He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing.” [It is] He who made for you from the green tree, fire, and then from it you ignite. Is not He who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it is so]; and He is the Knowing Creator. (Quran, 36:78-81)
The explanation that the Quran gives about the necessity of life after death is what the moral consciousness of man demands.
Actually, if there is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes meaningless or even if one believes in God, it would be unjust and indifferent God, having once created man and now not being concerned with his fate.
The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and happiness by making individuals most responsible and dutiful in their activities.
The question of whether there is life after death does not fall under the jurisdiction of science, as science is concerned only with classification and analysis of sense data. Moreover, man has been busy with scientific inquiries and research, in the modern sense of the term, only for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with the concept of life after death since time immemorial.
The scientific community demands much greater skepticism than is found among most religions regarding the belief in the continuity of consciousness after death. Regarding the mind–body problem, most neuroscientists take a physicalist position according to which consciousness derives from and/or is reducible to physical phenomena such as neuronal activity occurring in the brain.The implication of this premise is that once the brain stops functioning at brain death, consciousness fails to survive and ceases to exist.
With all religious argument above, we still insist that nobody had gone and return to tell us with accurate facts that these are my evidences for live after death. All these arguments are mere hearsay from the prophets. If it is true that man created religion and invariably created God not the reverse as claimed, and religion is the opinion of the people or tools in the hand of the state to manipulate the masses thence those religious arguments above are not true.
Let's also look at it like this, can anyone narrate his experience before life? If no, how can such an individual explain his experience after death. Life before death to the individual was blank, life after death will also be blank. Man will absolutely be unconscious after death. If man created religion and as well created God, how can there be life after the death of man when he must have been unconscious?
Observations and contrary opinions can be sent to Amodu Murisiku Ayoku, ayomurisiku@yahoo.com, 08057356316.
Or The Editor, blackboxnigeria360@gmail.com
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