Christians: about afterlife. What do you believe?

I was present with my mother when she passed. She said she could see Heaven and that it was beautiful but she was having trouble getting there. Then she started talking to Grandma. (Grandma had been dead many years.) Her last words were, "Oh help me Mamma," and she raised her arm as though reaching for Grandma's hand. Then her hand fell and she was gone. It was comforting because we knew she had gone with Grandma.

Hospice nurses say this is common.

Do you believe we die to be resurrected later and judged? yes

John 5:25

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

If so, do we lie unconscious, or do we reside somewhere conscious until later?

were conscious in heaven or hell

luke 16:19-31

Do you believe that we immediately find our final destination upon earthly death, or is that reserved for martyrs?

immediately upon death

Hebrews 9:27

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

for genuine christians resurrection to eternal life at Messiah's return - 1 thessalonians 4:13-18

for non christians resurrection to a physical life span of 100 years (isaiah 65:20) 1000 years after Messiah returns - ezekiel 37 / revelation 20

if at the end of those 100 years anyone would rather not live forever then they will cease to exist forever (revelation 20:14-15) while the rest of us move into our new home on the earth - revelation 21:16

was a member of the worldwide church of god till being excommunicated in 1990 for pointing out a few doctrinal errors being taught at that time which escalated into the destruction of that church later - i never gave up trying to endure till the end of my life or Messiah's return - matthew 10:22 / matthew 24:13

YES, I DO BELIEVE IN THE After Life. The Bible says so and I think so too. Just having more than two billion believers is good enough reason to do so since it has been said and written in many books and sources. WHO AM i TO DOUBT THE BELIEF OF SO MANY BELIEVERS.? CHRISTIANS AND NON CHRISTIANS HAVE HELD THIS BELIEF FOR CENTURIES WITHOUT LET UP AND STILL INCREASING IN NUMBERS? If you ask for proof that there is, then show me proof that there is none. .I will take my chances that THERE IS LIFE AFTER DEATH. !

It's not about what we believe, it's about what is the fact, as described in the Bible. What happens after we die has been answered many times before. For an extensive discussion on the subject, please see the source listed below:

Jesus when speaking as Christ said that greater things ye shall do than I have done...

So he was speaking to his disciples about reincarnation over time and more lives on earth. Amen

Look What Islam says...

LIFE AFTER DEATH

"We have ordained death among you, and We are not to be overcome, so that We may change your state and make you grow into what you know not." (The Holy Quran 56:60-61)

"O soul who is at rest, return to thy Lord, well-pleased (with Him), well-pleasing (Him). So enter among My servants, and enter My garden." (89:27-30)

"It (hell) is the fire kindled by Allah which rises over the hearts." (104:5-6)

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48. What does Islam teach about life after death?

It teaches that a human being not only has a body, but also has a 'spirit' given to him or her by God. The spirit is the seed from which a higher form of life grows within man, higher than physical life, just as the body has developed from a small 'seed'. Just as in the world around us higher forms of life evolve from lower ones, similarly from the life of the individual in this world is evolved his higher 'spiritual' life. During his life, man's deeds shape and mould his spirit, for better or worse, according to his deeds. When a person dies, the physical body is finished, but the spirit remains, as he or she had moulded it by their deeds when alive. That is the life after death.

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49. How is the spirit shaped during our life here?

Just as our physical actions and habits affect the body and leave their impressions upon it, so does the good or evil of our deeds affect the spirit and leave an impression upon it. Sometimes we can even feel something of the effect of a good or bad deed upon us. If we nourish the spirit through prayer to God and, with the strength we get from this, do good and righteous deeds, the spirit will develop and grow properly. But if the spirit is neglected, and bad deeds are done, it suffers harm. It is as if God has given each person a piece of soft clay. It is then up to the individual to shape it into something beautiful or ugly by his deeds.

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50. Is man rewarded after death for his good deeds and punished for the bad ones?

As has been said above, good deeds benefit the spirit and evil deeds harm it. This effect upon the spirit is what constitutes the reward or punishment for one's deeds. In this life we can occasionally feel this effect, but only very faintly and vaguely. After death, when only the spirit is left, bearing all the impressions of deeds done throughout life, the effects of those deeds will be felt clearly and vividly. It is this which is the reward for good deeds and suffering for evil deeds.

One reason we know the Christian system is false is that it is unjust. For murderous Nazis (like Hitler) to be rewarded for eternity simply for accepting the bloody human sacrifice of a man to "wash away their sins," before they finally died, while the peope he murdered, who had harmed nobody, but had rejected that man, spend an eternity in a Hell is clearly unjust.

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51. What are heaven and hell?

Heaven and hell are not actual places somewhere in the universe, but really our inner conditions or the condition of the spirit resulting from our deeds. Heaven and hell begin in this life within a person's heart. The feelings of bliss and contentment at doing good is the heaven in one's heart. And the guilt, shame and greed felt by an evil doer is the hell of the heart. After death, the heaven or hell that developed in the heart is unfolded before us and becomes the world in which we live, and we live in it not with the physical body of this life but the 'spiritual' body made from our deeds.

Jesus says:

« Man falls into error when considering life and death and applying these two nouns. He calls “life” the period of time in which, born of his mother, he begins to breathe, to nourish himself, to move, to think, to act; and he calls “death” the moment when he ceases breathing, eating, moving, thinking, acting and he becomes cold insensitive remains, ready to go back into a bosom: a sepulcher. But it is not so. I want to make you understand “life”, and point out to you the actions suitable to life.

Life is not existence. Existence is not life.[...] The life of which I am speaking does not begin with the existence of the body and does not cease with the ending of the flesh. The life to which I refer does not start in a mother's womb. It begins when a soul is created by the Thought of God to dwell in a body, it ends when sin kills it.

Man, at first, is but a seed that grows, a seed of flesh, instead of gluten or of marrow, like the seeds of cereals and of fruit. At first he is but an animal taking shape, the embryo of an animal like the one now swelling in the womb of that sheep. But the moment that this incorporeal part, which is also the most powerful in its subliming incorporeity, is infused into the human conception, then the animal embryo does not only exist as a beating heart, but it lives according to the Creating Thought, and becomes man, created in the image and likeness of God, the son of God, the future citizen of Heaven.

But that happens if life lasts. Man can exist having only the image of man, but no longer being man. That is, he is a sepulcher in which life putrifies. That is why I say: “Life does not begin with existence and does not cease with the ending of the flesh.” Life begins before birth. Life, then, never ends, because the soul does not die, that is, it does not fall into nothingness. It dies to its destiny, which is the celestial destiny, but it survives its punishment. It dies to that blissful destiny, by dying to Grace. This life, hit by a canker which is the death of its destiny, lasts throughout centuries in damnation and torture. This life, if preserved as such, reaches the perfection of living, by becoming eternal, perfect, blissful like its Creator.

Have we any obligations to life? Yes, we have. It is a gift of God. Every gift of God is to be used and preserved carefully, because it is as holy as the Donor. Would you ill-use the gift of a king? No. It is handed down to the heirs, and to the heirs of the heirs, as a glory to the family. Why then ill-treat a gift of God? How is this divine gift to be used and preserved? How is this heavenly flower of the soul to be kept alive to preserve it for Heaven? How can you achieve “to live” above and beyond existence? Israel has clear laws on the matter and has only to comply with them. Israel has prophets and just people who set examples and explain how to observe the laws. Israel has now also its saints. Israel cannot, should not err. I see stained hearts and dead souls swarming everywhere. So, I say to you: do penance; open your souls to the Word; practise the immutable Law; give fresh blood to the worn out “life” which is languishing within you; if it is already dead, come to the true Life: to God. Bewail your sins. Shout: “Mercy!” But rise from the dead. Do not be dead people alive, so that in future you may not suffer eternally. I will speak to you only of the way to reach and preserve life. Another man said to you: “Do penance. Cleanse yourselves of the impure fire of lust, of the mud of sin.” I say to you: My poor friends, let us study the Law together. Let us hear in it, once again, the fatherly voice of the true God. And then let us pray together the Eternal Father saying: “May Your mercy descend into our hearts.”

It is now gloomy winter. But spring will come before long. A dead soul is more sad than a forest made bare by frost. But if humility, good will, penance and faith penetrate you, life will come back to you, like a forest in spring, and you will blossom to God, to bear the everlasting fruits of true life in future, in the future of centuries without end.

Come to Life! Cease existing only and begin “to live”. Death, then, will not be the “end”, but the beginning. The beginning of a never ending day, of a peace­ful immeasurable joy. Death will be the triumph of what lived before the flesh, and the triumph of the flesh called to eternal resurrection, to take part in this Life that, in the name of the true God, I promise to all those who “want” that “life” for their souls, crushing under their feet sensuality and passions, to enjoy the freedom of the children of God. »...