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Excerpt from
How Different Religions View Death and Afterlife, 2nd Edition

Questions & Answers about Death & Afterlife
 

QUESTION:

Is there a heaven, and if so, what is it like?

ANSWERS:

Assemblies of God

Heaven is a real place, a pleasant place. Jesus Christ is present there. God manifests His throne and rules in a special way there.

Baha’is

Although beyond complete comprehension to anyone in the temporal world, heaven is not a physical placed, but instead, designates spiritual proximity to God. Because spiritual development continues after physical life, heaven is not a fixed point of achievement, but part of an eternal spiritual evolution of the soul.

Baptists

Heaven is a place where the redeemed go to receive the reward of eternal companionship with God. It is depicted as being filled with mansions and golden streets. A new heaven and new earth will be formed after the final judgment.

Buddhism

There are numerous heavens, hierarchically arranged and inhabited by joyous, long-lived, but ultimately mortal beings known as "gods" and "demi-gods." There are also heaven-like realms, usually called Pure Lands, where the Enjoyment Body — an exalted body composed of light — of an enlightened being resides. This heaven is itself made of light that arises from that being’s enlightened wisdom: it has no independent existence without his or her presence there.

Christian Science

Christian Science teaches that heaven is a state of consciousness that acknowledges the present power and perfection of God and one’s permanent unity with God. Thus heaven is not reserved for a distant place or time, but describes a state that may be experienced right here and now.

Churches of Christ

Heaven is the dwelling place of God and the future residence of the righteous. It is a realm of peace and love. Much of the Biblical description of heaven is metaphorical and, therefore, its features are not now known by humans.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

There are three "degrees of glory" (I Corinthians 15). All are places of continuing growth and progress. The highest of these is the "Celestial Kingdom." Those who attain this level will live with God and Christ and with their own families. (Mormon Temple marriages are "for time and all eternity" rather than "till death do us part.")

Hinduism

The most ancient sacred texts of the Hindus, the Vedas, speak of the journey of the "soul" to the heavenly realm of the ancestors. The body of the deceased is "purified" and the soul conveyed to heaven by the fire of the cremation. On arrival there it receives a subtle body in which it can enjoy pleasures like those on earth and enjoy the rewards of his or her good deeds. Heaven was conceived as a "place" somewhat similar to life on earth, but without sickness, old age and death. Heaven is presided over by Yama, the first man to die and find the road to the celestial world and later identified as the messenger or god of the dead. Later texts describe two paths that the departed soul may take: the path of the ancestors, which leads to rebirth and the path of the gods, which leads to liberation (from rebirth). For those who take the path of the ancestors, heaven is a temporary place for the soul to enjoy the fruits of his or her good actions performed while on earth. When their merit is exhausted, their desires drag them back to earth and to rebirth. The ancient texts of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita identify the "attainment" of the "heavenly realm" with spiritual knowledge and virtuous conduct.

Islam

Heaven is described as a "Garden" having several layers (usually seven) with the highest being directly under God’s throne. Souls are content; they eat, drink and are able to gaze into the face of God.

Judaism

Heaven is a place where anxiety and travail are ended. Some sages have said that quiet, peaceful intellectual activity takes place and the mysteries of life are solved there. A praiseworthy life is of greater importance to the Jew than is seeking Heaven.

Lutherans

Lutherans generally believe that there is a heaven but are not given to speculative theology as to what the nature of heaven might be like.

Presbyterians

Heaven is dwelling in perfect holiness and joy with God; little is said about the nature of the next world because both heaven and hell are indescribable.

Quakers

Friends believe heaven constitutes a renewed creation, a "peaceable kingdom" with dimensions greater but not wholly unlike those experienced in earthly existence. Although it is cloaked in a mystery, the Spirit gives a foretaste of heaven’s glory.

Roman Catholics

"Heaven" designates a condition rather than a place: eternal fullness of life, supreme happiness flowing from intimacy with God.

Seventh-day Adventists

Heaven is being in the presence of God. It is the dwelling place of God and will ultimately be located on the renewed earth.

Unitarian Universalists

This faith accepts a scientific view of life and sees life as lived in the here and now rather than in the hereafter. It is not known whether or not there is an afterlife.

United Methodists

Most believe heaven exists and is characterized by being in the presence of God. (As with most of the other groups, among the United Methodists there are those who literally expect streets of gold and those who interpret heaven and hell more symbolically.)

Unity

Heaven is a state of consciousness in which the soul is attuned to the harmonious arrangement of divine ideas in Divine Mind. Divine ideas are not mere intellectual concepts; they are the living attributes, energies or patterns of God, including love, wisdom, order and joy. Thus those who are conscious of the presence and nature of Spirit can experience heaven on earth and in whatever other dimensions of experience there may be.

Zoroastrians

There is a heaven and it is called garo-demana ("the house of song") or wahisht ("best place"). Heaven is regarded as a paradisiacal location where souls dwell in peace and joy, enjoying warmth and pleasure until the resurrection.

OTHER QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THE BOOK INCLUDE:

Who will be saved?

Is there a hell, and if so, what is it like?

Who goes to hell?

What happens at the end of time and/or at a Judgment Day?

Does your faith believe in resurrection, and if so, will the body or spirit rise?

What happens after death to people who are not of your faith?

Is there a purgatory or limbo after death?

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