How Do I Receive an Afterlife of Reward? - Part 1

What happens to us when we die? Do we cease to exist or does a part of us continue to exist in an afterlife? According to a study done by Lifeway Research, 82 percent of young adults in America believe that people’s spirits continues to exist in an afterlife after they die. This same study observed that 77 percent of young adults in America believe in the existence of a place of reward in the afterlife. And 63 percent of young adults in America say that their belief about the existence (or inexistence) of an afterlife has an impact on the way they live.[1]

We can conclude, from this data, that the majority of young adults in America not only believe in an afterlife of reward, but are also seeking to inherit it when they die, meaning that they are asking the question, “How do I receive an afterlife of reward?” To some degree, every major world religion claims to have the answer to this question. And all of their answers differ to one degree or another. Over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to be writing a series of posts which summarize the answers given by various world religions on how to inherit an afterlife of reward.

Judaism

Jews believe that in Genesis, God chose Abram (Abraham) and his descendants, through his son Isaac, to be his people. According to their religious book, the Torah (the Old Testament), they were the only people who were promised to receive an afterlife of reward. Although God chose all Jews to be his people, they believe that they can still choose to reject God by failing to obey God’s commands as written in the Torah and thus, miss out on the eternal reward. The way to guarantee entrance into heaven is to rule over sin by obeying the entire Torah.[2]

Since the Torah isn’t clear on the specifics of what the afterlife of reward will look like, Judaism doesn’t take a definitive stance on the characteristics of heaven.

Islam

Muslims believe in an eternal afterlife of reward called Janna. Anyone who believes in Allah (God) and does good deeds will go to Janna when they die (Surah 2:25). Some of the good deeds people can perform are praying in congregation in the mosque, attending funerals and offering the funeral prayer, praising Allah by saying, “There is not god but Allah alone, with no partner or associate; His is the Dominion, to Him be all praise, and He is able to do all things” one hundred times each day, upholding the ties of kinship, observing voluntary fasts, visiting the sick, giving to charity, and reading the Quran, their religious book.[3] Although all these deeds are good, the only deed which will guarantee a person’s entrance into Janna is to be a martyr for Allah.[4]

The Quran describes the rewards for men in Janna in great detail such as being a place of peace where sin no longer exists (Surah 56:25-26), the opportunity to sit on ornamental thrones of happiness (Surah 56:15-16), being accompanied by their earthly wives (Surah 56:34-39), being served by young boys (Surah 56:17), and encountering many young, beautiful virgins (Surah 55:70-74). Some Muslims interpret Surah 44:51-55 and 52:17-20 to say that they will be married to some of these beautiful young virgins.[5]

Christianity – Catholic

The next religion I will address is Christianity. However, I have decided to break Christianity into four sub-groupings for two reasons: (1) the majority of people in America claim to be associated with Christianity and (2) all four of these groups share varying beliefs about heaven. In this post, I will be addressing Roman Catholicism and in my next post, I’ll be addressing Protestantism, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witness.

Going to heaven in Roman Catholicism is a function of both grace and works. Catholics believe that Jesus died on the cross to offer grace to all people by forgiving their sins, but his forgiveness only takes effect in people who respond in faith, which is an act of one’s free will. To respond in faith is defined as believing in Jesus, repenting of one’s sins, and being baptized.[6] Beyond the initial acts of faith, one must remain in communion with God and the church and not hold onto any unconfessed mortal sins. Only the person who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13).

Catholics believe that when a purified person dies (or a person who has been refined in purgatory), he will enter “communion [heaven] of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed.” They believe this is “the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.”[7]

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How about you? Have you asked this question? What conclusions have you drawn? Are there other perspectives you’d like to hear about?

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[1] Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them (Nashville: B&H, 2009), 42.

[2] Mordechai Housman, “How Does a Jew Attain Salvation?”, n.d., accessed February 13, 2017, http://www.beingjewish.com/toshuv/salvation.html.

[3] “Examples of Good Deeds We Can Do Every Day to Increase Our Hasanaat,” February 19, 2009, accessed February 13, 2017, https://islamqa.info/en/36546.

[4] “How to Get to Heaven: What Are the Ideas from the Different Religions,” n.d., accessed February 13, 2017, https://www.gotquestions.org/how-to-get-to-heaven.html.

[5] B. A. Robinson, “About Islam: The Rewards of Paradise,” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, December 13, 2005, accessed February 13, 2017, http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_para.htm.

[6] John 3:5, 3:16, Matthew 28:19-20, and Acts 2:38 are used to support this belief.

[7] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance with the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 1023.