Do you think after we die that we go straight to heaven or hell, or do we have to wait until judgment day?

Question

I WANDERED THIS QUESTION AFTER READING SEVERAL SCRIPTURES IN THE BIBLE. I HAVE MANY SAY THAT WE DON'T GO UNTIL JUDGMENT DAY, BUT THE STORY OF LAZURUS SAYS SOMETHING ELSE. WHEN THE RICH MAN DIED HE WENT STRAIGHT TO HELL, THE SCRIPTURES SAID THAT HE COULD LOOK UP AND SEE LAZURUS, AND SPEAKS OF THE TORMENT THIS MAN WAS IN AND THAT HE COULD GET QUENCH FOR HIS THIRST.

Answer 1

i believe that our spirit ( or soul ) goes to heaven. that is if you are right with God .. otherwise if you have sinned and not ask for God to forgive you your sins you'll probably go to hell. that's why God is a forgiving God ... you could be dying and ask right then and there for forgivness and He'll forgive you.

Answer 2

If you die born again or weren't yet at the age of accountability, you go straight to Heaven.
The opposite are taken to Hell. Hell and the lake of fire are different. Hell is like a prison. The Bible says that in the end, Hell will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

At the Great White Throne Judgement, only the wicked dead, Satan, and his angels will be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire.

Everyone else will not be judged at the Great White Throne Judgement.

So, those right with God straight to Heaven.
Everyone else taken to prison (Hell).

Answer 3

The Bible doesn't answer all our questions about life after death—but it does tell us very clearly that that when we die we go immediately into the presence of the Lord if we know Christ. Paul's great hope was "to be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).

How is this possible? It's possible for one reason: Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for our sins. You see, when He died on the cross, all of our sins—not some of them, but all of them—were transferred to Him. He was sinless, but He willingly took the punishment you and I deserve. The Bible puts it this way: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose you went to the bank and borrowed a large sum of money to buy a house. As long as you owed that debt, the house wouldn't really be yours, and you'd have to keep on paying. But then suppose someone came along and paid off your debt. Would you keep on making payments to the bank? No, of course not—because the debt had already been cancelled.

In a far greater way, we are all guilty before God, and our sins have created a debt to Him we can never repay—never. But listen: Jesus Christ has already paid it—completely and fully! The debt has been cancelled! Put your faith and trust in Christ today.
the Bible clearly teaches that if we know Christ, we are safely in God's hands forever when we die, and that nothing "in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

Does this mean we immediately enter heaven when we die? My own study of the Bible has convinced me that we do. This is reflected in many passages in the Bible. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies" (John 11:25). The Apostle Paul wrote, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Philippians 1:23). The Bible also says, "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands" (2 Corinthians 5:1).

We need to remember, however, one additional truth: At the end of this present age, God will reunite our souls and our bodies. In fact, we will be given new bodies—bodies that will be similar to Christ's body after His resurrection. They will never experience illness or pain, and they will never grow old.

p.s the story of lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16 is a excellent story to substantiate immediate joy or immediate torment after death. God bless.

Answer 4

When we die, our spirits go to a spirit world. The righteous will reside in a paradisical world of spirits while the unrighteous will live in a spirit prison, a hellish world of torment.

We will live in this spirit world until the resurrection of our bodies that will reunite with the spirits. After the judgment of Christ, we go to our eternal rewards--not before.

Answer 5

By what Jesus said about the rich man and Lazarus, did Jesus teach torment of the wicked after death?

Is the account, at Luke 16:19-31, literal or merely an illustration of something else? The Jerusalem Bible, in a footnote, acknowledges that it is a “parable in story form without reference to any historical personage.” If taken literally, it would mean that those enjoying divine favor could all fit at the bosom of one man, Abraham; that the water on one’s fingertip would not be evaporated by the fire of Hades; that a mere drop of water would bring relief to one suffering there. Does that sound reasonable to you? If it were literal, it would conflict with other parts of the Bible. If the Bible were thus contradictory, would a lover of truth use it as a basis for his faith? But the Bible does not contradict itself.

What does the parable mean? The “rich man” represented the Pharisees. (See verse 14.) The beggar Lazarus represented the common Jewish people who were despised by the Pharisees but who repented and became followers of Jesus. (See Luke 18:11.) Their deaths were also symbolic, representing a change in circumstances. Thus, the formerly despised ones came into a position of divine favor, and the formerly seemingly favored ones were rejected by God, while being tormented by the judgment messages delivered by the ones whom they had despised. Acts 5:33; 7:54.

Jesus Christ spoke about the condition of the dead. He did so with regard to Lazarus, a man whom he knew well and who had died. Jesus told his disciples: “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest.” The disciples thought that Jesus meant that Lazarus was resting in sleep, recovering from an illness. They were wrong. Jesus explained: “Lazarus has died.” (John 11:11-14) Notice that Jesus compared death to rest and sleep. Lazarus was neither in heaven nor in a burning hell. He was not meeting angels or ancestors. Lazarus was not being reborn as another human. He was at rest in death, as though in a deep sleep without dreams. Other scriptures also compare death to sleep. For example, when the disciple Stephen was stoned to death, the Bible says that he “fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60) Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote about some in his day who had “fallen asleep” in death.—1 Corinthians 15:6.


The Bible teaches that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” They are not alive and have no conscious existence anywhere. The account of Lazarus confirms this. Upon returning to life, did Lazarus thrill people with descriptions of heaven? Or did he terrify them with horrible tales about a burning hell? No. The Bible contains no such words from Lazarus. During the four days that he was dead, he had been “conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Lazarus had simply been sleeping in death.—John 11:11.
The account of Lazarus also teaches us that the resurrection is a reality, not a mere myth. Jesus raised Lazarus in front of a crowd of eyewitnesses. Even the religious leaders, who hated Jesus, did not deny this miracle.

Think about this too: If Lazarus had been in heaven for those four days, would he not have said something about it?— And if he had been in heaven, would Jesus have made him come back to earth from that wonderful place?— Of course not!

Yet, many people say that we have a soul, and they say that the soul lives on after the body dies. They say that Lazarus’ soul was alive somewhere. But the Bible does not say that. It says that God made the first man Adam “a living soul.” Gen. 2:7, Adam was a soul. The Bible also says that when Adam sinned, he died. He became a “dead soul,” and he returned to the dust from which he had been made. The Bible also says that all Adam’s offspring inherited sin and death too.

The Scriptural teaching of the resurrection, however, is not compatible with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. If an immortal soul survived death, no one would need to be resurrected, or brought back to life. Indeed, Martha expressed no thought about an immortal soul that was living on elsewhere after death. She did not believe that Lazarus had already gone to some spirit realm to continue his existence. On the contrary, she showed her faith in God’s purpose to reverse the effects of death. She said: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:23, 24) Likewise, Lazarus himself related no experiences of some afterlife. There was nothing to report.

Clearly, according to the Bible, the soul dies and the remedy for death is the resurrection. You enjoy the best sleep ever, until Jesus resurrects you, sometime in the future.

Answer 6

don't let the bible freak you out...you have the rest of your life to research and learn about all the varying scriptures that are out there: from the book of the dead to the koran, if you can get your hands on them...there are different versions of where death takes you depending on your religion/upbringing...one thing's for sure: anyone who knows for sure ain't here to tell you!!

Answer 7

We just don't go to hell. There IS no such thing as hell. It's only a fairy story in VERY bad taste, that the church is telling you so you are afraid. But don't worry. Nothing of that is true.

Answer 8

Jesus turned to the man who believed in him on the cross and said "today you will be with me in paradise" I think we would go today God bless ya!

Answer 9

we wait untill judgement day ofcourse, you get judged on that day based on your actions and beliefs and either go to heaven or hell, however your grave could either be a part of heaven or a part of hell.

Answer 10

" It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment".