what happens to us when we die?

Question

plz tell me what you think happens when you die
if you belive in god or not
where we go

Answer 1

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 2

When we die, we lose consciousness. We have no idea where we are and we struggle to make sense of our new environment. The dimension we have just entered is a far cry from the reality of Earth that we are accustomed to, and to make matters worse, we have no memory or references to the realm we have just entered. Until we have gained consensus, we may call it the "astral plane," a term I wish would disappear right now. Heaven is a state of mind in this given dimension into which we are calm and collectied, remaining still until we regain consciousness in this realm. Hell is a state of mind into which we struggle to the death so as to awaken and move on. When we do wake up, we have no idea that we are dead until we look back upon the past and realize that we are no longer part of the Earth. Even the souls of the deceased grieve over their loss.

Answer 3

I have no opinion...But I will tell you the TRUTH! In the Book of Acts and Ecclesiastes they both mention the dead are DEAD--period! Their thoughts are no more! Christ often said people who had died were merely "sleeping"!...The HOPE of ALL humanity is a raising--a RESSURECTION FROM THE DEAD! So rest your mind...GOD will RAISE UP all that have died today,yesterday,and tomorrow! HOW would you need GOD to give you eternal life IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AN "IMMORTAL SOUL"??? Nonsense...GOD saves noone who refuses to obey Him. Oh--and noone is tormented in some devilish hellfire either...It is true that a lake of Fire awaits the wicked who refuse to change--but ONLY as a last resort! And they are "ASHES" under the feet of the righteous--NOT tormented forever!-They are simply put out of their misery and become as though they never were! This reflects God's MERCY! It is the immortal DEMONS and SATAN who are tormented forever--and rightfully so.......Yours,Aslan

Answer 4

For those who believe, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

For non-believers:
Some believe they go to hell.
Others believe they go to the grave until the final judgment after the thousand year reign of Christ.

Why such a difference?
It is because of Revelation 20:4-6.
Read it and see what you think.

Answer 5

The One who gave life to all living creatures is certainly capable of restoring life to someone who has died. .The Bible reports eight instances of humans—young, old, male, and female—who were brought back to life on earth. Some had been dead for a short while, but one had been in a tomb for four days!—John 11:39-44....

Answer 6

We either go to Heaven or hell. You have to accept Christ as your savior and ask Him into your heart and cleanse you of your sins. That is IF you want to go to Heaven. Visit a Christian church. Ask questions. God loves you and wants you to be with Him but He gives us the ability to choose how we live our lives. Do you believe? Take the first step. Talk to Him now. You can talk to Him anytime you like. Ask Him to save you and to give you knowledge. God bless you in your search.

Answer 7

The idea of death is a mystery for all of us and for some of us, it's a scary thing. The fact is, we have all lived and died in our previous lives; and it's called reincarnation. Whether people chose to believe in reincarnation is solely on them, but it's real.

Answer 8

You'll go to the same place you've been before you were born. You know what it "feels" like, you've experienced it. I'm surprised you even ask.

Answer 9

You go to heaven or hell that simple!

Answer 10

Life After Death—What Does the Bible Say?

“Dust you are and to dust you will return.”—GENESIS 3:19.

“THE theory of everlasting suffering is inconsistent with belief in God’s love for created things. . . . To believe in the eternal punishment of the soul for the mistakes of a few years, without giving it a chance for correction, is to go against all the dictates of reason,” observed Hindu philosopher Nikhilananda.

Like Nikhilananda, many today are uncomfortable with the teaching of eternal torment. By the same token, others have difficulty understanding such concepts as the achieving of Nirvana and being at one with nature. Even among those who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible, there are differing ideas about what the soul is and what happens to it when we die. But what does the Bible really teach about the soul? To find out, we need to examine the meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated “soul” in the Bible.

The Soul According to the Bible

The Hebrew word translated “soul” is ne′phesh, and it occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. What does ne′phesh mean? According to The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, it “usually refers to the entire living being, to the whole individual.” This is borne out by the Bible’s description of the soul at Genesis 2:7: “Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.” Note that the first man “came to be” a soul. That is to say, Adam did not have a soul; he was a soul—just as someone who becomes a doctor is a doctor. The word “soul,” then, here describes the whole person.

The word translated “soul” (psy‧khe′) appears more than a hundred times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Like ne′phesh this word often refers to the whole person. For example, consider the following statements: “My soul is troubled.” (John 12:27) “Fear began to fall upon every soul.” (Acts 2:43) “Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities.” (Romans 13:1) “Speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14) “A few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” (1 Peter 3:20) Clearly, psy‧khe′, like ne′phesh, refers to the whole person. According to scholar Nigel Turner, this word “signifies what is characteristically human, the self, the material body having God’s rûaḥ [spirit] breathed into it. . . . The emphasis is on the whole self.”

Interestingly, in the Bible the word “soul” applies not only to humans but also to animals. For example, in describing the creation of sea creatures, Genesis 1:20 says that God commanded: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls.” And on the next creative day, God said: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.”—Genesis 1:24; compare Numbers 31:28.

Thus, the word “soul” as used in the Bible refers to a person or an animal or to the life that a person or an animal enjoys. (See box above.) The Bible’s definition of the soul is simple, consistent, and unencumbered by the complicated philosophies and superstitions of men. That being the case, the urgent question that must be asked is, According to the Bible, what happens to the soul at death?

The Dead Are Unconscious

The condition of the dead is made clear at Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, where we read: “The dead know nothing . . . There is no pursuit, no plan, no knowledge or intelligence, within the grave.” (Moffatt) Death, therefore, is a state of nonexistence. The psalmist wrote that when a person dies, “he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” (Psalm 146:4) The dead are unconscious, inactive.

When pronouncing sentence upon Adam, God stated: “Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) Before God formed him from the dust of the ground and gave him life, Adam did not exist. When he died, he returned to that state. His punishment was death—not a transfer to another realm. What, then, happened to his soul? Since in the Bible the word “soul” often simply refers to a person, when we say that Adam died, we are saying that the soul named Adam died. This might sound unusual to a person who believes in the immortality of the soul. However, the Bible states: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Ezekiel 18:4) Leviticus 21:1 speaks of “a deceased soul” (a “corpse,” The Jerusalem Bible). And Nazirites were told not to come near “any dead soul” (“a dead body,” Lamsa).—Numbers 6:6.

What, though, about the statement at Genesis 35:18 regarding the tragic death of Rachel, which occurred as she gave birth to her second son? There we read: “As her soul was going out (because she died) she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.” Does this passage imply that Rachel had an inner being that departed at her death? Not at all. Remember, the word “soul” can also refer to the life that a person possesses. So in this case Rachel’s “soul” simply meant her “life.” That is why other Bible translations render the phrase “her soul was going out” as “her life was ebbing away” (Knox), “she breathed her last” (JB), and “her life went from her” (Bible in Basic English). There is no indication that a mysterious part of Rachel survived her death.

It is similar with the resurrection of a widow’s son, recorded in 1 Kings chapter 17. In verse 22, we read that as Elijah prayed over the young boy, “Jehovah listened to Elijah’s voice, so that the soul of the child came back within him and he came to life.” Once again, the word “soul” means “life.” Thus, the New American Standard Bible reads: “The life of the child returned to him and he revived.” Yes, it was life, not some shadowy form, that returned to the boy. This is in harmony with what Elijah said to the boy’s mother: “See, your son [the whole person] is alive.”—1 Kings 17:23.

What About the Spirit?

The Bible says that when a person dies, “his spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground.” (Psalm 146:4) Does this mean that a disembodied spirit literally departs and lives on after a person’s death? That could not be, for the psalmist next says: “In that day his thoughts do perish” (“all his thinking ends,” The New English Bible). What, then, is the spirit, and how does it ‘go out’ from a person at the time of his death?

In the Bible the words translated “spirit” (Hebrew, ru′ach; Greek, pneu′ma) basically mean “breath.” Thus, instead of “his spirit goes out,” the translation by R. A. Knox uses the phrase “the breath leaves his body.” (Psalm 145:4) But the word “spirit” implies much more than the act of breathing. For example, in describing the destruction of human and animal life at the time of the global Deluge, Genesis 7:22 says: “Everything in which the breath of the force [or, spirit; Hebrew, ru′ach] of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.” So “spirit” may refer to the life-force that is active in all living creatures, both humans and animals, and that is sustained by breathing.

What, then, does it mean when Ecclesiastes 12:7 states that when a person dies, “the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it”? Does this mean that the spirit literally travels through space into God’s presence? Nothing of the sort is implied. Since the spirit is the life-force, it “returns to the true God” in the sense that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God. Only God can restore the spirit, or life-force, causing a person to come back to life. (Psalm 104:30) But does God purpose to do so?

“He Will Rise”

In the small town of Bethany, about two miles [3 km] east of Jerusalem, Mary and Martha were mourning the untimely death of their brother, Lazarus. Jesus shared their grief, for he had affection for Lazarus and his sisters. How could Jesus console the sisters? Not by telling them some convoluted story, but by telling them the truth. Jesus simply said: “Your brother will rise.” Jesus then went to the tomb, and he resurrected Lazarus—restoring life to a man who had been dead for four days!—John 11:18-23, 38-44.

Was Martha surprised by Jesus’ statement that Lazarus would “rise”? Apparently not, for she answered: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” She already had faith in the promise of a resurrection. Jesus then told her: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life.” (John 11:23-25) The miracle of Lazarus’ restoration to life served to reinforce her faith and instill faith in others. (John 11:45) But exactly what is meant by the term “resurrection”?

The word “resurrection” is translated from the Greek word a‧na′sta‧sis, which literally means “a standing up again.” Hebrew translators of the Greek have rendered a‧na′sta‧sis with an expression that means “revival of the dead” (Hebrew, techi‧yath′ ham‧me‧thim′). Thus, resurrection involves raising the person from the lifeless condition of death—restoring and reactivating the life pattern of the individual.

Being infinite in wisdom and perfect in memory, Jehovah God can easily resurrect a person. Remembering the life pattern of dead ones—their personality traits, their personal history, and all the details of their identity—is not a problem for him. (Job 12:13; compare Isaiah 40:26.) Moreover, as the experience of Lazarus indicates, Jesus Christ is both willing and able to resurrect the dead. (Compare Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56) In fact, Jesus Christ said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his [Jesus’] voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) Yes, Jesus Christ promised that all those in Jehovah’s memory will be resurrected. Clearly, according to the Bible, the soul dies, and the remedy for death is the resurrection. But billions of people have lived and died. Who among them are in God’s memory, awaiting the resurrection?

Those who have pursued a righteous course as Jehovah’s servants will be resurrected. Yet, millions of other people have died without showing whether they would comply with God’s righteous standards. They either were ignorant of Jehovah’s requirements or lacked sufficient time to make needed changes. These others too are in God’s memory and thus will be resurrected, for the Bible promises: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—Acts 24:15.

The apostle John had a thrilling vision of resurrected ones standing before the throne of God. Describing it, he wrote: “The sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds. And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12-14) Think of what that means! All the dead who are in God’s memory will be released from Hades, or Sheol, mankind’s common grave. (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31) Then “death and Hades” will be hurled into what is called “the lake of fire,” symbolizing complete destruction. The common grave of mankind will cease to exist.

A Unique Prospect!

When millions are raised in the resurrection, they will not be brought back to life on an empty earth. (Isaiah 45:18) They will awaken in beautifully improved surroundings and will find that living quarters, clothing, and an abundance of food have been prepared for them. (Psalm 67:6; 72:16; Isaiah 65:21, 22) Who will make all these preparations? Clearly, people will have to be living in the new world before the earthly resurrection begins. But who?

The fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that we are living in “the last days” of this system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1) Very soon now, Jehovah God is going to intervene in human affairs and wipe out wickedness from the earth. (Psalm 37:10, 11; Proverbs 2:21, 22) At that time, what will happen to those who are faithfully serving God?

Jehovah will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked. (Psalm 145:20) He has never done such a thing, and he will not do it when he cleanses the earth of all badness. (Compare Genesis 18:22, 23, 26.) In fact, the last book of the Bible speaks of “a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues,” coming out of “the great tribulation.” (Revelation 7:9-14) Yes, a great multitude will survive the great tribulation in which the present wicked world ends, and they will enter God’s new world. There, obedient mankind can fully benefit from God’s marvelous provision to free mankind from sin and death. (Revelation 22:1, 2) Thus, the “great crowd” need never experience death. What a unique prospect!

Life Without Death

Can we have confidence in this astounding hope? Absolutely! Jesus Christ himself indicated that there would be a time when people would live without ever dying. Just before resurrecting his friend Lazarus, Jesus told Martha: “Everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.”—John 11:26.

Do you want to live forever in Paradise on earth? Do you yearn to see your loved ones again? “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever,” says the apostle John. (1 John 2:17) Now is the time to learn what God’s will is and be resolved to live in harmony with it. Then you, along with millions of others already doing God’s will, can live forever in Paradise on earth.

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