Why do we get rewarded or punished when we die?

Question

I should add that I don't actually believe we do, I just wonder how other people see it that way.

Answer 1

I don't normally side with Christian fundamentalists, but I know, having studied this in depth, no one spoke more about punishment for the wicked than Jesus Christ. It's rather strange how people pick on the nice things he said but conveniently forget about the rather more unpalitable side of his teaching.

It is about being ultimately accountable and responsible for your actions. We live in a world where through crime, gross inequality and the "law of the jungle" the richest, the nastiest and the strongest seem to come out on top all of the time. Jesus teaches this will not be so and there will be a reversal of fortunes for those who have trampled on top of everyone else in order to get to the top of the pile.

People say "there is no justice in this world" and generally speaking they are right - but God's promise / threat is that there will be justice in the next.

Sorry for a chunk of Bible quote - look away now if you are offended. Matthew 25: 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

There's loads more in there about it too. Its untrendy, uncomfortable, but its there.

Answer 2

We don't. Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 tells us the true condition of the death. If we were going to be rewarded with life in heaven after we die in the even we were "good", then why did the Psalmist say at Psalm 37 that the meek will inherit the "earth"? Why did he not say that the meek will go to heaven? If we have a soul that burns in hell forever if we are evil, why does Ezekiel 18:4 say that "the soul that is sinning it itself will die? Why does the Apostle Paul at Romans 6:7 says that "he who has died has been acquitted from his sins"?

Our reward eventually if we are "good": Eternal life on the paradise earth God first intended
Our punishment. Death. Period. Not eternal terment.

Answer 3

What happens when a person dies is an unanswerable question.

Death, is a great unknown.

Humans evolved from more primitive animals which, over millions of years, developed an instinctual fear of the unknown as a survival mechanism. Fear, so to speak, kept them alive.

Once humans adopted emotions, the instinct of fear became less crucial for survival. A person could observe an unknown situation, and rationally decide if a fearful response was warranted, or undesirable. This was our logical mind overcoming our instinctual mind. But, since nobody could observe what happens in death, the instinct of fear reasserted itself. It was "safer" to fear death, especially since nobody ever seemed to return and confirm the theories of an afterlife.

So humans were stuck with in a terrible quandary. How do you live life with this shadow of dread following you all the time - knowing there was no escape from death, and death could be worse than life!

The answer was RATIONALIZATION. Convince each other that even though we can't know for certain death is bad (even though it seems bad since nobody ever returns from it), we can "avoid" death by obeying certain rules which will result in us getting a pass into the second, or "after" life. And, since life was (and basically is) miserable for most of the world, as long as we're inventing the afterlife, why not make it the exact opposite of misery... an eternal state of bliss?

It wasn't long before clever people discovered they could manipulate the mases, and gain power over them by using their fear of death against them. These methods were slowly organized into doctrines, and the social feature known as organized religion was bestowed unto the world. Every culture has one or another form of this control mechanism, and even with all our knowledge, and modern social structure, most of us still fall prey to that instinctual fear of death, and hence religion still has a grip over the masses. It's really quite elegant when you think about it. A system of control that can never be disputed, verified or exposed because it relies entirely on the faith and willingness of the participants.

Answer 4

Well, the offer of a reward after death makes death not so scary. The threat of punishment in the afterlife keeps people in line while they're alive.

Answer 5

we don't get punished or rewarded when we die, because when we die we are unconscious(Ecclesiastes9:5) the only way we could be punished would be consciously, and anyway death is punishment, as the Bible says that with death we are paying for our sins:"For the wages sin pays is death.(Romans 6:24).

Answer 6

Well how else could the people who wanted to be in power control the masses if not to "divine" some final outcome for everyone?

Answer 7

We don't.

Religions teach that we do because they know that their followers are all immoral, sadistic, selfish bastards who wouldn't ever consider helping someone else unless they were promised a reward for it.