You no more believe in the Hindu/Buddhist belief of reincarnation any more than I do. You chalk it up as superstition the same as I. Yet you believe in a heaven, hell, and purgatory.
Your beliefs of heaven and hellcome from ancient Babylonian/Egyptian/Roman/Greek beliefs of an afterlife reward for the righteous and an afterlife punishment for the wicked.
I ask this because I madeacomment that some person on Yahoo answers considered blasphemy and gave me the typical response about going to hell.
And yes I know that most Jews don't believe in afterlife, but many do. I know that most Protestants reject the idea of purgatory and many Protestants beleve in annihilationism/ no hell. I also know that most Moslems reject pugatory also.
Basically all I am saying is that the doctrines of heaven and hell are nothing but rehashed pagan beliefs like many other of your religious doctrines.
2007-05-28 13:20:38 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
How one person can make so many mistakes in such a short post is amazing!
1) Judaism DOES believe in an afterlife- but not the Heaven/Purgatory/Hell business of Christianity.
2) What we believe in is euphemistically called "The World to Come". Not much is taught on it (at least not in open sources.) It is not a world as we know itg, nor are there beautiful gardens and winged angels playing harps with golden halos arounf their heads. At the same time- their is no fire abd brimstone or eternal damnation and burning in the fires of hell...
The world to come is a sprititual realm- souls try to cluster around the pure essence of God, to close to the holy for the sake of being near it- because souls yearn to be as close to God as possible. but it is not as simple as that either. Teh world to come is not a simplistic realm of one level- in Masechta Chagigah it is said that the outer courtyards to God's abode has seven levels - each of ascending holiness, each soul wanting to be as high as possible. It briefly states that beyond these levels you have the inner courtyard and abode itself- but stops there with the statement "Beyond here we do not enquire". Maybe it elaborates further in the Kaballah- I have no idea on that.
Hell is completely absent from Judaism. There is no devil in Judaism as it is not possible for an angel to rebel (only humans have free will- angels can only perform specific tasks). What is generally misinterpreted as hell is the concept of Sheol or Gehinnom. This refers to the burning the soul feels at the heavenly trial after death. but the burning is not a literal one- it is the burning of shame that it feels at realising how it has transgressed, when it could have been so much more! Think of how, for us with physical bodies, the shame of being shouted at by a parent/teacher/ boss can feel like burning- how much worse for a soul which is a pure being and has no physical imperfections or mental imperfections to give it excuses! but though it states that this "burning" feels like an eternity- it truth, it never lasts for more than 12 months. God is mush too loving to give out eternal punishments, just as a loving parent would never punish a child for forever.
3) Guess what- Judaism DOES believe in reincarnation! It comes down to the various parts of the soul. In the most simplistic view of the soul it has three parts. the first part is just really an animating force possessed by all animals which dies with the body. the second party is the "You", the eprsonality and intellect. That is the part that is judged as stated above. The third part is the holy spark that is reincarnated to try and learn and grow through its actions in this world till it reaches its spiritual pinnacle.
2007-05-31 02:03:35 · answer #1 · answered by allonyoav 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just because I believe that adultery is wrong and my pagan neighbor also believes it's wrong does not mean that I now have a pagan belief. Nor is it the same with believing in heaven and hell.
I don't think anybody really knows for sure what heaven or hell will be like, but I don't doubt that they are true.
What do you believe in for afterlife anyway? Where do we all go when we die?
2007-05-28 20:45:12 · answer #2 · answered by Super G 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That's exactly why I am a Jew. Judaism is about living life to its fullest with little to no emphasis on the afterlife -- if there is one.
Our Torah is an instruction for living life -- not a means of obtaining eternal bliss.
.
2007-05-31 09:25:16 · answer #3 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are 162 references to HELL in the New Testament alone, over 70 of those spoken by Jesus Himself.
" He that believes (the gospel) and is baptized SHALL BE SAVED; he that believes not SHALL BE DAMNED ". - Jesus
"So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth". - Jesus (Matt. 13:49)
Jesus called it a literal place of REAL torment.
The truth about hell: http://www.av1611.org/hell.html
Scriptures about hell: http://www.rapturealert.com/ishellarealplace.html
" For the wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord". - (Romans 6:23)
2007-05-28 20:27:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
The above three abrahamic religiopns will all say that heaven and hell exists. Look at the miracles performed by Moses, Jesus and Mohammed and you will see there is a great argument made by the three montheistic religions.
2007-05-28 20:28:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
The basic truth was around before the Greeks. Adam and Eve had it.
2007-05-28 20:24:43 · answer #6 · answered by RB 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Us Muslims believe in a short purgatory. And to "AngelsAndJinns", it does not matter how he spells muslim. It can be spelled Moslem, Muslim, or anyway it seems suitable to you.
2007-05-28 20:38:41 · answer #7 · answered by Yazeed M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i disagree...see in Islam we know where our book comes from...it is in Arabic. it was delievered by the Angel Gaberial...and reveled by God to Mohammed Peace be upon him. so Mohammed is not the written author...he couldn't even read or right. so before there was this conflict of interest. there was the Quraan
2007-05-28 21:01:51 · answer #8 · answered by baba where art thou 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Thank you for proving Islam even more true
Everything you mentioned and everything you can ever think of is here:
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/
2007-05-28 20:30:57 · answer #9 · answered by DBznut 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I feel sorry for you, you are among the disbelievers, and for you there is great punishment
2007-05-28 20:36:31 · answer #10 · answered by Aaliyah 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋