Death and Religion

What happens when we die?  This is one of the main reasons religions exists.  We all want there to be something else when we are gone.  When we lose a loved one, we hope we will one day get to see them again.  I lost both of my parents a little over two years ago.  When that happened I hoped and hoped there was a way that we would be together once again.  I started wishing the religions were true.  But no matter how much wishing, in my mind when we pass on we are gone.  You have to remember one for the life they had here, and what they pass on to their next generation.

It is interesting to me that many of the Christian denominations have different theories of what happens when we die.  All of them use the same scriptures to come up with their conclusions, yet it is hard to find any uniformity.  Many believe in heaven and hell, but then they disagree on what determines which path you are on.  Is it works, faith, combination?  Can a murderer repent and then get his way into heaven?  Does a baby who isn’t baptised go to heaven?  Hell?  Limbo?  Do they grow up after they get there? 

I often wondered why God would make the scriptures so vague that you don’t know for sure what you need to do to get into heaven.  There is always that nagging doubt even with devout Christians.  Am I doing enough?  Do I need to witness more?  Study more?  What about that item I took from my mom when I was a kid?  Is that forgiven?  Am I going to hell anyway for that?  Lots of guilt and pressure there that I would rather not subject my children to.

I am by no means an expert in any religion, but I have attended a wider range of churches than most, I would think.  Here is a brief rundown of some basic beliefs about life after death of the more popular churches: 

Catholics–Heaven, hell, and purgatory.  Purgatory has some pagan roots, but don’t let that stand in the way of letting them tell you it’s from the Bible.  Don’t forget it is a mortal sin to not baptize your baby since they have the original sin, lest they end up in limbo.

Many of the protestant churches are similar but a brief rundown on those I am familiar with:

Lutheran–I know from attending a Lutheran church in my youth that they believe in heaven and hell.  I don’t recall a constant reminder of hell that I remember later after I switched to a Baptist church.  They believe when you die a believer’s soul goes to heaven and eventually will be reunited with your body after the rapture.  Lutherans also baptize babies (I was baptized), but I don’t recall limbo or purgatory. 

Baptists–I attended a Baptist church with my best friend in my teen years.  I recall a high pressure, you’re saved or damned type of attitude while I was there.  I cannot say if all Baptist churches are this way, but reading a lot about them now convinces me it is much the same across the US.  A lot of scare tactics and talking about fire and brimstone and everlasting punishment. 

Methodists–I also attended both a Methodist and Church of the Nazarene church as a youth.  I only attended a short time, probably six months, and I didn’t get near as involved with them as I did the other churches I attended.  Neither of these really preached a heaven and hell.  It was more of a “When you die you will be judged.”  I remember thinking it was pretty vague.  I don’t know if they are still that way today.

I have never attended any of the evangelical New Life type churches that seem much more popular today than in my youth, but perhaps I just don’t remember them.  Most of them seem to follow the evangelical protestant protocol, if you are saved you go to heaven, if not you are tormented in hell.  None of the churches I went to as a kid ever had a Christian rock band touring through, but that is another topic.

There are a number of other Christian spinoffs that go many ways, and according to religious tolerence there are currently more than 1,200 offshoots of Christianity, but the most popular and the ones I know a little about are these:

Mormon–I know very little of the Mormon church.  I have never attended and never been close enough friends with a devout Mormon to get any input.  From what I understand there are two levels of heaven, one for married couples married in a Mormon church, with the potential to become gods or goddesses.  Individuals can make this upper level of heaven also but I am unsure of the specifics.  There is also what I guess you would call an intermediate version of heaven, reserved for people that have lived good lives.  And the third Telestial Kingdom for the wicked.  Maybe I’ll get to hang out in the middle level.  Or maybe not.

7th Day Adventists–I had a friend awhile back who was an adventist, so I know a little about them.  They believe that when you die you are unconscious until Jesus returns and resurrects them and escalates them to heaven.  Then there will be a 1000 year reign for Satan here on earth.  After that all of the people in heaven will get to come back to earth, but only after all of the sinners are resurrected and sent with Satan into a fiery pit of sorts.  There is no eternal torment, just burned to a crisp I guess.  I always thought it would suck to be resurrected after 1000 years only to be burned back up.  Just keep me in the ground.

Jehovah’s Witnesses–Obviously I know a little about this one.  If you are a sinner or non-believer when you die, you just die.  No hell.  Nothing.  Hey we agree on something.  If you are righteous, (the JW’s don’t specifically rule out that other religions are not righteous, they definitely imply that they are not in their literature and in their meetings) you will be resurrected when Jesus comes back and enjoy a 1000 year paradise on earth.  This includes all of those that have been dead for hundreds of years.  I guess you get your old body back somehow.  Hey, he is the creator, so surely he can get your body back.

If anyone knows more about the religions above or wants to discuss another branch please comment.  Keep in mind I haven’t attended a protestant church in over 18 years so I am sure I have errors. 

Behind Enemy Lines

I have been on the road the past few days so no new posts lately, but here is what has been going on. 

My wife and her family went to the Southwest Jehovah’s Witness convention this past week.  Normally they go to Arizona, but this year they went to New Mexico.  Since my company has offices there that I needed to go to anyway, I travelled with them this year, although obviously I didn’t go to the convention itself.

From talking to my wife about this one and previous conventions, it reminds me of my previous work where I was in sales where I was a rep, trainer, manager, and owner over a period of 15 years.  From what I understand they do their baptisms at the conventions but also discuss the members commitment to the Society.  Mostly by adhering to the JW rules and continuing to get new members.  Sounds like a lot of motivational speaking to me.

The hotel we stayed at probably consisted of 80% Jehovah’s Witnesses for the days we were there.  One thing I noticed:  A large percentage of Jehovah’s Witnesses are not like my wife’s family.  I am sure they are similar in their basic beliefs about their religion, but my wife’s family, especially her mother and older sister and her husband, are, for a lack of a better word, die hard Witnesses.  They frown upon anything ”worldly.”  They home school their kids and have no intention of sending them to college.   They do not participate in any holidays.  Their kids are fully indoctrined and often criticize my kids (their cousins) about them doing bad things (i.e. birthdays, 4th of July).  In talking with some of the other Witnesses, while a few are fully immersed like my in-laws, I get the impression many are very similar to the majority of members of the other Christian religions:  Get through life during the week and worship on Sunday.

My main point is what many people already know.  Had my mother in law been visited by a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, she would have been as devout with them as she is with The Truth and I would have a blog about being married to a Mormon right now.  Had she come across a proselytizing Pentacostal I would be discussing the idiocy of speaking in tongues rather than the issues of blood transfusions.  I think people want to believe and will become part of any belief system that is around them.  I have seen some argue that the desire for such beliefs is the reason there must be a supreme being, but that is another topic for another day. 

To once again give my wife credit.  She has raised our children with her spiritual beliefs, yet she allows me to expose them to the real world–and this is very much against what her family and congregation would recommend.  She not only encourages them to get good grades, she is actually indoctrinating them that they WILL go to college and get degrees.  My kids have friends that come over regularly that are not Witnesses.  While at times I want to be more aggressive in not allowing my children to get as involved with the Witnesses as they are, they are being fully exposed to both sides and will be able to make educated decisions, rather than just follow along because everyone they know has the same beliefs.

So, while the situation isn’t what I would consider ideal, at least my kids will see both sides and get evidence from me about what the real Truth is.