question for A level

November 5, 1999

Tim Gerchmez <core1

Re: Interesting question

Protestant Christianity (common) essentially sees (physical) death as a

temporary (temporal - in-time) end to life. At that point, the soul sleeps

until Christ returns, at which point the souls of both the dead and the

living which are not " saved " by repentence of sin and acknowledgement of

Christ as savior will be cast into hell eternally, while those souls which

are saved will go to heaven and be near God eternally. Catholicism admits

the existence of a " purgatory " or in-between phase, where sin will be

cleansed out before the soul may progress to heaven (eternal happiness).

In this sense, Catholicism does not see sin as eternal damnation, but

leaves open the possibility of redemption even after physical death,

whereas most protestant christianity requires being " saved " while the body

is still alive.

Hinduism (common) generally sees each physical life as a long progression

of events (reincarnation) controlled by the motivating principle of karma.

Life exists eternally from the Hindu point of view, and the ignorant (jiva)

will return to live another life after death because of this principle of

karma. Those who have realized the truth of the Self will return no more,

but will simply remain where they have always been (One with Brahman or the

Absolute) upon death, and no more will ignorance (karma) have the effect of

causing rebirth into a human body. Rebirth is generally considered

" undesirable, " eternal union with the Absolute is considered " desirable. "

The only viewpoint in common here is that both Christianity and Hinduism

(most believe that the " soul " is eternal, and there is no end to life after

physical death. This is an important commonality.

Please note that this is a rather poor explanation covering the basic

essentials only (and certainly not fit to be taught as-is in a classroom),

but may serve as a foundation for further exploration.

Vivekananda Centre Site

Recommended Posts