Christopher R
The religion that I grew up with was Christianity. It is something that I still believe although know mostly only the basics because I rarely practice the religion. This is not because I have any doubt in the religion but because it is something that I tend not to talk about in order to not affect other’s views or start any arguments. What I grew up thinking about death from this religion is when your physical body is dead then the soul that God gave you goes up to heaven to be with God. There are guidelines on how to get to heaven however; people who have committed sin and gone on the word against God would go to Hell with the devil. I was taught that Heaven is the place where the spirit of God stays and looks over everything that he has created. It has been a place that is illustrated as a white, place with angels that is somewhere in the clouds. People see Heaven as a place where your physical body gets eternal life you the person gets peace and wings. Personally I believe Heaven is a place where God is, not as in he is your neighbor and you can go visit him anytime for a cup of tea but in heaven you are able to have a physical relationship with him. To me Heaven is whatever you want it to be, there are people and places who you could want to visit and if they are in Heaven they can be with you. Heaven is not a white cloudy place; instead it is what the person wants it to be while they are in Heaven.
According to a majority of what I read in the link on the blog for bible passages from Matthew it takes a good life to get into Heaven. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Bible Gateway 5) These passages talk a lot about the Father who is God rewarding people. The reward is eternal life in Heaven and a lot of what these passages talk about is what has to be done in order to make sure God rewards people. The beginning of the article, where these passages were retrieved talks about righteousness. It mentions what a blessed person should do to get into Heaven. All of these things have to do with not using violence, cursing family and towards the end it talks about adultery. Those are some of the sins for the Christian religion. The words of God are supposed to be followed and the way a person lives there life should be according to what God feels his creations should do and failing to do this would result in no reward.
I spoke to the reverend that was at my local church and asked him what Heaven was and how it would be possible to get to Heaven. I also asked him about what Heaven would look like because the image that people have about Heaven vary. His response was very long but the most interesting part of what he said is what Heaven will look like. Reverend Thomas said this about how Heaven would look “I can’t really tell you what Heaven would look like. I am still here with you on this earth. Heaven is for people who deserve to go up to Heaven. I consider myself someone who has lived a life according to God and expect to go to Heaven when He calls me. Asking me what Heaven would look like is something like asking a vision impaired person what color they like the most. They could have a really well thought out idea and they could have great visions of what it would be. However the only way they can know for sure is when they experience it and get to the point where they get to be part of everything Heaven has to offer. This person couldn’t tell you 100 percent for sure what Heaven will look like just like a blind person couldn’t tell you what color they like the best” (Reverend Thomas). Getting to Heaven according to Reverend Thomas was easy as long as you follow the words of the bible. Not committing any sins and when sins were committed praying to God for forgiveness. He made it a point to say that God loves everyone he created and if they spoke to him enough and asked him for his forgiveness after committing sin then God would wipe their slate clean. Living according to what the bible said was the best way to get into Heaven, it is the written word of what God wanted of humans and following a lot of these teachings would establish a good connection with God. This connection would make it easier for you to stay away from sin and if sin was committed then it would that person who already had the connection established would be able to connect with God on a higher level.
What I took from this assignment is the care of the dead in my religion is based mostly on the afterlife. When reading different lines from Matthew there is nothing about the burial of the body or how the body should be treated. From what I understand the body is not as important as the soul is. Things can happen to the soul that may make it hard for it to get to Heaven but the actual body is not focused on. While talking to Reverend Thomas I did ask him what he wanted to happen to his body when he died and it was a very typical response. “I want to have a funeral because that is what happened to the dead in my family. Mostly though because I want my body to be blessed by another person of God.” I thought the end of that reasoning was a bit contradicting considering he said he was pretty sure because he followed the teaching sin the bible he would go to Heaven. At the same time I was able to think about this in another mind set because I believe the same as he does. The reason I feel priest, and religious people speak at funerals is to bless the soul as it goes to Heaven. To me it isn’t needed because the soul can go to Heaven without the blessing however I feel like blessing the soul is a respectful way to say goodbye to it as it goes to Heaven.
Afterlife is what makes many people believe in Christianity. The idea that following these guidelines that God wants people to live by and making it so that even when we mess up we can be forgiven gives people a lot of morals. There are some people who base everything they do off of the teachings of God so when they die they can go to Heaven and others because they agree with the morals. Either way it seems to have more of an effect on the questions about the afterlife. The way the body should be treated isn’t something I looked into because it isn’t something that I was taught about. All funerals I have gone to have had something to do with this religion and passing on to another, better place. The actual way that the body should be treated is not discussed as much. I had a prediction from some of the words that Reverend Thomas said lead me to think funerals might be popular because of Jesus. Jesus Christ is read to have been “buried”, “stored”, “placed” in a tomb. Then resurrected days later. The casket to me would represent the tomb and being buried away in the same way that Jesus was might also have connotations with a higher chance of being resurrected.
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