Posted: 10/4/2004 6:14:04 PM EDT
[#2]
Quoted: The afterlife and olam haba (the world to come)
Many secular or liberal Jews would state that Judaism does not believe in an afterlife, or that it is a this-worldly religion which concentrates on the here and now. While it is certainly true that Judaism does concentrate on the importance of this world, the fact is that much (not all) of classical Judaism does posit an afterlife. Much of the Jewish tradition affirms that the human soul is immortal, and thus in some way survives the physical death of the body. The existence of the soul after death is described with terms such as Olam Haba (the world to come), Gan Eden (the Heavenly Garden of Eden, or Paradise) and Gehenna (Purgatory).
Classical rabbinic afterlife teachings varied in different places and times; they were never synthesized into one coherent philosophy. As such, the different Jewish views of the afterlife are sometimes contradictory. This is especially true for "Olam Haba", the world to come. In some rabbinic works this phrase refers to the messianic era, a physical realm right here on Earth. However, in other works this phrase means Gan Eden, Paradise, a purely spiritual realm.
There is much rabbinic material on what happens to the soul of the deceased after death, what it experiences, and where it goes. At various points in the afterlife journey, the soul is said to encounter: Hibbut ha-kever, the pains of the grave; Dumah, the angel of silence; The angel of death; The Kaf ha-Kela, the catapult of the soul; Gehenna (purgatory); and Gan Eden (Heaven; Paradise).
Gehenna is fairly well defined in rabbinic literature. It is sometimes translated as "hell", but one should note that the Christian view of hell is different from the Jewish view. For Christians, hell is an abode of eternal torment where sinners go; any person who does not accept Jesus as their messiah is defined by most Christian sects as someone destined for eternal damnation. In Judaism, gehenna - while certainly a terribly unpleasant place - is not hell. The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not tortured in hell forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Gan Eden [Heaven], where all imperfections are purged.
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Jewish_eschatology
Eric The(ChildOfAbraham)Hun
|
Wow - some day I'll figure you out, Eric. Until, then, you will keep amazing me. You have credibilty with many of the other fundamentalists on this board - so by your posting these things, maybe they will read and put their interpretation of the Gospel in a more proper context. Or maybe not. As much as many "Christians" decry the Roman Catholic church, their idea of "Hell" often seems derived from ancient Catholic imagery that the Roman Church itself has now moved beyond - based apparently on some creative interpretations of Revelation more than anything else (or maybe Dante?).
|
|