A Hypothetical Afterlife

I am not trying to show you what really happens in the afterlife nor to debate about it. It is just an idea that occurs inside my head which I think would be good to think about. All of us who follow certain religion have been taught about the afterlife, accordingly to each religion of course. And here I am thinking about a hypothetical afterlife (Forgive me, Father).

Alright then, here it goes. Let us say that the afterlife exists and we will go some where after we died. There are two kind of places in the afterlife, heaven and hell. And also there exist reincarnation, which means that we could be rebirth on earth after we died. Let us say that no matter which religion we follow, we will come to this same afterlife.

At the gate of the afterlife, there stood a guard. And upon entering the afterlife, the guard will ask you a question. The question is, “Do you want to get inside and be placed to heaven or hell according to the judgement of God, or reincarnate back to earth and redo a life?” So, here is the idea. The first choice is that we will attend the judgement of God to be decided for heaven or hell. The second choice is that we will be reborn on earth and to give life a second shot. The life that we will live would not be our past life, but another new life. We will not know what kind of life would be. It could be a life in a modern wealthy family, or a life in a poor third world country.

So, what would you choose? Will you be confident enough to attend the judgement or will you take a chance on a second life? For me, this is truly a hard decision. At the judgement, what if God decided to send me to (clearing throat) hell? It would definitely be a pain the a** to stay there for eternity. If I try a new life, what if it was a life full of suffering and despair? I do not see myself as a religious person, but I think most religious people would choose the judgement.

Muslims are taught (if i am not mistaken) that their final destination will be judged based on their good deeds and sins. If the number of good deeds overcome the sins, God will send them to heaven. A religious muslim will choose the judgement because he knows his good deeds are enough (although I think nobody keeps a record of his good deeds and sins). As for christians, the religious ones, will also choose the judgement. They believe that God will forgive all their sins and send them to heaven, if they have faith in Him.

The other main religions in the world are Buddhism and Hinduism. Although Buddhism and Hinduism are two different religions, I think they share the same principle of how people get to heaven. They believe that if they can let go of any worldly desire, they will reach the heaven. So in this hypothetical afterlife, the religious buddhists and hindus I think will go pass the gate because they would leave all their worldly desire and needs and thus be sent to heaven.

Last but not least, Jewish. This religion is not very popular in our part of the world, but I think I’ll give my thoughts about them. If I am not mistaken, Judaesm does not believe in eternal damnation. If a person is not good enough for heaven, they will be sent to purification for a while before heading for heaven. So, religious jewish would also choose the judgement because they believe that they will be sent to heaven at that point or eventually.

So again, which one would you choose, hypotheticaly?