After Death, What Then?

Richard Hollerman

Each of us is fallible, frail, and faulty. We live for a short while and then, like a vapor, we “vanish away” as Scripture says (James 4:14). If you live to be 80 or 90 or even 100, you do well. Perhaps some of your friends, relatives, family members, or school classmates have already died or will soon die. Where does that leave you?

Too often, we give little thought to what happens after we die. Consider it:  We all must die. As Scripture says, “It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:23). The question then arises: What will happen after death? Many books have been written with this theme but here we only wish to deal with the basics—the elementary question and answers. What do you think? You will only live for 20, 30, 70, 80 years—or maybe 90 or 100. But then what?

With some seven billion persons on earth, we must deal with a massive number in all of humanity. And we’ve read that there are some 30 thousand people of all kinds of religions (some three thousand in the United States). How do we view all of these people? We know that they can’t all be right with God! You know this, don’t you. And I know this. We can’t all be saved before God.

But what about the 30 thousand who profess some sort of religion? According to the law of noncontradiction, we learn:

In logic, the law of non-contradiction (LNC) (also known as the law of contradiction, principle of non-contradiction (PNC), or the principle of contradiction) states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time, e. g. the two propositions “p is the case” and “p is not the case” are mutually exclusive. (Wikipedia)

Thus, the Muslim and the Hindu cannot both be right.  The atheist and the theist cannot both be right. The Catholic and the Protestant cannot both be right. The Buddhist and the Mormon can’t both be right. No, there is not only a discrepancy but a plain and clear disagreement between these religions. Thus, when we speak of these different religions, we know that they can’t all be true and right. There is a conflict between them.  According to Scripture, most people within these religions are “lost” thus they are without hope. Unless people are willing to change and come to God through Christ Jesus! Alas, there is no eternal hope!

Let’s notice a number of common forms of “salvation” that we find in the world. In other words, various people in various religions believe that they will be saved if they approach God through these religions. We find several different terms used and concepts expressed by people when they want to refer to a supposed way of salvation. It may be “salvation” or it may be “regeneration” or being “born again.” It may be “forgiven” or “going to heaven.” You can think of many other terms and concepts that people use and perhaps you can think of more.

1. We are accepted by God through “faith only.” The idea is that we are not saved through our own efforts but through faith—and this faith is “alone” from start to finish. This is common among many Protestants today.
2. We are accepted by the Lord by means of “works righteousness” or God accepts or rejects a person depending on whether they do enough good deeds to please Him.
3. Reincarnation. This view is found in various religions. We think of Hinduism and Buddhism—although there are differences between them. The idea is that if one complies with certain rituals in this life or live an acceptable lifestyle, they will be accepted by God in the coming life. Then, in a future life, they will return in a different form to live again.
4. There is also a secular form of reincarnation. They believe that a person does come back to another life in another form but this is not dependent on rituals or lifestyle in this life but by other considerations.
5. A further view would be that death is the end of everything. This may be the atheistic variety or it may not be. It is somewhat depressing, as you can see, but it is believed by tens of millions of people in the world.
6. One of the cults which arose in nineteenth century America was Mormonism. This is the belief in four different destinations after life, one of which is the highest and receives the Mormon’s approbation.
7. Another cultic view from America, having an origin in the nineteenth century, would be the so-called “Jehovah’s Witness organization.” They believe that most of their number will not be among the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation. This is reserved only for the few who will go to heaven, whereas the “great crowd” of others (those who qualify) will live eternally on a renewed earth.
8. A further belief is that everyone continues from now into the future—regardless of how the person lived or what the person believes. This “universalist” view says that Hitler, Mussolini, and other despicable characters will eventually be saved.
9. In our day, many believe that there is no God at all and that life after death is a figment of our imagination. We are merely like “Rover” and cease to exist.
10. Islam believes in a form of works-righteousness. Muslims believe that one may have a correct belief about God (or Allah) and act on this with a correct view of life. Over one and a half billion people are captivated by this false belief.
11. There is also Jewish belief or disbelief. There are at least four varieties of these views. Some Jews are atheistic while others do believe in parts of the Old Covenant.

There must be other beliefs that relate to the afterlife, but these eleven are at the forefront. Yet we have learned that, according to the true law of noncontradiction, it is impossible for all of these different views to be correct. Perhaps all of them are wrong but not all can be right. Consider this: Suppose  that only one of these views is correct. Then we must, with all of our being, seek to eliminate the ten views that are wrong and the one that is right. Have you been doing this? Where are you in this absolutely vital quest?

Once we determine that only one view is right (suppose the thoroughly “Christian” view) we then must distinguish between the variations. Suppose there are 30 thousand different groups calling themselves “Christian.” Or suppose that there are only 3 thousand groups that call themselves “Christian” in orientation. We know that this cannot be but suppose that there are only 100 groups that are “Christian” and the other 2,900 groups are not. This would pertain only to the number in America. Which one is correct? Which one is fully Christian? Which one is not?  (Or it may be that 30,000 “Christian” groups are not right at all!)

We won’t try to answer this important question here but we lay it before you to think through. There are many articles on this website that will directly answer this matter.