The Afterlife
That there is a bodily resurrection of the dead is one of the Thirteen Principles of faith in Judaism, but can this Principle be rationally verified? After all, there would be no point in professing it if it is not rationally possible. I want to be very circumscribed in the enquiry that follows, because there are far more questions in relation to the afterlife than there are answers, but equipped with our understanding of The Purpose of Creation, we can make some headway.
We have established in The Purpose of Creation that God had a purpose in creating, which is that we His creatures shall be in a relationship of eternal love with Him. It is necessary that the person stay alive for this experience to be possible, and so the person must remain alive after death.
The word 'afterlife' in common parlance refers to that time or place following the departure of life from our bodies. It is in fact a contradiction in terms to refer to this time or place as 'afterlife', because if life were to leave the person at bodily death, then the person would cease to be, and I do not believe that it does cease to be. It is my contention that what we call the soul is identical to the person, and that the person continues in existence for as long as it is attached to life. Not so the body, which ends lifeless in the material world.
Because in God life is identical to essence, all life in creation is not only from God; all life is God. During corporeal life, the body houses the person and soul, but it is life that keeps body and soul together. When the body can no longer sustain life, it departs taking the person or soul with it.
Before going any further, I want to clarify the relation of person to soul. The person and soul are both generally described in the same terms, as that which is most fundamental and essential to who we are as an independent living entity. I believe the soul and person are identical because I cannot think of any way to separate them at an ontological level, and I believe the life that empowers our body for a short time enlivens our person or soul forevermore. That is assuming God has decided to keep us. If we return to Him with our God-given souls degraded or stunted, then I cannot think of any good reason for Him to keep us, and there are obviously some good reasons why He should not, and so I believe He would simply annihilate us by taking His life from our person, and so the person ceases to be (Psalm 145:20).
The person God keeps lives on. Love is in and of the person. Therefore our love for God will continue after we die, and we will be in eternal relation with Him.
Why become embodied again? Is it because it is the most beautiful of the options available? Perhaps, but that is a matter of taste. It is certainly the option with the greatest superficial appeal, but is it true? Why not instead remain as disembodied pure persons living in eternal relation to one another and to God? That makes perfectly good sense to me, and so I see no necessary place for a new body, perfect as it may be. However, God chose to embody us in the first place, and so perhaps He would simply do the same again, only this time it would be an experience of bliss to be embodied. That is a fair point, but I think most people of faith would accept that being embodied frequently entails hardship, and that it is far more likely that being embodied is intended as a testing ground and growth experience for the person. The testing and growing having been done, there would be no further need for a body. Moreover, there are all kinds of practical problems associated with the belief in bodily resurrection, such as which precise version of our embodied selves will be resurrected; e.g. child, adult or elderly, single or married, et cetera.
I think we should settle for the maxim that 'God knows best', because it is certainly the case that God in His omniscience knows what is better for us in eternity than we do. So carry on believing, if you do, that there will be a bodily resurrection. I am not sure that it is true, but it might be, and it is a harmless belief anyway. What is important is that there is personal life after bodily death.
Do we go to our ultimate destination directly? Who knows, but I can't see any reason why not. God already knows everything about us in the instant of our death, and so He will be able to make His decision immediately, and so I see no reason to suppose that He does not. That decision being made, I see no reason for those who make the cut to be warehoused for any duration. Rather, I would suggest that the heavenly state will be granted to us, or denied to us, immediately.
Where do we go? Perhaps we go into the same place or dimensions as God. After all, we are enlivened by the life that is God within us, and so the Divine essence is not alien to us. We know that our ultimate purpose is to live in eternal relation to God, and so why not believe that we will be in the same dimensions or place as God? I can accept this without further question.
As regards the idea of Hell, I have no time at all for the idea that there is eternal suffering for anyone after death. Once again, all we have to do is cast our mind back to the condition of existence before Creation. God was alone, perfect in power and knowledge. Why on earth would He so plan His creation as to create a need for a place of eternal suffering within it? Why not just cause the rejected person to cease to be. It makes much more sense, and it is compatible with a God Who is absolutely loving towards His creation. All we have to do to ensure eternal bliss with God is to love Him during our time on Earth.
That is all that I have to say for the present on the subject of the Afterlife.
March 15th 2011
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