Christian beliefs about life after death are based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus are part of God's divine plan for humanity. With his death on the cross, Jesus pays the penalty for humanity's sin and humanity's relationship with God is restored. Christians believe that death is not the end of our existence.
That belief has shaped the Christian faith ever since Jesus Christ rose from the dead after his execution 2000 years ago. This doesn't mean that Christians are somehow immune or unaffected by pain and loss when a close friend or family member dies. But it means that they have a hope for something eternal that goes beyond life or death as we know it. And that hope sustains them in such difficult times.
All Christians are united in their belief that when they die, if they believe in Jesus as the Son of God, their souls will enjoy eternal life in heaven. However, some denominations and individuals believe in different ways of life after death, as well as in what happens to those who do not follow Jesus. Within the Christian church there are different explanations of what happens to people after their death, but there is agreement that the promise of Jesus is true. Some Christians hold a literal interpretation of heaven and hell as real places where the soul resides, while others believe that heaven and hell are more of a condition or state of mind, like “peace and happiness with God” or “sadness and torment” without God.
Although many Christians believe that their souls go to Heaven immediately after death, the Bible also promises a day of resurrection. To review, Christians believe that those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior will immediately enter Heaven after death. The branches of Christianity differ in how humans can and should respond to this gift from God, but all Christians agree that the resurrection of Jesus made eternal life possible for humans. Many people seem to think of the Christian belief in life after death in terms of reincarnation or resuscitation, but the Bible, the Christian Church and Jesus himself are clear that they are not.
Christians believe that those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will go to Heaven after they die. Christians believe that those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior enter hell (or the second death) immediately after death. Most importantly, Christian belief about salvation holds that eternal life cannot be earned by human effort, because no one would deserve salvation if judged entirely on their merits. What is called “Christian hope” —the belief in a life with God beyond death—remains an important factor in daily faith to help people live with the notion of mortality.
The imminent delay in expectation raised the question of the fate of the dead person in the period between the death of the individual Christian and the resurrection. The idea that Christians believe that graves are emptied and bodies are reassembled is a matter of horror movies rather than of the Bible. But since Christians believe that the Bible is the word of God, they turn to this source to understand what awaits them after death and in the afterlife.
