Religion Sucks- Episode 41- "The Afterlife" (pt. 1 )

• Report rights infringement
• published: 03 Aug 2012
• views: 241

In this episode, i discuss the improbability of an afterlife existing and the precursors to the christian concepts of heaven and hell. No evidence for soul/afterlife -neuroscience data, brain required for conscioussness nde not proof of afterlife (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15494379) -Cultural factors led to the creation of various afterlife concepts (desert regions = hot version of hell, colder regions had colder hell for example) Reflecting their virtues and values. -heaven/hell have precursors which influenced christianity: -zoroastrianism. House of songs= paradise realm. house of lies= hellish realm. First religion to have a dualism of good and evil, a day of judgement, and a moral dimension to its afterlife concepts. 1. Tartarus in greek mythology. Worst part of hades reserved for the truly and rarely unredeemable wicked souls. 1b. Elysium from greek mythology- a place reserved only for legendary heroes and kings as opposed to all virtous and moral people, but nonetheless can be seen as an influence on the christian heaven. Eventually this changed and it was believed anyone worthy of this paradise would go there upon death. Strangely people were believed to carry out the professions and hobbies they enjoyed in their life there, which is most likely the basis of the notion of people just doing what they found pleasurable on earth for eternity in the christian heaven. 2a. Fields of Aeru in Ancient Egyptian mythology. Unllike babylonian, or jewish afterlife concepts, Ancient Egyptian religion had a place of blessing and paradise awaiting the virtous servants of the gods, who had made the proper sacrifices, survived the challenges of the duat etc. 2b. the Duat in egyptian mythology(neutral underworld)(where the best Ammit would devour those who did not pass the weighing of the heart ordeal, sometimes depicted in a "lake of fire")though a neutral place all the dead had to pass through and be judged, its more negative aspects may indeed be one of the inspirations for the christian concept of hell. According to the Book of Gates, "The dead person must pass a series of gates guarded by dangerous spirits, depicted as human bodies with grotesque heads of animals, insects, torches or knives". 3. Hel in norse mythology(both a goddess and a place) This was believed to be a place of everlasting suffering, starvation and freezing death. The weak, the old and those who did not die an honorable death in battle were sent here. A river of knives was believed to exist there as well. The linguistic root of the english word "hell" comes from the germanic hel, which is undoubtedly based upon earlier norse tradition. 3b. Valhal or Valhalla. The great hall of the gods. Where the brave and honorable warriors travel to after death. -Other related points: Sheol should not be equated with hell, nor should Gehenna. Sheol was the vague jewish afterlife, mostly symbolic which was more like hades in greek mythology where everyone went when they died regardless of moral standing. There is no eternal fire or torture in Sheol or in Hades but rather a dreary, shadowy existence. It is believed that the dead would be kept there awaiting their physical, earthly resurrection.(as jewish apocalypticists believed) Gehenna was simply the valley of Hinnom which was a real place where dead bodies of executed criminals were burned and child sacrifices were rumored to take place. The smell of the bodies would be sulfurous and the garbage and bodies attracted maggots hence the worms and "quenchless fire" mentioned in the new testament. Brimstone was used to stoke the fires. (simply another name for sulfur) Platonic, pre-christian "heaven". Platonism, or at least Neo-platanism was a main philosphical influence on early christian thought. Plato believed that this world and the things in it were just a pale reflection, a copy of things that exist in his realm of essences/forms in their purest states. Thus he proposed that the soul will live on in this realm after death. Thus the notion of heaven being a dimensional, afterlife realm of bliss for a disembodied, non-physical soul was influenced by Plato and not the bible. There is no heaven in the hebrew bible, as "the heavens" in genesis do not refer to it but rather the pre-scientific scheme of where the stars and planets were fixed. Elijah ascends to the heavens, not to heaven for example. The new testament taught a physical resurrection and judgement of the dead and literal kingdom of god on earth. (this is what jesus, his disciples and the apostle paul believed) and not a place where the souls of the dead would reside happily for all eternity. The rapture is not based on an accurate exegesis of the bible, as it does not state the souls of the dead will fly up to an afterlife but rather would temporarily be taken up with god, until the chaos on earth caused by the "tribulation" was over, when they would return and partake in god's peaceful earthly kingdom.