Does a person go to heaven or hell immediately after death?

Answer 1

Basically, there are 2 schools of thought on this topic which is highly misunderstood. The 1st is from ancient philosophers who taught that man had an immortal soul temporarily housed in our human bodies and it was the soul that was the 'real' man and not the body. At death, this philosophy speculates that the soul leaves the body and goes to a nebulous realm or either paradise or punishment. Mainstream Christianity calls these realms heaven and hell.

The 2nd school of thought is from Oriental philosophy which speculates that the souls of the depraved go into other bodies after death, living as animals, birds, snakes, trees, insects, or other human beings. This is called 'transmigration of souls' or more commonly, reincarnation.

The Jewish Encyclopedia discussing the 'Immortality of the Soul,' volume VI, page 564, 566; states, "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body (after death) is a matter of philosophical or theologicalspeculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordinglynowhere expressly taught in the Holy Scripture." 'The believe in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with the Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylon and Egyptian views were strangely blended.'

The above article on the soul from the Jewish Encyclopedia sounds a lot like modern day Christianity, particularly the mainstream and large churches. This Greek thought from the Egyptians who received it from the Babylonians was gradually introduced into Christianity, even with the early Church Fathers disagreeing with this subject. (See Justin, circa 160 AD, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1, page 176). In about 200 AD though, Origen, an early Church teacher in Alexandria, became a 'Platonist,' believing in the immortality of the soul (volume IV, pages 314, 402).

Finally, in the 4th Century, Roman Emperor Constantine, who forced the Empire to accept one universal (catholic) faith, had men like Augustine 'sanctify' the now doctrine of the immortality of the soul seen in his book 'The City of God.' This doctrine became permanent when Italian scholastic teacher and theologian, Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century AD, stamped the doctrine of the immortality of the soul permanently on the Christian-professing world. All who rejected this idea were branded as heretics.

Scripturally, the soul that sins dies (Romans 6:23). The bible shows us that death is a sleep. We all will be awakened in our Judgement Process - the vast majority after the Millennial rule which is 1000 years after the 'reign of man' ends. Just read the Book for yourself. Jesus said, "And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven (John 3:13).

Answer 2

That is a matter of faith and faith alone. Some say yes; some say there will be a day of judgement after which souls will go to heaven or hell. Others say there is no heaven or hell.

Answer 3

yes