Unit 4 (year 11)

Life after death

 Immortality: endless life or existence; life after death

Soul: the spiritual rather than the physical part of
humans
Resurrection: rising from the dead or returning to life
Legacy: something handed down from an ancestor a
way of being remembered after death
Heaven: the state of eternal happiness in the presence
of God
Hell: the state of eternal separation from God

For

We are scared of
death
Gives meaning to our
limited life
Human potential
could be realised in
the after life
As SOL is so
important, its
difficult to think it
would end so quickly
Many religions speak
of it

Against

Death is a biological function

When the body dies so does
everything else
Its unnecessary and meaningless
Physical evidence when the body
dies there is no brain function etc.
No overwhelming reason to
suggest there is an after life
Cant prove there is a soul so you
cant talk about the soul living on
Life after death is a contradiction
in the words itself

The different views

The monistic view=body and
mind linked to form one entity

The dualistic view= body and

mind are distinct and separate
even though they can influence
each other (Plato)

What is the soul?

Death
Most agree we are going to die
Death is when a persons physical body stops
functioning
The medical profession considers a person is
dead when brain activity stops

However, not everyone

agrees that it is the end.
Some people believe that
there is survival after death

Immortality
Two possible ways by which people
might achieve immortality are:
Through a legacy: This maybe something left after
their death such as an invention, a piece of art etc.
For example, Galileo is still remembered for using
the telescope to prove that the earth and other
planets
around the
sun. However,
if the
Throughmove
the memory
of others:
Maybe through
legacy
is destroyed
then etc.
theyHowever,
wont be when
remembered.
photographs,
keepsakes
the last
Does
weaken
the argument?
personthis
who
knew them
dies then that memory dies
with him/her. For a believer therefore the survival in
the When
memory
of others
cannot
be considered
as
believers
speak
of immortality,
they
providing
immortality.
mean life
after death

Resurrection

Some believe immortality is achieved through resurrection. Resurrection is the

belief that the person is raised from the dead in some form. The resurrection
could take place at death or another time such as judgement day when many
believers believe they will be judged by God accordingly.

Problems

Problems associated with

resurrection
Is describing what form the body raised from the dead will
take:
Some say a new improved body is given then they are
resurrected. The body will look the same as the person who
died but the body will be immortal
The body dies but the soul continues
Science shows that when the body dies the brain dies
Physical evidence suggests that when your body dies
everything about you dies but many suggest that the souls
are resurrected to an afterlife
No evidence the soul even exists
The mind can die before the body (brain dead) a life
support machine is perfect evidence that there can be no life
after death
We can only recognise each other because we have bodies.
If there were life after death how would we be able to
recognise people without their bodies?

Problems associated with

reincarnation and rebirth
People dont survive death
People havent survived death as they are reborn into a
different body
Hindus and Sikhs would argue that the immortal soul
continues and therefore what matters from each life
continues into the next
Buddhists believe that there is continuity between one life
and the next, so life has not ended.
Memories of past lives
Some say that people have memories of past lives and this
is evidence to support
Others would disagree as memories in the past have been
inaccurate and it maybe people remembering information
gained in childhood and mistakenly interpreting this as a
past life.
If we cannot remember our previous lives, then memory is
lost too.

Religion

Teaching

Choose at least 2
religions..

Christianit In the Creed they believe in the afterlife

y
Christians accept eternal life begins when you
accept the Christian faith
John 11 is said at funerals to remind Christians
St Paul taught that Christians will be raised with
a new spiritual body after death

Quote
John 11:25- I am the
resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live.
Job 19:25
After my skin has been
destroyed, then in my flesh
shall I see God.

Islam

Quran is the word of Allah and it states that the It is God who gives you life
body will be resurrected so it will happen and
then gives you death; then He
that there will be judgement by Allah after death will gather you together for the
day of judgement about which
there is no doubt (Quran 26

Judaism

No clear picture in the Torah and has led to

The Lord brings death and
different interpretation. There are referenced to God makes alive; the brings down
raising people from the dead
to the grave and raises up (1
Samuel 2:6)

Religion

Teaching

Quote

Buddhism

Beliefs about rebirth are based on the teachings

on Buddha
Most important scripture is the collection of
Buddhas teachings called the Tripitaka
Buddha achieved enlightenment about how to
put an end to suffering
If Buddhas followers want to do the same then
they must follow his teachings
The teachings include an explanation of the
effects of good and bad karma on the next life

The kind of seed sown will

produce that kind of fruit.
Those that do good will reap
good results and those who do
evil will reap evil results.

Hinduism

By following the sacred texts such as the four

Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita it is
hoped that moksha will be achieved. Moksha is the
idea that the soul passes through a cycle of
successive lives (samsara) and its next incarnation
is always dependent on how the previous life was
lived (karma).

As a person cast off worn out

garments and puts on others
that are new, even so the
embodied soul cast off worn
out bodies and puts on others
that are new ~ Bhagavad Gita

Sikhism

The sacred book teaches Sikhs what they must do

to break the cycle of reincarnation and to remain
with God for ever.

Those who meditate on God

attain salvation. For them, the
cycle of birth and death is

(Buddha)

Problems

Other evidence for life after

death
The paranormalUnexplained things which
are thought to have spiritual
causes e.g. ghosts. Ghosts for
many is evidence to support
the belief in the resurrection
of the body in spiritual form
as they appear to be able to
walk through walls etc

PROBLEMS
-Hallucinations
-Trick of light/poor
eyesight
-Hoax

Channelling
Communication between the
living and the dead
Mediums claim they can
contact the dead
They pass on messages from
departed spirits that contain
accurate information
For some this is evidence for
life after death

PROBLEMS
-Mediums are
frauds
-Just reading body
language- no real
contact
-In it for the
money

Near death experiences

Due to advances in technology many have been
declared dead and since resuscitated and whole
dead some patients describe similar
experiences.
1. Feelings of peace and a sense of great
happiness
2. Out-of- body- experiences
3. The tunnel and the light
4. The being of light
5. The barrier
6. Another country
7. Relatives and friends
8. Life review
9. The decision to return
10.The return

PROBLEMS
-They are not
dead (NEAR)
-Result of lack
of oxygen

Atheists will
always counter
religious reasons

Bodies decay in the

grave or are burned
and people see this
for themselves so
there is physical
proof

Scripture
cant be
No certainty that
proof as
anyone has actually
there are
come back from the
different
dead or contacted living
understand
through a medium
ings in
scripture
NDEs,
itself
channelling and
ghosts can not
be proved

A persons
**John Hickeschatological faith is proof
verification. It is alone
proven in the afterlife

Two people are travelling together along a road. One of them

believes that it leads to the Celestial city, the other that it leads to
nowhere but since this is the only road there is, both must travel it.
During their journey, they meet moments of refreshment and delight
and with moments of hardship. One interprets the pleasant parts as
encouragement and the obstacles as trials of her purpose and lessons
in endurance in order to prepare for the celestial city. The other
however believes none of this and sees it as an unavoidable ramble.
But since there was no other choice, enjoys the good and endures the
bad.
During the course of their journey, they do not entertain different
expectations about the coming details of the road, but only about its
ultimate destination. Yet when they turn the last corner, it will be
apparent that one of them has been wrong.
Hick used the parable to explain that just because God cannot be
verified now does not mean that they will be verified in the future.

Science can
show that the
soul cannot Evolution
Dawkins
survive
rejects the
death

soul. People
only survive
by passing on
DNA to future
generations.

There has been such an

improvement within
space over the years, it
makes many question
that telescope and
satellites would surely
have noticed souls
after life etc. Religious
believers wouldnt
expect this as the
spiritual body is different
to the physical.

Cryonics is the low

temperature
preservation of humans
as modern medicine no
longer works and
awaiting a cure.
At what point does the
soul leave the body?

Dualism
Dualists believe the mind and body are separate
The mind determines our personality and the
body is our outer shell
The body will decay but the mind/soul is
immortal

Descartes who was a dualist

believed we can not doubt the
existence of the mind. He stated
I think, therefore I am.
We

Plato and the Soul

Plato believed that the
soul existed before the
body.
Humans remember
things from a previous
life before that of the
body, such as our ability
to recognise goodness
and beauty.

Before taking on the body,

the soul existed. After death,
the soul leaves the body and
lives on in a cycle of life
and death.

Materialism/monist
Our minds are inseparable from our bodies
Materialists reject any idea of the soul surviving:
-life depends on a functioning brain, nervous
system and functioning body
-death involves the destruction of the brain, as life
cannot continue without a physical form.
No scientific evidence that the soul exists
Materialism is therefore the opposite to dualism

The impact of dualism on

the definition of death

The combinations of body

and soul