Is there life after death? Or is death the end?
We hear a lot these days that dying simply means 'moving onto the next life'. For some, this means reincarnation and for others this means 'life after death' in heaven, hell or purgatory. While others will tell you 'live for the moment, because when you're dead you're dead'.

What does the God of the Bible say about the state of the dead?
The psalmist writes (Psalms 6:5) ' in death there is no remembrance of thee [God]: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?' And in Ecclesiastes 9:5 we read ' the dead know not any thing'. So biblically, the dead have no remembrance (that is, no memory) and are not aware of anything. In fact, Jesus refered to death as 'sleep'. 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth...Lazarus is dead'  (John 11:11&14). Just as you have no idea that you have been sleeping until you wake up, you will have no idea that you are dead until either the 'first resurrection' at Christ's Second coming (Revelation 20:6) or after the Millenial Rein (Rev  20:5) .

What about reincarnation?
The New Age view of reincarnation as found on Wikipedia says:
Reincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation)

We can see from our initial study, that the soul is not separate from the body, and thus the concept of reincarnation, however popular, is unbiblical.

Don't you go straight to heaven, hell or purgatory when you die?
Interestingly enough, if you stick to what the bible says - no. In opposition  to the teachings of the Catholic Church and many of the Christian churches today, when you die you don't go straight to heaven or hell or purgatory. Instead, you are dead ('sleeping') until your resurrection (see above 'What does the God of the Bible say about the state of the dead?') Those resurrected at the first resurrection will be drawn up to meet Jesus in the sky with the 'cloud' of angels, and those resurrected after the Millenial Rein will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire.  However, this lake of fire is not the traditionally taught 'torture city for eternity'. In stark contrast it is the grave.


Isn't hell eternal? Don't unbelievers go to hell after the Judgement to suffer?
There are three original words used in the bible for the word 'hell' (their definitions are in brackets). They are shehole (grave, pit), gehenna (the dump outside of Jeruselum where dead bodies and rubbish were burned to avoid disease) and hades (grave).

The bible tells us in Revelation 20:12 & 13 'And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.' There will be a judgement and a subsequent suffering for those who have continued in their transgression of God's law, however this suffering will come to an end, and at that time death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14). So ultimately, as we can see from the original definitions of the 'hell', those who are thrown into the lake of fire will suffer, but will then die.

For more information about 'Hell - What is it?' please see Mark's lecture 'What happens when you die' .