Something I have always wondered and have never had answered to my satisfaction is what exactly are the Jewish beliefs reguarding the afterlife? Does the Jewish religion/scripture adopt a heaven/hell scheme? If so how does one get in, are all non-Jews destined to hell, etc.? If not, what do Jews believe happens to them after they die?
Just curious.
-b
I’m sure someone who is more well-read than I will correct me on this, but this is how I have come to understand it from the extremely lapsed religous (Jewish) upbringing I had as a kid:
Jews are undecided about the afterlife. The closest to heaven in Judaism is Sheol which is where God and his angels are. The dead may or may not go to Sheol. There is no hell.
Yes, but they have to walk very quietly when they go past where the Christians are because they think they’re the only ones there.
This has been covered before, but, in brief, here are the beliefs of Orthodox Judaism.
Yes, Virginia, there is a heaven. And a hell. Jews get in by observing the mitzvos (commandments). Non-Jews get in by observing the Noahide laws (7 basic commandments). Judaism does not have a “you have to be a member to qualify” system.
Even those going to hell do not go for an eternity. Excepting the worst of the worst, most people spend no more than 12 months in hell.
Zev Steinhardt
Not according to most Christians…
Yer pal,
Satan
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Yes! I’ve already served my time!
(italics added)
C’mon Brian. If you add up the Christians who think they’re going to be in a room by themselves in Heaven and set that number against the Christians who are willing to let God decide who will join Him, you do not come up with “most” Christians believe Jews won’t go to heaven.
But neither do muslims, christians, nor anyone else. Oh, I guess you didn’t want an atheist’s answer. But that’s my point - depends on whom you ask. I’m sure Pat Robertson has a very different answer than the latest New Age guru.
(Of course your internal post was a lot more specific, destroying my perfectly good off-the-cuff remark against the OP title. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.)
C’mon tomndeb! I am not adding up anything. Obviously every Christian, even the worst offenders of the “I have a direct pipeline to God” school of thought, realizes that God makes the final call and they don’t get a vote.
But according to the same scripture that they believe, God will veto Jews and anyone who does not believe in Jesus. And that is also what they will tell you.
Again, I stress MOST of them. I know that people such as Polycarp and (I think) Trisk believe in Christ and still will interpret that has people such as myself and Jews and even the agnostic folks like our Great Debates moderating duo will be found in heavenwith the most ardent Southern Baptists.
But I submit that these folks are in the minority.
Short of conducting a survey of the millions of Christians, I hope that what I said will be enough.
What would the Pope say on this matter? I am aware that he is not God, but he is the spiritual leader of by far the largest sect of Christians in the world. I would imagine that he would believe exactly as I said above…
Yer pal,
Satan
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Well, then your suspicions are wrong (and I suspect that your view is warped by living in a region heavily saturated with Fundamentalist denominations). The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifically addresses the issue of non-Catholic and non-Christian people attaining heaven and comes down with a qualified yes leaning very heavily on the “yes” and away from the “qualified.” (Sections 830 - 850, roughly.) The Second Vatican Council also addressed this issue and rejected the idea that Jews were not saved.
Catholics, Episcopalians/Anglicans, (most) Lutherans, (many) Methodists, and lots of the various congregational groups do not claim that only Christians are going to heaven. That pretty much leaves only the most rigid Fundamentalists with the attitude that you are ascribing to “most.”
That is not entirely correct. Anyone can be saved if they attempt to know and do God’s will. That doesn’t mean the RCC teaches people who willfully ignore Christ’s teachings can be saved.
I’ve never heard that before!
. . . And I would just add, respectfully, that an over-statement like “most Christians would say no” not only misrepresents the beliefs of many – possibly most – Christians but does little to promote toleration between Christians and Jews. If you had posted “most fundamentalist Christians would say no,” I wouldn’t be able to quibble.
Please provide me with a cite for this? Not that I doubt you - I never doubt you, tomndeb - but I would like something for the future when I need it to take on some of the people you assumed correctly I am around the most.
In addition, is this view not in the Bible itself but only the Catechism? How do they make this interpretation of scripture that many Protestants do not?
Yer pal,
Satan
*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
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Extra life with Drain Bead: 4 weeks, 20 hours, 55 minutes.
David B used me as a cite!*
There is a thread of Jewish thought that the concepts of Heaven and Hell were originally Greek, and only appeared in Judaism rather late in the OT period. I know several devout Jews (conservative and orthodox, mostly) who deny the existence of Heaven and Hell. However, the recognize themselves as being a distinct minority.
Sua
You think Jesus came to bring peace?
Whoa, folks! The General Question was about Jewish beliefs. I’m completely confident that another forum has plenty of bandwidth available for a, um, debate about the number of Christians who believe that Jews get to see the Big Guy after death.
sorry, man! I’ll start a GQ on this:
“The Second Vatican Council also addressed this issue and rejected the idea that Jews were not saved.”
Did I say this? Did I say anything like this? Please read my post again. And please post your not-so-veiled-attacks on Christianity in the appropriate forum, and I’ll ignore them there.
SATAN, I couldn’t in a cursory search find world-wide statistics but http://www.religioustolerance.org says that, according to the Princeton Religious Center, adult American Christians might be categorized as 18% conservative; 47% moderate; and 19% liberal.
I’ve heard that, too.
So if there is no Heaven or Hell (i.e., when you’re dead, you’re dead) what’s the point of having a religion?
What? When have I ever attacked Christianity? I’m personallty insulted. 
(and just for that, I’m not going to mail you anymore lawyer jokes! 
)
