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Christianity

beliefs & teachings

Afterlife - resurrection

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Introduction

Christianity teaches that death is not the end, and that at some point in the future, there will be a Day of Judgement, when the dead will be resurrected in order to face their final judgement.

Resurrection

Resurrection is the belief that God will bring the dead back to life on Earth. They believe that Jesus' own resurrection is evidence for this. St Paul wrote this in his first letter to the Corinthians:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians)

What happens between death and resurrection?

Some Protestant churches, influenced by the above passage from 1 Corinthians, teach that at death the soul enters into a kind of 'soul sleep' before waking up on Judgement Day, when it is united with the resurrection body.

Roman Catholics believe that at death the soul separates from the body in order to receive a personal judgement. Depending on how the person has lived, their soul will then spend the time before Judgement Day in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. And then on Judgement Day, the soul will be re-embodied in order to receive God's final (and public) judgement.

The resurrection body

Just as Jesus' resurrection body was somewhat altered, so St Paul taught that everyone's resurrection body will be different from their current one.

For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

St Paul refers to the resurrection body as a 'spiritual body' in contrast to our current earthly 'physical body'.

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