A great Pastor by the name of RC Sproul once said, “I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying.” In the context of what he was speaking of was the suffering end of dying. I had an uncle who had a really horrible death. The last two weeks of his life he was in hospice care and was in extreme tortures pain. He was dying of cirrhosis of the liver due to years of alcohol abuse and at the very end of it his organs were failing him. He was on high doses of morphine and that was simply not enough. The day I arrived to visit him was the day he took his last breath. He died a very hard death. He suffered tremendously. Watching someone like my uncle suffer the way he did begs the question, “Is there an end to suffering?”

Suffering is an inherent part of our lives whether it be us or someone we care about or someone in the world. You can’t turn on the news and not see the suffering of the world. From wars to natural catastrophes to broken relationships that ruin an entire family to a simple broken bone. Suffering is all around us and will continue to be (but not for ever… there is a promise we will discuss).

Just recently I was in a discussion about suffering and the after life with my grandmother in law and the thought of different faiths and their view of the after life came up. What struck me was that there is only one faith that brings an end to suffering at the end of ones life; and not just an end of suffering, but an eternal joy.

So what I want to do is compare some different views on the after life and how only one has hope of an end of suffering.

REINCARNATION – Held by Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism.

“Reincarnation describes the concept whereby the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant.” ^[1]

The goal of this “reincarnation” is to work off all the bad stuff one has done, known as Karma, and eventually get to a state of perfection that will bring an end to suffering. The simple problem with the very thought of “bringing an end to suffering through the working off of Karma” is that it doesn’t take into consideration the whole of earth and everyone in it. The world would have to go from being corrupt and failing in order for this to take place. Because that is an impossibility, since the world in only getting worse by the people in it and within its own decay, the idea of reincarnation carries with it only continued suffering “life after life” since the world continues going into suffering dispute anyone’s “reincarnation”.

PURGATORY - Held by Catholics

Purgatory (Lat., “purgare”, to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.^[2]

Here again we see a view of the after life, which isn’t much different than the previous discussed. There is a working off of “venial faults” and a purification process having to take place. Covered in this veil of eventually obtaining to perfection or freedom from transgressions, there will be and end to the suffering. The problem with the concept is that there is no end to the purgatory in a defined manner. It could take all of infinity to be “free from venial faults”, so this idea too has only a propagation of suffering. There is no hope for an end of it and no hope for freedom. Since the concept carries the idea of one having  his faults “fully paid” by this means of purification, who’s to say that the faults are little or large? Is there an end to the suffering in purgatory?

HEAVEN – Held by Christians

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, ⁴ and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”⁵ And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”^[3]

The view held by Christians about the after life is the only view that has a hope of an end of suffering for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation. ^[4] There is a hope that Christians have that they will never, ever suffer again the loss of a loved one, the loss of a limb, ever again have a battle with cancer, never again see a child go hungry, and never again sin against a Holy God that loved them enough that He would die for them a humiliating death, a death on a Cross. Where the others go wrong is there is no account for suffering, which has been brought about because of the sinfulness of man. Murders don’t just happen, they are an overflow of what goes on inside of the heart of every individual.

God has promised a day to destroy all that is corrupted and bring about a “brand new” heaven and a “brand new earth” that will be freed from sin and its consequences of suffering.

Now according to the Bible, there is a heaven waiting for those who are God’s children born by the Spirit above, but there is also an eternal suffering for those who have rejected the gift God has given the world in His Son, Jesus Christ. Hell is a real place and has real suffering. It is inescapable outside of Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t have to be so, for you.

1. ^[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation ↩
2. ^[2] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm ↩
3. ^[3] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2021&version=NASB ↩
4. ^[4] http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/what-is-the-christian-gospel ↩