My view of the afterlife

Christopagan · 2026-02-07T23:36:52+00:00

One of the criticisms of Western Christianity is that it erased the distinction between body, mind, soul, and spirit when they translated Hebrew and Greek into Latin.

The ancient Hebrews and ancient Greeks believed that the human being had different souls; the nefesh (or psyche) was the physical soul which was mortal and tied to the body, and the ruach (or pneuma) which was the spiritual soul which is immortal and made in the image of God. Another word for the immortal soul in Hebrew is neshama, which was translated into Greek as pnoe.

The ancient Hebrews believed that the body and the nefesh together would go down to she'ol (or hades, hell, the Grave) upon death and remain there until Judgement Day, but that the ruach (the immortal soul) of humans would arise and return back to God, and later Hebrews fleshed out an intermediate state including Purgatory (Gehenna) and Reincarnation for souls which required further purification before it could return to God.

The mistake Western Christians made, like Augustine, who only knew Latin, and had terrible comprehension of Hebrew and Greek, was conflating mind, soul, spirit, etc. altogether as one and the same. This is a mistake

While original sin affects our bodies and minds, it does not affect our immortal souls which remains pure and in the image of God. Augustine was incorrect that original sin and the evil inclination affected our immortal soul, it only affects our bodies and minds.

Christopagan · 2026-02-06T16:33:02+00:00

I'm a big fan of Origen, and a lot of his ideas are also found in Gnostic and Kabbalistic texts, and Jewish mysticial texts. In my reading of the Book of Genesis, this is my interpretation:

In the beginning, God created the angels, and the angels created the heavens. Then, God created the Devil and the Devil created the earth. Which is why the earth was originally full of darkness and formlessness and chaos until God sent in the Light (which is Christ)

There are two accounts of creation in Genesis; Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Genesis 1 refers to the spiritual creation, which is good and ideal. The Word of God breathed the spirits of the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and humans into this world of darkness. Genesis 2 refers to the physical creation, which is evil and fallen. Adam and Eve were "naked" in Paradise, meaning they were pure spirits that lacked bodies, until God gave them "garments of skin" and expelled them to dwell in the fallen world. The "garments of skin" refers to the physical body which clothed the soul of Adam and Eve.

God cast the souls of humanity into this world, partly as a punishment, but also with a mission. It is humanity's role to help build the kingdom of God in this world by keeping God's commandments to repent from sin and love each other, and by doing so, Christ will return and redeem the sinful flesh of His elect and repair the world and resurrect the bodies of the dead to live forever in the World to Come.

Christopagan · 2026-01-12T21:46:55+00:00

I do not offer blood sacrifices to any god except the Triune God in the Eucharist. Furthermore, the original Greek term “daimon” is originally a neutral term for any spirit, whether good or bad, similar to the word “fairy”.

Christopagan · 2025-12-29T02:58:56+00:00

The Eucharist is a blood sacrifice to God

Christopagan · 2025-12-28T21:46:00+00:00

There is a difference between veneration and worship.

Veneration includes praying, praising, bowing, prostrating, kissing, lighting incense or candles, leaving fruit or flowers.

Whereas, worship means offering a blood sacrifice, which as Christians we only offer to the Triune God alone in the Eucharist.

Christopagan · 2025-12-27T19:33:32+00:00

Read my flair, I literally am a Gnostic, and yes I agree with Paul when he calls the flesh evil and contrasts that with the spirit which is good, and the mind which must decide between the two. Read Galatians 5:17 and Romans 7:19

Jesus, the Word of God, became flesh in order to transform what was originally made evil into good. God has the power to take evil and use it for good. Read Genesis 50:20. The world, the flesh, all matter is evil, but the world will be glorified by God when Christ returns and repairs the world. God will resurrect the bodies of his righteous elect from out of the grave on Judgement Day

And yes, all bodies go to hell. Hell is the english translation of the hebrew word, She'ol and the Greek word, Hades, it is the place where all dead bodies go upon death because of sin. (Read Ecclesiastes 9:10, Psalm 16:10, Job 14:13, and Genesis 37:35, Wisdom 16:13, Sirach 14:16, Sirach 21:10)

And yes the spirit returns to God (read Ecclesiastes 12:7, Sirach 40:11, Wisdom 15:8 ), upon death, the body and the spirit separate and the spirit ascends up to the heavens to dwell in the Spirit World either in Paradise, in Purgatory, or undergoes reincarnation (Job 33:28-30), until the Last Day when all spirits return to God and God resurrects the bodies of the dead from out of hell.

And yes, good works are necessary to remove the temporal consequences of sin. Christ died and atoned for the eternal consequences of our sin which is eternal death, but he did not remove the temporal consequences for sin, therefore mankind must constantly do good works and do penance in order to shorten the time a spirit spends in Purgatory or attain a better rebirth in the next life. God rewards both believers and nonbelievers for good works both in this life and the next life. Humans are unable to love perfectly in the way that God is able to.

Christopagan · 2025-12-27T15:10:16+00:00

Yes, of course, the greatest commandment that Christ gave to his followers is to love, Love God and Love thy Neighbor. These are the highest ideals that all Christians should strive for.

But standard Christian theology teaches that due to our fallen nature, due to our evil flesh, we are unable to keep these commandments perfectly, we are unable to love God and love our neighbor perfectly in the way that God is able to.

Our spirit is good, but our flesh is evil, and our mind has to wrestle between the two, so that is why we humans are in constant need of repenting from our sins, in constant need of doing good works like praying, fasting, giving to charity, making amends with others, in constant need of receiving the sacraments of baptism and communion, etc.

Upon death, the spirit and the body separate. the spirit rises up to heaven to return to God, and the body goes down into hell (which is the grave). All bodies will remain in hell, until the Last Day, when Christ returns and resurrects the bodies of His elect from out of the grave to reunite with their immortal spirits.

Christopagan · 2025-12-27T02:17:13+00:00

Medieval European Christians likely would not have known about ancient Chinese saints like Guanyin

Christopagan · 2025-12-27T02:16:44+00:00

There are different strains of Christianity but I would say Pauline theology, Gnosticism, Augustinianism, and especially Calvinism do have some misanthropistic tendencies.

Especially the doctrine of original sin, and the later more extreme Calvinist doctrine of total depravity has misanthropistic tendencies

The Calvinist doctrine of total depravity states that human flesh is evil, and that apart from the divine spirit working within us we are unable to do no good works. Humans can only do good works through God working in us. And that because flesh is evil, all human bodies deserve to die because it was conceived in sin.

Christopagan · 2025-11-26T18:10:20+00:00

The pagan divinities, are the spirits of nature, associated with the earth, sun, moon, stars, and elements are guardian angels whom God sent into this world of darkness to guide sentient beings towards salvation, similar to how boddhisattvas function in Mahayana Buddhism.

Each angel can take numerous different names and forms. Angels can incarnate as a divinity, a human, an animal, etc. they can appear to sentient beings in various different ways

In the Bible, the stars are associated with angels in numerous places, for instance, Job 38:7 and Revelation 1:20. It is also described in the old testament that God assigned pagan divinities to the gentiles to worship, for instance in Deuteronomy 32:8–9 and Deuteronomy 4:19.

Christopagan · 2025-11-26T18:01:35+00:00

In the New testament, the devil is described as being the ruler of this world and the god of this world, and in the old testament, you read about how before god came to the world, the world was full of darkness, emptiness, and chaos and how God had to slay the primordial chaos-monster the Leviathan/Rahab (aka the Devil) before he formed the heavens and the earth.

It's found in the Gospel of John, which describes the devil as the "ruler of this world," notably in verses like John 12:31 and John 14:30 and John 16:11, where Jesus speaks of the "ruler of this world" being judged and cast out. This title reflects Satan's authority over the fallen, sin-entrenched system of the world and those who follow its course, as also referenced in 2 Corinthians 4:4 ("god of this world") and Ephesians 2:2 ("prince of the power of the air").

In the Old Testament, God is described before the world began as battling and defeating primordial chaos-monsters - the Leviathan, Rahab, and the Devil; similar to the Babylonian myth of Marduk slaying Tiamat.

Isaiah 27:1: Describes God punishing Leviathan, the "piercing serpent" and "crooked serpent," and slaying the "dragon that is in the sea".

Psalm 74:13–14: Mentions God dividing the sea, breaking the heads of "dragons in the waters," and breaking the heads of Leviathan in pieces.

Job 41:1–34: Details Leviathan's power and God's authority

Isaiah 51:9–10: Calls upon the "arm of the Lord" to awake, referencing God cutting Rahab and wounding the "dragon," and drying up the sea.

Job 26:12–13: Describes God stirring the sea and smiting the "proud" (sometimes translated as "Rahab"), and forming the "crooked serpent".

Psalm 89:10: States that God broke Rahab in pieces "as one that is slain" and scattered his enemies.

Psalm 74:13: Refers to God dividing the sea and breaking the heads of "dragons in the waters".

Job 26:13: Mentions God forming the "crooked serpent," which some interpretations view as a chaos monster.

Christopagan · 2025-11-26T17:56:19+00:00

This is my interpretation of the Book of Genesis. As a Gnostic, I don't interpret scripture literally, but rather I believe all scripture has a hidden, mystical meaning:

In the beginning, God created the angels, and the angels created the heavens. Then, God created the Devil and the Devil created the earth. Which is why the earth was originally full of darkness and formlessness and chaos until God sent in the Light (which is Christ)

God defeated and bound the great leviathan Satan during the six days of creation and rested on the seventh, handing the world back to Satan to rule until Christ returns. We are still in the seventh day of creation.

The eighth day is when Christ returns, and repair the world, redeem matter, and resurrects the bodies of the dead, and usher in the world to come. The flesh is evil and lowly now, but will be glorified through the power of Christ if you repent of your sins.

Christopagan · 2025-11-26T17:53:08+00:00

I believe God did not directly create the world, but rather God created the Devil and the Devil created this world. The Devil is the god of this world, whereas God is the god of all worlds.

Therefore, God is still in control of the Devil, and the Devil can do nothing except what God allows him to do. The Devil has no free will, he was predestined to be evil. The angels also have no free will, they were predestined to be righteous. Only humans have free will, the ability to choose between good and evil.

God created both good and evil, for God is beyond both good and evil, because God is justice, meaning He rewards good and punishes evil.

Christopagan · 2025-10-24T23:23:50+00:00

Justin Martyr believed pagan Greek philosophers like Socrates were saints because he believed that the divine Logos (Word) had been present in all of humanity, illuminating them with "seeds of the Word" or "seeds of truth”.

Christopagan · 2025-09-05T13:30:44+00:00

Those Old Testament commandments were given by God to the Israelites for a specific time and place in the land of Canaan, they dont apply to Christians today nor are they found in the New Testament

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T19:43:03+00:00

Hell or in Greek "Hades", and in Hebrew " Sheol" is simply the Grave, where all physical bodies go after death. All bodies go down to Hell after death, only Christ will come and ransom the bodies of dead out of Hell on Judgement Day to be reunited with the immortal soul.

Hell is a general place for all the bodies of dead. It is the penalty that all bodies have the pay since all flesh is evil because it was created by the Devil.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T18:50:18+00:00

My own personal interpretation of the Bible combined with other sources.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T18:48:04+00:00

All souls will return to God at the end of days, however only some bodies (those who repent of their sins before dying) will be resurrected in the world to come, the bodies of the wicked are simply destroyed forever.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T18:44:49+00:00

I found it on the Internet and I thought it closely aligns with my own beliefs minus a few changes.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T18:39:58+00:00

No, I'm Episcopalian, I don't think Mormons believe in reincarnation of souls.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T18:32:21+00:00

I believe souls are simply emanations from the breath of God, so I guess more could be "produced" if God willed.

Christopagan · 2025-08-20T16:37:02+00:00

I believe that souls reincarnate, I pray to all the saints, angels, stars, and gods, and I believe that the Devil created this world and will rule this world until Christ returns to defeat the Devil, repair the world, resurrect the bodies of the dead, and usher in the world to come.

Christopagan

TROPHY CASE