Expert: Tyler Eldred (formally known as DarkBlue) - 10/13/2008

Question
What parts of the Bible; explains/ sheds light on; when a person body dies, where are the different (passable) places that that person sole and spirt might go to?
Thank you in advance.

Answer
Dear Allen,
When you mentioned different (passable) places a person's spirit goes to, I was not quite sure what you had meant. But I see it like this: The Bible has some specific references to heaven and hell and what they are like, and I discuss each one in context to scripture below. Other concepts such as purgatory, reincarnation, multiple heavens, and multiple hells might also be considered when we wonder about the afterlife. I believe in purgatory, so I mentioned why someone might believe in it even though it isn't in the Bible, and also briefly mention these other cases and why I don't think of them as very likely. If you were wondering about what it takes for a person to arrive at one destination or the other, I would tell you that it is not an easy question to answer (in my opinion), but I would recommend to the Gospels for understanding what salvation requires. I sure hope this response is helpful or at least interesting for you, and be sure to ask some follow-up questions if there still is some information you are wondering about.

I. There is a Heaven

John 14: 2  
Jesus tells us that His Father (God) has a dwelling place that He is preparing for us. He says this right before He dies on the Cross. This indicates a place where God is as a possible residence for us, and in the context of His Passion, it can be implied that His preparation for us there is connected to His salvation through the Cross. It seems that obvious that this place must be heaven, and it is characterized by the presence of God.

Luke 23: 42
Jesus tells the thief on the cross that he will be with Him in Paradise. This paradise location, then, is something after death. This clearly refers to a heavenly afterlife, which is described here as a paradise.

Revelation 21: 9-27
This describes a new holy city where God lives after the end of the world. The city contains symbols of wealth and majesty, as we might expect of a paradise, but also states that there is no temple and no lights, for God provides those things. This image ties the concepts of God's residence and rich afterlife together.

Christian scholars recognize heaven as a destination for those saved through Jesus Christ after they die, which is a paradise characterized by God’s presence.

II. There is a Hell

Matthew 5: 21-26, Matthew 5: 27-30
Jesus teaches moral principles on how to avoid a place called Gehenna. This word in Judaism meant a place of punishment, though it is not clear whether or not that punishment is permanent as with hell or temporary as with purgatory. Jesus also mentions that Gehenna is "fiery," employing a common image at the time for describing the agony of hell.

Matthew 13: 40
In the parable of the weeds, Jesus says that the weeds will be burned up, and that the end times will be like this, thereby drawing a connected between wickedness, judgment, and resulting agony or destruction.

Matthew 8: 12, Matthew 22: 13, Matthew 25: 30
Three different stories reference some people being cast into an outer darkness, that has wailing and grinding of teeth. An outer darkness is simply a connection location far away from a source of light, and wailing and grinding of teeth again points to suffering and agony or perhaps guilt or grief. An obvious interpretation of the light would be God, and certainly the light does mean a goodness of some sort. This description easily lends itself to a location that is defining by it not being heaven: God is not there, paradise is not there, and there is much agony and anguish.

John 15:6
Jesus explains that people that do not remain in Him, will be expelled, will die, and will burn. This a similar moral connection to a similar fate, and this is contrasted to the those remain in Him, and there again seems to be a counterpart set up to heaven, not only in what heaven is, but also in how to get to heaven.

A place of judgment has already existed in Judaism and Jesus emphasized its reality and its seriousness in His teachings. It is clear that there is suffering involved in this place of judgment, and we can easily interpret that the character of this destination, unlike that of heaven, is specifically characterized by God not being there. It is true that none of the scripture presented here said this punishment was eternal, as with hell, but given the fact that the objects in these stories are cast out or destroyed there isn't really too much argument that a temporary punishment is being referred to here. (I have seen hell described as an eternal punishment in other parts of the Bible, as well)

III. There will be judgment that determines your final dwelling place

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
Jesus explicitly says in the parable of the weeds that in the end times, everybody will be judged, and either burned or sent to the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 25: 31-45
Jesus tells us that the Son of Man will sit on His throne and judge everyone according to how they loved on earth. This judgment will involve sending some people to punishment and others to eternal life.

Luke 16: 19-31
Jesus tells a story one person carried off to a place of goodness, and another person carried off to a place of torment when they die. He explains that they ended up where they did because of how they live their life.  

IV. Is there a purgatory (as in Catholicism)?

Scripture doesn't really ever refer to purgatory. Purgatory is a theological concept based on the following principles:
There is no evil in heaven.
If there is no evil in heaven, then everyone in heaven must be without sin.
God saves some people who have sinned or do sin, and sends them to heaven.
If sinful people are on their way to heaven, there must be some way for them to become cleaned or purified beforehand.
By this sort of definition, purgatory isn't necessarily a destination in the way that heaven or hell is, and it is certainly not a final destination. It would be better described as a process that precedes entrance to heaven or a path that one must travel on when they are on their way to heaven. Purgatory could be an elaborate process that takes nearly forever to complete, or could be as short and simple as the expression on Jesus' face when we enter the gates of heaven. Scholars do not pretend to know how long it takes, but they do emphasize the importance of prayer for those people, in any case. We would say that purgatory would necessarily require cleansing, but it also makes sense to say that that cleansing would involve some sort of trial or testing of some sort. Those who do not believe in purgatory might do so because they believe:
That only perfect people go to heaven,
That there is some evil in heaven,
That sinful people in heaven would not necessarily create evil in heaven,
That there are sins in heaven, but it is just they are always forgiven,
or that there is a transformation process for sinful people who have died but were saved, but it is not really a process worth mentioning.

Purgatory as a concept is not specified in the Bibles, so people have to decide whether or not the concept makes sense or not.

V. Is there reincarnation (as in Buddhism or Hinduism)?

Nothing in the Bible indicated reincarnation. In addition, usually where Jesus describes judgment, He describes two extremes where people can go, and has said nothing in his descriptions or examples to suggest that as a result of how someone live they are to go through life a second time.  

VI. Is there multiple heavens (as in Buddhism)?

There are two different ways to articulate the concept of multiple heavens. The first is that there are multiple layers that one goes through over time. Such a concept might be trying to describe the same thing purgatory describes, or it might be making a point about how people in heaven grows over time. The concept of multiple heavens specifically, though, implies distinct members, properties, or locations. Such a thing hasn't been suggested by the Gospel and we have no real reason for believing it. If we do believe in purgatory, though, it wouldn't be difficult to image separate distinct steps in our process of purification, which might be similar to what someone means when they talk about multiple heavens, but it is also very possible that there are no such distinct steps. The second concept behind multiple heavens is that there are different levels of glory given to different residents of heaven, thus several distinct heavens. While the Bible does talk about building up rewards and treasures in heaven, it seems to be contrary to the notion that we are all in perfect union with God in heaven if there are different degrees of heaven for us to settle in. Therefore, multiple heavens don’t seem very likely.

VII. Is there multiple hells (as in Dante's Inferno)?

In the book Dante's Inferno, there are 9 different hells, each one different in severity and type of punishment. The idea is that these different hells would accommodate different sinners. The Bible always mentions fire and darkness and wailing and grinding of teeth, and it seems to be describing hell in general in this way and does not ever bother to specify different parts. Also, since the principle point of the agony of hell is that we are separated from God, it seems that situation where that is the case would be equally bad. So it doesn't seem likely that there would be multiple hells.
Thank you, Allen, for trusting me with this question, and may God be with you, no matter where you go.