{UAH} What happens when you die or leave your body. And why do we have to die?

  

This is what happens when humans die. 

 

2 Esdras 7 (Good News Bible Translation w/ Apocrypha)

 

·       75 Then I said, "Sir, may I ask you, please, to explain to me what happens when we die, when each of us must give back our soul? Will we be kept at rest until the time when you begin to make your new creation, or will our torment begin immediately?"

 

·       76 "I will answer that question also," he replied, "but do not include yourself among those who will be tormented because they have no use for religion. 

 

·       77 After all, you have a treasure of good works stored up with God Most High, which will not be shown to you until the last days.

 

·       78 But to answer your question about death: When God Most High has pronounced the final decree that a person shall die, the soul leaves the body to return to the one who gave it. Immediately it praises the glory of God Most High. 

 

·       79 Let me explain first about people who had no use for the ways of God Most High and hated those who worshiped him. 

 

·       80 There is no place where their souls can go for rest; they must wander around forever in torment, grief, and sorrow. Their torment will progress in seven stages. 

 

·       81 First, they ignore the Law of God Most High. 

 

·       82 Second, they can no longer make a sincere repentance and obtain life.

 

·       83 Third, they see the reward stored up for those who put their faith in the covenants of God Most High. 

 

·       84 Fourth, they think about the torment that has been stored up for them in the last days.

 

·       85 Fifth, they see angels guarding the homes of other souls in complete silence. 

 

·       86 Sixth, they recognize that they must soon be tormented. 

 

·       87 Seventh, and worst of all, when they see the glory of God Most High, they are sick with remorse and shame. They cringe in fear, because while they were living they sinned against him. And now they are about to come before him to be judged on the last day. 

 

·       88 "Now let me explain about those who followed the ways of God Most High and what will happen when the time comes for them to leave their mortal bodies. 

 

·       89 While they lived on earth, through constant difficulty and danger, they served God Most High and carefully kept the Law given by the Lawgiver. 

 

·       90 This is what they will receive: 

 

·       91 They will rejoice when they see the great glory of God. He will receive them, and they will enter their rest in seven stages of joy.

 

·       92 The first joy is to have struggled hard and won the victory over the evil impulse which was formed in them, but which did not succeed in leading them from life into death. 

 

·       93 The second is to see the endless wandering of the souls of the wicked and the punishment that is waiting for them. 

 

·       94 The third is to know what a good report their Maker has given about them, that during their lifetime they kept the Law that was entrusted to them. 

 

·       95 The fourth is to appreciate the rest that they are to enjoy in the places where they have been brought together, guarded by angels, in complete silence, and with the glory that is waiting for them at the last day. 

 

·       96 The fifth is to rejoice that they have now escaped the corrupt world and that they will receive the future life as their possession. They can see both the narrow, troubled world from which they have been freed and the spacious world they will receive and enjoy forever.

 

·        97 The sixth is to be shown how their faces will shine like the sun and how they are to be like the light of the stars that never die. 

 

·       98 The seventh joy, and best of all, is when they rush to meet God face-to-face, with perfect trust and happiness, without any fear or shame. They served him during their lifetime and now they will receive from him their reward in glory. 

 

·       99 These rewards that I have been telling you about are those that have been prepared for the souls of the righteous. I described to you earlier the torment that the rebellious will suffer." 

 

·       100 Then I asked, "When the souls of the righteous are separated from their bodies, will they be given time to see what you have told me about?" 

 

·       101"They will be free for seven days," he answered, "and during that time they will be able to see the things I have told you about. After that they will be brought together with the other souls in their homes." 

 

·       102 Then I said, "Sir, please tell me whether the righteous will be able to ask God Most High to show mercy on the unrighteous on Judgment Day. 

 

·       103 Will fathers be able to pray for their children, children for parents, brothers for brothers, relatives for those near to them, and friends for those dear to them?" 

 

·       104 "I will be happy to tell you," he replied. "Judgment Day is final and sets the final seal on truth for all to see. You know that in this age a father cannot send his son to be sick for him or sleep or eat or be healed for him. An owner cannot send his slave to do these things for him, nor can a person send his best friend. 

 

·       105 In the same way, on that day, no one will be able to pray for another person. Each person will receive the punishment or reward for his own sinfulness or righteousness." 

 

·       106 "If that is so," I answered, "how can we explain what we find in the Scriptures? Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom, and Moses for our ancestors who sinned in the desert. 

 

·       107 Later, Joshua prayed for the people of Israel in the time of Achan, 

 

·       108and Samuel prayed for them in the days of Saul. David prayed at the time of the epidemic, and Solomon prayed for those who were going to worship in the Temple. 

 

·       109 Elijah prayed that the people might have rain and for a dead person to come back to life. 

 

·       110 Hezekiah prayed for the people during the time of Sennacherib. And there are many other examples. 

 

·       111 If righteous people prayed for the unrighteous during such times when corruption increased and injustice multiplied, why won't the same thing happen at the Judgment Day?" 

 

·       112 "The present age is not the end of everything," the angel answered. "Even in this age, the glorious presence of God is not always seen. That is why the strong have prayed for the weak during this age. 

 

·       113 But the Judgment Day will be the end of the present age and the beginning of the future age. Then all corruption will end, 

 

·       114 self-indulgence and disloyalty will be eliminated. Righteousness and truth will reach their full maturity. 

 

·       115 So on Judgment Day, no one will be able to have mercy on those who have been condemned, and no one will be able to harm those who have been acquitted."

 

·        116 I answered, "I made this point before, and I will make it again. It would have been better if the earth had never produced Adam, or when it had done so, if it had made him so that he could not sin.

 

·       117 What good is it for any of us to have life in the present age, when it is full of misery and when all we can look forward to after death is punishment? 

 

·       118 O Adam, what have you done? Your sin was not only your own downfall; it was also the downfall of all of us who are your descendants.

 

·       119 What good is it to us that we have the promise of immortal life, when we have committed sins that condemn us to death? 

 

·       120 What good is the hope of eternity, when we find ourselves in such a completely hopeless situation? 

 

·       121 What good is it that safe and secure homes have been prepared for us in the future world, when we have lived such wicked lives? 

 

·       122 What good is the promise that the glorious presence of God Most High will protect those who have lived pure lives, when our own lives have been so full of sin? 

 

·       123 What good is it that Paradise is shown to us, that its imperishable fruit can heal us and provide all we need? We can never go there 

 

·       124 because we have lived unacceptable lives. 

 

·       125 What good is it that the faces of those who practice self-control will shine more brightly than the stars, when our own faces will be blacker than the night?

 

·       126 Never in our whole lives, when we sinned, did we think about what we would have to suffer after death." 

 

·       127 The angel replied, "Here is the meaning of the conflict that every person on earth must endure: 

 

·       128 If he is defeated, he must suffer the things you have just told me about, but if he is victorious, he will receive the rewards that I have just mentioned. 

 

·       129 That is why Moses long ago urged the people to choose life so that they might live.

 

·       130 But they did not believe him or the prophets who came after him, and they did not believe me when I spoke to them. 

 

·       131 So the sadness over their destruction is nothing compared to the great joy over the salvation of those who believe." 

 

·       132 I answered, "Sir, I know that God Most High is spoken of as merciful because he shows mercy to those who have not yet entered this world. 

 

·       133 He is called compassionate because he shows compassion to those who repent and obey his Law.

 

·        134 He is thought of as patient because he is patient with his own creatures who have sinned. 

 

·       135 He is known as generous because he prefers to give rather than to demand. 

 

·       136 And he is known as very forgiving because he continues to forgive sinners of the past, present, and future. 

 

·       137 If he did not continue to forgive, there would be no life for this world or the people in it. 

 

·       138 He is spoken of as pardoning because, if it were not for his goodness in pardoning sinners, not one person in ten thousand would gain life. 

 

·       139 He is called judge because he pardons and blots out the many sins of those who were created by his word. 

 

·       140 If he did not, only a handful of the whole human race would be left."

"It is not out of fear but out of a feeling for what is right that we should abstain from doing wrong." "Doing right is based most of all on respecting the other person." "We ought to do our best to help those who have suffered injustice." "The wise man belongs to all countries, for the whole world is a homeland to a great heart." "Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to so-called prosperity under despots as freedom is to slavery" "I would rather discover a single causal law than be king of Persia!"
 Democritus (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC)