The End of Life

What you need to know

Test yourself
Tips for answering questions
 Course Content
1. The ways in which Christians understand the
distinction between ‘body’ and ‘soul’
2. Christian understandings of heaven, hell and
purgatory and the concept of God as judge, the
relation between moral behaviour and the afterlife
3. Christian funeral rites, and the ways in which these
reflect belief and aim to support the bereaved
 Key Words
Judgement Resurrection
Immortal Mourn
Grief Bereavement
Soul Heaven
Hell Purgatory
Funeral
 What is the soul?
Can you remember 8 points about the soul?

1. Body,
Body mind and soul B
2. Unlike animals A
3. Breath of life B
4. Plato’s
Plato ideas P
5. Resurrection is proof R
6. God’s image I
7. Conflict between body and soul C
8. Eternal E
 What is the soul?
Complete the following key quotes:

• So God created man in…

• If there is a natural body…

Now write out the 8 key points from the soul again to
see if you can still remember them
 What are heaven and hell like?
 Heaven - where God and angels are
thought to live; a very pleasant place
or condition
 Hell -  where wicked people are thought to
be punished after they die; a very
unpleasant place or condition

(Purgatory – a place of temporary suffering; in

Roman Catholic belief a place where souls are made
clean by suffering before they can enter heaven)
 What are heaven and hell like?
• Can you describe the traditional views of
heaven and hell?
• Who goes to heaven and to hell? Do all
Christians agree about who goes where?
• What are the more modern / liberal
interpretations of heaven and hell?
• Why do some Christians find it hard to believe
in hell as a real place?
• What is purgatory, who believes in it, and why
do they believe in it?
How will people be judged in the next
life?
God is omniscient so knows us better than we know
ourselves. He will judge everyone on their actions
from this life.
• What two things is judgement based on?

What does this picture show about how

people are judged?

Why are the goats to the

left and below the sheep?
 What is the purpose of funerals?
For Christians, death is not the end of life;
funerals remind them of this as well as
offering comfort and support to mourners
• You need to know the 9 key features of a
funeral service
• You need to know how Christian funerals
differ: what is different about a Quaker or
Catholic funeral?
 What is the purpose of funerals?
• Gathering Greedy
• Hymns Hippos
• Readings & sermon Really
• Eulogy Enjoy
• Prayers Pancakes
• Reflection Rhinos
• Commendation Can’t
• Committal Cook
• Wake Waffles
A sentence like this can help you remember things in the right
order
 Key Quotes
The soul:
• ‘So God created man in his own image…’
• ‘the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being.’
• ‘If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.’
Judgement
• ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’
• ‘In my Father’s house there are many rooms…’
Funerals
• 'I am the resurrection and the life…he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die.'
 Part A Questions
1. What is death?
2. What is the soul?
3. What is purgatory?
 Part B Questions
1. What is meant by soul?
2. Describe two things that happen at a
Christian funeral service.
3. Describe two Christian beliefs about
how people will be judged when they
die.
 Part C Questions
1. What do Christians believe about life
after death?
2. Describe three purposes of a Christian
funeral.
3. Describe three key Christian beliefs
about heaven.
 Part D Questions
1. How may Christian funeral rites reflect beliefs about life
after death?
2. Explain Christian beliefs about what happens to good people
when they die.
3. Explain how Christians view the distinction between body
and soul.
4. Explain what Christians believe about life after death
5. Explain Christian beliefs about how the way people live
might affect what happens to them when they die
6. Explain how a Christian funeral service might comfort
someone whose relative has died
7. Explain why Christians might believe that they should
behave morally
 Part E Questions
These questions ask you to ‘Discuss this statement. You
should include different, supported points of view and a
personal viewpoint. You must refer to Christianity in your
answer.’
1. ‘When people die that is the end.’
2. ‘People believe in life after death because they are afraid of
dying.’
3. ‘A forgiving God would not send people to hell.’
4. ‘This life is more important than the next.’
5. ‘Funeral services are for the living, not the dead.’
6. ‘It cannot be true that there is life after death, because there
is no evidence of it.’