ШЛЯХИ ПОДОЛАННЯ СМЕРТІ В РЕЛІГІЯХ СВІТУ

Abstract

To explain the essence of religion, we have to answer the questions: why do we need a religion and what part does a religion play in human life? Religion researchers compiled an excellent list of religious functions. The author of this research focused on only one function of religion. This is to answer the eternal human question about life and death. The man wants to live and to overcome. He invests many resources in this goal's achievement. Every religion tries to explain the essence of death and tries to answer the question of its negotiation. The followers of most religions in the world are sure that God created man for eternal and immortal life. But in the past, a bad case happened. Its consequence was human death. In Christianity, this case is called an original sin. Ever since people first sinned, they have begun to die. The original sin changed the material part of man because it brought death to him. But it could not change the human essence. Because God wanted to create an immortal man, a man always wants to have eternal life and has a negative attitude towards death. The mission of religion is not only to give a theoretical explanation, but primarily to create a practical means of salvation. That is why religions not only explain how death entered human reality, but also offer ways for humans to be saved. All religions in the world explain the causes of death in the same way. On the other hand, they explain the methods of salvation in different ways. The author of this research defines four classical answers to the question of human salvation. The first answer concerns the group of religions that includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism. The followers of this religion see salvation in the resurrection of the dead. God loves people so much that he disagrees with a man's death. God tolerates man's choice to do what he did in the moment of original sin. Therefore, man will necessarily die. However, God gives him one more possibility. It is man's resurrection for eternal life. The second answer concerns the group of Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism). The followers of this religion are sure that death is inevitable. If the man was born, he would have to die. To not die, a man must not be born. Because the followers of the Indian religions believe in reincarnation, they call upon their followers to live so as to achieve nirvana, i.e., leave the regeneration circle. Then man will not be born; therefore, he will not die. The third answer concerns Plato's philosophical doctrine and Gnostics. They are sure that the material body is the cause of all man's misfortune and death. Though death is bad, it is good to die, because a dying man gets rid of death for ever. The fourth answer concerns the followers of many ancient religions. Their ideas about death were hazy and buried. They were sure that death was not the end of human life, but their representation of the afterlife was pessimistic.