(The Resurrection of Lazarus, painting by Leon Bonnat, France, 1857.)
For Christianity, only the body can be affected by death and it is temporary.
The consequence of the death of the body is the separation of the latter with the soul that is immortal. The body, meanwhile, has to resurrect to rejoin the soul, in the End Times that is the return of Christ (resurrection of those who died in Christ, the Blessed) or at the end of the world , resurrection of those who died without Christ (Damned) for the last judgment that is the final triumph of God and life.
After the death of the body, the souls of the dead go where they deserve their places, those who die in Christ go up to heaven, some go down to purgatory to cleanse their venial sins, and those who die without having repented of their “fatal” sins descend into hell.
For Catholics, it is during the earthly life we have a choice to follow or not to follow God. God gives us the chance to the last breath to repent and follow him, once dead we can no longer choose (see the parable of Lazarus), our fate will be sealed.
The souls that go to Purgatory are like the damned, they are deprived of the vision of God (the “beatific vision”) and feel the regret of not doing all the possible good. Once purified, these souls leave Purgatory to Paradise and finally can “see God” (the damned will never see God). Only the perfectly pure people can go straight to Heaven: Jesus, Mary, for example.
Protestants do not believe in the existence of Purgatory. For Protestants, the man chooses to live or not in accordance with the divine will, recognizing Jesus as his Savior and Lord, and this before trial or seing God face to face.
The Christian eschatology reflected on the meaning of death and the Last Things. There is an immediate judgment of the soul and a final collective judgment that the merits of each are known to all.
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