The world is full of conflicting ideas about what becomes of us when we die. Some claim we’re just an accident of nature with no personal future beyond death; others that we will somehow progress to a less corrupt, more ‘enlightened’ consciousness; and others that we are formed and even now being observed and guided by an intelligence far greater than our own, who will ultimately hold us accountable for our actions. It is this last perspective, as presented by Jesus Christ, that is being unashamedly advanced by this book.

A na-ahazi ihe ahụ n'okpuru isiokwu a sara mbara:

Pịa ebe a ka ịlaghachi n'ọkụ mmụọ iji merie ma ọ bụ eluigwe ịkwụ ụgwọ, ma ọ bụ na nke ọ bụla n'ime isiokwu ndị dị n'okpuru:

• Gịnị Ka Chineke Na-ekwu, ma ọ bụ Gịnị Ka Anyị chere?

  We need to start by admitting that our human perspectives are almost certainly heavily biased by our own self-interest; and that we’re not as smart as God. N'akụkụ aka nke ọzọ, the Bible is a record of God’s revelations and dealings with humanity; which have been recorded by men using human language and concepts. Both of these have been subject to change over time; so when citing Scripture we must be careful to consider the context in which they were originally spoken and recorded.

  But if Jesus was indeed who He claimed to be, then in any apparent conflict of opinion, his words should take precedence.

• Ihe ndabere mere eme

  Initially, man lived in fellowship with God; with permanent access to ‘The Tree of Life.’ Death was irrelevant. Mana, on accepting the Serpent’s lies, man soon began to experience the bitterness of evil and the frightening inability to discover what would happen when he died.

  But God had told the Serpent that one day man’s offspring would ‘bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” And, over the centuries that followed, God gradually revealed more about his ultimate intentions: but always concealing his master plan to defeat the Serpent, Setan. Ya mere, when Jesus came, some concepts were already established in Jewish thought, even though their true nature continued to be a matter of debate.

• Okwu Jizọs

  By the time Jesus came the following concepts concerning the afterlife were well established in Jewish thought: but their true nature and even their existence, gara n'ihu bụrụ okwu esemokwu siri ike:

  • ‘Sheol’ – Ebe Ndị Nwụrụ Anwụ.
  • ‘Abraham’s Bosom’ – a place where righteous Jews could await their eventual resurrection.
  • ‘Gehenna’ – ebe nkwughachi Chineke, nke a ga-esochi ma ọ bụ mbilite n'ọnwụ n'ikpeazụ, ma ọ bụ
  • ‘The Second Death’ – destruction or a state of permanent death.

  E ji okwu ndị a mee ihe n'ozizi Jizọs na ndịozi ya; though some English versions translate both ‘Sheol‘ and ‘Gehenna‘ as ‘Hell’. But Jesus explicitly redefined these terms to bring them into closer alignment with the original Hebrew texts.

Gụọ na …