Judgement
The Christian faith teaches that after death, individuals will be taken into the presence of God and they will be judged for the deeds they have done or failed to do during their lifetime.
Some Christians believe that this judgement will happen when they die. Others believe that there will be a Day of Judgement at the end of time, when everybody will be judged at the same time. Some believe that judgement will happen in two stages - an initial personal judgement when people die, followed by the definitive judgement at the end of time.
Some Christians believe in the Second Coming (Parousia) - the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven to Earth. The belief is that this will be a sign of the beginning of the general resurrectionChristian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after the crucifixion; the rising from the dead of believers on the Last Day; the new, or risen, life of Christians. of the dead, the last judgement of the dead and the living, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Question
What do Christians mean by judgement?
When the Christian faith refers to judgement, it refers to the belief that God will judge humanity on their beliefs and actions. The Christian faith teaches that God's judgment will determine whether souls will go to Heaven or to Hell.
Responsibility
The Christian faith teaches that humans have a responsibility to behave in the correct, moral way expected of them as outlined in the Bible.
This includes:
- following rules, such as the Ten Commandments
- practising the teachings of Jesus, such as forgiveness and kindness
Christianity teaches that it is these types of behaviours that will be judged and that will be used to determine what happens to people in the afterlife.
Free will
The Christian faith teaches that God created humans with free will. This is the idea that people can make their own decisions, rather than having life predetermined for them. According to Christianity, free will is what allows humans to be described as moral beings. The faith believes that humans have free will to make a conscious choice to live and act in a moral way.
The Christian faith believes that:
- it is important for people to use the free will given to them by God in a wise way and avoid committing sins
- as a result of this free will, humans are able to choose right from wrong, and therefore can sin if they choose to do so
The idea of free will is found in Genesis where Adam and Eve, the first humans, are given the Garden of Eden to live in.
Many Christians believe all humans are descended from Adam and Eve, which means that they all have the ability to disobey God. Original sin occurred when Adam and Eve were tempted and committed the first (original) sin.
Genesis 3 tells the story of how sin first entered the world when Adam and Eve were tempted by the Devil in the Garden of Eden. They ate an apple from the Tree of Knowledge after God had instructed them not to, and for this they were banished from the garden.
