R.E. Assessment: Different Views on Life After Death

Christian Views

Christians believe in at least some form of afterlife, the majority believe in some kind of heaven, in which Christians believe you will enjoy the presence of God and other believers with the freedom from suffering and sin.

A lesser majority of Christians believe in the existence of hell, where unbelievers or sinners are sent to be punished. There are a lot of views as to whether hell is eternal and whether the punishment is spiritual or physical. Some Christians just reject the notion altogether.

Catholic Christians also believe in purgatory, a temporary place of punishment for Christians who have died with un-confessed sins, it is believed that purgatory can be as long or as short as needed to punish the person for their un-confessed sins.

The Bible says that Christians will go to heaven when they die.
"God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation ... for God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."
In the book of Revelation, heaven is described in many ways. It tells us that in heaven there will be no night, no pain, death or crying. Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them (and all Christians who would come after them), describing it as rooms in his father's house.

Buddhist Views

The Buddha taught that all of us will pass away eventually as a part in the natural process of birth, old-age and death and that we should always keep in mind the impermanence of life. The life that we all cherish and wish to hold on.
To Buddhism, however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of ones past actions.
According to Buddhism, our lives and all that occurs in our lives is a result of Karma. Every action creates a new karma, this karma or action is created with our body, our speech or our mind and this action leaves a subtle imprint on our mind which has the potential to ripen as future happiness or future suffering, depending on whether the action was positive or negative.
If we bring happiness to people, we will be happy.