Q2. Answer
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The Bible teaches that man is a spirit-being that inhabits a physical body. After physical death, he still lives on but in the unseen spirit realm. The issue is, will he spend eternity with God (in heaven), or will he be without God (in hell).
The Bible also teaches that man has a sinful nature, and cannot therefore have eternal fellowship with God who is absolutely pure and holy, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Therefore man needs saving (salvation) for heaven to be his eternal home. Nothing in the Bible indicates hell to be the destination of popular choice – it’s a place of torment and punishment and outer darkness.
No mantra, no amount of introspection or meditation, can reveal God inside a man, for God does not live in us until we are “saved,” i.e. made brand new spiritually by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5-7). (For that to occur, terms and conditions apply – see Q. “What must I do to be saved?”) The Bible does not support serial reincarnation until spiritual perfection may be achieved, because, as already explained, man can never attain spiritual perfection or salvation by his own best efforts. He will always fall short of God’s glory because he always sins. The least unkind thought is a sin; and anything contrary to God’s will is sin.
Man’s senses of what is good and holy, and what is, and is not sin, have been dulled by his fallen nature, even to the point that he often does not recognise his own fallen state. “I’ve lived a good life. I’ve never hurt anybody. I’m kind to animals. I give to charity.” These are things people often say; but how do they measure up to God’s standards of holiness? The Bible declares our good deeds are but filthy rags:
But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:5-6)