What does your religion say about crime in the afterlife?

Question

According to your religion or religious belief, in the afterlife, does crime or criminal justice exist? I, myself, am agnostic and I have no idea what the afterlife is like. I figure if we have the will to do what we want on earth, then we have the will to do what we want in the afterlife. The reason that I hold this view is because in every religion or religious philosophy, in it contains morality, religious ethics and the punishments for breaking moral laws. I obviously haven't visited the afterlife so I would not know how this would work, how crimes are handled in the afterlife. The only thing I see changing my viewpoint would be a solid answer to any follow-up question I throw out. Since scriptures only contain so much, you are free to use any other scholarly material to support your viewpoint. I wont be convinced of any arguments other than the original premise. The premise is simple and will lead down to the right reli.....err.....road. SN: Please be respectful when you respond because this was too controversial for CMV...... TLDR: According to your religion or religious belief, in the afterlife, does crime or criminal justice exist?

Answer 1

So far as I or anyone else can understand it, given the thorny issue of interpretation, the monotheistic Faiths of Christianity and Islam include an 'afterlife', that is, the continuing existence of an individual's spirit separate from the physical body in one or more 'places' (it's actual nature is unclear) other than the universe that you and I currently inhabit.

The Faith of Judaism, as far as I understand it, is less than clear about the existence of some form of afterlife. The major religions that originated in the South Asian sub-continent - Hinduism and Buddhism - simply don't include an afterlife. Upon death, the spirit of an individual transfers to another earth bound form of life at the beginning of that form of life's existence, a process that takes place in an endless cycle that can only be broken by achieving a state of nonexistence. As for Taoist beliefs or the religions of other peoples, such as Native Americans, I confess ignorance.

For my part, I was raised as a Christian, specifically a member of the Catholic Church. I was taught that there were at least three possible destinations in the afterlife: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Purgatory and Hell are exactly the same with a single exception; one's time in Purgatory is temporary, while existence in Hell lasts for all eternity.

Once more, so far as I understand it, the spirits / souls condemned to either Hell or Purgatory are in a state of agony, the purpose of which is punishment for one's sins committed during one's earthbound life. As such, there are no opportunities to do anything other than feel intense pain. Therefore, it would not be possible to commit a 'crime' because it is not possible to do anything other than feel pain.

As for Heaven, a spirit / soul that passes through the 'Pearly Gates' is in a state of perfect bliss produced by the perfect love radiated by God. Because such a state is perfect, it's impossible for anything negative to exist within a spirit in Heaven.

Mind you, these are the teachings of the Catholic Church as much as I recall them. In addition, the teachings of the Catholic Church include the concept of 'Mystery', that is, there are aspects of God that the human mind simply cannot understand, not an unreasonable concept considering the difference between the human mind and the intelligence of an omnipotent being. Given the nature of the different destinations in the afterlife, it's fair to say that it is impossible for human beings to fully understand Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.