Catholic Christians believe that all men and women will
experience the end of this human life. The Word of God teaches us
that each person will be judged immediately after death.
Heaven awaits those souls found to be in the state of grace or
perfection.
Hell or eternal damnation awaits those souls who die without
repentance for their sins.
At the end of the world, Jesus will come again in power and
glory--the Parousia.
At this time the bodies of all the dead will be resurrected.
Those still living will be taken up into the air to meet Jesus.
General judgment of all people will then be made.
The blessed will possess heaven for all eternity; the damned will
suffer hell for all eternity.
Catholic Christians are so aware of the Biblical theme of the last
things of this life that they devote four weeks every year to a
special time--Advent--a season for the faithful to listen again to
the Word of God on the end of this life and the Second Coming of
Jesus in glory and judgment.
All professed Christians look to the Bible for their acceptance and
understanding of the end of human life and what follows human
death. The study of last things is called eschatology from the
Greek word eschatos, meaning "the last or extreme."
The stages of escatology include individual human death, particular
judgment, the choices of heaven, purgatory or hell, the end of the
world, the living being "taken up," the resurrection of the body,
the Second Coming of Christ, general judgment, and the New
Creation.
Christians accept that the first of the "last things" of human life
is physical death. Natural death is the separation of the immortal
soul from the physical body. Divine Revelation tells us the origin
of human death--the sin of Adam and Eve. The punishment for the
original sin is found in Genesis.
