A 'New Age' or theosophical belief in an after life is described here.
However, apart from this individual judgment, the three 'great' monotheistic religions also believe in a 'final' judgment of all of humanity at the 'End of the World'. This belief in a 'Judgment Day' is what we examine here.
Eastern religions on the other hand, believe in a cyclic Universe which comes into being and then perishes periodically, but the periods are in billions if not trillions of years.
The various religious beliefs about the judgment of God:
I believe that when the Christ Returns, he will cure most of the people afflicted by the Corona Virus (as well as other illnesses) and advise us how to take care of future pandemics.
However, Hinduism does have 'Avatars' or saviors who appear on Earth periodically. As Krishna says 'Whenever and wherever there is a decline in righteousness/dharma, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of evil/unrighteousness - at that time I descend Myself'. Many expect the 'last' Avatar of Vishnu to appear soon at the end of the current age. The 'last' Avatar named Kalki will appear on a white horse carrying a powerful sword of righteousness. He will rid the Earth of all evil and inaugurate a new age of righteousness, peace and prosperity.
Theosophists too believe like Hindus, in the cyclic nature of the Universe, but instead of just 'yugas', they divide the innermost cycle into chains, rounds, manavantaras, races (root races and subraces). For each Root Race, there is a Judgment Day when it is determined which of the humans in existence will continue in the cycle or will be held back for the next one (like student being held back a grade, but hardly anyone gets eliminated or expelled).
The Theosophical sequence of events (many theosophist may probably disagree):
Most of religions also believe that the time before the coming of the Messiah would be a dark one - full of devastation, strife, hunger, difficulty and suffering for mankind. With the spread of the Corona Virus and Covid-19, that time has surely come. One troubling aspect of the Christian prophesy is the number of predicted deaths - John's Revelations predicts almost one third or one fourth of mankind. I hope this turns out to be wrong, although there could very easily be about a million dead around the world because of Covid-19 by the time we are done.
The last question is of 'Judgment Day' - is this suffering and all the deaths many people are facing, at random? Most of the dead will be fairly old, people whose time has come, but will the remaining be chosen according to the type of person they are? Jesus was pretty clear - he intended to get rid of the 'goats' and keep the 'sheep' safe - we have to wait and see if that is what will happen! Those who fail to follow social-distancing guidelines, who refuse to wear masks, who gather together in crowded large groups are the most likely to be victims of the virus - is this the divine method to self-select the 'goats'? In this scenario, innocent hospital workers may have to bear the brunt of the burden - hopefully they will not be overwhelmed.
A litmus test to identify a goat is to find out if someone is anti-immigrant or anti-foreigner or even 'anti-foreign looking' people, whether in the US or India or Germany! These are the goats who will be separated by divine, natural forces and removed from society one way or another (over several years, nothing is instant or magical). The meek shall finally inherit the Earth.
Strangely enough, many goats in the US, UK and Canada have decided to become anti-vaccine and they will essentially facilitate their own removal themselves. In the middle-east and South Asian, it may not be that simple or natural - in these places (as well as in China), the right-wing goats may be taken out by the rest of the population in some horrific blood bath.
My personal belief and hope is that the Christ/Imam Mahdi/Moshiach/Maitreya will emerge early next year after the second (and much harsher) Corona Virus wave has passed (but probably not as a white man or a Christian). But maybe it will be much later, maybe we need to suffer a lot more - I hope not. Let us all pray for his Coming as soon as possible.
This Page Created: May, 2020