What happens to us when we die?

1. Eastern Orthodox

• View of the Dead:
  The soul separates from the body at death and goes to an intermediate state.
• Particular Judgment:
  Immediately after death, each soul experiences a foretaste of its eternal destiny (joy of paradise or torment of hades), but the final judgment awaits the resurrection.
• Imagery:
  The righteous are with Christ in a state of rest and light; the wicked are in darkness.
• Emphasis:
  This state is not final — the body awaits resurrection, and the soul’s ultimate destiny is revealed only at the Last Judgment.

2. Roman Catholic

• Particular Judgment:
  At death, each soul undergoes a personal judgment. Three outcomes are possible:
  1. Heaven (immediate union with God for the perfectly purified).
  2. Purgatory (temporary purification for those destined for heaven but not yet fully holy).
  3. Hell (definitive self-exclusion from God).
• Heaven and Hell before the Resurrection:
  Souls are already experiencing either communion with God or separation, but in a disembodied state until the final resurrection.
• Final Judgment:
  At the Second Coming, body and soul are reunited, and all face public, universal judgment.

3. Mainline Protestant (Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, Methodist, etc.)

Views vary, but in general:

• Intermediate State:
  Most affirm that believers go immediately into the presence of Christ (“with Christ,” Phil 1:23; “with the Lord,” 2 Cor 5:8).
  • Some describe this as heavenly rest until the resurrection.
  • Some Reformed traditions emphasise “soul sleep” (a state of unconscious rest until resurrection).
• Unbelievers:
  Go to a state of separation from God (sometimes described as hades).
• Final Resurrection & Judgment:
  At Christ’s return, all the dead are raised and judged, body and soul united.

4. Evangelical / Dispensational Protestant

• Believers at death:
  The soul goes immediately to be with the Lord in heaven (based on Phil 1:23, 2 Cor 5:8).
• Unbelievers:
  Go to hades/hell awaiting final judgment.
• Resurrection:
  Believers’ bodies are raised at the rapture or Second Coming; unbelievers at the final judgment (sometimes distinguished as two separate resurrections).
• Emphasis:
  Strong on “being with Christ immediately after death,” less emphasis on purgatory or soul sleep.

Summary Table

Jewish and Platonist influences

Christianity at its core is resurrection-centered (Jewish hope) but to explain the gap between death and resurrection, most traditions use categories that sound Platonic (immortal soul, disembodied awareness).

The soul is considered capable of existing independently of the body but only in an incomplete state which allows for experiencing a “foretaste” of Eternity or of entering Purgatory.

That’s why Orthodox/Catholic descriptions of the soul’s journey can sound more Greek than Jewish — even though the resurrection is always the real end-goal.

Can disembodied souls “experience” anything?

• Orthodox/Catholic answer: through spiritual faculties (intellect, will, awareness), upheld by God’s grace — but in a diminished, anticipatory way.
• Protestant “soul sleep” answer: they don’t — they rest in unconsciousness until the resurrection.
• Metaphorical answer (C. S. Lewis): any imagery we use is partial; what awaits is beyond what we can fully picture.

How Christian Traditions Balance These Influences

Key Texts and Interpretations about the State of the Dead