WHAT AWAITS AFTER DEATH? EXPLORING LIFE, IMMORTALITY, AND FAITH

A COMPARATIVE LOOK AT CHRISTIAN, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND DIETARY BELIEFS ON THE AFTERLIFE

By Jun P. Espina | 06/20/2026 | 1 min read

YOUR IMMORTALITY: WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THIS LIFE?

Immortality and Faith. Intelligent people have no idea what will happen after this life. Plato, for example, has argued that immortality is true based on the immaterial nature of the soul. That’s all he can advocate for: a mere theory that the soul is immaterial. From the same subject, biblical Christian thought is much different and exceptional, since eternal life is proven by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

In contrast to mere human precepts, real Christian beliefs always stand on the foundation of truth, substantial evidence, and verifiability.

Touching the same subject matter on human immortality, the apostle Paul said,

“Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. (1 Cor. 15:12-14)

CHRIST’S RESURRECTION: INVESTIGATED AND PROVEN

It is Paul’s argument. We will live forever because Christ rose from the grave. After over 2000 years, highly intelligent individuals have tried to carry out exhaustive investigations about the so-called hoax surrounding Christ’s resurrection, and all of them failed to prove that Christ did not rise from the grave.

Google these names, for they have investigated the truth about Christ’s resurrection. As a result, all of them got converted to the Christian faith:

1. Lee Strobel—an “award-winning investigative journalist and legal editor for the Chicago Tribune.”
2. Frank Morrison—a “British lawyer and editor of a legal journal.”
3. Josh McDowell—who “intended to write a book to disprove Christianity and ‘defeat’ it intellectually.”
4. Simon Greenleaf – a “prominent American jurist and the Royall Professor of Law at Harvard University.”
5. Others.

SOME RELIGIOUS OPINIONS ABOUT FOOD AND IMMORTALITY

1. HEAVEN IS NOT ABOUT FLESH AND BLOOD

I once spoke to a brilliant teacher who told me to be biblical with my food choices. She was a Seventh-day Adventist, obviously.

For lack of a more polite reply, I said, “Ma’am, heaven is not about food or appetite.” She turned away.

It is true that one can be an SDA purist or a fanatical Islamist who believes pork is evil and still end up in hell. The Bible clearly states that Christ’s resurrection defeats the grave and that food choices do not determine salvation. Why? Because salvation from hell is not about your meals.

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 14:17, KJV)

The kingdom of God is not about “flesh and blood”—it is not determined by the type of breakfast you have eaten before departing this life.

“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Cor. 15:50)

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2. THE “FLESH-AND-BLOOD” MATERIALIST HERESY

Even so, Seventh-day Adventism mightily upholds its “coffee is sin” heresy:

“Seventh-day Adventists avoid coffee primarily because they view it as a harmful stimulant that damages physical and spiritual health. This stance is rooted in the belief that the body is the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’ and must be kept pure, a principle heavily influenced by co-founder Ellen G. White, who labeled coffee an ‘injurious indulgence’ and a ‘sin’.”

3. WHY DO I EAT BLOOD?

For me, I drink coffee without guilt because Christ has defeated death and hell, and not through our ability to make our bodies “pure,” but by His shed blood on the cross.

Did I say we need to eat blood and also those foods offered to idols? No, I didn’t. I don’t eat dinugan (pork blood stew) because of the possible impurities in it, but as a personal rule, I eat blood—I eat bone broth or beef liver recipes, unafraid of the blood in them.

I also don’t eat those offered to idols, but if I didn’t know this or that rice cake was offered to idols during All Souls’ Day, I wouldn’t agonize but rather forgive myself. Again, why? Because heaven is not about food.

4. EATING BLOOD IS BAD CHRISTIANITY

I really had troubles before with Christian purists telling me that eating blood is detrimental to Christianity. After serious study, I figured out that what defiles a person is the content of his heart, not his stomach. Christ said,

“Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person… because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)” (Mark 7:14b-15, 19)

PAUL’S INTRO AGAINST MATERIALISM BEFORE TELLING A MYSTERY

Before the apostle Paul gave his lecture on God’s mystery for the perishable (mortal people) and the imperishable (the saved and immortal ones) (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:50), he first stressed that God is not an SDA moralist, figuratively speaking. It was his way of saying, “Let’s get down to business. Cut the nonsense. Let’s put away religious nutritionals.”

Then he said the following: “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep [die], but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:51-52)

WHAT DID THE APOSTLE PAUL MEAN WHEN HE SAID, “IN A MOMENT”?

First, he stated that Christ’s Second Coming could occur at any moment. You may not know that Christ will return right after your latest clash with your wife or after your pay increase. No one knows. He may return “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” (1 Cor. 15:52)

The core of Christ’s teaching about his imminent return is its unpredictability.

Occasionally we waste time with our theology, such as focusing on “Seth’s wife,” as an example. But Paul has stressed the point more plainly: I tell you [believers] a mystery. You will be resurrected at Christ’s return, while the dead non-Christians remain in the grave and the living unbelievers will face the tribulation. This theology is one that we should remind ourselves of often. Our Lord Jesus will provide us (His followers) new, resurrected, and spiritual bodies at His coming.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the apostle Paul also wrote the same teaching:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

What are the central points of the above Scripture? First, “the dead in Christ will rise first.” (Those born-again Christians who have already died before Christ’s Second Coming.) Second, “we [Christians] who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” Without doubt, this Scripture speaks about our resurrection (Christ’s giving us spiritual bodies) and our immortality and eternal life for as long as God lives.

As promised by our Lord Jesus in John, “After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live.” (14:19)

FINAL REFLECTIONS: FAITH, EVIDENCE, AND THE MYSTERY BEYOND

The question of what awaits us after death has fascinated humanity for millennia, drawing insights from philosophy, religion, and personal belief.

While philosophers like Plato offered theories about the soul’s immortality, biblical Christianity grounds its hope in the resurrection of Christ as both a historical event and spiritual promise. Across differing opinions on morality, food, and salvation, the central message remains: faith in Christ, rather than ritual or dietary law, is what Christians believe secures eternal life.

Ultimately, the mystery of what lies beyond this life invites us to reflect deeply on our convictions, particularly our relationship with the risen Christ as our Lord, Savior, and God the Son.

Have you already received Christ by faith as your Lord, Savior, and Provider of Eternal Life? Do you want to live in heaven forever with Him?

He [Jesus] came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.“—John 1:11-12a.

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WHAT AWAITS AFTER DEATH? EXPLORING LIFE, IMMORTALITY, AND FAITH

YOUR IMMORTALITY: WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THIS LIFE?

CHRIST’S RESURRECTION: INVESTIGATED AND PROVEN