And the Lord God said , "It is not good that man should bealone...." and He made Eve to be a helpmate for him in all his life.(Gen. 2:18)

We all know that family is the greatest and the most beautifulinstitution ever established in the world by our Lord. I feel thatit is the most blessed place of the world, for it is the miniatureform of the paradise or garden of Eden.

There in the paradise, man and his wife worked for God and God tookcare of them in a special way. They were want of nothing in theparadise. Everything was in surplus there.

Along with the man and his wife, animals and birds were also thereto enjoy the garden. They were all well placed to live inharmoniously there in the beautiful garden of God. No anger , nohatred, not selfishness, everything was shared or were common.(This why when Christianity started they practiced sharing ) Lovewas the only known feeling to all of them in that garden.

Man and his wife were naked while they were in the garden. They werenever ashamed of their nakedness. In the paradise nothing was keptcovered in between man and his wife. They were quite comfortable ofthe state of life they lived in .

One day Evil entered into him . He became corrupt. As goodness andevil do not get along, God took them out of the garden for a repairand placed them in a new planet called earth . But God neverforsake him. On the very same day He promised them that, one day Hewill come to save them from their damned state (1). He still lovedthem and knew that man could live in and grow only in paradise.

So God created a miniature paradise and put the man in to it, togrow in perfection. And that is the family. In family alsoeverything is same as in the paradise. Still man and his wife arenot ashamed of their nakedness, everything is common for them, nohatred...no anger....the most known language is love only.

But is that all? We all must understand that we are here for acorrection. We were living in the paradise in harmony with thenature. To learn love, the family is instituted here in thisworld. What we imbibed from a family life is, the selfless love.We have to part that selfless love and concern with our fellowbeings. That is the correction God expects from us.

Help ourselves to get corrected. Help others to get repaired. Oncethis correction is over we become eligible for the paradise onceagain. Until and unless we reach that stage there will be no restfor man. If not get repaired within the given deadline, he will betaken to another correction center. Bible says that this place isHades

(3) So in life after death the soul reaches either in PARADISE or inHADES according to our deeds if one does not get a chance to repentand get cleansed by the blood of Jesus. This is very clear when Jesusspoke to the thief with Him on the cross

(4) We come from the PARADISE and because we are created to fulfill thepurpose of God we must be back in PARADISE. That is our destiny inour life after death. But the final judgment day is different...Onthat day all the dead must return from paradise or hades once moreand stand before the Glory of the SON to give accounts for our life.On that day one will not receieve any mercy from God because thetime for correction is over. According to our deeds we will be takento Heaven or will be thrown to a place with the Satan to the Hell orwhatever you call that place.

All this is recorded in all our liturgies and early churchdocuments....I just quoted Bible only.
+Fr.Shebaly

References1) Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, andthou shalt bruise his heel.

(2) Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, andwent to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep thecommandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (THISIS THE FINAL DESTINY OF THE SERPENT)

(3) 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, thejust for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put todeath in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

(4) Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
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Thank you Mr. E S John for responding. Can you explain what exactlyis the Orthodox Faith on life after death..

We seldom hear any sermons about Life after death as may be thethought of death itself is scary.Is it " Absent from the Body andPresent with the Lord " as St. paul wrote to Corinthians. Or isthere another area somewhere in the middle where the souls wait for their final judgement day

rgds
ronnie

E S John, Australia wrote:

There is no scientific or definite answer to this question, RonnieDaniel. Blind faith is the only answer. Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb.11: 1). ifyou are curious, read 'The Soul After Death' by Fr. Seraphim Rose orits translation 'Maranashesham' published by Mar BesaliusFoundation. mbecs@ sify.com .