Christians' perception of the concepts of death and judgment: A

Vol. 4(10), pp. 508-515, December, 2013

DOI: 10.5897/IJEL2013.0446

http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEL

International Journal of English and

Literature

Full Length Research Paper

Christians’ perception of the concepts of death and

judgment: A multimodal discourse analytical study of

selected editions of Christian Women Mirror Magazine

Olowu Ayodeji

General Studies Department, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, PMB 1019, Owo, Nigeria.

Accepted 20 June, 2013

In this paper, there were critical analyses of some selected editions of Christian Women Mirror

magazine using the theoretical framework of Multimodal Discourse Analysis. The study is an exposé of

Christians’ perception of the two concepts of death and judgement. We have carried out a Multimodal

Discourse Analytical study of selected editions of Christian Women Mirror magazine that discuss the

subjects of judgement and death. The analyses were in two parts. First, there was the analysis of the

subjects covered and the semantic indicators lifted from the magazine; and second, there was the

analysis of the visual components used in the discussion of these subjects. In all, the paper revealed

the perception of Christians on the two subjects discussed. Contrary to popular beliefs that death ends

it all as it terminates the whole existence of man, Christians hold that life continues after death. Death,

to a Christian is just the beginning of another existence either in heaven or hell. They also believe that

judgement comes after death. They also hold that the judgement is total and final and banishes sinners

to hell forever while the righteous will go to heaven to enjoy bliss forever.

Key words: Multimodal discourse analysis, charismatic, multifunctional, representation, visual communication.

INTRODUCTION

The subjects of ‘Death’ and ‘Judgment’ had existed from

time immemorial. Different people hold divers opinions on

these two subjects depending on religious affiliations,

ethnic background, educational attainments among

various other bases. In this paper a concise attempt is

made to reveal Christians’ perception on these two

subjects via the analysis of some selected semantic

indicators and images from the magazine. It must be

emphasized that this study falls within the purview of

religious discourse. Our focus is to use the newest theory

in language study for these analyses. The theory is

Multimodal Discourse Analysis. Multimodal discourse

analysis (MDA) is ‘an emerging paradigm in discourse

studies which extends the study of language to the study

of language in combination with other resources, such as

images, colours, scientific symbolism, gestures, action,

music and sound’ (O’Halloran, 2011). Multimodal

discourse analysis is the study of the ‘intersection and

interdependence of various modalities of communication

within a given context’ (Snyder, 2006). Researchers in

this area seek to ‘identify the influence of mode on

meaning within a given context, focusing on co-

occurrence interaction between multiple semiotic system’

(Baldry and Thibault, 2006). Multimodal discourse

analysis is essentially concerned with the theory and ana-

lysis of semiotic resources and the semantic expansions

which occur as semiotic choices combined in multicultural

phenomena. The ‘inter-semiotic’ relations arising from the

interaction of semiotic choices, known as intersemiosis, is

a central area of multimodal research (Jewitt, 2009).

E-mail: olowu_a[email protected].

Multimodal discourse analysis is also concerned with the

design, production and distribution of multimodal

resources in social settings (Leeuwen, 2001).

A SURVEY OF PREVIOUS WORKS

Undoubtedly, many scholars have contributed to the

research in language use in religious discourse. Taiwo

(2006) conducted an investigation into the various ways

pulpit preachers in Christian religion elicit responses from

their congregation. His investigation into the Response

Elicitation in English-Medium Christian Pulpit Discourse

(ECPD) is from the framework of sociolinguistics and

discourse analysis. Taiwo reveals in his study that

preachers control the discourse while the congregation

share in the process of creation of the text as it ‘unfolds’.

He reveals that preachers ‘determine what responses are

given, how they should be and when to give them’ (Taiwo

2006). Taiwo (2005) also conducted a research into the

general style of interrogation in Charismatic Christian

pulpit discourse. He concentrated particularly on the

peculiar use of interrogatives by Charismatic Christian

preachers.

Douglas (2000) investigated the language use in

Christian banners, handbills and posters. He approached

this work from the framework of semantics. He investi-

gated both the linguistic and semantic features of the

verbal texts in his data. It is important to note that in all of

these studies, the non-verbal components are ignored.

Again, scholars such as Eilish (2007) and Keane (1977)

have at various times dwelt on the linguistic persuasive

elements in religious writings such as sermons, prayers,

lithurgy, cathecumen etc. Most of these works focus on

the Meanwhile, Olowu A. (2011) in his work titled A

Multimodal Analysis of Selected Editions of Christian

Women Mirror Magazine analysed the visual modes used

in the magazine. His study revealed that visual resources

such as colour, pictures, symbols and icons etc enhan-

ced the semantic quality of the text. He also revealed that

in Christian Women Mirror Magazine, the verbal and

visual modes of communication played complementary

roles to each other and were very significant in targeting

the real audience of the text. Olowu concluded that the

entire signifying practices in the Christian Women Mirror

Magazine were useful as important communicative

devices in modern print evangelism.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For the purpose of this study, some copies of Christian Women

Mirror Magazine were procured. The magazine is a monthly

publication of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry and only 12 issues

of the magazines are produced in a year. The selected copies

cover only 2010. The choice of the Christian Women Mirror

magazine is premised on its aesthetics and richness in the use of

colours and visual images that appeal to readers. Only two sections

Ayodeji 509

of the magazine were purposively selected for analysis. These are

‘feature piece’ and ‘virtuous women’. The analysis of the selected

sections will be anchored on themes of Judgment and death. The

selection is purposively done based on the subjects under

considerations.

Theoretical consideration and data analysis

The data for this study are analyzed using the theoretical

framework of multimodal discourse analysis as explicated by Kress

and Leeuwen (2001). According to them, images carry semiotic

codes very different from texts in their ability to capture and encode

societal norms, expectations and relationships. Kress and

Leeuwen’s multimodal discourse analysis theory is the latest in

theoretical approaches applied to the analysis of visual

communication.

Through the extensive use of visual examples via art, print media

and children’s drawing, Kress and Leeuwen (2001) strongly

reinforce the notion that images carry social constructs with

structural, political and cultural implications. Multimodal discourse

analysis is therefore very useful in the analysis of images, colour,

patterns and other concepts made possible by the modern

technology. It is therefore very relevant to this study.

ANALYSIS OF THE SUBJECTS AND THEIR

SEMANTIC INDICATORS

Death

Death is believed to be the end of life. Christians believe

that death puts an end to human existence on earth. The

world’s view of death is different from Christians’

perception of the subject. It is generally believed by

people that death terminates the whole existence of a

person. The notion is that there is no life after death and

that death ends it all. But this view is not supported in the

Christian faith. Christians hold that life continues after

death. Death, to a Christian, is just the beginning of

another existence either in heaven or hell. Death is seen

as ‘a kind of sleep’ in that as the sleeper does not cease

to exist while his body sleeps, so the dead person

continues to exist despite his absence from the region in

which those who remain can communicate with him, and

as sleep is known to be temporary, so is the death of a

person found to be (CWMM July, 2010).

Christians also see death as ‘a return to the dust’. They

claim that hard as it may seem for the carnal man, death

is the dissolution of the body. Since Adam and Eve

sinned, humans were deprived the access to the ‘tree of

life’ and hence deprived of physical immortality. It is

therefore the lot of human beings to return to the ground.

“For out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto

dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19) (CWMM Dec.

2010). So the notion of death ends it all is a

misconception of the subject of death as far as Christian

faith is concerned.

It is of course very true that most people who are not

Christians have been granted a brief stand on the

510 Int. J. English Lit.

Table 1. Expressions associated with death in the magazine.

Expressions associated with the death in the magazine

Bereavement, tragic, sudden death, eternity, tragic truth, disbelief, trepidation, ephemeral life, handbreadth, earth’s

chaff, heaven’s gold, drowning man, pardon, humble penitence, repentance, graveyard, epitaph, wreathe, strangers,

pilgrims, coffin, cemetery, Brevity of life, endlessness of eternity, threshold of eternity, glimpse into the other side,

other side of the divide, the reality of the world beyond, we are of all men most miserable, ‘walketh in a vain shew’

pardon from God, brink of eternity, a long eternity, atoning blood of Christ, no more afraid to die, the longest life is but

a handbreadth, the time cometh when no man can work, a glorious exist, ‘the king of terrors’, death is swallowed up

in victory, a kind of sleep, blissful reunion, behaviour of the wise, gathered to his people.

(CWMM, May, July and December 2010).

threshold of eternity by God. When this happens, they

are made to know that there is life after death. And

importantly, that when they live a life outside God, they

will end up in hell. God permits this because He knows

that, even for the most carefree man or woman in this

world, a thoughtful consideration of eternity radically

alters everything. Life ceases to be business as usual.

Priorities are reordered, goals, pursuits and values are

redefined and all of life assumes a whole new dimensions

and sense of purpose. Just then ‘money, things, time,

friends, enemies, family and life itself are all adjusted to

their appropriate worth and place’ (CWMM May,

2010:10).

Some expressions in the magazine which have direct

connection with the theme of death are identified in Table

1. Some characteristics of death are revealed in such

expressions as ‘bereavement’, ‘grave yard’, ‘epitaph’,

‘wreath’, ‘coffin’, and ‘mourning’. Death of a loved one

either old or young is always very painful. No one expects

his loved one to die. But as discussed earlier, Christians

see the subject of death from a completely different

perspective, for instance, they see it as a ‘kind of sleep’.

They also believe that ‘death is swallowed up in victory’.

These expressions are euphemism purposely employed

to reduce the tension and fear of death. Christians teach

that death is temporal and that at resurrection, Christians

would be woken up and transformed and will die no

more. Some of the words identified depict life as

transient, ephemeral and not lasting. So no matter how

long a person lives on earth, he is sure to die some day.

Some expressions identified are highly significant and

suggestive about Christians’ perception of the theme of

death. The expressions such as ‘endlessness of eternity’,

‘threshold of eternity’, ‘glimpse into the other side’, ‘other

side of the divide’, and ‘reality of the world beyond’

suggest that there is another life after this present one.

Usually, in Christian faith, it is believed that this present

life will end at death and another life will begin. They

claim that at death, the physical body of a person will die

but his soul and spirit will live on. The eventual abode of

the soul of a person after his demise is forcefully

determined by how he had lived his life while on earth.

The expressions ‘we are of all men most miserable’

and ‘gathered to his people’ are biblical references. The

former, found in 1Corinthians 15:19 is a statement

credited to Paul the apostle in his letter to the

Corinthians. He considers deeply the brevity of this life

and the sorrow, grief and pains it offers. Then he

concludes that if Christians hope only in this present life,

they are the most miserable of all people. The latter is

found in one of the books of Moses called Genesis,

chapter 25 verse 8. The meaning of this statement is that

Abraham, after his death, was not ordinarily laid to rest at

the graveyard but ‘gathered to heaven’ where his people

who are already dead are living on. It is also significant

that the phrase ‘his people’ does not refer to his biological

relations but those saints of God who served God before

him. Then if this argument is held true, it means that

Abraham lives on after his demise in this present word.

Hence, these references are used by Christians to

substantiate their claim of an afterlife.

Judgment

The concept of judgment is very controversial. But the

meaning and conception of judgment in Christian faith is

entirely different from what people take it to be. There are

many stages of judgment but essentially our focus will be

on the last or final judgment. The final judgment in

Christian theology is the final and eternal judgment of

God of every nation. This concept is found in all the

canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew.

Although there are many versions of explanations of the

final judgment of God by different denominations, we

shall hold that it is the final judgment of all nations which

will take place after the resurrection of the dead and the

second coming of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

The fact, according to a popular Christian opinion,

remains that sometime and very soon, every person who

has ever lived will be gathered to the place of judgment to

be judged by Jesus Christ. This view is supported by the

gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 verse 31 to 42: When the

Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy

angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of glory,

and before him shall be gathered all nation; and he shall

Ayodeji 511

Table 2. Expressions associated with judgment in the magazine.

Expressions associated with judgment in the magazine

Archangel, second death, warning signals, final judgment, eternal death, dangers, pervasion, falsehood, spiritual

decadence, hell’s timelessness, everlasting destruction, white throne judgment, secrete sins, speechlessness, You

will be there, reality of judgment, eternity in hell or in heaven, eternity is still a long way off’, mire of decadence,

unbridled permissiveness, tragic historical examples, book of life, day of judgment, miscarriage of justice, every

secret thing, hell is real, the wicked shall be turned to hell, dreadfulness of hell, your name is not in the book of life.

(CWMM, March and December 2010).

separate one from another, as a shepherd divided his

sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his

right hand, but the goats on the left …and these shall go

away into everlasting punishment: but righteous into life

eternal (KJV).

At the judgment, sinners will be sentenced and

banished permanently to hell fire by God, the righteous

judge, while saints will be justified and ushered into the

presence of God and into eternal bliss forever.

The expressions lifted from the magazine and identified

above are associated with the theme of judgment.

Phrases such as ‘eternal death’, ‘second death’, and

‘hell’s timelessness’ are indicators of Christians’ belief in

yet another death. Four types of death are identified.

These are physical death, spiritual death, death to sin

and second death. Meanwhile, for the purpose of this

discourse, our focus here will be on second death. The

second death will be experienced by sinners immediately

after the judgment. At the white throne judgment, sinners

will forever be condemned to hell. This condemnation is

usually referred to as second death. The phrase ‘hell’s

timelessness’ is a pointer to the fact that hell is eternal.

There is no time limit in hell. Anybody who slips into hell

will live there forever.

Also such phrases as ‘mire of decadence’, ‘unbridled

permissiveness’, ‘every secrete sin’ are all indicators of

reasons why people go to hell. The summary of this is

that unrepented sins take people to hell. When a person

decides to live in moral decadence and secrete sins, and

refuses to repent, he is sure to face a hot judgment of

God and to land in hell eventually. The ‘book of life’ refers

to a book which will be opened at judgment. All names of

saints of God are written in it. Anybody, no matter how

highly placed or the position held in the service of God

whose name is not in the book of life is thrown into hell.

This view is supported by this reference in the book of

revelation, chapter 20 verses 14 and 15:

And death and hell were cast into the lake of

fire. This is the Second death. And whosoever

was not found written in the Book of life was

cast into the lake of fire.

The belief of Christians is that hell is dreadful. It is

everlasting. It is the abode of the devil and his demons. It

is not created for human beings but in reality many have

slipped into hell. At Judgment, so many people will be

disappointed as they will hear ‘your name is not in the

book of life’. People who have kept their sins from the

glare of the public will think they will make an easy

escape of the Judgment of God. But they will be

disappointed as they will hear the word ‘depart from me

ye workers of iniquities’. This statement as identified in

the magazine will seal their eternal doom (CWMM March,

2010; Table 2). Moreover, the phrase ‘you will be there’

sends warning signals to all inhabitants of the earth and

announces the inescapatibility of the judgment of God.

Analysis of the visual components

In Figure 1, there is an image of a person in white

apparel who comes out (or seems to be coming out) of

the globe. In front of the person are two pictures. One of

the pictures is in white and the other is in yellow. In the

white image, there is a man standing in the midst of

thousands of creatures that look like angels. In the other

picture, there is a fire burning and the entire environment

is painted in black colour. All of these are signifiers. The

globe from which the person emerges represents this

present world. The person coming out of the world is an

example of a dead person. He just passed away from the

world and immediately, he appears in the ‘other side of

the divide’. The fact that this individual is in white garment

is deliberate.

The white colour in most part of Africa is an indicator of

godliness and holiness. This white apparel is therefore an

indicator of God’s approval of this person. The two

pictures in front of this person signify the abodes of souls

which go out of the world. They represent the abode of

God where all true believers are expected to live forever.

The other image gives information about hell fire where

sinners are believed to spend ‘eternity’ with the devil.

Hence a person has either of these two places to go after

death as captured in this image. This dead individual has

either of these two places waiting for him. As stated

earlier, it seems this dead person’s life was pleasing to

God while on earth. Hence, he appears to be moving

towards heaven. A close look at the image of heaven

512 Int. J. English Lit.

Figure 1. Other side of the divide.

here reveals the picture of a man who is standing

apparently in a posture to welcome the dead man. The

general impression given in the image is that at a certain

time, each inhabitant of the earth will die. But death will

not end it all. Man will be fully conscious when he

appears at ‘the other side of the divide’ where he will be

expected to spend eternity either in heaven or hell.

Consequently, the image teaches life after death. And

more importantly, it gives such information that sinners

will end up in hell to spend his life after death. It therefore

qualifies as a solemn warning to all living at present on

earth to come to God and live righteously as death will

only open a door for another life either with God or devil.

Figure 2 is also a discussion on the topic of death.

Here, we see the globe and the picture of a woman in it.

Unarguably, this is the picture of Pastor Mrs. Abiodun

Kumuyi, the late wife of the founder and general

superintendent of the Deeper Life Christian Ministry,

Pastor Folorunsho Williams Kumuyi. Pastor Mrs. Abiodun

Kumuyi passed on to glory on 11

April, 2009. We also

notice that the same image has been ‘transformed’ as it

goes out of the earth. A careful look at the image reveals

a hand which touches the globe. This incident signifies

the passing away of a Christian into glory. The woman in

our image is a representation of all godly people who had

lived a righteous life on earth. Those who live in conti-

nuous fear of God’s law, and who, when their time were

fulfilled left the world to receive their rewards from God.

The hand that touches the globe represents the aware-

ness of God about the death of believers. The death of a

true believer is divinely approved by God. Nothing on

earth happens without his knowledge. The whole incident

here teaches a lesson, first on the brevity of life and

second on the hope of Christians after death.

However, the interpretation given about these images

may vary from other opinions. This is possible since

researchers according to Rose (2001) assert that the

relation between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary

and can mean different things to different people. Hence,

this analysis can be better understood by Christians who

already have a good knowledge of the event described

here. Images are visual metaphors which serve to

reinforce the dynamic process through which texts are

constructed and reconstructed. The point made by

Rafraie (2003) is reinforced in the analysis of these

images that visual metaphors are often implicit, opening

up “a wide range of possible interpretations, which

depend largely on the attitudes and level of knowledge of

the reader”.

In this image (Figure 3), we see a personality who

dresses in a glittering white apparel and sits comfortably

upon a royal chair mounted on a platform which looks like

a throne of sort. At his right hand side is a creature with

wings. The creature holds a book in his hand and

carefully peruses it. Just below at the left hand side of the

man is a big scroll. There is a hand holding a pen on top

Ayodeji 513

Figure 2. The picture of Pastor Mrs. Abiodun Kumuyi.

of the scroll. The scroll is placed on some other books. At

the centre of this image are several thousands of people

who appear to be waiting for something very crucial.

The event signified by this image is the final judgment

of God. The personality sitting on the white chair

represents God Almighty, the judge of the universe. The

creature perusing an open book is an angel

commissioned by God for such an assignment. The book

in his hand is the ‘book of life’ in which names of all saints

of God are written. Here is a demonstration of the

process of the final judgment. God will sit on his throne

and judge every person in the last day. Each person will

be judged based on things written in those books. It is

observed that the angel at the left hand side carries only

one book. This is the ‘book of life’. Only names of true

believers are written in this book. Those whose names

are not in this book are doomed forever. The other books

are those which contain all deeds of man on earth. All the

accounts of individuals who compulsorily will appear

before the judgment of God are written in these books.

The thousands of people seen in this image are those

waiting for the Judgment of God. They signify the whole

human race that had at one time lived on earth. A close

look at the image shows that these people are of different

races and colour; black, white, brown, brunet, Indian

among others. This encodes the salient truth that every

soul will face the Judgment of God. We also see the man

sitting on the white chair pointing to his left. This is the

direction sinners will follow. The right hand side of the

man is the route of all saints of God. The other side

signifies hell fire where sinners will be banished from the

presence of God and condemned to hell forever. It is also

quite noticeable that these people waiting for Judgment

are apprehensive and agitated. This stems from the fact

that they are completely unaware of their fate in the hand

of the judge. This is particularly noticed in their general

disposition as some of them are holding their heads in

anticipation of the Judgment. This image provides

information on some basic ‘truths’ in the Christian faith.

First, that there will be a final Judgment for all inhabitants

of the earth and this Judgment will come after the

resurrection of the dead and the second coming of Jesus

Christ; second, that the Judgment is for all races and

nations of the world; and third, that the Judgment is going

to be final in the sense that saints will enter God’s eternal

bliss while sinners will be sentenced and condemned

permanently to hell fire. It is obvious that viewers of this

image especially those who have heard about God’s final

Judgment will definitely feel an impact either consciously

or unconsciously. This image is a relay into the

consciousness of all readers of the reality of God’s final

Judgment. The author of this image no doubt has

514 Int. J. English Lit.

Figure 3. Final judgment of God.

Figure 4. The image of an angel who opens a very big book.

effectively communicated into the psyche of all viewers/

readers the process of the event that will mark the end of

all existence in this realm. This is corroborated by Kress

and Van Leeuwen when they assert that:

Images are produced in the context of real social

institutions, in order to play a very real role in the social

life- in order to do certain things to or for their readers

and in order to communicate attitudes towards aspects of

social life towards people who participate in them,

whether authors and readers are consciously aware of

them or not (Kress and Leeuwen, 2002).

In Figure 4, we see a very huge gate plated with gold.

The gate looks so big and mighty with very giant pillars at

both sides. There is an image of an angel who opens a

very big book. The angel makes a pronouncement “your

name is not in the book of life, sinners cannot enter here”.

In front of the gate is an individual on his knees who

appears to be pleading. Just beside him is a box which is

slightly open to reveal its contents. The materials of the

box read ‘self-righteousness’, ‘secret sins’, ‘church mem

-bership’, ‘pride’ and ‘good works’. The whole of this

scene is a signifier. The giant gate is no doubt the gate of

heaven. It is a magnificent and awesome structure. It is

entirely plated with gold. The angel standing beside the

gate is the archangel of God. The big book in his hand is

the book of life in which all names of saints of God are

written. The man on his kneel in front of the gate is a

signifier of all those who pretend to be good Christians

but who live hypocritical lives. They may be anybody in

the church. They are found among pastors, choir,

workers, deacons, overseers etc. They live continuously

in sins which are not known to man but which are not

hidden from God who incidentally will be their judge at

the white throne Judgment. The box signifies all actions

of a man while on earth. It houses all sinful actions of a

person while on earth . Those materials coming out from

the box are the sins which were not repented while the

person was still alive.

A close study of this image reveals that the box arrives

before the owner. This means that works of man go

ahead of him to Judgment. Also, the pronouncement of

the angel is significant. It is important only to seal the

doom of this unrepentant sinner. One thing is also

significant in this image. The man did not say anything in

response to the angel’s pronouncement. His speech-

lessness means that he is completely guilty. He is fully

aware of his depraved condition just as he sees a

panoramic display of his sins. This man presumably must

have learnt about heaven as the abode of the righteous.

He knows through the several teachings he had

participated in that hell is the final destination of sinners.

He only succeeded in keeping his sins away from his

fellow man but not from God. From his speechlessness,

this man has accepted his faith with equanimity. He

stands condemned and through the angel’s pronoun-

cement, sentenced and banished to hell eternally. As

stated earlier, this image is a representation of an event

that will happen after this life. The man here signifies the

crop of debauched, depraved and hypocritical Christians

who will stand speechless on the Judgment day. Their

Judgment will not be anywhere different from what we

witness here. Hence, this image is a signifier of the

impeccability of the Judgment of God.

The monologue here is a linguistic feature employed to

reveal the mind of the angel and to express the eternal

fate of the man in our picture. It is a device employed by

the author to catch the attention of the readers and to

reveal the spiritual state of the man in Judgment.

Conclusion

Multimodal discourse analysis has made it possible to

account for the visual components of this study. This is

made possible by the theoretical framework we have

adapted in this study. However, it is instructive to note

that interpretation of images is by its very nature

subjective, and an image can carry multiple messages

Ayodeji 515

dependent upon the nature of the visually interpreting

culture. Just as Kress and Leeuwen suggest that

‘…social interactions and social relations can be encoded

in images so that we are instructed silently regarding a

set of implicit norms’ (Kress and Leuuwen, 1996). The

study is an exposѐ on the perceptions of Christian

towards the subjects of this paper; death and Judgment.

While many others have contrary perceptions of these

concepts, through the images analyzed, it is obvious that

Christians believe that ‘death’ does not end existence but

only opens an entrance into another sphere where existence

continues. ‘Judgment’ is believed to come after death and that

everybody will face it. For people who lived reckless lives

while on earth, they will be banned eternally to hell fire

after the final Judgment. Those who lived honest and

righteous lives will enjoy bliss forever. In all, we hope that

this study has contributed to an array of scholarly works

in religious discourse.

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