Why do Christians believe in life after death?

Question

Something I don’t understand about Christianity. If I don’t believe in God, then why am I going to hell and rejected from heaven? If I don’t believe in God in the first place, then I wouldn’t believe in life after death as well. I get into this argument with my really religious friend the other day while he was trying to convince me. Sad to say, we aren’t friends anymore after that. It’s not only Christianity, seems like every religion has at least some sort of teaching about the life after death. Buddhism and Hinduism have reincarnation. The Vikings believe in Valhalla. Then there’re all the beliefs in the existence of ghost and holy spirits. Anyway, why do Christians believe in life after death?

Answer 1

Christians believe that when their body dies and later on buried or cremated, the soul lives on and join with the God. Jesus is known to have risen from the dead three days after the crucifixion, giving hope to Christians that following his teaching, i.e. the Bible, and accepting him as the Lord and Saviour, then resurrection in life would await them. Being born as a human and then dying, Jesus made the life after death possible for everyone else. In John 11:25-26, “Jesus said, ‘I am the ressurection and the life.’ He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.’” Another in John 3:16 states that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” There you have it, the death of Jesus opens up the path for the believers to be with God.

Answer 2

Why do Christians believe in life after death? To give a reason to the life they are having now I guess. Every religion has this strange fascination with death and of course, birth. In Christianity, despite the variety of their ideology, Catholic, etc., they all believe in some kind of heaven, where the deceased are rewarded with the presence of God and love ones. The rest are punished in hell, where all the sinners and unbelievers go. Some believe in a limbo, where they are sent to the purgatory to complete their punishment for insignificant sins before going to heaven. So in general, they are taught that doing good deeds reap good rewards, while doing actions with bad intention leads to you getting punished for it.