It depends. Some sects believe in the concept of “particular judgment” – you are judged and go to heaven (or hell, or Detroit) immediately upon death (I think Catholics believe this). Other sects believe in the doctrine of “last judgement” where all the dead are put on hold until the end of the world, and then judged en mass. There is, as usual, conflicting Biblical passages on this point.
My family took a novel approach to it. Everyone gets judged when they die, but only the worst go to hell, and the best go to heaven. The rest wait around until the rapture and then there is Judgement 2: Judgement Day where all the people that were waiting around get judged against all the new people, and then they are split based on some kind of holy bell curve. It was really just a lot of bullshit to get around my family being full of drug addicts and racists and no one wanting to admit that if they go by the Bible they are hellbound.
It depends. Some sects believe in the concept of “particular judgment” – you are judged and go to heaven (or hell, or Detroit) immediately upon death (I think Catholics believe this). Other sects believe in the doctrine of “last judgement” where all the dead are put on hold until the end of the world, and then judged en mass. There is, as usual, conflicting Biblical passages on this point.
My family took a novel approach to it. Everyone gets judged when they die, but only the worst go to hell, and the best go to heaven. The rest wait around until the rapture and then there is Judgement 2: Judgement Day where all the people that were waiting around get judged against all the new people, and then they are split based on some kind of holy bell curve. It was really just a lot of bullshit to get around my family being full of drug addicts and racists and no one wanting to admit that if they go by the Bible they are hellbound.