The Day of Judgment

One of the most common questions I get asked deals with the Day of Judgment.

Now, many people believe that one day there will come a day of reckoning for each of us, when each and every one of us will have to account for our actions. The difference stems from what is literal and what is not literal.

No one truly knows what the term Day of Judgment really means, it is talked about in the Qur'an as being the end of all days, and many philosophers and theologists have attempted to decipher the truth behind what this term means.

Theories behind what it refers to include it being a literal day where the world as we know it will cease to exist and God will judge each individual whether they are presently alive or dead based on their deeds. Other theories state that there are multiple forms of the Day of Judgment, each of us lives through this every day of our lives, we are judged every day by our conduct, we are judged when we die and we are judged when our species will eventually die. Yet another perspective states that the Day of Judgment is a metaphor in it's entirety. Actions are constantly accounted for, however, the Day of Judgment as a physical day does not happen...

All of these probably have some truth to them, but no one can really know what will happen or what this phrase refers to.

I believe that accountability is an important aspect of being human. I feel that we must answer for the wrongs we have done and be acknowledged for the good we have done. However, my perception of God must also play a role in my personal understanding of the Day of Judgment. When I think of God, I think of an entity beyond anything the human mind can conceive... as such, God is beyond the concept of time.

When I think of a Day of Judgment, I feel that there are 2 perspectives... from the human perspective, when we are judged for our actions (whether it be at the end of each day, or at the end of our lives, or at some other time interval), that "time" when we are judged would be the Day of Judgment... from the perspective of the Almighty, the concept of a single day would be irrelevant. God is in all places and times. The God who exists today is the exact same God from millenia ago and will be the same in millenia to come.

I would venture to say that the concept of a Day of Judgment would be flawed because it would be isolated to a Day, when God, who is doing the judging, lies beyond time.

Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, I guess only time will tell.