Conflicting maps to the road in the afterlife? Does it matter?

Most of the Eastern religions believe in transmigration, that generally a soul undergoes continuous unending cycle of birth and death, out of which there is a way. While the religions of Mid-Eastern origin believe that after current human birth, the soul undergoes a final judgement with eternal consequence of having to live in either heaven or hell.

Once while discussing this with a friend, my friend pointed out that one of these two paths have to be correct and other incorrect (transmigration or final judgement). I disagreed, following are my reasons for the same.

Human mind requires simple straightforward theories, and complex things are generally simplified until they can be understood. Nature is complex. Founders of religions gave simple views to the nature of life and death that was enough for the disciples to understand the importance of current life, and to explain the intricacies of afterlife was not their primary goal, although they might have described some parts of it but not completely.

It is like traveling on a mountain road, and a sharp blind turn lies ahead. Different religions have put up different signposts of warning before the turn, and not all the signboards tell the same thing, but do have enough common highlights for a human mind to take notice and realize that something is coming. Following are some of the main common things written on the signposts:

1. Death is imminent, and will follow life
2. Our actions and choices in this life can have eternal consequences for personal soul
3. Eternal consequences can be desirable and undesirable, based on pain or joy that will be experienced in each of the possible consequences
4. Mortal would be well-advised to prefer a path of desirable consequences
5. Choice rests with an individual to choose a path, and work own salvation or its contrary, whatever it might be

Now, whether the warning messages on the signposts are correct or not, I don't know. I doubt any normal human being can give evidence for the above claims except for the first, which is obvious.

But is it not important to at least realize that almost all religions we know of have a warning about what's coming after the sharp blind turn on the mountain road, of what's coming after death? The details may differ but we will come to that later, but it is important to realize that there is a common thread of warning. My point is, is it not reason enough to at least take notice and investigate further.

Coming to the differences about the message on the signposts. They primarily deal with following:

1. Some religions say that a soul transmigrates life after life until final salvation or liberation is achieved, and other religions say soul has a final judgement after this life and experiences eternal heaven or hell based on the result of the judgement. Furthermore religions have difference of opinion on the nature of transmigration, heaven and hell.
2. Some religions say that a person could work out his/her own salvation, while other religions say that liberation is based on grace from God, or a saint, or some other way.

Regarding the first difference, for a normal human like me and you there is no way to find out the truth until after death, and then it apparently is too late to act on the information. It is a "Catch 22" situation. But does the difference really matter that much at this point in life, it is clear that the the mountain road has a sharp turn, and then after that there may be speed-breakers or other sharp turns, or a wall, we will know when we reach there. But the warning and religious instruction is for us to slow down right now, and probably reflect our best course of action as we inevitably approach the sharp and fatal turn on the high mountain road. But if a person does think about saving for the rainy day, or investing for retirement, or buying an insurance, and other things of the future, then sparing a thought on this matter may be good and possibly useful.

But, if one really needs to know the correct answer, then I believe there is no single correct answer:

There are too many paths and too many destinations, 

When the confused mind is looking for just one.

Not all rain drops from a cloud reach the ocean, 

They might after an eternity, but eternity can be long.

Regarding the second difference, it really is a personal decision based on the teaching that a person chooses to follow, and the destination that the teaching promises, along with the risk of actual effectiveness of the teaching in fulfilling its promise. Whether the path of choosing would work, I don't know:

Each to his own choice, burden and ferry.

-x-