Does bahai scripture differentiate the benefits and consequences of those who believe and those who do not?
How/when/why/who aside for a moment.
I do not believe that God necessarily punishes us or rewards us, although in some cases God might do that. Humans are rewarded or punished by the choices they make and actions that result from those choices. So we are rewarded or punished according to our own actions. We are rewarded when we do good deeds and we are punished when we do bad or evil deeds. The good or evil we did in this world carries over to the afterlife since we will be exactly what we have become by living in this world.
There are rewards and punishments in both this world and in the afterlife. In fact, the structure of world stability and order has been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin pillars of reward and punishment. If we do good deeds in this world we are rewarded and if we do bad or evil deeds we are punished. Likewise, in the afterlife we will be rewarded for what we have done good and punished for what we have done bad deeds. It is not God who will be handing out the rewards and punishments, they will simply accrue to us as the result of our actions here.
People will reap what they sow, so even if they get away with evil acts in this world and do not get punished by the justice system, they will be punished in the afterlife. How God will factor in to that punishment I do not know. Some evil people will not even realize they are evil after they die, so they will simply continue to suffer in their evil state unless someone helps them, although there is no guarantee of that.
We all have free will in this world in order to shape our destiny and prepare our souls for the afterlife, but we will not have free will in the afterlife. Where we wind up will be according to who we were in this world, what we did with our lives. That is why it is so important not to waste our lives. It is not really beliefs that are important, it is actions. The importance of beliefs is that help us to know what good actions are, according to God, who sets those standards.
Baha'is are enjoined not to do what we do for a reward in heaven but I believe there will be a reward for those who have recognized Baha'u'llah, in this life and the next life.
“It behoveth him to fix his gaze upon the fundamentals of His Faith, and to labor diligently for its propagation. Wholly for the sake of God he should proclaim His Message, and with that same spirit accept whatever response his words may evoke in his hearer. He who shall accept and believe, shall receive his reward; and he who shall turn away, shall receive none other than his own punishment.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 339
