when i die

[phareztamar]

looking for any and all input from my friends here on AFF (except Bert) on this question. When I die, will I go and sleep with my fathers, or will I be absent from the body and present with the Lord?

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by phareztamar

looking for any and all input from my friends here on AFF (except Bert) on this question. When I die, will I go and sleep with my fathers, or will I be absent from the body and present with the Lord?

To you, you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it will be Resurrection Day.

To everyone else, you will "sleep in Jesus" until we all get to that Day, too.

[phareztamar]

Originally Posted by Esaias

To you, you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it will be Resurrection Day.

To everyone else, you will "sleep in Jesus" until we all get to that Day, too.

from your input, it would seem that burial is removed from the equation. if I were to die in a car wreck on a Tuesday, and the funeral and burial isn't until Saturday, then my resurrection took place on Tuesday, not Saturday. is that correct?

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by phareztamar

from your input, it would seem that burial is removed from the equation. if I were to die in a car wreck on a Tuesday, and the funeral and burial isn't until Saturday, then my resurrection took place on Tuesday, not Saturday. is that correct?

I think you misunderstood me. In your perception, you will go straight to Resurrection Day. But everyone else will shed a tear at your funeral, life will go on, etc, until the rest of us get to Resurrection Day.

The Bible aptly describes being dead as "sleep" because the dead are unconscious. You will not notice the days, weeks, years, centuries, or millennia that roll on between your death and Resurrection Day. For you, you will experience "dying"* and the next instant you will be experiencing the Resurrection. You will not be aware of the passage of time nor of anything that takes place on this earth.

* note: the process of dying continues for a short time after flatlining, several minutes or so, until all cerebral activity ceases permanently - until the Resurrection, that is.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Esaias

I think you misunderstood me. In your perception, you will go straight to Resurrection Day. But everyone else will shed a tear at your funeral, life will go on, etc, until the rest of us get to Resurrection Day.

The Bible aptly describes being dead as "sleep" because the dead are unconscious. You will not notice the days, weeks, years, centuries, or millennia that roll on between your death and Resurrection Day. For you, you will experience "dying"* and the next instant you will be experiencing the Resurrection. You will not be aware of the passage of time nor of anything that takes place on this earth.

* note: the process of dying continues for a short time after flatlining, several minutes or so, until all cerebral activity ceases permanently - until the Resurrection, that is.

The hope of the Christian is the resurrection of the dead. Not the fact that our soul is immortal and never dies. Solid truth!

[phareztamar]

Originally Posted by Esaias

I think you misunderstood me. In your perception, you will go straight to Resurrection Day. But everyone else will shed a tear at your funeral, life will go on, etc, until the rest of us get to Resurrection Day.

The Bible aptly describes being dead as "sleep" because the dead are unconscious. You will not notice the days, weeks, years, centuries, or millennia that roll on between your death and Resurrection Day. For you, you will experience "dying"* and the next instant you will be experiencing the Resurrection. You will not be aware of the passage of time nor of anything that takes place on this earth.

* note: the process of dying continues for a short time after flatlining, several minutes or so, until all cerebral activity ceases permanently - until the Resurrection, that is.

so then, even though I will not be aware of the passage of time nor anything that takes place on this earth; I will nonetheless be buried, as my fathers, on this earth. time will be passing, and events will be taking place upon the earth as I await my next conscience moment...the resurrection. but as i await my next conscience moment, I await it in my grave, as all of my fathers. is this what the scriptures refer to when we are told that "he slept with his fathers" in several places?

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by phareztamar

so then, even though I will not be aware of the passage of time nor anything that takes place on this earth; I will nonetheless be buried, as my fathers, on this earth. time will be passing, and events will be taking place upon the earth as I await my next conscience moment...the resurrection. but as i await my next conscience moment, I await it in my grave, as all of my fathers. is this what the scriptures refer to when we are told that "he slept with his fathers" in several places?

Essentially, yes. Being a Christian in the new covenant, though, means you are "asleep in Jesus" (being "dead in Christ"), and your "death" is described as a rest, a resting in hope, etc, because you will on Resurrection Day be raised immortal and escape the second death.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Esaias

To you, you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it will be Resurrection Day.

To everyone else, you will "sleep in Jesus" until we all get to that Day, too.

That is about as simply put Biblical explanation as you can get on this subject...

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by phareztamar

looking for any and all input from my friends here on AFF (except Bert) on this question. When I die, will I go and sleep with my fathers, or will I be absent from the body and present with the Lord?

You would be absent from body and consciously present with the Lord, consciously knowing life continues on earth for those who have not died, awaiting resurrection when you join your body again, but this time it will be immortal. Only the body sleeps as it were. Not your soul and spirit.

I believe Paul's words about hearing things not lawful to be uttered while having died means we do not sleep after death until judgment. 2 Cor 5 mentions absence from the body and presence with the Lord, and does not say anything about an apparent presence as though you slept in reality until judgment.

[Carl]

Originally Posted by mfblume

You would be absent from body and consciously present with the Lord, consciously knowing life continues on earth for those who have not died, awaiting resurrection when you join your body again, but this time it will be immortal. Only the body sleeps as it were. Not your soul and spirit.

I believe Paul's words about hearing things not lawful to be uttered while having died means we do not sleep after death until judgment. 2 Cor 5 mentions absence from the body and presence with the Lord, and does not say anything about an apparent presence as though you slept in reality until judgment.

Paul did not die. 2 Cor. 12:1 calls it a vision. And since he said he did not truly know what it was, we should not speculate or try to prove an afterlife or intermediate state from his experience. This was a vision and has nothing to do with the state of the dead.