all christians do you believe this is true?

Question

The Bible expressly teaches that we Sleep until the Resurrection.Job 14:10-15 and there will be no conscience state of mind.Job 7:21,Ps.115:17,146:3-4. so how can you go to hell or heaven or purgatory or anywhere else you might be taught when the bible says otherwise...please provide scripture that proves otherwise

Yes I am a christian and i belive just like it says here and in revelations that rejoice that you take part in the first ressurection and go be with jesus in heaven as the second ressurection and the judgement hath no power over you...so if you are already in heaven before Jesus comes to ressurect you if you are faithful and follow Gods laws in the first ressurection why ressurect you at all since you are alreday there

in Acts 2 it says that when Jesus died on the cross and was ressurected that neither did his flesh see corrupttion nor did his sould remain in hell...now since He was perfect and without sin ...hell cannot be nothing more than the grave...so the interputation most people take for some of the scriptures that are given in these answers below must be wrong...in psalms it said the dead know nothing not even that they are dead so if your spirit is capable of thinkin or knowing then even the scripture in psalms is wrong by some of the answers below...when God created adam it says that god breathed the breath of life in him and he became a living soul...it doesnt say adams soul was put in him so he could be alive...so it could be most likely that "he became a living soul" means he became a living man and when you die you become a dead man or dead soul..Just as jesus became a dead soul as it implies in acts

Answer 1

You are correct in saying that the Bible says we sleep until the resurrection! There are so many who do not see this truth, and therefore they are quick to say that we go directly
to heaven or directly to hell. I will tell you what the Bible actualy says about HELL! Hell means the grave. We all go the grave when we die. We wait there, asleep, as you know, until the resurrection. At that time, some people who have not accepted Christ, are given an opportunity to live the life He came to show us. If, after knowing the truth, they reject God
and His ways, they are sent to the Lake of Fire, where they are consumed by fire, burned up completely, as if they never existed. There is NO Purgatory; the word does not even exist in the Bible.
I expect thumbs down for this answer; it always happens! But, the important thing is that it's the truth!

Answer 2

We absolutely do not sleep until resurrection. You are interpreting a few Old Testament passages in a way contrary to the rest of Scripture. The reason why you get the idea of sleep from these scriptures is because the Hebrews and Greeks saw sheol/hades as a dark, gloomy prison where not much could be done. It did not mean that there was no immortal spirit or that the soul slept. The soul went to the underworld and the BODY slept while waiting for the resurrection.

Psalm 142:7--"Bring my soul out of prison."
Eccl. 12:7--Body returns to dust, spirit returns to God
Isaiah 49:9-spirits that are prisoners in darkness shall be freed
Isaiah 61;1--Messiah sent to liberate spirits in prison
Ezek. 32:18+21--dead go down into the pit (underworld) and
speak out of the midst of Sheol.
Job 34:14--there is a difference btwn. spirit and breath
Job 32:8--it is the spirit within man that receives inspiration from God
Zech. 12:1--Lord forms spirit of man within him (what form does breath have?)
2 Corin. 12:2--This wouldn't make sense if Paul knew that we went to sleep when our spirit left our body
Philippians 1:23,24--Paul expected to be with Christ as soon as he left the flesh
Matt. 10:28--people can kill body, but not soul
Luke 16:22-26--paradise and prison described as separate places in immediate afterlife (before resurrection)--conversations between dead (spirits)
1 Peter 3:19, 1 Peter 4:6--These two verses are related. Jesus, between his death and resurrection, went to the world of spirits (hades) and preached to the spirits that were in prison. He opened up the gates of hell and let out the captive spirits, as had been prophesied in the OT. Those that believed in him were freed and passed into paradise. That is why he was able to tell the thief at the crucifixion that he would be with him tomorrow in Paradise. Those who had been disobedient in the past now had the opportunity to hear Christ and, upon accepting him, were allowed to pass into Paradise. This passage was well understood by the early Christian Fathers and is still an important part of Orthodox theology. Christ's triumph over Hell was almost as important as his Resurrection. This is how he conquered Death and Hell. To interpret these passages as Christ somehow going to the demons in Tartarus after the Resurrection is against what it says, what tradition says, and what the rest of the Bible says.
It was Jesus's enemies, the Sadducees that did not believe in an immortal spirit--Acts 23:8
Jesus and his Apostles were very familiar with what disembodied spirits were. When Jesus appeared to his apostles after the resurrection, the apostles thought they were seeing a spirit (the spirit person of Jesus, who had died). The apostles were afraid, and Jesus calmed their fear by having them touch his physical body. He said, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Christ acknowledged the traditional belief in disembodied spirits of the dead, but reassured them that he was not a spirit, because he was resurrected. (Luke 24:39).

The Bible may be a little vague on ideas like this, but I think we can see quite clearly that the idea that the soul/spirit goes immediately to an afterlife in which it is capable of seeing, hearing, speaking, etc. is a Biblical doctrine.

Answer 3

The (dead) body sleeps. The spirit (you) goes to one of two places. The day of the rapture, the bodies of believers will be resurrected to meet their spirits and become new, immortal body bodies. After the resurrection of the dead, those alive will be taken up to be with the Lord.

After all, why would Paul (and others) be so anxious to "be with the Lord", if it only meant that they would be "asleep" until some far future time ("I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far"-- Phil.1:23)? And there is this passage of scripture which definitively puts the issue to rest:

For we know that if our earthly tent-dwelling (i.e. our physical body) be struck, we have an abode (that comes) from God, a dwelling made without human agency, eternal in the heavens. For indeed we do groan in this one, desiring to put on our habitation which comes from heaven. And if we do put off this present one, at any rate, we (i.e., our spirits) will not be found naked (i.e., "body-less"). 2 Corinthians 5:1-3

Answer 4

Well, there are two teachings that I know of, and that is the one where we "sleep" like you said, that is, until Christ comes again(1 Thessalonians 4:16 ). And then there is the teaching that we go to "paradise"(Luke 23:43 & some say thats where Lazarus is in Luke 16:19-29). But all that is debatable. In the end, we WILL be with Christ for eternity(that is, his sheep), and thats what is really important

Answer 5

At death, the human spirit leaves the body (Ec. 12:7) and goes either to heaven or hell (Luke 16:22ff). As demonstrated by the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:22ff.) and affirmed by Christ when he tells the thief he will be with him in paradise "today" (Luke 23:43) there is immediate conscious existence after death, both in heaven and hell (2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11; Phil. 1:23).

There is no "soul sleep" or period of unawareness preceding heaven. Some Old Testament passages do not reflect the fullness of New Testament revelation concerning immediate consciousness upon death. "Fallen asleep" in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and similar passages is a euphemism for death, describing the outward appearance as seen from this side, not the other. The spirit's departure from the body ends our existence on earth. This "sleep" refers to the outward inanimate appearance of the body that is buried in the earth. The physical part of us "sleeps" until the resurrection, while the spiritual part of us relocates to a conscious existence in heaven (Dan. 12:2-3; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11). Every reference in Revelation to human beings talking and worshipping in heaven prior to the resurrection (Rev. 20) refutes the notion of soul sleep.

Answer 6

I am a Seventh Day Adventist an we believe that you receive you eternal reward at the second coming not at death.

a lot of people use the story of Jesus and the thief on the the cross to demonstrate instant reward.

But it is simply a typo...a common placed in the wrong place (they did not have commons at the time that the Bible was written).

When He told the thief "I say unto you, Today you will be with me in paradise..."...it did not mean that day. It should say" I say unto today, you will be with me in Paradise..."

We know this because 1) the thieves did not die that day. They had to be taken down for the Sabbath and their legs broken so they would not run away.
2) when Jesus rose from the dead, He told Mary not to touch Him since He had not ascended to His Father yet. So we know that Jesus did not go to Heaven upon His death.

When Jesus returns, "the dead in Christ shall rise first...." if they are already in Heaven this would be a useless action.

and as to the story about Lazarus...that was one of Jesus parables....not an actual story. Lazarus could very well have been there (Jesus used people that people knew to better get His point across), because he was not dead at that time...

Answer 7

ok, first you need to go find the verses that tell you and me, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

This tells us that we (our spirit) does not sleep. Further study will show you that our bodies do sleep until the resurection. For we are reunited with our bodies (now glorified) at this point. The sea even gives up its dead so that our spitits can have a resurected glorified body. We are given a small glimpse of what this glorified body can do, by reading about how Jesus could walk through wall with it, he could show his earthly scars and he could have them not show at all.

In a nutshell, we are both fleshly and spiritual beings at the moment. At our earthly fleshly death, our spirit is released to go be with God until it is time for our spirit and our bodies to be reunited at the "caught up in the clouds" of 1 THeselonians.

Answer 8

My dad is a minister,
and i asked him this question once.
i asked him

when you die do you immediately go to heaven?
when Jesus comes down, what happens to all the people left behind?

My Dad does not speak english very well. he speaks a broken english while i speak better english than korean so it was hard to communicate about this topic.

but he said that people that go to heaven and are dead are in between [haha i dont get it very much]] they arent in hell but they arent exactly in heaven just yet. when Jesus comes down, then, everyone goes up to heaven with Him.

haha. i dont know if this is much help but if you are curious, you should probably meet with a pastor and ask him and have a one on one with him/her. They will most likely give you a solid answer backed up with scriptures from the Bible rather than random people from the Internet. okayy?

I will probably do the same at church tomorrow. [[but with someone who could explain it better]]
I'll let you know what i get back from him. =]

Answer 9

In the New Testament, it is taught otherwise! "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 2 Corinthians 5:8: (KJV)

Answer 10

2 CO 5:8 Absent from the body, present with the Lord.