My Beliefs
I have different beliefs about death and the state of the dead than most people. However, through my research for this website I have found that my "strange" beliefs aren't so strange after all, because a lot of theologians believe the same thing I do, for the same reasons.
I beleive that when a person dies, they are in a state very much like sleep, except they are not breathing or alive in any other way, of course. They are resting in their graves, unconscious of thought or emotion, and remain there until the Second Coming, when the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven and raise the dead to be with Him (Revelation 1:7). When those that have died are resurrected, they have lost that time that they were dead, and do not remember dying or how much time has past. This is the same thing that happens when you fall asleep: when you wake up you don't remember the exact time you fell asleep and you are not aware of exactly how much time has past until you look at the clock. This will make it feel like you are raised immediately after death: when you go to sleep, morning comes in what feels like an instant. When resurrected, people are the same age as when they died and have all of their memories from their life. Their eternal life with God and us in Heaven begins where their mortal life left off.
In Paige's case, she is asleep. She is three days old and not conscious. When the Lord returns, He will call her from her grave and her guardian angel, who has been watching over her lifeless body, will bring her from her grave and place her in my arms. I will take her to heaven with me and my other children, and I will get to raise her in Heaven. I will not miss any of her life.
There are no Bible verses that say that when we die we go to heaven, or that the dead are watching us. I believe that my God will not rob me of raising my baby myself, by taking her to Heaven now. I believe that the idea of our dead relatives watching us woud be a huge burden for them, watching us suffer while they are in Paradise, and Heaven is not about suffering. Some people say, well, they are free of human emotion now, so it doesn't bother them. Then why would they care enough to watch us? Even Jesus has human emotions. Some people feel comforted by thinking about their loved ones in Heaven. It kind of creeps me out. Is my Uncle Larry watching me and my husband in bed together?
Why do some people see ghosts? Remember, this earth is Satan's playground. When the archangel Lucifer rebelled against God, he and his helpers were cast out of heaven to earth (Revelation 12:7-9). So Satan has a lot of power here. And he likes to play tricks on us, to try to decieve us and lead us away from God. The less we understand about God and the more of Satan's lies we believe, the further the gap between us and our Father. Satan wants to keep as many of us from our Salvation as he can. So, in short, ghosts are a trick played on us by Satan. The ghost may look like our loved one, may know things our loved one knew, but Satan knows all of those things, too, and is able to trick us because of that.
The Bible speaks of our spirit, and that spirit going to Heaven. Below, some of the verses make it clear that we are unconscious when dead and that the dead know nothing. I believe the spirit to be the memory of those who have died. For instance: Paige is with me. This doesn't mean she's floating around me, watching me. It means I keep the memory of her--her spirit--with me. In the same way, God keeps the spirit of all of us with Him. It is also described below, at the end of the quote from I Corinthians 15: 35-44 that the spiritual body is raised at the time of resurrection, not before. The Ezekiel passage below says God will put His spirit back in us, as if He will breathe life back in us, that His spirit is the breath that he breathed into Adam, making us living beings. Not a conscious thing, but our actual life itself.
I have listed some helpful bible verses (NIV):
Ecclesiastes 9: 5-6, 10 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."
John 11:11-14 "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, 'Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.' Jesus had been speaking of his death, but the disciples thought He meant natural sleep. So He told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.' "
John 5: 25, 28-29 "I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when those that are dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all those who are dead in their graves will hear His voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." (Hearing His voice wakes us from death, and we will all hear His voice at the same time). I Corinthians 15: 35-44 "But someone may ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' How foolish! What you sow does not come come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."
I Corinthians 15: 51-52 "We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and will be changed.
Ezekiel 37: 12-14 "I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live."
People have said: What about the verse that says to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord? 2 Corinthians 5:8--"we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." It doesn't say it happens simultaneously.
I have heard people say that the Bible says "suffer the children to come to me," and use this as an expression of death. The verse is in Mark 10:14, and it says "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Read the rest. This is simply a story about a day Jesus was out among the people, and parents were bringing their children to Jesus so He could touch them. The disciples scolded the parents, wanting them to take the children away. Mark 10:14 is Jesus' answer to the disciples.
The comments and suggestions here are in no way intended to replace or belittle the personal beliefs of anyone reading this. These are my beliefs only. It is not intended to offend anyone. You may choose to agree or disagree. My goal is to help, not hurt.