From a Christian perspective: If indeed we die and stay in death like sleep until the Resurrection, what does that say about Near Death Experiences? [Spirituality & Religion]

@REMsleep @Pikachu Yes as I understand scripture, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" for Christians. Our souls go to heaven. And our bodies go in the grave and when Jesus comes back, then the dead in Christ are raised first, and our bodies are united with our souls. The alive in Christ will then join the raised in Christ and Jesus in the clouds. And then the ungodly bodies will be raised that have been asleep and stand for judgement one by one. Anything else is Satans lies to deceive the ungodly that we all go to God immediately. I do not believe this is true.

@Carazaa

I don't know if that's totally coherent. Why would god talk so much about raising us from our graves if we've already been in heaven the whole time?
Why is there a distinction made between people who will go to heaven with Jesus and the people who will remain dead for another thousand years if they are already in heaven?

[i]I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.[/i]
Revelation 20:4-5

@Pikachu It doesn't make sense to you because you don't have the full picture. There are a number of passages that demonstrate both - the idea of consciousness post death, or separation of soul from body - and then that ultimately after a last judgement there will be a bodily resurrection - a 'changed' body, not quite the same, but physical nevertheless. That's standard doctrine for most - debated by others.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been. <= dead people conscious and speaking without a body - and prior to resurrection

@Pikachu

I think these are great questions!

It is our body that will be raised and given a heavenly body. Our souls have already gone to Jesus, I believe. Because obviously our bodies are not raised right away when we die. This is my understanding of what we know from the Bible. The timeline is a different story and when the 1000 years of peace comes in the picture I am not sure about. But there is a distinction between the soul and the body.

[b]For Christians I think our souls go immediately to God in heaven when we are dead.[/b] "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" My Grandma died a few years ago as a Christian. I think she is with God with my Dad and my great grandparent. Their bodies are in the grave and will stay there until Jesus comes back. Then their bodies will raise up to get their new [i]heavenly[/i] bodies and unite with their souls in the clouds.

[b]And the alive Christians like most of us today [/b] will go directly up to Jesus in the clouds when he returns and our bodies will change " we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye", we will never die but will get our heavenly bodies immediately.

[b]When the ungodly people die their bodies go in the grave and they are asleep until Jesus raises them.[/b] Then they stand for judgement (maybe this is after 1000 years. I am not sure, it's possible. or the 1000 years are symbolic.)

Some believe that Christians will be raptured before the great tribulation (the last 7 years before Jesus comes back.) And some believe the ungodly who are not raptured will have a few years to repent and if they are saved and don't take "the mark of the beast" they will be killed, but will go to heaven.

We just have to be ready to meet God when ever we die! But I think Jesus is coming any minute and its possible that very few of those alive today will ever die. And NDE are just that, they didn't really die but were delusional.

@Abstraction @Carazaa

I can buy that the souls of some might be awake still but apart from a scant few interpretations, i don't see where we should think they're already waiting in heaven till judgement day.

@Pikachu Yes we are with God till judgment day if we die before the return of Christ. No soul sleep. Thats not biblical.

@REMsleep

What does the bible teach about a soul existing without a body?

@Pikachu The soul is who we are. Our body is only an earthy vessel skin and bones just meat.

Ecclesiastes 12:7
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

We are only different from animals in that God blessed us with having his " likeness" this is consciousness.
Genesis 2:7

Then theLordGod formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Humanity is made up of dust ( molecules, basic elements) but what makes us human is our soul

@REMsleep

But those passages are talking about spirit, the "breath of life", not the soul...

@Pikachu The Bible has so many authors the same exact words are not always used to describe the same exact thing.
You can't be so specific with soul vs spirit. Sometimes its different sometimes its the same meaning.
Context is important.

Acts 7:59
And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my [b]spirit.[/b]"
So for example in that verse you could substitute the word soul for spirit and there is no change in meaning.

Notice also that he asks Jesus/God to receive his spirit immediately as he is dying. No soul sleep.

@REMsleep

Seems to me to be some mix-ups in translation. The words used for soul or spirit often really just mean life.

@Pikachu Thats actually true as well. Sometimes it means life, soul, spirit. Its even used quite a few times the way that say an athiest would use it today in casual conversation to mean " with all my heart"