Most Christian traditions today teach that upon death believers immediately enter into the presence of the Lord. But there is another view, prominent among Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even some Protestants that says the soul goes to sleep in a manner of speaking and waits for the promised resurrection. This view does not affirm that believers enter into God’s presence immediately, but rather that there is simply nothing–no consciousness, no awareness, until the resurrection body is raised.

Or does it?

What strikes me as ironic is that with no capacity to apprehend the passing of time, as this view affirms, it would still feel instantaneous would it not? If, at the point of death, existence is as non-existent as the soul sleep view claims it to be, then it seems that either way we left with feeling like we are immediately in God’s presence. Personally, I’d prefer the traditional view. I think it’s also the correct one based on a host of passages like Philippians 1, 2 Corinthians 5, Acts 7, Revelation 6, Hebrews 12, and I’m probably missing others. Even in Thessalonians where Paul speaks of death as sleep, he writes that “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)