Your Bible question was:

>>What does the King James Bible say about death and what happens to us when we die. Does our spirit go to heaven while our soul sleeps or do we just sleep until the rapture? Hope that you can answer this one it seems everyone is bickering over it. God bless you<<

Please remember that the KJV is a translation, so what it teaches about death events will also be taught in other reliable English translations of the Bible.

Luke 16:19-31 teaches us a great deal about events following death, including the fact that there is consciousness after death for both the evil and the good. The scene here is not heaven, but Hades (the realm of the dead), which is subdivided into two parts: Abraham's bosom (Lk. 16:22) or Paradise (Lk. 23:43; Acts 2:27) - a place of rest and comfort; and torments - a place of pain and anguish (Lk. 16:23-24). They are separated by a great gulf which is fixed in place and which allows for no crossing over from one to the other (Lk. 16:26). At death we can all expect to go to one place or the other until the dead are raised.

The "rapture" of which you speak is a notion devised by the wisdom of men - it is not found in the Bible. There will be one resurrection when Jesus returns of the "just and the unjust" (Acts 24:15) in the same "hour" (Jno. 5:28-29) at the end of time (1 Cor. 15:23-24). 2 Peter 3:10 describes the events of the day of the Lord - the day of His return - as a day of final destruction (2 Pet. 3:10-12). When Jesus appears He will deliver the kingdom to God the Father (who is in heaven), not establish it upon the earth (which He will destroy) - 1 Cor. 15:23-24. Christians will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-18) - the wicked will experience eternal punishment in hell (2 Thess. 1:7-9).

The rapture doctrine necessitates multiple resurrections but the New Tsstament teaches _one_ resurrection of the wicked and the good at the same _"hour"_ (Jno. 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:11-15).

We can and should unite upon what the Bible says. But we will never be able to unite upon the speculations and theories of men about death -- nor should we (Gal. 1:8-9).

Sincerely,

Joe Price

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Joe R Price
joe@bibleanswer.com

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