Brilliant post Paidion. Thank you so much for sharing your testimony. I agree with all you say and believe this is what the bible teaches. Two comments of Paul’s which you cite, seem to confirm this beyond doubt:
‘comfort one another with these words’ (regarding those dead in Christ and their future resurrection). 1 Thess 4:14-18. Why would they need comforting at all, if their dead loved ones had already been ‘resurrected’ to heaven to be with Christ? Wouldn’t Paul have have rather said something like: ‘be comforted that those who have died in Christ are now living in heaven with Him and are awaiting the grand reunion, when Christ brings them with Him when He returns to get us the living’. Also 1 Cor 15:32 ‘if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we will die’. This makes NO sense whatsoever, if the dead are actually ‘alive’ in ‘paradise’ being comforted like Lazarus. That doesn’t sound a bad prospect to me. Only if the dead are conscious of nothing would Paul’s words make sense.
Thank you again Paidion. The quote from Justin Martyr is very interesting and I will look further into that.