What happens when we die

George Bernard Shaw said, “There are indeed some fascinating statistics about death. For example, one out of one dies.” What happens when you die? Some people believe that death is simply the end of existence. That a human being, like a dog or a flower or a plant, just ceases to exist when its allotted days are done. Others believe that death begins a kind of new age recycling project in which human beings return to existence in another form. You might return as an elephant or a chrysanthemum...or anything in between—and the recycling process could recur a half a million times or more. Still others think that a limbo-like state follows death, and that a person remains in this in-between state until all his earthly affairs are rectified; or that the body dies, but the soul “floats” around without a package to contain it.

These earthly tents in which we live sag and wear, and Paul says that in them, we groan. But when the stakes are pulled up and we leave this life, the Bible teaches that Christians go immediately to be in the presence of the Lord, and receive their resurrection bodies. Jesus’ own resurrection is our pledge or promise that this is true. So the day of death is not the last day...it is only moving day.