Job 14:12, Are you awake down there?

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 

//Here’s something Christians continue to wonder about two thousand years after Christianity’s beginnings. Are dead people conscious down (up) there, or will they remain unconscious until resurrected? Multiple verses tell of the dead “sleeping with their fathers,” connoting unconsciousness. And here’s one to chew on:

Ecclesiastes 9:5, For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing.

One day, King Saul finds a witch to help him commune with Samuel, who has died. When she “brings up” Samuel, he is pretty cranky about being disturbed.

But what about the parable of Lazarus and Divas? After they die, Lazarus rests in the bosom of Abraham, while Divas looks on from hell.

What about 1 Peter 3:19, where Jesus descends to hell, to preach to the disobedient? Does Jesus have to wake them up first, before preaching?

I take consolation in this: If I go to the bad place, I might be allowed to sleep through it all.

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