In recent years, there have been a spate of books written by people who have apparently died and then come back to life,

each book claiming to describe exactly what this person experienced after death. I often see these books being promoted heavily in

of all places airport terminals which seems like a rather insensitive place to be

reminding people that they're going to die.

But the fascination is understandable.

What happens to us after death?

Where do we go?

What do we see or experience, if anything? And specifically what happens to Christians when they die

while they await the resurrection of the body, a resurrection guaranteed by the

resurrection of Jesus 2,000 years ago.

Well, historically, there have been several different answers

to this.

One answer from Roman Catholicism

is the idea of purgatory. According to this idea, Christians who die but who are still imperfectly purified

must undergo a set time of punishment in purgatory until such time as they are pure enough to be with Christ.

Another answer is the idea of soul sleep, which is a state of personal unconsciousness

and temporary separation from Christ.

But both of these ideas fall short of scriptural teaching.

One theologian amusingly notes, the history of the doctrine of the intermediate state shows that it's hard for theologians

and people in general to stay within the limits of scripture and not attempt to be wiser than they can be.

Although scripture doesn't give us exhaustive details about this

so-called intermediate state between death and the final resurrection, there are some intriguing

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