This verse is often misquoted as “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”, meaning that after a believer dies, his/her soul goes directly to God… But this is not how the verse reads, neither is it what this verse means:

(KJV) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

(ASV) we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Paul is simply sharing his feelings; he’d rather be at home with Jesus, than to remain here on this earth of pain and suffering. Don’t we all feel the same way at times? We get tired of this world and all the struggles we have to go through, and we long to be in a better place... But he isn’t saying that when he dies that he will be ‘instantly’ in heaven or with God…

Paul knew that when a person dies, he/she is ‘asleep’ as that is what God relates death to… [hence the common phrase today: “Rest in Peace”].

Ezekiel states twice that a ‘sinning soul dies’. [18:4,20]

Ecclesiastes states that at death both animals and humans ‘go to one place… they return to the dust from whence they came’ [3:19-20] …It’s the same thing that God told Adam after he sinned in Eden.[Gen 3:19]

King David refers to it as ‘the sleep of death’ in Psalms 13:3.

What do you think Paul meant when he told the Corinthians that ‘we shall not all sleep’ [I Cor 15:51]? He was telling them that there would be believers alive [as in not dead or asleep] when Christ returns to setup His Kingdom.

Christ is the ‘firstborn from among the dead’ [Rev 1:5]. What does that mean? It means He was the first person, who died, and then was ‘resurrected’ back to life again. He’s the only One who ‘was dead, and is now alive’—Revelation of Jesus Christ [1:18; 2:8].

[No, Christ did not go to some mythological ‘place’ called Hades, during the 3 days He was dead… He really was dead… not ‘alive’]

The ‘body’ returns to dust.

The ‘spirit’ [which gives life] returns to God.

The ‘soul’ [Hb: 'nephesh'—a breathing creature… animals, humans, me, YOU...] dies.

…And only a resurrection can bring a soul back to life again.

That’s what the Scriptures teach.

That’s the Word of GOD.

Only in Pagan/Greek mythology can a ‘dead’ person be ‘alive’!!

It’s about time we stop believing in fairy tales...