“I am unaware of any scripture showing soul sleep.”
There is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 :
“14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Since this verse refers to the first resurrection in Revelation, the clear implication is that those who are “asleep”, or dead, are only resurrected at the last trumpet of Revelation. I suppose their souls could have been in Heaven just waiting for a body until then, but I just don’t think that is the plainest reading.
Perhaps not the plainest reading if that passage is taken in isolation. It is, however, the way that I believe.
I think that all the New Testament passages, taken together, point toward a conscious existence, with or without the Lord, after death.
In addition to the passage that I previously quoted, there is the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Some say this is just a parable, but if so, why does Jesus not say so as He does for His other parables?
In the final analysis, though, while I think this is a very important doctrine, and we should try to get it right, it is not the essential doctrine, which is that however the afterlife is structured, Jesus is the only way there, and we need to accept that fact and act upon it positively
In point of fact, though, I do agree that we do not get our resurrection body until the first Resurrection.
In the meantime, it is fun to discuss these things with fellow Christians. We'll find out for sure soon enough :)