RR:
Please understand. When Paul talks about the “dead who are asleep”, he’s not talking in English.
He wrote this originally in Greek. The word that he uses in Greek is the same one we use for repose and is rendered into the Latin as Rescquiasit, or rest.
There are different Greek words for ‘asleep’ and ‘rest’. He uses Rest, not asleep.
>>Please understand. When Paul talks about the “dead who are asleep”, he’s not talking in English.<<
Yeah, I don’t like using the word “asleep” but I thought it would make the point without getting into complex details regarding something none of us has complete knowledge of. I make use of the Greek Lexicon when it is really important and we are trying to get to the heart of something relevant.
For my purposes, using the word “sleep” was close enough.
And regarding “rest” vs “sleep”, as I mentioned in a previous post, my thoughts are that the “rest” is more akin to being put under during surgery. That is, you are 100% out and have absolutely no perception of the passage of time - until the resurrection.