The expression 'fall asleep' is simply to describe that we
return to 'unconsciousness, as we are when we sleep. We know
nothing going on around us; we are un-aware of anything.
But as far as death goes; Death is just that - - death. Life is
life; death is death, the opposite of life. What we teach cannot be
disproved. Even science will agree with us. And certainly many
scholars and even theologians agree that when we die, we are dead.
Genesis 3:19 says plainly: 'From dust we are, and to dust we shall
return." It's plain and simple - - can't be disproved.
The concept actually originated with the 19th century Adventists
where the Seventh Day Adventists come from and Jehovah's Witnesses
are an offshoot from.
It's very easy to disprove, all one need do is acknowledge the
actual context of the passages that these group try to use as
"proof".
Ecclesiastes 9:5 is an extremely popular verse that JWs quote,
yet in context it is clear that the person speaking is viewing life
from a very humanistic perspective and not a spiritual perspective
("all that is done under the sun")(how one would perceive life in
the here and now).
Jehovah's Witnesses do not see a distinction between the body
and the soul, as such for them their is not distinction in death.
To them if the body dies then the soul has died, and this is where
most of the confusion comes in. The verses that speak of the dead
sleeping are speaking of the body, as the body will rise again when
Christ comes in glory.
The idea of "soul sleep" or "annihilationism" are totally
foreign to scripture. We are told that Moses and Elijah appeared
speaking with Jesus before Peter, James, and John. We are also told
that God is not God of the dead by of the living. As well as this
we are told that believers will not see death (it's clearly not
speaking of physical death).
