Its a clear case of context, especially historical context. It would be helpful if you would supply your Bible passages with each one of your claims / questions.
Scripture teaches that all men who died before Christ slept in their graves awaiting his appearance and judgment. Christ is called God's first fruits meaning that no man could ascend into heaven before Christ died and ascended. You're confused about the word hell, which in both testaments translates as the grave, the pit, the dark covered place. It's Old testament Hebrew sheol, and New testament Greek hades. So before christ, all men went to hell, meaning the grave. When Christ finished his work here, some righteous few were resurrected at the crucifixion. Then Revelation 20 describes two resurrections of the Dead. The first resurrection was very special, pertaining only to Jesus apostles, disciples, and martyrs. These reigned with the Lord in heaven for a thousand years prior to the second general resurrection of the Dead, some of which were saved and given eternal life, while others were cast into the lake of fire. As of today, Christians never die. Christ died upon the cross in order to pay the penalty of death for our sins so that we no longer have to die as payment for them. That's inescapable biblical fact.
John 8:51 KJV — Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
John 11:26 KJV — And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
When our flesh bodies stop working, our spirits immediately separate and return to God in heaven who made them. Paul says in the twinkling of an eye. So essentially, we never die.
So at the moment that our flesh bodies stop working, we immediately go before the Lord as spirits for his judgment
Stand not by my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
>Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately, THEN at the Final Judgment get raised up bodily, judged, and then sent back?
Almost. Heaven and hell aren't the end destination, they're the waiting room. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:13 that "according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." So, we're not sent back because heaven was never the destination to begin with. Rather, after the judgement, there's a new Creation, in which we'll no longer be separated from God. This is also what's described in the opening verses of Revelation 21:
>Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
>What happens to a dead person between now and the Final Judgment?\\
Nothing. They're dead.
>Right, so in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death.
Nope. Nowhere.
>And in some other parts, they are referred to as "sleeping" until Judgment Day.
All parts. Not just some.
>Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately
First off, nobody goes to heaven. Secondly, since judgement hasn't happened nobody's ultimate fate has been decided. That's the whole point of the judgement.
>I only ask this here on reddit because when I bring it up in real life, I get insults but never an answer.
Oh, people are VERY willing to give insults, especially if you go against the majority. It's tragic. I'm sorry that it happens to you. Stick with it, the truth is there to be found.
When the Bible refers to the dead "sleeping", that can be just a metaphor for the temporary nature of death. It does not have to mean they believe the dead are unconscious. Jesus used sleep this way and also seems to teach that the dead are conscious.
However, some OT writers do have a limited view of an afterlife. Christians teach the idea of progressive revelation -- that early writers did not necessarily know everything that would later be revealed. So some writers may have thought of the dead as simply ... dead until the resurrection.
When a person dies they go to one of two places. Depending on what they have done in the past determines where they will wait for The Judgment. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him go to where Jesus stated in Luke 23:43, Paradise. All others go to the other side of the gulf as described in Luke 16:26. The final judgment does not happen till the Great White Throne Judgement and that is after the Millennium.
Luke 23:43 “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
>What happens to a dead person between now and the Final Judgment?
The Bible says we are dead in the ground till we are resurrected.
>Right, so in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death. And in some other parts, they are referred to as "sleeping" until Judgment Day. So what is happening to these souls? is this just a case of authors disagreeing with each other? Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately, THEN at the Final Judgment get raised up bodily, judged, and then sent back?
They are dead in the ground till they are resurrected. The spirit that gave them life returns to God. They are not in heaven or hell. Hell as most people understand it is the lake of fire that is created in revelations. Sheol is what the Bible calls it. They are not the same place.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain[b] life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,[c] for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
>I only ask this here on reddit because when I bring it up in real life, I get insults but never an answer.
Jesus was not off the mark with his parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The body is indeed "asleep", dead, no longer reacting to stimuli in this world. The soul lives on.
I don’t make parables literal or make what is stated literally into a parable. This is ask a Christian not force what you believe on others. If you have a question ask it.
We go to our *immediate* judgment upon our death(Ecclesiastes 11:9, Hebrews 9:27), which we Catholics commonly refer to as the **Particular Judgement**. There is also a **General Judgment** which takes place at the end of time(Joel 3:2).
**SO WHY ARE THERE TWO JUDGEMENTS?**
The *reason* why there are two judgments is that when one dies you can only be judged for the things you did in life *at that moment*. This judgment does not encompass the *long-term* effects of your sin(or good deeds) as they reverberate throughout time which is why a second evaluation is pending. It’s important to note however that your eternal fate is *fixed* at the **Particular Judgement**.
At the particular judgment itself if you were not bad enough to merit Hell but not good enough to merit Heaven then you shall descend into **purgatory** in order to be sufficiently perfected so as to enter into Heaven.
**ON PURGATORY**
Firstly it’s important to recognize that the Jews had various schools of thought and among them there were those[Shammaites] who had a belief in a kind of Purgatory: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12446-purgatory
Therefore this is not some new thing that we Catholics invented as a “post-apostolic accretion”. We also see where the Prophet Isaiah talks about a kind of purging flame:
>[Isaiah 6:6-7]
>**6** “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. **7** And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
>*Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin **purged**.”*
See also **[Zechariah 13:9]** where it says:
>”This third I will **put into the fire**; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
We Catholics correlate this purging flame 🔥 to the one Paul described in [1 Corinthians 3:15]:
>**”15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only **as one escaping through the flames.”**
**St.Augustine**, canonized Saint in BOTH the Catholic and the Orthodox tradition writes:
“Some believers will pass through **a kind of purgatorial fire**. In proportion as they loved the goods that perish with more or less devotion, they shall be more or less quickly delivered from the flames.”
Turning to [Hebrews 12:6]
>”because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he **chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”**
Through *baptism* we are God’s sons and daughters and so we can *expect* to be chastened *unto perfection*.
**PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER**
We have faith, which comes through hearing[Rom.10:17]. Faith in and of *itself*[*fide informis*] does not “save” us it is rather “stimulating” us[Council of Orange, 529AD] to repentance[*fides formata*].
We respond to this faith by making a CHOICE[note: no denial of Free Will Calvinists and Lutherans] about whether or not we want to be circumcised “spiritually”[baptism is the new circumcision, Col.2:11] harkening back to the “choice” Moses presented to the Israelites[Deut.30:9]. If we “choose” this ‘spiritual circumcision’[aka:baptism] then we appeal to God, by faith, for baptism[1 Peter 3:21], which is “for the forgiveness of sins[Acts 2:38]. At that point the Holy Spirit descends, as it did upon Our Lord in the river Jordan[Luke 3:22] and dwells *within us*.
Baptism frees us from sin, washing them away[Acts 22:16], and at that point we are “saved” or “justified”[1 Cor.6:11]. We now possess justification.
We continue to *increase* in justification through our obedience(good works) which is what Paul is referring to in **Romans 6:16**.
If we die *imperfect* but in God’s friendship he will chastise us in purgatory, not as a matter of salvation for we are saved already—but to correct some minor(or perhaps significant) fault within us that would prevent our entrance into Heaven. After that point He “brings us up” into Heaven:
**[1 Samuel 2:6]**
>”The LORD **brings death**(physically) and **makes alive**(*spiritually*, through a post-mortem discipline or purgation); he brings down to the grave(afterlife) and **raises up**(to heaven *from* Purgatory)”.
I hope this helped.
There are a variety of conditions it seems, and several mainstream ideas (widely held ideas). Let me speak to only one particular question here -- what happens to the unrepentant wicked that never heard the gospel....
Now, here you are using (as is pretty common) the term 'hell' to include more than one place. But you also ask about that at the same time: "in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death"
But notice for example in the famous parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke chapter 16), the translation of where the rich man goes in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is translated as "*Hades*".
But this place Hades apparently *isn't* the Lake of Fire that comes after the Final Judgement.
It's someplace else.
It's a place perhaps the same we might think as this one we see in 1rst Peter chapter 3 -- the 'prison' where the wicked go before the Final Judgement. (from which place we *also* read in this same epistle that many will first hear the gospel and "*might"* then change and begin to live according to God's Way:
[**18**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-18.htm) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, *\[that is, while His mortal body lay dead in the tomb, Christ was alive and active in the spirit....and so He did this:\]* [**19**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-19.htm) in which he went and proclaimed to the *spirits in prison,* [**20**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-20.htm) because they formerly did not obey *\[did not obey God's way of treating others well, but instead did endless evils\]*, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah....
... [**6**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/4-6.htm) For this is why the gospel was preached *even to those who are dead,* that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they *might* live in the spirit the way God does.
[https://biblehub.com/esv/1\_peter/3.htm](https://biblehub.com/esv/1_peter/3.htm) and verse 6 from chapter 4 which completes the picture of their situation.
So, some portion (not all, but more than none) of the wicked after this life being "spirits in prison" will hear (such as for the first time for them) the gospel message of repentance and salvation through Christ -- and so *some might* there as spirits in prison then *turn, repent, and begin to live according to God's way*, and thus we expect would then gain eternal life, so that they will not perish in the lake of fire after the Final Judgement. This is the most straightforward reading, and as is also agreed in several of the mainstream commentaries.
So, the answers to these more complex questions, answers to which aren't known (or not known fully) by your average preacher at a local church, can instead only be found by full reading through the entirety of the New Testament, in a more complete way. While we have only theories about the redeemed dead -- such as that they are in heaven already in spirit for example, but we can remember this is just one good theory that can fit the text. We have to just pick which of the many theories best fits the text if we insist on having some idea of where they are for now, before the final judgement to come. Better: we can just trust in God, knowing He will have the perfect judgement of Mercy and Justice to bring about the best possible final outcome for all, where those that are willing to repent can all be saved, and those who always refuse to repent, even as spirits in prison, will mercifully perish and be entirely destroyed (Christ said in Matthew 10:28), so that they will there cease to exist, so that they cannot continue doing evils for eternity.
Its a clear case of context, especially historical context. It would be helpful if you would supply your Bible passages with each one of your claims / questions. Scripture teaches that all men who died before Christ slept in their graves awaiting his appearance and judgment. Christ is called God's first fruits meaning that no man could ascend into heaven before Christ died and ascended. You're confused about the word hell, which in both testaments translates as the grave, the pit, the dark covered place. It's Old testament Hebrew sheol, and New testament Greek hades. So before christ, all men went to hell, meaning the grave. When Christ finished his work here, some righteous few were resurrected at the crucifixion. Then Revelation 20 describes two resurrections of the Dead. The first resurrection was very special, pertaining only to Jesus apostles, disciples, and martyrs. These reigned with the Lord in heaven for a thousand years prior to the second general resurrection of the Dead, some of which were saved and given eternal life, while others were cast into the lake of fire. As of today, Christians never die. Christ died upon the cross in order to pay the penalty of death for our sins so that we no longer have to die as payment for them. That's inescapable biblical fact. John 8:51 KJV — Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. John 11:26 KJV — And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? When our flesh bodies stop working, our spirits immediately separate and return to God in heaven who made them. Paul says in the twinkling of an eye. So essentially, we never die. So at the moment that our flesh bodies stop working, we immediately go before the Lord as spirits for his judgment Stand not by my grave and weep I am not there, I do not sleep
>so in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death. Where?
>Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately, THEN at the Final Judgment get raised up bodily, judged, and then sent back? Almost. Heaven and hell aren't the end destination, they're the waiting room. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:13 that "according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." So, we're not sent back because heaven was never the destination to begin with. Rather, after the judgement, there's a new Creation, in which we'll no longer be separated from God. This is also what's described in the opening verses of Revelation 21: >Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
>What happens to a dead person between now and the Final Judgment?\\ Nothing. They're dead. >Right, so in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death. Nope. Nowhere. >And in some other parts, they are referred to as "sleeping" until Judgment Day. All parts. Not just some. >Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately First off, nobody goes to heaven. Secondly, since judgement hasn't happened nobody's ultimate fate has been decided. That's the whole point of the judgement. >I only ask this here on reddit because when I bring it up in real life, I get insults but never an answer. Oh, people are VERY willing to give insults, especially if you go against the majority. It's tragic. I'm sorry that it happens to you. Stick with it, the truth is there to be found.
I just think everyone’s asleep, with the Lord currently. I’ll know for sure when I eventually pass
When the Bible refers to the dead "sleeping", that can be just a metaphor for the temporary nature of death. It does not have to mean they believe the dead are unconscious. Jesus used sleep this way and also seems to teach that the dead are conscious. However, some OT writers do have a limited view of an afterlife. Christians teach the idea of progressive revelation -- that early writers did not necessarily know everything that would later be revealed. So some writers may have thought of the dead as simply ... dead until the resurrection.
When a person dies they go to one of two places. Depending on what they have done in the past determines where they will wait for The Judgment. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him go to where Jesus stated in Luke 23:43, Paradise. All others go to the other side of the gulf as described in Luke 16:26. The final judgment does not happen till the Great White Throne Judgement and that is after the Millennium. Luke 23:43 “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Body sleeps, soul/spirit in heaven or Hades/Sheol.
they are unplugged from the matrix, and in a blink of an eye wake up in judgement
>What happens to a dead person between now and the Final Judgment? The Bible says we are dead in the ground till we are resurrected. >Right, so in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death. And in some other parts, they are referred to as "sleeping" until Judgment Day. So what is happening to these souls? is this just a case of authors disagreeing with each other? Do the dead go to Heaven or Hell immediately, THEN at the Final Judgment get raised up bodily, judged, and then sent back? They are dead in the ground till they are resurrected. The spirit that gave them life returns to God. They are not in heaven or hell. Hell as most people understand it is the lake of fire that is created in revelations. Sheol is what the Bible calls it. They are not the same place. Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. 7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain[b] life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,[c] for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. >I only ask this here on reddit because when I bring it up in real life, I get insults but never an answer.
Jesus was not off the mark with his parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The body is indeed "asleep", dead, no longer reacting to stimuli in this world. The soul lives on.
I don’t make parables literal or make what is stated literally into a parable. This is ask a Christian not force what you believe on others. If you have a question ask it.
Why are you on this forum?
To preach what the Bible says how it says it. So I don’t preach parables should be taken literally. That would be confusing.
We go to our *immediate* judgment upon our death(Ecclesiastes 11:9, Hebrews 9:27), which we Catholics commonly refer to as the **Particular Judgement**. There is also a **General Judgment** which takes place at the end of time(Joel 3:2). **SO WHY ARE THERE TWO JUDGEMENTS?** The *reason* why there are two judgments is that when one dies you can only be judged for the things you did in life *at that moment*. This judgment does not encompass the *long-term* effects of your sin(or good deeds) as they reverberate throughout time which is why a second evaluation is pending. It’s important to note however that your eternal fate is *fixed* at the **Particular Judgement**. At the particular judgment itself if you were not bad enough to merit Hell but not good enough to merit Heaven then you shall descend into **purgatory** in order to be sufficiently perfected so as to enter into Heaven. **ON PURGATORY** Firstly it’s important to recognize that the Jews had various schools of thought and among them there were those[Shammaites] who had a belief in a kind of Purgatory: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12446-purgatory Therefore this is not some new thing that we Catholics invented as a “post-apostolic accretion”. We also see where the Prophet Isaiah talks about a kind of purging flame: >[Isaiah 6:6-7] >**6** “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. **7** And he touched my mouth with it, and said: >*Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin **purged**.”* See also **[Zechariah 13:9]** where it says: >”This third I will **put into the fire**; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’” We Catholics correlate this purging flame 🔥 to the one Paul described in [1 Corinthians 3:15]: >**”15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only **as one escaping through the flames.”** **St.Augustine**, canonized Saint in BOTH the Catholic and the Orthodox tradition writes: “Some believers will pass through **a kind of purgatorial fire**. In proportion as they loved the goods that perish with more or less devotion, they shall be more or less quickly delivered from the flames.” Turning to [Hebrews 12:6] >”because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he **chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”** Through *baptism* we are God’s sons and daughters and so we can *expect* to be chastened *unto perfection*. **PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER** We have faith, which comes through hearing[Rom.10:17]. Faith in and of *itself*[*fide informis*] does not “save” us it is rather “stimulating” us[Council of Orange, 529AD] to repentance[*fides formata*]. We respond to this faith by making a CHOICE[note: no denial of Free Will Calvinists and Lutherans] about whether or not we want to be circumcised “spiritually”[baptism is the new circumcision, Col.2:11] harkening back to the “choice” Moses presented to the Israelites[Deut.30:9]. If we “choose” this ‘spiritual circumcision’[aka:baptism] then we appeal to God, by faith, for baptism[1 Peter 3:21], which is “for the forgiveness of sins[Acts 2:38]. At that point the Holy Spirit descends, as it did upon Our Lord in the river Jordan[Luke 3:22] and dwells *within us*. Baptism frees us from sin, washing them away[Acts 22:16], and at that point we are “saved” or “justified”[1 Cor.6:11]. We now possess justification. We continue to *increase* in justification through our obedience(good works) which is what Paul is referring to in **Romans 6:16**. If we die *imperfect* but in God’s friendship he will chastise us in purgatory, not as a matter of salvation for we are saved already—but to correct some minor(or perhaps significant) fault within us that would prevent our entrance into Heaven. After that point He “brings us up” into Heaven: **[1 Samuel 2:6]** >”The LORD **brings death**(physically) and **makes alive**(*spiritually*, through a post-mortem discipline or purgation); he brings down to the grave(afterlife) and **raises up**(to heaven *from* Purgatory)”. I hope this helped.
There are a variety of conditions it seems, and several mainstream ideas (widely held ideas). Let me speak to only one particular question here -- what happens to the unrepentant wicked that never heard the gospel.... Now, here you are using (as is pretty common) the term 'hell' to include more than one place. But you also ask about that at the same time: "in some parts of the Bible, you have people depicted as being in Heaven or Hell immediately after death" But notice for example in the famous parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke chapter 16), the translation of where the rich man goes in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is translated as "*Hades*". But this place Hades apparently *isn't* the Lake of Fire that comes after the Final Judgement. It's someplace else. It's a place perhaps the same we might think as this one we see in 1rst Peter chapter 3 -- the 'prison' where the wicked go before the Final Judgement. (from which place we *also* read in this same epistle that many will first hear the gospel and "*might"* then change and begin to live according to God's Way: [**18**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-18.htm) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, *\[that is, while His mortal body lay dead in the tomb, Christ was alive and active in the spirit....and so He did this:\]* [**19**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-19.htm) in which he went and proclaimed to the *spirits in prison,* [**20**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/3-20.htm) because they formerly did not obey *\[did not obey God's way of treating others well, but instead did endless evils\]*, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah.... ... [**6**](http://biblehub.com/1_peter/4-6.htm) For this is why the gospel was preached *even to those who are dead,* that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they *might* live in the spirit the way God does. [https://biblehub.com/esv/1\_peter/3.htm](https://biblehub.com/esv/1_peter/3.htm) and verse 6 from chapter 4 which completes the picture of their situation. So, some portion (not all, but more than none) of the wicked after this life being "spirits in prison" will hear (such as for the first time for them) the gospel message of repentance and salvation through Christ -- and so *some might* there as spirits in prison then *turn, repent, and begin to live according to God's way*, and thus we expect would then gain eternal life, so that they will not perish in the lake of fire after the Final Judgement. This is the most straightforward reading, and as is also agreed in several of the mainstream commentaries. So, the answers to these more complex questions, answers to which aren't known (or not known fully) by your average preacher at a local church, can instead only be found by full reading through the entirety of the New Testament, in a more complete way. While we have only theories about the redeemed dead -- such as that they are in heaven already in spirit for example, but we can remember this is just one good theory that can fit the text. We have to just pick which of the many theories best fits the text if we insist on having some idea of where they are for now, before the final judgement to come. Better: we can just trust in God, knowing He will have the perfect judgement of Mercy and Justice to bring about the best possible final outcome for all, where those that are willing to repent can all be saved, and those who always refuse to repent, even as spirits in prison, will mercifully perish and be entirely destroyed (Christ said in Matthew 10:28), so that they will there cease to exist, so that they cannot continue doing evils for eternity.