Opinions. I reserve the right to change them.

Death is a sensitive subject.  We are frightened by it.  We wish it weren't so scary.  But what is truth?  Is it what is or is it what we wish?  We do nobody any favours by sugar coating a painful subject.  Unfortunately, most of Christianity, with a noble goal of comforting those who mourn, has misled their flock as to what the Bible teaches about death.

The majority of Christians believe that they are an immortal soul, and their body is the temporary container of this soul.  When they die, the soul, being immortal, goes somewhere.  Where exactly depends on what denomination you belong to, but generally there are least two destinations: heaven or hell.  But since when has the Bible taught us to follow the majority?  (Mat 7:13-14)

Is the soul immortal? Ezek 18:4 says that the soul that sins shall die.  That should put that idea to rest (sadly it often doesn't).   So if the soul dies, then where do we go when we die?  God spelt it out to Adam in Gen 3:19: 'For you are dust and to dust you shall return'. Furthermore, the Bible uses the word soul to refer to corpses and animals too, hardly what conventional Christianity thinks.

Are we conscious in the dust? No. The Bible states (again and again and again) that death is a sleep.  Not a party or a punishment, but a sleep (see 1 Cor 15).  So if we are unconscious dust when we die (like the animals, see Ecc 9) what hope does the Bible say we have?  Resurrection.  1 Cor 15:16-18 says that without resurrection those who have fallen asleep would perish.  When the resurrection happens, where will we come from?  The same place they buried us, our graves (John 5:28, Dan 12:2).

According to the Bible those who are dead:
 - sleep (1 Kings 2:10)
 - decay (Acts 13:36)
 - have no thoughts (Psalm 146:3-4)
 - do not know about their family (Job 14:21)
 - cannot thank God (Isaiah 38:18-19)
 - do not praise God (Psalm 115:17)
 - are like beasts (Psalm 49:12, Ecc 3)
 - do not mention God (Psalm 6:5)
 - are silent (Psalm 94:17)
 - have no knowledge (Ecc 9:10)
 - simply aren't! (Job 7:21)

Does your church teach a message consistent with the Bible?  Or does it tell you what you would like to hear?

Ecc 3:9 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.