What happens to you when you die?

First, the person who used to be known to you and your neighbors as you gets dissolved in three parts - spirit, soul, and body.

• The spirit (called ruach in Hebrew) goes back to God.
• The soul (called Nephesh) goes to a receptacle called  Hades (in Greek, the equivalent of Hebrew word sheol).
• The body returns to dust.

Second, the spirit is not the real you. It came from God so it goes back to God. But if you are a believer, the Spirit becomes "yours" to possess, so upon your departure you put it in the hands of God, the giver, so He could later give it back to you for you for the life eternal. You received the "right" to "possess" the Spirit, so you can say that it is "my" Spirit. You receive that "right" by you "receiving" and personally putting trust in Jesus, the Son of God, as your Lord and Savior.

If you die as an unbeliever, you do not have such a right, so that you are subject to a different treatment. See discussion below.

Third, whether you are a believer or a non-believer, your soul gets housed in a place called Hades (or simply grave). Hades is located somewhere at the heart of the earth. This soul can enter and leave a man's body. As it entered you and seated in your 'blood', you came into being. As it leaves you you stop being alive. Thus your soul [deposited in Hades] which is the real you remains non-operational; yet it has not vanished;  it is there in the form of (I believe) "information". And  you'd better be assured that God has ways to keep the information intact for his own purposes.

But you are not going to stay there for good. At the time chosen by God, Jesus will come again (occasioned by the so called "the Second Coming"), whereupon He will get all people, believers and non-believers, out of the Hades for judgment and retribution only to separate all into the two classes, and two alone, and direct them into two separate destinations, that is, believers for eternal life in a resurrected body, the unbelievers to eternal demnation in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. For this limited purpose (of judgment and retribution, and redirection), on his Second Coming, Jesus will cause "all" to come back to life, only to let the saved ones to live for good in His paradise, but let the wicked (also known as unbelievers) to suffer from the eternal punishment called "the Second Death"). Bear in mind that the believers (saints) are saved into the family of God by virtue of redemption, so their salvation is called "grace", whereas the wicked are hit with demnation by virtue of the "work" of their own hands, so what they receive is called 'wages'.

For those who are technically oriented, and/or more interested in the Biblical basis of the above, please write to: hdk121@gmail.com or leave comments for further discussions or check a website http://downeyubf.com/