Moreover, where does the theology that people are "looking down on us" from heaven?
Where does that come from?
I noticed in during the Billy Graham funeral his daughter said that "Daddy was in heaven", but then she turned around and quoted 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which literally contradicts that theology.
People really are confused about what the Bible states concerning the state of the dead.
Not only is this sad, but also extremely dangerous.
Good question, but why do you think it is so dangerous? Because it gives false hope? Because it engenders false expectations? I've been thinking through the idea of the person being unaware in death (or "sleep") until the person is resurrected (bodily).
The heavenly awareness idea is pervasive in our churches and society at large.
I have an additional question. Can you give me scriptures that say we will spend eternity
in heaven?
To your question:
The scripture most often cited about awareness in death is the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lu 16:19-31). It doesn't really say anyone looked down on live people from heaven, nor that it is about heaven at all. Even those that believe it talks of awareness in death often say that it is a picture of a pre-Christ's-death Hades, and that there was a change at Christ's death (or resurrection or something in between).
Another is that Jesus said to the thief, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." (Lu 23:43) If the thief is to have any benefit from Jesus' words, and "today" really means that same day, then it suggests awareness after death (and before the thief was resurrected).
Jesus told us that no one had ascended into heaven except He that had descended from heaven (John 3:13). That says that at least up until that time, no one had ascended into heaven (I don't know how Enoch and Elijah fit in). Paul said that he had ascended into the third heaven, which he also called "Paradise". 2 Cor 12:2-4. He didn't know if it was bodily or in spirit only.
Rev 2:7 says that Paradise is in heaven.
So, following that logic, if the Lazarus story and the thief on the cross story tell us that there is awareness in death (prior to bodily resurrection), and if "absent from the body" means "present with the Lord", and the Lord ascended into heaven (where he sits at the right hand of the Father) after His resurrection, and the thief on the cross was with Jesus in Paradise immeditaely after death, and paradise is in heaven, then the dead believers must be aware and in heaven with Jesus.
Whether they can "look down" on events on the earth is another question. I don't know that it is very hard to imagine it to be the case. Why would our activities on the earth be hidden from those that are with the Lord? Heb 12:1 suggests that those in the hall of faith are "witnesses" of what we are doing. But Heb 11:39 says they did not "receive the promise". Maybe they are merely witnesses
to us, and not witnesses
of us.
I've had one pastor preach an interesting theory that avoids both the "soul sleep" idea and the "awareness prior to resurrection" idea. He suggested that the dead in Christ are no longer bound by time--they are immediately in the presence of the Lord after death, but they aren't looking down on earthly activities, because it is "in the resurrection", as Jesus said, so they would not be cognizant of the activities on earth in between their death and resurrection.
To me, this doesn't really look much different from a soul sleep idea--
time, to the individual, would consist of awareness before death and awareness after resurrection, and who cares whether they were somehow transported in time or just lay unaware in the grave in between.
The Witch of Endor story (1 Sam 28:7ff) suggests a soul sleep idea, at least in the OT (maybe it changed after Christ's death?). In it Samuel complains of Saul disturbing him (or "disquieting" in some translations) 1 Sam 28:15. To me, this seems like a different state than that described for Lazarus, but I'm not sure.
David, grieving over his first child from Bathsheba, suggests some awareness in death in 2 Sam 12:23b, but it could be read other ways.
