Hi Longhorn,
Here is another email on this.
http://bible-truths.com/email16.htm ---------
[Ray Replies]
Dear Doug:
Of the millions of times a year that this Scripture in II Cor. 5:8 is quoted, probably only about twice is it ever quoted properly. And THAT is partly the reason why most do not understand this verse.
Paul never said: "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." There is NO SUCH SCRIPTURE.
Let's quote it properly:
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather TO BE absent from the body, and TO BE present with the Lord."
Or as Concordant Literal New Testament renders it:
"...rather to be away from home out of the body and to be at home with the Lord."
There is a giant difference between the two words "is" and "and." Just the fact of being "absent or separated" from our bodies, does not automatically equate with being instantaneously "WITH" the Lord.
First we DIE and thereby become absent from or separated from our bodies--they decay back into the dust of the ground. But some time AFTER our death we are taken home to be with the Lord. Notice how Paul himself understood this. Are we "at home with the Lord" at the instant of DEATH? No. I Thes. 4:16-17--
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and THE DEAD in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be [at home] with the Lord."
Notice that all the DEAD in Christ rise at the SAME TIME, at His presence in the air. But, not all of the DEAD in Christ DIED AT THE SAME TIME. Hence they were NOT 'at home with the Lord' at the very time of their death.
Hope that helps your understanding a little better.
Ray