...p.s. I don't believe in "soul sleep" or the "unconscious state"...
OK. I permit "opening things up."
I suppose you believe in merely dust sleep.
Look at what is sleeping - "thou"
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold,
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers" (Deut. 31:16).
"And when thy days be fulfilled, and
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee" (2 Sam. 7:12).
If "thou" is sleeping, is there ANOTHER "thou" who is awake? Are there two thous for every person?
"Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king
shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders" (1 Kings 1:21).
Is "the king" sleeping or is the real king awake?
"So
David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David" (1 Kings 2:10).
"And when Hadad heard in Egypt that
David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart" (1 Kings 11:21).
"David" was sleeping. "David" was not awake. If something was awake, it couldn't have been "David."
Same for the following:
"And
Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead" (1 Kings 11:43).
"And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and
he slept with this fathers" (1 Kings 14:20).
"And
Rehoboam slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 14:31).
"And
Abijam slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 15:8).
"And
Asa slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 15:24).
"So
Baasha slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 16:6).
"So
Omri slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 16:28).
"So
Ahab slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 22:40).
"And
Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers" (1 Kings 22:50).
"And
Joram slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 8:24).
"And
Jehu slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 10:35).
"And
Jehoahaz slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 13:9).
"And
Joash slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 13:13).
"And
Jehoash slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 14:16).
"He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that
the king slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 14:22).
"And
Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel" (2 Kings 14:29).
"So
Azariah slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 15:7).
"And
Menahem slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 15:22).
"And
Jotham slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 15:38).
"And
Ahaz slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 16:20).
"And
Hezekiah slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 20:21).
"And
Manasseh slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 21:18).
"So
Jehoiakim slept with his fathers" (2 Kings 24:6).
"And
Solomon slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 9:31).
"And
Rehoboam slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 12:16).
"So
Abijah slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 14:1).
"And
Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign" (2 Chr. 16:13).
"Now
Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 21:1).
"He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that
the king slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 26:2).
"So
Uzziah slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 26:23).
"And
Jotham slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 27:9).
"And
Ahaz slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 28:27).
"And
Hezekiah slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 32:33).
"So
Manasseh slept with his fathers" (2 Chr. 33:20).
"For now shall I
sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I
shall not be" (Job 7:21).
"So man
lieth down, and
riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they
shall not awake, nor be raised out of their
sleep" (Job 14:12).
"Man" lieth down. "Man" shall not awake. If something is awake, it cannot be the same "man."
"Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I
sleep the sleep of death" (Ps. 13:3).
"In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and
sleep a perpetual sleep, and
not wake, saith the LORD. I will bring them down like lambs to the
slaughter, like rams with he goats."
"And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall
sleep a perpetual sleep, and
not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts" (Jer. 51:39, 40, 57).
"And many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (Dan. 12:2, 13).
"He said unto them, Give place: for the maid
is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn" (Mat. 9:24).
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose" (Mat. 27:52). [Note on the Greek: "bodies" is in the nominative case, while "saints" and the participle "slept" are in the genitive case. This means that it is the saints who are said to be sleeping, not their bodies. It could well be translated, "many bodies of the sleeping saints." So the entire being sleeps, not just the body.]
"And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel
is not dead, but sleepeth" (Mark 5:39).
"And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she
is not dead, but sleepeth" (Luke 8:52).
"These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may
awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of
his death: but they thought that he had spoken of
taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is
dead" (John 11:11-14).
Dust wasn't sleeping. "Lazarus" was sleeping. "Lazarus" was dead. "Lazarus" was not alive in another realm.
"And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).
"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God,
fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption" (Acts 13:36).
"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband
be dead [Greek:
koimao, "be asleep"], she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:39).
"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many
sleep" (1 Cor. 11:30).
"After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep."
"Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished."
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that
slept."
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51).
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are
asleep" (1 Thess. 4:13-15).
"And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Pet. 3:4).