I had an interesting conversation with another believer about what happens to unbelievers between their earthly passing and being cast into hell. When one hears the common usage of the word, "hell" by strangers, one can only imagine what they are thinking, based on the context they are placing it in. When I use it, I am pretty much thinking of the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), the ultimate place of torment for the unbelieving. This is the last place that they will be sent to by God, but not until after He makes His final act of judgment, which will take place at the "Great White Throne" of God. (Rev. 20:11-15) All those who have rejected Him at that point will suffer, body and soul.

Anything can be debated, but I believe that the parable (a true story, I believe) of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) is a good description of the present status of unbelievers who have died. Some would argue that the parable given by the Lord was not meant to be taken as a literal depiction of what happens after we die. I guess the important thing is that Lazarus is in the place of the righteous and the rich man is in the place of torment, and at that point, there is no possible way to bridge that horrible gap.

My own belief is, that before Jesus died and rose, believers went to, "Abraham's bosom." This was the paradise that believers went to, spoken of by Jesus to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43. After He ascended to heaven, I believe that believers joined the Lord there. I think my position is validated by Paul's words in 2 Cor. 5:8, which imply that when believers die they go straight to heaven.

My thinking is that unbelievers went to a sort of stopover place, where they awaited their final judgment. I believe that is still the case. That has to be the case because they are out of their bodies for one thing, and for another the Bible states that the beast and the false prophet of Revelation 19:20 will be the first to enter that domain. In the Gospel of Matthew, there are three references to unbelievers being cast into "outer darkness," where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." That place, as was the rich man's place, was horrible and undesirable, and most of the time when people are talking about heaven or hell, the absolute final judgment is in mind, but those passages don't necessarily make that indication.

It can get confusing, but when people die now, the soul is separated from the flesh. The Bible seems to show us that believers go to a place of great joy in the presence of the Lord, and unbelievers go to a place of conscious torment. After the final judgment of God, all unbelievers will be reunited with their bodies and then sent to the lake of fire.

That's pretty much it. The fact is, there is nothing uplifting, happy or remotely pleasant about where unbelievers go. The only true joy, the only true and lasting happiness and peace that can be found is that of knowing the Lord, Jesus Christ.