Our present teaching is summarized in the church s Statement of Belief. Christians hold various viewpoints on the nature of the intermediate state based on their interpretation of relevant biblical passages.
Some passages suggest a conscious intermediate state, and others an unconscious state.
The Worldwide Church of God holds no dogmatic position on whether humans are conscious between death and the resurrection of the body. The church s Statement of Beliefs does not make this issue a test of authentic Christianity. Throughout Christian history, the majority view has been that after death, people are consciously present with God or consciously experiencing punishment. In examining Scripture, we see that the New Testament offers no sustained reflection on the intermediate state. There are a few verses that seem to indicate that humans are unconscious after death as well as a few verses that seem to indicate that humans are conscious after death.