What will happen when you die?
Your body turns back into dust
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. -- Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 (ESV)
Despite that the human body is considered to be "dust", a psalmist testify:
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. -- Psalm 116:15 (NKJV)
Your spirit returns to God
Some religions would go to the extreme to protect and preserve dead bodies (like building pyramids). However, Solomon wrote:
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God Who gave it. -- Ecclesiastes 12:7 (ESV)
This is what happened to Jesus when he died on the cross:
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
And having said this he breathed his last.
-- Luke 23:46 (ESV)
Paul also compares our "outer self" (human body) with temporary earthly tents housing our "inner self" (spirit), with an eternal heavenly building (exalted body) which God would provide.
Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened — not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
He Who has prepared us for this very thing is God, Who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage.
We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:9 (ESV)
This means the purpose of life is to "make it our aim to please Him". This is the answer to the question of which Atheists finds very difficult to answer.
Peter also confirms this reasoning:
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.
-- 2 Peter 1:10-15 (NKJV)
You will be dead
Some that the human soul is immortal and some denominations belief that you would go immediately to "paradise" in a conscious state based on Jesus' words to the criminal who was dying with at the crucifixion:
And he (the criminal) said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
And he (Jesus) said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”-- Luke 23:42-43 (ESV)
The problem is that the original Greek manuscript did not contain commas (,) like the English translation. This translation means that Jesus would see him the same day in Paradise, which contradict Peter (1 Peter 3:18-20) and possibly Paul too (Ephesians 4:9-10). Other translations read:
And he said to him, "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in the Paradise." -- Luke 23:43 (REV)
This means, that Jesus is telling him today about some event that will happen some time in the future.
Contrary to many denominations that belief in a second chance in purgatory:
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” -- Genesis 2:17 (ESV)
God did not say, you will partially die or only your "body will die, but your soul continue to live in heaven" or something of the sort. If your "soul" is "you", then God meant you with your body and soul "shall surely die". The first lie that the devil presented:
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”. -- Genesis 3:4 (ESV)
Sadly, many people still believe that we are immortal and cannot die.
Then Job answered and said...
"For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be."
-- Job 6:1,7:21 (ESV)
Job considered himself a good man (Job 29:1-6; 31:1,5,16-17), but he did not believe that he would go to heaven:
Then Job answered and said...
“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.
Are not my days few?
Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go (and I shall not return) to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”
-- Job 9:1,10:20-22 (ESV)
Death is the absence of live. There will be no interaction with anything when you are dead.
For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? -- Psalm 6:5 (KJV)
and
What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?-- Psalm 30:9 (ESV)
Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite, a believer who call upon the LORD, also believed that he would not be able to interact with God when he is dead:
LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead?
Shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Selah.Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or Thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
-- Psalm 88:9-12 (KJV)
Another unknown Psalmist also wrote:
The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence (death). -- Psalm 115:17 (ESV)
Solomon wrote:
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
-- Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 (ESV)
and
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. -- Ecclesiastes 9:10 (KJV)
Isaiah wrote:
For the grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day. -- Isaiah 38:18-19 (KJV)
Death is like sleeping
People who are dead is unconscious. When God "awake" you, you would have no consciousness of the time or events that passed while you were dead. Therefore, death is often metaphorically referred to as "sleep".
But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up, so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.
Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
-- Job 14:10-15 (ESV)
This implies Job beliefs that at death we would "sleep" and that our spirits would be "concealed" in "Sheol" (not hell nor purgatory) until "a set time" when they would be "renewed" and would be able to "answer" again.
David also believed that being dead is like being asleep or unconscious:
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death -- Psalm 13:3 (ESV)
Daniel wrote:
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake... -- Daniel 12:2 (ESV)
Even Jesus said that death is like "sleeping":
While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples.
...
And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.”
And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went through all that district.
-- Matthew 9:18-19,23-26 (ESV)
Jesus did not say that people would come from heaven or purgatory to God's judgment, but instead:
Marvel not at this:
for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth:
- they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and
- they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
-- John 5:28-29 (KJV)
Paul even refers to dead people as those "who are asleep":
Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. -- 1 Corinthians 15:6 (ESV)
and
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede *those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. -- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
It can be very comforting to believers to realize that in death, just like in deep sleep, there is no awareness of the passage of time. When a believer dies, “falls asleep,” the next thing they will see is Jesus and other believers. Tradition teaches that when a person dies, “they go to be with Jesus.” While it is not true from a time perspective that the believer is with Jesus the moment they die, from the perspective of the person who died, the instant they close their eyes in death is the instant they see Jesus. The dead person is not aware of the time that passes between their death and their resurrection. There is no netherworld, no purgatory, nothing like that, so to the person who died, there is just death then immediate resurrection.
Thus, the experience of people who die is different from the experience of the people who are alive. The experience of the family, friends, and other people who are alive on earth is that the person who died and is buried in the ground is dead, asleep, and is no longer afflicted by the troubles of life, while the living struggle on in day-to-day life. In contrast, the experience of the people who die is that they close their eyes in death and are instantly awake in the resurrection. The dead person has no awareness of time or the struggles of the living. Believers close their eyes in death and instantly see Jesus. They may have been dead thousands of years, but to them, the instant they die is the instant they see Jesus.
Imagine the joy of the resurrection! For example, an elderly, sick person who has been troubled throughout life closes their eyes in the sleep of death and then to them they are instantly awake with Jesus in a wonderful new body like Jesus’ body (Philippians 3:21). The person’s old body was corrupt but they are raised in “incorruption,” they died in “dishonor” but they are raised in “glory,” they died in “weakness” but will be raised in “power” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Promises like these are why believers need not fear death.