Abraham has a bosom?

In reading the works of John Wesley over the past few weeks, I have been stopped dead in my tracks by an orthodox Christian doctrine that, I have to admit, has rarely ever slid across my radar. Let me ask you a few questions before I explain:

Do you remember what Jesus said to the penitent thief on the cross? "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise"? Have you ever wondered, as I have, well how does that work? Does Paradise=Heaven? or is something else going on here?

Or what about that passage in Luke 16, where Jesus tells the parable about the "rich man" who went to "Hades" (this is the Greek word used, not "hell"), and Lazarus who went to "Abraham's Bosom." What do we do with that? Does "Paradise"="Abraham's Bosom"="Heaven"? Does Hades=Hell? (And what about the Old Testament word, "Sheol" that I see in my footnotes all the time?)

Or what about that extremely awkward clause in our creed which says that Jesus "descended into Hades" (again, "Hades," not "hell" is the word used)? How did that make it into a creed for crying out loud?!

It seems to me that most of us, myself included, have simply glided past these problematic texts, never questioning the simple assumption that, upon death, people either go to heaven or hell. But is that even a biblically grounded assumption, or did we import that into the text?

But then what do we do with the fact that the biblical witness expects a general resurrection of all mankind at the end of time, when Christ returns and judges the world? Isn't it then that people go to heaven or hell--only once they have been judged?

And what do we do with the fact that "heaven" is not really what the New Testament says Christ invites us into, but rather "the kingdom of heaven," and, at the end of time he welcomes us to participate in "a new heavens and new earth"?

Once again, I submit that, for most of us, we have just ignored the problems in our theological understanding of the afterlife. We might suppose that this is the realm of "speculative theology," and have considered ourselves unfit for the task of sorting this all out. However, I would submit that this is not a very difficult problem to solve, it's just one that we're very unfamiliar with because of our neglect of it.
(I mean, come on, if you're going to explain how the world will end with a rapture of the Church, a 3.5year period of peace, followed by the "abomination of desolation" in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, which is followed by the great Battle of Armaggeddon, which includes armies from Russia, China, and Iran teaming up against the Jews in Israel, and then 3.5 years of anarchy and cosmic chaos ensue, which will precede Christ's final coming.... then the doctrine I'm about to propose we reappropriate is kindergarten-level stuff comparatively.)

It has occurred to me, as I've read Wesley's sermons, that we in the modern evangelical church have simply ignored a key doctrine concerning the afterlife: that doctrine is, for lack of a better term (there may be a better one I am unfamiliar with) the doctrine of the intermediate state--or, in plain English, the teaching about where people go when they die before the final resurrection and judgment.

So, if you were to die in the next five minutes, would you go to heaven or hell? Well, unless you intend to usurp the final judgment of Christ, I guess you would have to say that you wait in a place the Jews called "Sheol" and the Greeks called "Hades" (the Bible uses both terms), which is divided into two realms: "Paradise" or "Araham's Bosom" for the righteous, and the other, apparently unnamed side, where the wicked await final judgment. Either way, all of us wait for the final judgment, when Christ will decide who participates in the "new heavens and new earth," and who will be banished from it to the place he calls "Gehenna" or "hell."

Right Christian teaching says that we await the resurrection in the abode of the dead, which is given names like "Hades," "Sheol," "Abraham's Bosom," and "Paradise"--not that we go to heaven or hell when we die.

I am going to assume at this point that I have overloaded most of our brains, and stop here, even though much more could be said on the matter, and I have probably created more questions than answers.

However, I'm very interested in your comments on this: have you ever heard the doctrine of the intermediate state preached? Has it come up in Bible studies you've participated in? What did you think about the word "Hades" before you read this? Have you ever even considered that the idea of us going to either heaven or hell when we die sort of messes up our chronology of the general resurrection and judgment (not to mention that it's sort of not in the Bible)? Any thoughts, comments, questions, concerns would be much welcomed. This is my attempt to open up a dialogue on an orthodox teaching of the Church that, somehow, I think most of us have just simply missed. So, let's hear from you!