I'm not telling you that a person IS lying in the grave; I'm merely describing the theological framework out of which the phrase comes.
Of course I'm oversimplifying for the sake of fitting it into a paragraph, and the actual theology DOES at least sort of address all -- well, most -- of the logical contradictions you mention. And, of course, these ideas only happen in times and places in which you typically have permanent memorial areas for the dead in which the actual remains are interred. So you get this sort of thing in the Roman empire, where you have necropoli outside of cities. You have these things in ancient Israel, where you have ossuaries -- you bury the person for a year or so, then, when the flesh has decayed, you take the bones out, put them in a jar, and store the jars in a cave somewhere. And you have it in Medieval Europe, where you have graveyards, mausoleums, and the like.
To what degree is this a euphemism? Well, that depends on the degree to which the particular society believes in the idea of bodily resurrection. If you believe that people's bones will actually re-connect, and be re-fleshed, and people will stand up and live again, then this isn't a euphemism -- and in a number of times and places (including right now, among some communities), people have literally believed, and do literally believe, exactly this. Heck, Jewish tradition lists the actual queuing order in which people will be resurrected -- if you want to be first in line, you get buried on the eastern slope of Mt Carmel in Israel, and there are people who, to this day, will go to great lengths to try to get their bodies buried as close to there as possible.
Of course, there are other communities who use the "death=sleep" thing more figuratively. Probably, there are SOME people who talk about "taking the big dirt-nap" who believe in bodily resurrection, but I doubt MOST people are making that claim.
no subject
Of course I'm oversimplifying for the sake of fitting it into a paragraph, and the actual theology DOES at least sort of address all -- well, most -- of the logical contradictions you mention. And, of course, these ideas only happen in times and places in which you typically have permanent memorial areas for the dead in which the actual remains are interred. So you get this sort of thing in the Roman empire, where you have necropoli outside of cities. You have these things in ancient Israel, where you have ossuaries -- you bury the person for a year or so, then, when the flesh has decayed, you take the bones out, put them in a jar, and store the jars in a cave somewhere. And you have it in Medieval Europe, where you have graveyards, mausoleums, and the like.
To what degree is this a euphemism? Well, that depends on the degree to which the particular society believes in the idea of bodily resurrection. If you believe that people's bones will actually re-connect, and be re-fleshed, and people will stand up and live again, then this isn't a euphemism -- and in a number of times and places (including right now, among some communities), people have literally believed, and do literally believe, exactly this. Heck, Jewish tradition lists the actual queuing order in which people will be resurrected -- if you want to be first in line, you get buried on the eastern slope of Mt Carmel in Israel, and there are people who, to this day, will go to great lengths to try to get their bodies buried as close to there as possible.
Of course, there are other communities who use the "death=sleep" thing more figuratively. Probably, there are SOME people who talk about "taking the big dirt-nap" who believe in bodily resurrection, but I doubt MOST people are making that claim.