Body and Soul

At a Tuesday night Bible study, the pastor of our church was discussing the recent passing of Jerry Falwell, who was president of the university our pastor attended for two years. Although our pastor disagreed with Falwell on many points, he graciously commended Falwell for his life’s work.
I had noted earlier that day on Mohler’s blog (http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php) that I thought Mohler’s citation of Falwell’s life was graciously presented, considering that Falwell was a controversial public figure.
During Bible study time, which is interspersed with singing and prayer, our pastor noted that he liked Thomas Ascol’s blog (http://www.founders.org/blog/), wherein Ascol wrote: “I received a phone call 30 minutes ago that Jerry Falwell has died. Don't you believe it! He is more alive right now than he has ever been. He left "the land of the dying" and entered the "land of the living." That is the way that he would see it, and all of us who love the Lord Jesus should agree. For the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
This got me to thinking. I’m always wary of folks making statements about where someone is after death – particularly pastors or teachers speaking as those in positions of authority – but it’s only because I want to be sure that they’re speaking Truth, and I’m uncertain myself what Scripture says about the state of the soul immediately upon death.
So I questioned our pastor during a break about it, having looked up 2 Cor. 5:8 immediately beforehand, since I presumed he’d cite that well-known verse, which I frequently hear stated as “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,” as did Ascol.
But I see it in its context somewhat differently. Verses 6-9 read: “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are 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 must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
I see that more as encouragement to look heavenward and desire to be with the Lord here moreso than in our earthly tents (bodies), as Paul refers to our bodies at the beginning of that chapter.
Our pastor also referred me to 1 Thess. 4:14, wherein it states “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
In my Reformation Study Bible (ESV) with Sproul footnotes, Sproul cites Luke 16:19-31 as support of the concept that there is immediate connection for the soul to be spirited away to its appropriate place. This is the story of the rich man and Lazarus as told by Jesus (to the Pharisees I think) with the rich man in Hades who lifts up his eyes and see Abraham and Lazarus together after death.
Soooooo… I wonder, does this really support souls immediately in their respective places, or was it a type of parable (or insert correct literary term here) told by Jesus to prove a point? The rich man lifted up his eyes to see Lazarus with Abraham. Do souls have eyes?
I know that the thief on the cross was told by Christ that “today you shall be with me in Paradise,” but “today” could mean things other than a 24-hour period.
I know that Sproul does not agree with the concept of “soul sleep,” so perhaps the term “sleep” is simply and only a metaphor for the word “death” in Scripture, but I wonder then, if we immediately go in spirit only to be with Christ, although He in glorified body, until His return for the harvest of souls, whereupon we receive our glorified bodies?
What thinkest thou?