OK, make sense of your statement here:
"Paul's saying Christians groan for relief from their burdens, but NOT FOR relief by "resting in peace" in the grave, dead, without a body, unclothed, awaiting the resurrection, but to skip that and just go on to be clothed in our resurrection body in the presence of Jesus:
"...but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life"."
Your statement here appears to be saying that Paul is wanting to go find "relief from his burdens" by skipping death and nakedness by going straight to the presence of Jesus at the resurrection? And you find it absurd that Paul would die, and find himself immediately in the presence of Jesus, just because he does not yet have a resurrection body?
If I'm not getting it right, please put your statement in better form? My belief is that Paul would find Jesus' presence comforting immediately, even though he was not yet clothed, simply because he was in the presence of Jesus. The resurrection could wait.
Right, I don't think Paul is saying that. 1st, I never said Paul's view was that Christians were afraid to die. Nobody wants to die, but that has nothing to do with being afraid to die.
2nd, I don't see where Paul connected being "unclothed" with being away from the presence of the Lord? In fact, Paul said that dying was to come into the presence of the Lord for him!
So the fact he was "unclothed," or did not yet have his immortal covering, did not mean he would be away from the presence of the Lord. And this is what Paul was "groaning" for, to be in the presence of the Lord, despite still being naked with respect to the resurrection body.
What relieved Paul from his burdens was going into the presence of the Lord, and not having to suffer the blight of mortal existence any longer. Being naked, or without a glorified new body, was not Paul's concern, since that would come in its own time.
Paul presented an option of relieving his burden by going "unclothed." He was willing to endure this in death because he would be in the presence of the Lord!
Obviously, anybody would rather go into the presence of the Lord and immediately be clothed with glory. But being that glorification had to wait, Paul still preferred to go into the presence of the Lord, having the burdens of this mortal existence removed.
Words mean what the user wishes them to mean in the context he uses them. For me, "immortal" and "eternal" are very different. Souls exist forever in Outer Darkness, but they do not experience what the Bible calls "immortality" for the saint.
I've been assuming such all along.
Paul didn't once mention being "unconscious." So that was definitely not an option he was entertaining, as you seem to be claiming.
The angels are conscious and they are not appearing at the foot of our bed, are they? So why should conscious saints, like good old Prophet Samuel, appear at the foot of your bed?