Originally Posted by Left Behind

I don't know.

It would seem to me that death of the physical body occurs, or "is", when the soul leaves it.

Then again, in many cases as shown through near-death research, the soul returns to the body (for whatever reason) and reanimates it: the "dead" person "comes back to life". Near-death experiencers commonly report being ouside their physical body and observing it.

Earthbound spirits seem to hover around the body or the dwelling or something else associated with the person during earthly life, rather than remain inside the dead body.