Our Exploring Christianity Post 75 began an exploration of possible answers to the question of, “What happens to our souls after death?” In that post, we had grouped all the dozens (if not hundreds) of differentiated answers to this question into three “schools” of thought: Oblivionists (those who deny any deity or the existence of a soul); Scripturalists (those who believe in life after death, but only for a portion of humanity); and Universalists (those who believe that life after death is for everyone, regardless of their faith or lack thereof in life). We also made a brief exploration into the Oblivionist theology. (Remember that these descriptors and their definitions are my own. Feel free to agree or disagree with the ‘titles” I’ve chosen and/or their descriptions that I’ve concocted.)
This week, we will begin an exploration of the Scripturalist line of thinking. To repeat, Scripturalists believe in God (or other deities), in the existence of the human soul, and in the expectation that at least some of human souls will live on for eternity in “Heaven” or other states of being after their physical death.
To begin our exploration, we first need a brief history lesson.
Religion is Old.
The belief in life after death appears to be nearly as old as humans themselves. Evidence from ancient graves, campsites, and caves indicates that man’s belief in life after death pre-dates writing by several thousands of years.
It is impossible to tell when organized religion was first practiced, but religions recognizable today emerged at least 3,000 years before Christ.
The point of this is that humans seem to be religious by nature, or the development of their cultures inspires and cultivates religion in some way. In fact, scientists tell us that some form of religion has been nearly universal among human societies since our beginning. It is apparently endemic to human culture and society.
Monotheism.
Although religion had been with us for millennia, it did not mature into monotheistic belief until relatively recently in human history. Early religions were predominantly polytheistic (belief in many deities). Monotheism (belief in one deity) may have originated with the early Jews around 1,000 BC, but also appears in other religions in India and Asia about the same time.
1,000 BC is admittedly a long time ago, but it is not very long when compared to the complete timeline of human history. Consequently, monotheism is still a fairly ‘new’ concept to the human conscience.
Monotheism was necessary for man to comprehend God and His desire for our relationship to Him appropriately. And, that comprehension was necessary before we would understand the need for God’s sending Jesus to assure our salvation.
Some have asked, “Why did God wait so long to make Himself known, and then to send Jesus?” The answer to that question is, “God accomplishes all within His own timeframe.” We cannot know (at least in this life) why God works the way He does. We can only accept that He does work and that it is for our benefit.
God’s Plan.
Understanding the history of religion and the emergence of the belief in the one God is crucial to our exploration of Scripturalism. For it is only with an understanding of that history that we can begin to appreciate how God has worked in the human consciousness to make Himself known and understood. He has carefully prepared our minds first to perceive Him, and then to enjoy a relationship with Him. And that ultimate relationship is made possible through the birth, the life, and the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ.
Now, we can explore different aspects of Scripturalism.
Scripturalist Thought.
I’ve named this group of beliefs about the after-life “Scripturalism” because its adherents invariably base their beliefs regarding life after death on the Biblical Scriptures. Regardless of the flavor or the Scripturalist belief, Christ’s promise that “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…” [John 5:24] undergirds their faith. All Scripturalists also believe that not every human soul will be saved. Some will refuse the gift. Again, to quote Christ, “…whoever does not believe will be condemned.” [Mark 16:6].
Three Groupings of Scripturalist thinking.
What separates Scripturalists from one another are their beliefs as to what happens to the soul upon physical death. For our purposes, I’ve identified three general schools of Scripturalist thought. Those are: (1) Those who believe that the soul will go through some sort of “purification” process preceding its elevation into Heaven; (2) Those who believe that the soul spends some indeterminate time in a state of “unawareness,” waiting on the Last Judgement to be “revived” at which time they will either enter Heaven or Hell; and (3) Those who believe that the saved soul goes straight to Heaven, and the lost souls go to Hell (however their belief defines it).
Of course, each of these descriptions is extremely broad, and there are many sub-sets of each. Also, there are other sets of beliefs that may not easily fit into the three categories I’ve concocted. We can explore some of those variants some other time, but for now, let’s train our thoughts on these three.
The Purification Thesis.
(1) The Roman Catholic Church, which effectively defined Christian belief until Martin Luther’s Reformation in 1517, has held that human souls only rarely rise into Heaven upon the body’s physical death. For the vast majority of Christians, their souls would have to be “purified” before they were fit to ascend to Heaven. The length and methods of purification were (and still are) in constant debate, but there was general agreement that most souls would need to spend some period of time in Purgatory where their life sins would be expiated.
Those who had not converted to the Christian faith before physical death would immediately descend into Hell.
Scripturalists point to verses in 1 Peter, 2 Corinthians, Hebrews, and Revelation for support for their idea about the existence of Purgatory (or other similar but differently-named states of being).
The Catholic Church continues in its beliefs regarding Purgatory today. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not use the term “purgatory” but also refers to an indeterminate state for the soul prior to its entry into Heaven. Other Protestant denominations also accept some variant of this belief.
We will explore the other two Scripturalist trains of thought in future posts. Until then,
God’s Blessings On You All.
Richard
December 6, 2019
