Pity the Poor Sola Scripturian

By Ronnie Bray

“If it’s not in the Bible, then I do not believe it,” says the Sola Scripturian,
and means, “If it’s in the Bible then I believe it like thunder!” Nevertheless,
we are forced in the interests of Bible Truth to inquire, “Oh, does he

Whilst it is relatively easy to acknowledge that he actually believes what he

says, at the same time it is impossible to accept that he fully realises what he
is saying, or that he appreciates the anomaly inherent in his statement that
the Bible, and only the Bible [Scriptura], is the sole [Sola] source of his faith
and doctrine.

Look at it this way: if he means what he says, then we must as whether it

could ever really be that such a Sola Scripturian automatically accepts
everything the Bible says about the fate of unrepentant sinners after
judgement?

For example, how on earth does he reconcile the following four discrete and
irreconcilable destinations for the post mortem wicked he reads in his own
Bible. Is he permitted by his Sola Scripturian Credo to determine to choose
just one and abandon the word of God about the other three, how does he
make the judgement as to which one of the four competing and divergent
doctrines is correct?

Alternately, is he honour-bound to hold that, since there is unequivocal

biblical support for all four, that all four are biblically correct, and that he
must, therefore, accept all four as infallible and inerrant Bible doctrine, even
when they are distinctly contradictory?

To the Law and Testimony:

Destination 1. Endless Punishment

Basically, the traditional view held by a majority of Christians for centuries,

with the saved going to heaven to be in bliss with God, and the unsaved
going to hell for eternal torment. The belief is that each soul survives for
eternity, but not in the same place. Different Christian denominations have
different interpretations how one becomes one of the saved.

Scriptural Support

1. Matthew 5:30 – "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and
throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for
your whole body to go into hell. "

Does this passage mean that a hand or an eye can be guilty of a condemning
sin that is not shared by the rest of the body?

2. Matthew 25:41 – "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me,
you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels."

3. Luke 12:5 – "But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who,
after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell
you, fear him."

Destination 2. Annihilationism

Also known as destructionism or conditionalism, this view states that while

the saved go to heaven, the unsaved souls will be destroyed and will cease to
exist rather than living forever in hell. Only saved souls are eternal in this
view. This proves that the details of eschatology are not agreed throughout
Christianity.

Scriptural Support

1. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 -- "They will be punished with everlasting

destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the
majesty of his power"

2. Philippians 3:19 -- "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their

stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."
3. Revelation 17:11 -- "The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth
king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction."

Destination 3. Universalism

This view holds to the belief that eventually all souls will be in heaven with
God. Perhaps all rise together at the time of judgement, or perhaps some
souls will have a temporary phase of punishment that is remedial in nature.
Opinions vary, but Universalists agree that the final picture is the same -- all
of creation together in the presence of God.

Scriptural Support

1. 1 Corinthians 15:22 – "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be

made alive."

2. 2 Corinthians 5:19 – “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,

not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the
message of reconciliation."

3. Colossians 19-20 - "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on
earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the
cross."

Destination 4. Hades is one place with multiple experiences

This is the belief that there is no such place as a separate "hell," but only one
place where all go after death into the presence of God. Those who loved
and served God in life, they will experience God's love as light and joy in
the afterlife. Others will experience God's love as a darkness or
overwhelming fear, too overwhelming for their comfort, because they ran
from God during their lives.

Scriptural Support
1. Daniel chapter 3 – Nebuchadnezzar's strongest soldiers are burned to
death merely by being close to a super-hot furnace, yet God's servants
(Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) go into the furnace without harm.
2. Luke 16:23 –In Jesus' story the rich man and Lazarus are within eyesight
of each other in the afterlife.
3. Revelation 20:13 – "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death
and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was
judged according to what he had done."

There speaks the Sola Scripturian’s Bible, but with four different doctrines
of the place to which the wicked will be sent after death. How does the Sola
Scripturian solve this tortuous enigma as to the final destination of the
wicked?