Defining Faith - Christian Spiritualism

This is from Rev. Jim Hetzer of the Christian Spiritualist Temple in Columbus

It explains their version of how and why a Spiritualist Center can be Christian Spiritualist. I know this one can be a touchy subject in Spiritualism but have a read

http://www.examiner.com/spiritualism-in-columbus/defining-faith-christian-spiritualism

So their view of christian spiritualism is that it is a pyramid with a separate god at the top as ultimate authority?

I prefer my own sort of spiritualism that has spirit so tightly entwined within every aspect of life that there is no need for a figurehead, as we have a collective responsibility that empowers us all according to our level of awareness.

Well at least they hace avoided Jesus being our saviour but my view is close to yours Wes.

mark you I also believe that all of our common human experiences are also a learning experience for the Great Spirit. I have had a wonderful debate about teh concept of whether the creator is compassionate or an intelligent but unemotonal observer.

In part this is one of the issues mentioned in his piec. The NSAC first Principle is We believe in Infinite Intelligence, now in interpretations they say that some call God. This raises the question of whether that Intelligence is learning from the events in the universe or is compassionate to its creations.

The two may, of course, not be mutually exclusive equally does it mean that at the times our world forgets to act in a compassionate manner that this is reflected in the mind of God?

Admin wrote:Well at least they hace avoided Jesus being our saviour but my view is close to yours Wes.

mark you I also believe that all of our common human experiences are also a learning experience for the Great Spirit. I have had a wonderful debate about teh concept of whether the creator is compassionate or an intelligent but unemotonal observer.

In part this is one of the issues mentioned in his piec. The NSAC first Principle is We believe in Infinite Intelligence, now in interpretations they say that some call God. This raises the question of whether that Intelligence is learning from the events in the universe or is compassionate to its creations.

The two may, of course, not be mutually exclusive equally does it mean that at the times our world forgets to act in a compassionate manner that this is reflected in the mind of God?

For me Christian Spiritualism is the most curious of beasts but it works for some.

".....does it mean that at the times our world forgets to act in a compassionate manner that this is reflected in the mind of God?" Does the world ever do any one thing at one single instant? No because 'the world' is not a single entity but a disparate collection of individuals all at greatly varying levels of spiritual evolvement. The world - as mentioned above - is neither compassionate nor uncompassionate, simply reflecting all shades to be found between one extreme and another (as we think of these words) as found throughout the range of human behaviours.... As god is not a single entity, god can not be equated with having a single mind and hence speaking of this creative energy in terms of our own values is hugely parochial and without real meaning.

Beyond all that, though, is still the need to clearly define what god means to us individually. For me 'god' is not the supreme creative energy but only a manifestation of it within the confines of our universe and our world.

If we were to define god hierarchically using humankind's vocabulary, it would be 'below' the head honcho.