Reply to Facebook Poster "Where Does Jesus Christ Fit In"

On the Unley Spiritualist Association’s page, a committed Christian wrote, in response to a post about an event we held where a lot of phenomena appeared, caused by both telekinetic and Spirit action. (the interaction of a human pendulum answering questions, seeing Spirit in mirrors, table tipping, small movements of the Speaking Trumpet and transfiguration over the faces of several people)

The comment was made.

“Umm where does Jesus Christ Son of the living God fit in here? Anywhere?
The only Spirit is the Spirit of Truth ......”

I replied to this but thought, as many people see me posting on Spiritualism, I should re post my explanation of what I mean as a separate item on Facebook.

This represents my personal view, which is common with the grouping known as "rational" Spiritualists, as can be seen within the Spiritualist National Union of Great Britain (SNU) and the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) in the USA. It is also that which the Unley Spiritualist Association has always followed. In the SNU there are seven defining principles, identifying what philosophy of life Spiritualism reflects, whilst in the NSAC there are nine.

There are Christian Spiritualist Centres which vary from acknowledging the importance of Jesus as a key figure but where the belief may extend all the way to Jesus having a role as saviour, even to allowing in the ideas of vicarious atonement, original sin, some even allowing heaven and hell. These may follow the principles used by the NSAC or the SNU but could equally use a separate set such as those adopted by the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association.

Within either of the above groupings there is an expectation that members will adopt those principles and become Spiritualists. However, in some centres, like ours, it is only expected that they uphold them in relation to our centre, but the right to be part of another religion, say Catholic would be respected.

At the core, our philosophy is based upon the truth that life continues beyond death and communication with Spirit takes place. Indeed, the organisations grouped above will have a special focus on mediumship to prove survival beyond death. Were all religions to accept this fact, reflecting it in their theology and then understanding that all people go to the same Spirit World, from where they can communicate with us, then our movement may well be redundant. However, they do not accept our reality, so Spiritualism remains the one place where you can freely explore this contact with your loved ones who are in Spirit. Indeed, the likelihood of conventional religion ever accepting that idea seems remote because it would mean that the differences of either theology, prophet, God or creed between each religion or religious sect would be meaningless.

There are other groups that mix the concept of Spiritualism, but not necessarily the philosophical principles, with a wide array of beliefs or concepts. In many cases these involve more metaphysical ideas, encompassing everything from Christianity through to Buddhism, New Age and Paganism. Individuals within these will hold their own ideas strongly and the common denominator tends to be more about mediumship or channelling Spirit (or Aliens) than in the fundamental Spiritualist Principles. A broader approach to mediumship may appear more generally in this arena, with personal messages, without the need to really prove either that Spirit is communicating (personal communications can easily be made through a psychic connection to the individual with no involvement with Spirit,) or that the loved ones are nearby.

Years ago, a significant pioneer in our movement Andrew Jackson Davis, speaking at the 30th anniversary of the communications at Hydesville, the first contact with Spirit by the Fox Sisters 31st March 1848 which created Modern Spiritualism, defined the three elements: Rational, Christian, and Magical.

The variation, which is especially noticeable in Australia, where there has never been any National Organisation for Spiritualism, means that when you visit a Centre you need to ensure you are aware of what you are seeking. This should enable the right choice of centre.

So, onto my reply to the question raised on our page.

There are many more beliefs than Christianity and each may well contain much value.
We are a Spiritualist Centre that believes in God, in the love of our creator, the Great Spirit. However, we do not accept Jesus as our saviour, we realise that this is our personal responsibility dependent upon the acts, or inactions, we do in our life, by deed or thought, which impact upon others in either a positive or negative way.

We see the role of Jesus as one of the many wise men from the past, from whom we all could learn. Remember Jesus said he was not the son of God as a unique being, but only in the same way each one of us is. He also taught us that we should treat everyone as equals, including those who believed differently.

Spiritualism accepts the Brotherhood of Man, to specify; all humanity, all religions, all tribes, all races all sexes.

Spiritualism is not about a heaven or hell. It rejects concepts like the Trinity, original sin, and vicarious atonement.

We know from the facts, gathered over time by communication from Spirit and verified scientifically, that in the right conditions the Spirit of our loved ones can communicate with us proving they survive what we wrongly call death. They retain their memories, character and personality and can communicate with us.

We understand from these communications that we have freewill to choose what we do but it is our own personal responsibility to save ourselves with the aid of those in Spirit. From this we know that after death we deal with the events in the physical life we lived, with the support of loved ones and Spirit. In this time, we reflect on all the good and bad we have done, sensing and feeling the impact upon others. There may be no hell, but this period may feel like it if the life you lived was a terrible one.

This life review removes the need to return to another life to deal with the issues left from this one, meaning that there is no need to return to a life to deal with Karma. Indeed, Spiritualism is neutral of reincarnation because it is not a proven fact. It would also be against the principles of free will to forcibly return a person to life either as a reward or as most often suggested a punishment. Reincarnation is one area where some Spiritualists are strongly in favour, others are against it; my opinion is that it will never be forced upon any spirit. One of the movements leading figures Rev Stainton Moses, in his book “Spirit Teachings” recorded, on page 26, his guide, Imperator, saying in response to the Question “ Return to earth is not the only method of progression?”the reply was “ No: nor even the usual one. We have with us many schools of instruction : and we do not employ a second time one that has proved a failure.’

Kardecian Spiritism, often seen as a sister religion to ours, does follow forced reincarnation with heavy punishment for someone who has lived badly, Interestingly, in another religion Faithism, which follows the teachings of the OAHSPE Bible which William Newbrough, formerly a leading Spiritualist, claimed to have received from Spirit denies reincarnation, all Spirit is a new portion of the Great Spirit and if reincarnation occurs it is an evil act.

However, we know that eternal progress is open to any who wish to tread its path in a Spirit world. We are aware that this is populated by a kaleidoscope of people in Spirit who have lived a physical life in all corners of the world and represent every section of human life on our planet.

What started as a summary ends up much longer but still just paraphrases what is a complex topic. It is my own experiences as a seeker, receiving messages or observing phenomena, as a medium, psychic, researcher, teacher, historian, and philosopher that ensures my adherence to the rational Spiritualist Philosophy I have chosen to follow. By force of circumstances, it is a Religion but one which is inclusive of all, it can hardly be otherwise, we know that no man is excluded from Spirit for any reason.

Jim this was written in 2015