Merry Christmas

Is Christmas Celebrated in the Afterlife? by Michael E. Tymn
According to Silver Birch, the spirit entity who communicated for nearly 50 years through the trance mediumship of Maurice Barbanell, a British journalist, certain groups in the afterlife spheres celebrate the holidays – both Christmas and Easter. However, he pointed out that these celebrations were going on well before the Christian era gave added meaning to them.

At what is now Christmas time, the birth of the sun was celebrated – the end of the long cycle when there arose the first sign that new life was being born into the earthly world. Then, when the sun attained its fully glory it was regarded as a period of resurrection. “Those times had significance to us because it was then that we received the greatest communion from the Great Spirit,” he explained. “You do not yet understand very much the influence of the sun. At these times, we held for many days what you call séances. We received at those festivals much inspiration.”

The festival of the birth of the sun was the most important, Silver Birch added, because it represented the beginning of a new era. It was the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. Because the festivals were held in the world of matter, they were celebrated in the world of spirit. “A spiritual meaning has now come out of them,” Silver Birch continued. “Instead of celebrating the dawn of the new life, we now use it to withdraw from the world of matter to get new power of the spirit so that we can bring new light to the world.”
At what might be called retreats here on earth, these advanced spirits take counsel from even higher spirits, share experiences, learn how far they have succeeded or failed, and formulate plans for future missions. Among those higher spirits who give counsel, he said, “is the great figure of the Nazarene, who is still imbued with the task of teaching humanity age-old truth enshrined in all that we seek to do, that love is the fulfilling of the law.”

However, Silver Birch stressed that he is not the Nazarene of the Churches, exalted into a deified place, but rather a great spirit who strives still to serve through many instruments. “I wish that you could see and hear the Nazarene and feel that great love as he encourages us in our missions, as he expresses his knowledge of all that has been done and urges us to go forward with new strength, with new hope, with new vision, and with new purpose.”

One of the sitters asked Silver Birch if in referring to the Nazarene, he was speaking of the man Jesus or the spirit forces working through him. “The man,” Silver Birch replied through the entranced medium. “But he has since evolved and there is now a far greater spiritual consciousness expressed through him than there was in the earthly incarnation, for the amount that he expressed then had to be in consonance with the limitations of his day. There has never been on earth anyone through whom the manifestation of the spirit has been greater than through the Nazarene. There has never been any through whom the laws have revealed themselves at so great an intensity as through the Nazarene.”

At another sitting, a person asked Silver Birch if Jesus was “God the Son,” as the Church teaches, or if he was an ordinary man with great mediumistic powers. Silver Birch answered: “The Nazarene was a messenger of the Great Spirit who came into your world in order to fulfill a mission of the Great Spirit. He fulfilled his mission on earth, but he has not yet fulfilled the rest of his mission, which is till being directed from the world of spirit. It is wrong to worship the Nazarene, for worship should be given only to the Great Spirit and not to His messengers. The Nazarene came into your world by fulfilling the natural laws which the Great Spirit had ordained, the same natural laws which all must fulfill in order to be born into your world. You cannot live, you cannot be born into your world, you cannot pass from your world into mine, except through the natural laws of the Great Spirit.”

Asked about the Christian doctrine of atonement, Silver Birch said: “How pitiable a conception is this of the Great Spirit and of the mission of the Nazarene! He was full of the love and mercy and gentleness of a loving Father. You are all placed in the world of matter to build your own character and accomplish your own soul evolution…All else is a doctrine of cowardice and injustice. If you have done wrong, be a man and pay the price! Do not attempt to shelve your responsibilities on to the back of another.”

Michael is a long-time journalist whose articles have appeared in more than 40 publications.

Thanks Z, this does make me wonder about something that's slightly connected:

As we are spirit having a human experience, the amount or intensity of spirit that is able to manifest through us must be a infinitesimally small fraction of what spirit truly is.

So I wonder, once our bodies die and we move to the next stage of existence, how much greater is that portion of spirit that is able to manifest through our new "bodies"?

The above quote suggests that our next level of existence is still about seeking the fullest connection with spirit that is possible at the time, and that with greater understanding comes a greater desire to embrace spirit and serve.

That is a nice thought to take through the Christmas period!

Wes wrote:Thanks Z, this does make me wonder about something that's slightly connected:

As we are spirit having a human experience, the amount or intensity of spirit that is able to manifest through us must be a infinitesimally small fraction of what spirit truly is.

So I wonder, once our bodies die and we move to the next stage of existence, how much greater is that portion of spirit that is able to manifest through our new "bodies"?

The above quote suggests that our next level of existence is still about seeking the fullest connection with spirit that is possible at the time, and that with greater understanding comes a greater desire to embrace spirit and serve.

That is a nice thought to take through the Christmas period!

True Wes.
I would suggest that we continue to develop spiritually gradually unfolding the potential within through, as Silver Birch often says, service to others.

One of his favourite sayings is: "Service is the coin of the spirit".

Merry Christmas.

Z

These Silver Birch remarks are mainstream sentiments commonly held by religious Spiritualists. They were given a classic expression in the “Spirit Teachings” received by Stainton Moses.

But there is a certain irony in applying them to Christmas, because it means some amendment is needed for religious Spiritualists to the story.

The angel who appeared to Mary for example, to tell her she was pregnant, added.

“That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

This would be doubtful, if the situation were rather as stated five times on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem “ God has no companion”.

There is also a language problem with the angels who appeared to the shepherds at Bethlehem. When they said “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord “ they were using terms like Saviour and Lord which implied a exceptional status.

There is more unfortunate terminology in the reaction of the prophet Simeon to the baby Jesus “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation”.

Things are no better in the gospel of Matthew, where an angel appears to Joseph and tells him “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” That implies Atonement.

The wise men from the east were also astray because they came to worship him, as was King Herod, on whom they called en route. The King responded. “When ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

Worship of Jesus seems to have started very early among the Christians. It was Paul, for example, who valued so much the gifts of the spirit, who prayed “ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth “.

The religious Spiritualist position then is that angels may well have appeared, and prophets may well have prophesied, but they have been mis-reported when they are credited with such language.

But there are others who accept the phenomena, but who take a different religious position. They would include William Crookes, (an Anglican churchwarden), Oliver Lodge and Rev. Maurice Elliott. They might be called “Not Real Spiritualists.”

There is certainly a great gulf between the two positions- those for whom the statements of the spirits are authoritative, and those for whom the traditional position of the Bible is acceptable. It is unlikely that the difference will be resolved, and one can only suggest a prayerful study of the two views.

Hi pricel.
There is no such thing as a 'religious Spiritualist', but simply those whose searching and experiences have led them to realise that what Spiritualism claims is simply the fulfilling of Natural Law - in that all Life is deathless and all must reap as was sown regardless of whatever or how many beliefs they had been persuaded to adhere to. If some consider this to be 'religious' so be it. I know many who accept the label of 'Spiritualist' and whose everyday life is their religion.

It follows that not everyone will see Life in exactly the same way and I'm reasonably sure you would agree, but while 'holy book' based religions uses doctrine and dogma to remove this apparent obstacle to uniformity, Spiritualism suggests that personal responsibility will help to broaden their current outlook as they grow, ie. there are no quick-fixes.
Spiritualism generally rejects ritual, robes, ceremonies, staged events, and publicity, in favour of simple Truth and the knowledge gained, as a guide in Life.

I'm happy to leave the view of beliel in angels appearing and conversing, some unnamed star leaving its Godly ordained orbit in the vast universe, while slowing its phenomenal speed down to a camel crawl in order to hover over a shed - all of which without a shred of evidence in support and contrary to known science, to others
I'd suggest that it is the Life led and not belief(s) held that determine our position in the Afterlife - as the mission of Silver Birch sought to teach.

Very well put, Hiorta.

How do Christian spiritualists reconcile the divine Jesus of the bible with the human Jesus of Spiritualism?