TABLE 1: SPIRITUALISM

  • God
  • Christ
  • Holy Spirit
  • Sin
  • Redemption
  • Salvation
  • Retribution
  • God

    Infinite intelligence pervades and controls the universe, is without shape or form, and is impersonal, omnipresent, and omnipotent.

    It teaches that the spark of divinity dwells in all ("What Spiritualism Is and Does," Spiritualist Manual, 1940).

    The doctrine of the trinity seems to have no adherents in advanced circles of the spirit world. The divinity of Christ as a co-equal with the Father is universally denied.

    Just as I am, nor poor, nor blind
    Nor bound by chains in soul or mind
    For all of Thee within I find
    O God of Love, I come, I come. (Spiritualistic Hymnal)

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Jesus Christ

    Christ himself was nothing more than a medium of high order.

    The teaching of spirits supersedes and is an advance upon the teachings of Christianity. (Spiritual Telegraph, No 37).

    Jesus Christ was not divine. He is now an advanced spirit in the sixth sphere. He never claimed to be God manifest in the flesh and does not at present (Weisse, Demonology or Spiritualism, p. 141).

    Jesus did not claim for himself more than he held out for others.

    His identification with the Father was the oneness of mediumship. He was a medium or "mediator." (Colville, Universal Spiritualism, p. 234).

    Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God, as also are we sons of God (Many Mansions, p. 107).

    The miraculous conception of Christ is merely a fabulous tale (Weisse, Spiritualism, p. 141).

    Spiritualism sees in the death of Jesus an illustration of the martyr spirit, of that unselfish and heroic devotion to humanity which ever characterized the life of Jesus, but no special atoning value in his sufferings and death ( The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, p. 19).

    Spiritualism accepts him as one of many Saviour Christs who at different times have come into the world to lighten darkness and show by precept and example the way of life to men. It recognizes him as a world Saviour but not as "the only name" given under heaven by which men can be saved (The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, Q. 17).

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Holy Spirit

    The Holy Spirit from God is the spirit of some holy person who has once been in the flesh (Hastings, p. 91).

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Sin

    Man never had a fall.

    Whatever is, is right. Evil does not exist. Evil is good. No matter what man's path may be, good or bad, it is the path of divine ordination and destiny. (Childs, Whatever Is, Is Right).

    A lie is the truth intrinsically: it holds a lawful place in creation, it is a necessity. (Andre, The True Light, p. 162).

    We believe in intelligent and ignorant spirits. No being is naturally bad--evil always originates in ignorance.

    Death is not a violent result of sin. It was neither friend nor enemy. It is a part of the divine purpose (SM, 1940).

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Redemption

    There is no atoning value in the death of Jesus Christ (Childs, Whatever Is, Is Right).

    Salvation by vicarious atonement is a wicked and soul-destroying delusion (Ethics of Spiritualism, p. 99).

    Teaches the continuity of life and the eternal progression of man toward perfection in the spirit realm.

    That every soul will progress through the ages to heights sublime and glorious, where God is Love and Love is God ("What Spiritualism Is and Does," SM, 1940).

    There are not two worlds at all; there (is) but one interblended interrelated world, closely interwoven by memory and the love of life. Consciousness could not die. Personality could not be destroyed (Bach, They Have Found a Faith, p. 116).

    Life on the spirit plane is evolvement, like the ascent in a spiral, the growth of moral affection to higher and higher "heavens."

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Salvation

    We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's physical and spiritual laws.

    Man becomes a spirit after death, doing both evil and good, but he may be saved as he progresses from one spirit level to the next. We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any human soul, here or hereafter (Declaration of Principles, Nos. 7 and 8).

    Leaving the physical body does not change the condition of the spirit, which is the actual personality. It must learn to desire and to progress to higher and better conditions, just as we do on earth (SM, p. 182).

    Each must work out his own salvation; each has an equal opportunity to do this when he shall have atoned for the wrongs and overcome the temptations and allurements to the sense gratification of earth life (SM, p. 184).

    Even the most degraded personality can in time attain the greatest heights. It is easier, however, to begin progression in the earth life (SM, p. 184).

    Table 1 | Top of Page | Copyright Information

    Retribution

    Hell does not exist and never will.

    All spirit people of wisdom, knowledge, and love know there is no hell and no devil.

    No resurrection--no judgment.

    When you believe in spiritual manifestations, you will feel far happier than you do now. You will not fear the threats of damnation and hell...such doctrine is wrong (Doyle, The New Revelation, 1918, p. 68).

    We do not believe in such places as Purgatory and Hell. Communicating spirits have merely graduated from this form of life into another. That life can be heaven or hell-like, just as each spirit chooses to make it, the same applies to our life here (SM, p. 183).

    Taken from: The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 2. Compiled by Steven Cory. Copyright 1986, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Moody Press. Used by permission.

    To reproduce any of the above information in any way, please contact Moody Press.

    To order The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 1 or The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 2, please call 1-800-678-8812. Price: $9.99 per package of 10.