Spiritualism and Christianity – A Comparison

Over the next few days I am going to publish my thoughts comparing Spirtualism and Christianity. Here is the first section

“Do you Spiritualists believe in God?” This is likely to be the first question a Spiritualist is asked by a Christian. The simple answer of course is, “We do”. However, this can be a misleading answer without explaining exactly what the Spiritualist believes God to be. It is one of the defining differences between Spiritualism and Christianity. Spiritualism offers a unique way of explaining humanity’s relationship 1) with the natural world, 2) with other human beings, 3) with the universe and finally 4) with God. This is why Spiritualism can truly claim to be a universal religion. Those who say, because we believe in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man (which is true) we can scarcely be differentiated from most other religions are wrong. Let me explain.

To the Christian, God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost and this trinity is at the heart of their religion. There are two consequences. First they consider Jesus to be the only son of God. Indeed many Christians refer to Jesus as God. Secondly, they believe all other ideas about the Nature of God are false and the only way human beings can enter the Kingdom of Heaven is by becoming Christians.

Theologians claim (in my view as a result of misinterpreting the words of St Paul) that at some point in time a trumpet will sound and all Christians will be raised from the dead and go to heaven. Therefore they have a compulsion to try to convert others to their beliefs in order to “save them”. Not only Christians have this unfortunate compulsion of course and much human misery can be attributed to that sadly mistaken view of God and life after death. Compare this interpretation with what St Paul actually said: “The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised, raised incorruptible.” No mention here of the followers of only one sect being raised but also no mention of physical resurrection. Neither does he say the trumpet sounds just once, as Christians conclude. It sounds for each individual at the time of death. Only the physical body is corruptible. (i.e. subject to decomposition). The spirit which is what lives on through eternity is not corruptible. Later, in this same letter to the Corinthians, St Paul explains that we have a physical body and we have a spiritual body and it is the spiritual body that is incorruptible. He actually states “and the corruptible cannot put on incorruptibility”. In other words, it is impossible for the physical body to be resurrected. Theologians pick and choose which words of St Paul to accept. This cannot be right – one either accepts all or none!

What St Paul was saying is that physical death is like a trumpet call and when we die ALL people rise to the next world in their spiritual body. This is exactly what Spiritualists know to be the case.

Let us examine how Spiritualists see God. To them God is a great power, “the Great Spirit” or “Infinite Intelligence”. God is not a person but is spirit/mind, not only responsible for all creation but actually part of every living thing. Thus do we all share and partake of the divine mind, whether we are human, animal, vegetable or mineral.

Jesus therefore was the son of God but not the only one – we are all sons and daughters of God. Jesus was an immensely spiritual person and a gifted medium possessing many spiritual gifts in great abundance. A great man but a man nonetheless and he never claimed to be anything else!! Consequently, if we wish to search for God we should do so within creation, not in some vague “out there”. This is why mystics have always urged us to look within. Spiritualists know that the power of the spirit can be found, not only within one’s self but also in every part of the natural world. Stand under a tree for instance and reach out to it with your mind. After a while, you begin to feel its spiritual strength and love uplifting you.

It can be seen therefore that the Spiritualist God is everywhere: God is the life force and because of this ALL life is “incorruptible” in the sense St Paul meant it. We all survive death because we are ‘of the spirit’. On earth our spirit self is forever trying to overcome the overwhelming impact of the five physical senses and the influence of our ego. On death, our true self, our spirit, comes into its own. It follows from this, that from a spiritual point of view, all human beings are brothers and sisters.

It also follows that if we are part of God and God is part of us, our life’s actions and thoughts are not judged by some external individual on “Judgment Day” as theologians would have us believe, but we judge ourselves. This judgment however, is carried out in the after-life, when we are able to see for ourselves the successes or failures of our life in spiritual terms, not just in the way people on earth assess success or failure. Consequently Spiritualists accept each person is his/her own judge and redeemer and rejects entirely the Christian doctrine of vicarious atonement.