A lawyer's open letter
to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
(Updated August 12th 07)
A MOST URGENT CHURCH
PROBLEM BIGGER THAN THE GALILEO CASE
Your Holiness. This most serious
and important correspondence has been precipitated by some
very urgent spiritual matters which concern all Catholics
and others - and which need most urgent attention. The
primary concern is that the Catholic theological explanation
of what happens to us when we die is fundamentally inconsistent
with empirically produced results.
Your Holiness has the power,
the discretion, the authority, the heavy duty and the great
responsibility to ameliorate any fundamentally erroneous
theological beliefs.
It is now universally accepeted
that for over one hundred years empiricism has taken over
afterlife resesarch and the Church no longer has exclusive
jurisdiction to deal with the afterlife.
With the greatest respect it
is submitted accordingly that whenever there is an inconsistency
between theology (subjective personal authority)
and science (objective authority based on empirically
elicited results), inevitably science will always prevail.
The classic example which is now not disputed by the Catholic
Church is the Galileo incident where the Church took over
330 years to admit it was theologically fundamentally wrong;
science prevailed over entrenched theology.
It is accordingly submitted
for reasons hereinafter explained, that the Catholic theological
explanation about what happens to us when we cross over
is irretrievably erroneous, is not relevant anymore and
just like the Galileo incident, has been invalidated by
empirical results.
The issue of what happens to
us when we die is most urgent, is of immediate importance,
is vital to our understanding of the meaning of life - and
it is certainly far more serious than the said Galileo case.
One most fundamental
theological error is the teaching that on dying, all people
go to 'purgatory' - a place of pain and suffering
for 'purification by fire' - before we go to 'heaven.' This
is even if a person dies in the 'state of grace'. This is
fundamentally inconsistent with what science tells us happens
to us when we die.
There is also the entrenched
fourth century Christian theology taught by the Church to-day
which states that Jesus, "… will come
to judge the living and the dead."
I submit these two critical
theological teachings are fundamentally wrong and are doing
a great deal of immense harm to the millions of Catholics
and other Christians.
I also submit that
the erroneous teachings elicit unnecessary fear, inculcate
our unconscious mind with false expectations, mislead and
misdirect us.
These create huge negative
consequences for many individuals as the more sensitive
ones and some others could have serious problems progressing
to the 'Realm of the Light' on crossing over.
Empirically elicited
and validated results tell us that many of those who cross
over have a 'conscious transition' and are met by a loved
one with whom there has been a heart to heart connection.
Millions of Catholics and millions
of others have personally experienced near death experiences
and direct after death contact with their loved ones. Information
transmitted from the other side has by way of empirically
validated mediumship consistently informed us that most
people find themselves fully conscious and functioning with
all their senses immediately after they pass on from physical
earth into the spirit world.
We are consistently told by
those who experienced it that crossing over to the other
side potentially is one of the most spiritually beautiful,
ecstatic experiences we will ever have on this planet earth.
And then we continue to live, usually in the third realm
where conditions are so indescribably beautiful we call
it 'heaven.'
But this empirically
validated afterlife description is fundamentally inconsistent
with Christian theology. Fact is being separated
from fiction. Science is replacing superstition. Empiricism
is removing the fear, the terror and the threat of eternal
punishment - objective truth is giving us absolute confidence,
giving us hope and showing us the way.
Experience shows that
most Catholics are terrified of death and know absolutely
nothing about after crossing over - or have completely
wrong information about what to expect and sadly, many plunge
into serious problems in the afterlife as a direct result
of the Church's wrong teachings.
Accordingly it is submitted
that it is cruel in the extreme for Christians to be instructed
in beliefs unsupported by objective authority and to be
misled that they will stay unconscious for an indefinite
period of time and that their loved ones who have gone before
are separated from them and unaware of them.
There have been and there are
millions of Catholics in the world to-day who could tell
the world that they do get afterlife messages from their
loved ones directly and through gifted mediums. I myself
was contacted directly by three members of my family - my
grandmother who was a most devoted Catholic and both my
parents.
Many others witness apparitions
of their crossed over loved ones informing them they are
very happy where they are. My own mother had an apparition
of her mother who told her she was happy where she was and
not to worry about her.
Empirical afterlife evidence
is contributing to continous spiritual refinement. All the
amens, hallellulias, ritual, hymns, confessions, masses,
benedictions and religious dogmas are meaningless unless
they contribute to continuous spirituality and clear understanding
what is definitively going to happen to us when we die.
Individual integrity, intellectual
independence, self responsibility, the fundamental right
to question religious dogmas and doctrines have replaced
collective domination and religious sycophancy and subservience.
Empirical spirituality is replacing traditional religiosity.
Ultimately, there is nothing
more important, nothing more vital and more critical than
continuous spiritual refinement and truth about the human
and spiritual condition now and on crossing over.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ACCEPTS
THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR AFTERLIFE COMMUNICATION.
The text of the Majority Report of the Church of England
committee (included Dr F Underhill, Dr W R Matthews, senior
lawyer P Sandlands Q.C., Professor (Canon) L W Grenstedappointed)
by Archbishop Lang and Archbishop Temple to investigate
the afterlife concluded there is evidence that those who
passed on are in a position to communicate with us. The
result of the investigation was kept secret for some forty
years because the results completely embarrassed Christendom.
The evidence for afterlife
communication is unrebuttable and irrefutable. I submitted
over twentyone areas of objective afterlife evidence www.victorzammit.com
(see below for *index)
ETERNAL DAMNATION?
The other related issue
for urgent consideration by His Holiness and the cardinals
is the Catholic teaching about 'eternal damnation'. Again,
empirically elicited information through psychic mediumship
shows this not to be correct. Whilst, empiricism supports
the Church's teaching that there is a dark sphere - perhaps
theologians' closest description is 'hell' - empiricists
state that those who go to the low dark realms are NOT condemned
to stay in those horrible conditions for eternity.
Further, there is no Biblical
authority for the doctrine of eternal damnation.
The problem exists because of intentional or accidental
mistranslation of the word 'eon.' Historically, the word
'eon' never ever meant 'eternal.' The legitimate
definition of the word 'eon' as used at the time of Jesus
was a period of time. In Roman/Jesus times it meant the
equivalent of one hundred years. A number of times in the
Bible, 'eon' is properly translated as a period of time:
blasphemy against the Spirit, "... shall not be
forgiven either in this 'eon' or in that which is to come
…" Further, in the parable of the sower, it
is said that some seeds were choked with the cares of this
'eon' …Further still, in the parable of the tares among
the wheat Christ explains that "… the harvest
would be at the end of this eon …" Even in
the passage from Saint Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians
"We speak a wisdom not of this 'eon' nor of the
rulers of this eon."
In all of these 'eon' was translated
correctly to mean a period of time. But whenever 'eon' preceded
some punishment, the ecclesiastic translators from the Greek
version willfully misinterpreted 'eon' and incorrectly translated
it to mean 'eternal.' For example, in Matthew 18:8 where
it says, "If your hand or your foot causes you to
stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better
for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two
hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire"
the word that precedes 'fire' is 'Aionios' the adjective
from "eon" as it is in Matthew 25:41, "Depart
from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire".
Strangely enough, we are informed
from the writings of a book by former Catholic priest, Johannes
Greber - from which this has been taken, the original text
of Matthew 18:8 did not even contain the word 'eon' but
read "into the hell of fire" and Matthew
25:41 originally stated, "Depart from me, ye cursed,
into the outer darkness." (1970; 379).
These are most spurious alterations
which must be dealt with forthwith by His Holiness and the
Vatican cardinals because they constitute wilful misrepresentation
and fraud on a global level against mankind.
We must never accept that 'God'
- where we are informed is all loving, all forgiving, omniscient,
infallible, prescient and omnipotent, has 'inferior' morality
than an informed human being.
There will be universal acceptance
that no informed human being will ever condemn another human
being to 'eternal damnation' for what the Church calls a
'mortal sin' - even, technically, a one off 'mortal' sin
- a transgression such as a one-off not attending Church
on a Sunday or even one-off sex before marriage or even
a one-off five minute what the Church calls 'adultery' with
a divorcee.
I submit that the average intelligent
Catholic is not accepting 'eternal damnation' and unless
theology has substance and unquestioned credibility it will
not survive and the Church will inevitably get deeper into
crisis.
The Council of Nicea
Much of to-day's theology about
the afterlife comes from decisions made by the early Church
councils starting from the Council of Nicea in 325AD. It
was at this Council that theological beliefs emerged. As
a matter of fact, as His Holiness fully is aware, to-day
whenever mass service is held, The Creed is recited to affirm
the beliefs originally drafted at the Council of Nicea in
325AD. The Creed tells us that Jesus will come again 'to
judge the living and the dead' after the dead have been
buried for an indeterminate period of time - theoretically
thousands - even millions of years. That theology is technically
NOT correct and has been invalidated by empirically elicited
objective authority.
The decisions made at this
Council nearly seventeen hundred years ago were made by
highly uninformed participants who did not have the benefit
of the vast empirical wisdom accumulated over the last couple
of centuries. There is absolutely no doubt that these early
decisions were made to satisfy the needs of those early
times. I accordingly submit to His Holiness to allow for
the 'human error' at this said Council in the same way that
theological error was made in the initial uninspired rejection
of Galileo's scientific heliocentric view of our solar system.
We are not unaware that for
centuries the Church stated it was a 'mortal sin' to eat
meat on Fridays which theoretically meant that anyone who
intentionally ate a ham sandwich on a Friday and died thereafter
was sent to hell for eternity. Rational, logical and appropriate
changes were made to make teachings reflect the different
epistemology and ontology and changing circumstances of
the time.
My expertise as an empiricist
and a lawyer tell me that with absolute certainty the afterlife
consequences are enormous. The duty for His Holiness to
educate Catholics and others is huge and traditional ecclesiastical
rigidity has to give way to empirically validated spiritual
data which will give peace and spiritual confidence to people
knowing what is going to happen to them when they physically
die. It will also give them an understanding, an inspired
inner knowing, about what is happening to them on this planet
earth when their passed-on loved ones make contact with
them.
My empirical research will
not allow me to accept Catholic doctrine I know with absolute
certainty to be fundamentally wrong. A large number of other
Catholics who had an afterlife experience feel the same
way. There is an enormous, most urgent and insatiable demand
for immediate theological changes to accommodate the afterlife
empirical findings in order to avoid horrific afterlife
experiences.
Theological inertia has to
give way to ecclesiastical and spiritual duty to avoid pain
and suffering by those crossing over.
I do acknowledge that the Catholic
Church has beliefs which are consistent with empirically
produced results:
a) that the afterlife exists,
b) that conduct on earth will determine the afterlife experience,
c) that there is a lower realm the Church calls *hell,
d) that there is an intermediate realm which is comparable
to the empirically elicited information that there is a
realm between the lower realm (*temporary hell) and the
upper beautiful realms, theologians call heaven,
e) it is also acknowledged that the Church puts emphasis
on 'good works' - spiritual service and does not put much
emphasis on the text of the Bible itself.
My research shows that the
Vatican does have this afterlife evidence and I submit it
is critically urgent in the extreme for His Holiness to
effect these stated changes forthwith.
Inevitably, any fundamental
omission to remove the false, the egregious errors, the
stated misrepresentations will mean severe and heavy negative
consequences for the Pope (and the Cardinals and anybody
else who advises the Pope).
There is an inexorably
very heavy burden on His Holiness - and the Cardinals to
remove the darkness from this planet earth and to disseminate
the light on a global level.
*CHAPTERS: (2000 edition)
A LAWYER PRESENTS THE
EVIDENCE FOR THE AFTERLIFE
1. Opening statement
2. Respected scientists who investigated
3. Electronic voice phenomena (EVP)
4, Instrumental transcommunication (ITC)
5, Scole experiments prove the afterlife
6. Einstein's E=mc2(squared) and materialization
7.Other psychic laboratory experiments
8. Scientific observation of mediums
9. Leonore Piper, a most powerful American medium
10. Materialization mediumship
11. Helen Duncan
12. Direct voice mediumship
13. Modern mediums who confound the skeptics
14. The Cross Correspondences
15. Proxy sittings
16. Out of Body Experiences
17. Remote Viewing
18. Science and the Near Death Experience
19. Science and apparitions
20. Deathbed Visions
21. The Ouija Board
22. Xenoglossy
23. Poltergeists
24. Reincarnation
25. Answering the closed minded skeptics
26. Closing statement: summing up the objective evidence
27. What happens when we die?
Bibliography
Victor Zammit, Attorney of
the High Court and Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia
(retired).
May 2004 (Updated August 12th 07)
email address: victor@victorzammit.com
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