COMMENTARY:

PART1: HOW DO SPIRITUALISTS VIEW JESUS?

So many people claim to have been met by Jesus - either in out-of-body experiences or in real time - and experienced incredible love, power, and wisdom. These include atheists, Jews, Muslims, and everything in between. So does this mean that the Christians are right - that Jesus is the only son of God sitting at the right hand of the Father and part of the Trinity?

Spiritualists have a very wide spectrum of beliefs and, apart from the Seven principles, have no creed, catechism, bible, or defining theology. However to answer this question we have looked at a several sources of teachings that are held in high esteem by most Spiritualists, starting with the teachings of Stainton Moses, Silver Birch and Monsignor Hugh Benson.

Stainton Moses, one of the earliest Spiritualist teachers, channelled a very high collection of a spiritual collective of Spirits known as Imperator.

Imperator says of Jesus:
"this we know, that no spirit more pure, more godlike, more noble, more blessing and more blessed, ever descended to find a home on your earth. None more worthily earned by a life of self-sacrificing love the adoring reverence and devotion to mankind. None bestowed more blessings on humanity; none wrought a greater work for God". Spirit Teachings p.63

Silver Birch calls Jesus (also known as Yeshua) "The Nazarene." He talks about him with the greatest love and respect and says he has a special mission in regard to souls on Earth. He says "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 still being directed from the world of spirit". [page 64-65 on The Silver Birch Book of Questions and Answers].

However Spiritualist teachers draw a distiction between Jesus and what they call God or the Great Spirit. They do not accept the notion of The Trinity - a composite God consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Imperator through Stainton Moses says:
"Men would not have derogated from the honour due to the great God alone, but would have accepted, as Jesus intended, the simple Gospel that He preached. But instead of this they have elaborated an anthropomorphic theology which has led them to wander further and further from the simplicity of His teaching; which has turned His name and creed into a battle-ground of sects; and has resulted in a parody on His teachings—a sight on which His pure spirit looks with sorrow and pity". Spirit Teachings p.63

SIlver Birch says explicity "It is wrong to worship the Nazarene, for worship should be given only to the Great Spirit and not to His messengers." [page 64-65 on The Silver Birch Book of Questions and Answers].

Monsignor Hugh Benson, author of the Spiritualist classic Life in the World Unseen, says the same thing speaking through medium Anthony Borgia as recorded in the book More Light:
"The doctrine of his equality with the Father is so universally accepted and maintained that there is scarcely a person who comes to these realms who has not either believed the doctrine or known of it. We all discover our mistake when at last we come here, and our thoughts go to him who has been so misrepresented, who has been so embarrassed by the worship, adoration and the attribution of deity which have been pressed upon him".
More Light p.104.

As well, Spiritualist teachers reject the notion that Jesus death was intended to atone for the sins of mankind, that no-one comes to the father except through Jesus, and that belief in Jesus is enough to save people from the consequences of their actions and that Jesus taught that there is hell for eternity. Indeed the Seven Principles of Spiritualism say exactly the opposite: 5. Personal Responsibility, 6. Justice for Actions on Earth will be Reconciled in the Hereafter, 7. Eternal Progress Open to Every Soul

Michael Tymn, a wonderful afterlife researcher and author, put together this helpful list of references to Jesus in Spiritualist literature.

Siliver Birch: "The Silver Birch Companion" covers the subject on pages 65-71.

"The Book of Questions and Answers" has several questions about The Nazarene on page 28-29


FROM SPIRIT TEACHINGS p. 63 by STAINTON MOSES - received through psychography

You inquire from us what position we assign Jesus the Christ. We are not careful to enter into curious comparisons between different teachers who, in different ages, have been sent from God. The time is not yet come for that; but
this we know, that no spirit more pure, more godlike, more noble, more blessing and more blessed, ever descended to find a home on your earth. None more worthily earned by a life of self-sacrificing love the adoring reverence and devotion to mankind. None bestowed more blessings on humanity; none wrought a greater work for God.

It is not necessary that we should enter into curious comparisons between God’s great teachers. Rather would we give to all the meed of praise that is their due, and hold up the example of self-denial, self-sacrifice, and love to the imitation of a generation which sadly needs such a pattern. Had men devoted their energies to the imitation of the simplicity and sincerity, the loving toil and earnest purpose, the self-sacrifice and purity of thought and life which elevated and distinguished the Christ, they had wrangled less of His nature, and had wasted fewer words upon useless metaphysical sophistries. Those of your theologians who dwelt in the days of darkness, and who have left to you an accursed heritage in their idle and foolish speculations, would have turned their minds into a more useful channel, and have been a blessing instead of a curse to mankind.

Men would not have derogated from the honour due to the great God alone, but would have accepted, as Jesus intended, the simple Gospel that He preached. But instead of this they have elaborated an anthropomorphic theology which has led them to wander further and further from the simplicity of His teaching; which has turned His name and creed into a battle-ground of sects; and has resulted in a parody on His teachings—a sight on which His pure spirit looks with sorrow and pity.

Friend, you must discriminate between God’s truth and man’s glosses. We do not dishonour the Lord Jesus—before whose exalted majesty we bow—by refusing to acquiesce in a fiction which He would disown, and which man has forced upon His name.

No, assuredly: but they who from a strict adherence to the literal text of Scripture—a text which they have not understood, and the spirit of which they have never grasped—have dishonoured the Great Father of Him, and of all alike, and have impiously, albeit ignorantly, derogated from the honour due to the Supreme alone. Not we, but they dishonour God! Not we, but they, though they have the prescription of long usage, though their words be coloured by extracts from writings which they have decided to be Divine: and though in those writings there be found words which pronounce a curse on any who may disagree with what is stated there. We do not regard such curses save with pity. We do not labour to upset belief when it is a harmless error, but we can lend no countenance to views that dishonour God, and retard a soul’s progress.

The attributing to a man of Divine honour, to the exclusion in very many cases of personal honour and love for the Great Father, is a mischievous error which derogates from the duty of man to his God. The holding of a narrow, cold, dogmatic creed, in all its rigid, lifeless literalism, cramps the soul, dwarfs its spirituality, clogs its progress, and stunts its growth.

“The letter,” says your Scripture, “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

Hence we denounce such views of God as are contained in the fable of a material hell; and we proclaim to you purer and more rational ideas than are contained in the orthodox notions of atonement and vicarious sacrifice.

We proclaim to you a spiritualised religion. We call you from the dead formalism, the lifeless, loveless literalism of the past, to a religion of spiritualised truth, to the lovely symbolism of angel teaching, to the higher planes of spirit, where the material finds no place, and the formal dogmatism of the past is for ever gone. We have spoken to you with care, and with a due sense of the importance of what we say. Dwell on it with care. Ponder it with single desire for truth, and seek the Divine aid ministered to all who pray for it. +IMPERATOR


PART 2: SO WHERE DID THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE THAT JESUS IS GOD COME FROM?

So why does Orthodox Christianity say that Jesus is GOD, part of The Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost?

Victor's argument:

1. Experts tell us that it is on record that Jesus never ever directly or indirectly stated
that he was God, or was the 'Son of the Father God' or that he was a member of the
'Holy Trinity', never.

2. Experts in the Bible and religious history inform us that for hundreds of years there were
many religions BEFORE the birth of Jesus that claimed they followed a 'crucified saviour God- see the Kersey Graves: 'THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIOURS – Christianity before Christ.'

3. In one of his chapters, Graves lists 'Three Hundred and Forty-Six Striking Analogies Between Jesus Christ and Chrishna (Krishna) '

When we remember that Chrishna was born over three thousand years before Jesus was born, we have to concede that if Graves is correct, the probability of those variables re-occuring by chance would be close to nil. Expert statisticians would confirm that in all probability Jesus' authors, copied the information.

4. Another very important historian, Arthur Findlay, tells us in his brilliant book 'The
Rock of Truth' : “Why did Jesus distinctly say 'he was not God'? Why did Jesus
continually refer himself as a “human being?” These are very, very serious matters
which are impossible to ignore.'

5. It is on record that it was Emperor Constantine who in 315 A.D. (who by the way had declared his own father to be a god) decided that Christianity would be politically useful in uniting all the Roman colonies he ruled - millions of people. But there was, we are informed by Kersey Graves and Arthur Findlay, rivalry between the contemporary religions. It was
therefore important for the marketing that the leader of Christianity be a god.

6. The matter was decided by a rigged vote at a Council. The first vote was negative. Then the Arians, a sect of the early Christians which maintained that God and Jesus were NOT the same, and that Jesus was subordinate to God, were excluded from the Council and the pro-divines won the vote.

7. Setting up Jesus as God rather than as the model for humanity to strive to emulate has distored his whole message of selfless service and opened the way for centuries of needless religious conflict.

QUOTES FROM FINDLAY’S CLASSIC BOOK The Rock of Truth, Or, Spiritualism, the Coming World Religion 1933 (reprinted fifteen times from 1933 – 1987):

“No original document of the Gospels has survived, and no record exists of such documents ever having been seen.” (p.53).

“The books of the New Testament are not historical documents, no one knows who wrote them, nobody has reported ever having seen the original documents, and nobody knows when they were written.” (ibid p 53).

“The teachings of Jesus and the teaching of the Essenes (before Christian era)- are remarkably alike, and the similarity of many of the sayings found in the Gospels to those of the Essenes is striking. (ibid p 53).

”The historian Professor Dr Ginsburg has shown that what Jesus is reported to have taught, the Essenes taught before him.” (ibid p 56).

World famous historian - Gibbon, was of the opinion that early Christianity, before it became surrounded by the myths, legends, doctrines and ceremonials of other religions, was just a new name given to the teachings of Essenism. (ibid p56-7).

“The Arians, a sect of the early Christians which maintained that God and Jesus were NOT the same, and that Jesus was subordinate to God, lost their amendment at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, that most decisive event in the history of the Christian Church. Arius, the leader, was an Alexandrian presbyter of the Church, and, after weeks of arguing, the anti- divines first carried the day, and then the pro-divines, when ultimately it was decided by (by vote) - a majority that Jesus was the Son of God and the second member of the Trinity.” (ibid p 65-66).

”The creed received royal assent, a royal command was issued that everyone must believe it, and that Christianity thus defined was to be the state religion of Rome for the future. The bishops who opposed it were cast out as heretics, and those who had been on the winning side were promoted and given places of authority under the name of “orthodox.” (ibid p66).

“Nicaea was the birthplace of Christianity and the grave of what we imagined Jesus taught. From 325 A.D. onwards to the present time Christianity has been a religion comprising the superstitions of previous religions, because what was believed to have happened to the earlier saviour-gods was made to centre around Jesus when Paul evolved him into the heavenly Christ after seeing his alleged apparition.” (ibid p 66).

“Rome Emperor Constantine decreed that Christianity was to be the state religion of the future, then those who controlled its destinies were determined that it would not be inferior to rival sects and cults of its time. Consequently its teachings and ritual had to be up to the level of prevailing religions, and the more the miraculous was emphasised the more likely was the new religion to be accepted by the ignorant masses.” (ibid p67).

Christianity absorbed Mithraism, and all it stood for, and consequently its chief rival in the Roman Empire disappeared. Mithraism, the name given to the religion followed by those who worshipped the son god Mithra, came to Europe from Persia. From Persia it spread through Europe, including Great Britain. In point of universality it was the most wide-spread religion in the Western world in the early centuries of the Christian era.” (ibid p 69).

“The followers of Mithra worshipped the god Mithra, the Deity of Light and Truth created by yet co-equal with, the Supreme Deity. They believed in the Trinity- the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost – Mithra being the Son. … Mithra was styled “the most beloved by men”, he being the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. They kept Sunday, the first day of the week as their day of workshop. Mithra was its Lord, and Sunday known as the Lord’s day. The chief festivals were what we now call Christmas and Easter. Mithra was born at Christmas and died at Easter.” (ibid p 69).

“Only after successive pontifical decrees were the people as a whole made to accept Jesus as the world’s Saviour instead of Mithra. Like Jesus, Mithra was born in a cave, shepherds came to adore him and offer him gifts, his mother was a virgin, he was buried in a rock tomb, and when they looked for his body it could not be found. Mithra after death, passed into hades and rose again from the dead, his followers believing that on the last day a general resurrection of the dead would take place when he would return to judge the world.” (ibid p 70).

“… the only reference to the Trinity in the Bible occurs in the First Epistle of St. John, fifth chapter, seventh verse. This reference is not found in any Greek manuscript, as the Doctrine of the Trinity was not part of the Church’s teaching until it was incorporated into Christianity at the Council of Nicaea in the Third Century. Consequently this verse is now omitted from the Revised Version of the Bible which was published in 1881.” (ibid p 96).

“Anyone wishing to pursue this subject further should read ‘Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge,’ especially the able contribution by Dr Gilbert Murray (Professor of Greek at Oxford University), which shows clearly how Christianity developed out of the beliefs of the superstitious and ignorant cults that abounded in the countries surrounding Palestine 1,900 years ago, all having their suffering Saviour-gods and beliefs similar to what gathered round the simple teachings of Jesus, this medley of different beliefs becoming known as Christianity’. (ibid p97).

“The numerous interpolations and additions in the New Testament were put in by scribes at a time when it was not considered inspired, and thus the most outrageous liberties were taken for several hundreds of years. We are, therefore, on safe ground in saying that not one of the books of the Bible remains today in its original form.” (ibid p108).

“… it became evident that the Authorised Version was far from correct. Consequently in 1881 a new Revised Version was produced, and those responsible for this new version stated that they had discovered 36,191 mistakes in the old version. … The Revised Version should have been the death blow to the Church’s claim for the infallibility of the Bible, but this was not so, and it has the support of many foolish people who quote texts to prove their theories. These people read it without thinking.” (ibid p109).

“When they open their Bible they close their reason, yet, if they will consult the Encyclopaedia Biblica, they will find that the article in it dealing with the resurrection points out that in the various gospel stories of this event there are twenty-two fundamental contradictions - of a most serious character. Why should anyone be asked to believe in an event recorded in such a way, and why does the church, on this evidence, claim the resurrection of Jesus to be the fundamental truth of Christianity?” (ibid p109).

”Christians agree, however, that, as a result of God being thus crucified, he took away the sins of all who had faith in him; that he was raised from the dead, ascending bodily into heaven where he is now making intercession for all who believe in him; that he will forgive the sins of believers, and that those who do not believe in him will be consigned to torment. Further, that this God is really three Gods and that Jesus is one of the three; three Gods, yet he is only one; and so the mystery of the Trinity has to be added to the other Christian beliefs already noted.” (ibid p 110).

After Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the State religion of the Roman Empire, much of the Mithraic worship was incorporated into the Church’s ritual. (ibid p 113). (Constantine agreed to become Christian if he would be baptised immediately before he died – believing that he would then go straight to heaven).

“When the Popes, Christian emperors and then later the converted Christian kings went out to conquer, the conquered nations were butchered into acceptance of the new religion, and this went on until the 12th century, when Christianity had complete control over the greater part of Europe – a time which became known as the Dark Ages – when everyone in Europe thought only about churches, altars and relics, besides their ordinary occupations, husbandry and fighting.”(ibid p 113).

This, according to Christians, is the morality of their God when it is reported in the Bible: “I will heap misfortune upon them. I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burned with hunger and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without and the terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also, and the man with grey hairs.” (ibid p 119).

The Dark Ages: “During the night of Christianity, Europe produced no literature. For a thousand years the minds of men were paralysed by this superstition, and only slowly after the Reformation was the lamp of learning re-lit by the ancient literature of Greece and Rome. The wisdom of these two nations was the basis on which Europe built up her science, literature, wisdom and knowledge.” (ibid p 122).

"Those who have made a study of the origin of Christian literature are of the opinion that the various events and sayings recorded in the Gospels can ALL be traced to earlier origins than the events to which they refer. The four gospels are therefore the result of the collation of ancient stories and traditions prevalent in the east at the time they were written.” (ibid p92)

From the author: “That this book may clear to all the fundamental certainties of life, and also help the orthodox, belonging to all the world’s different faiths, to extricate themselves form the quicksands of superstition and reach the rock of truth, is the author’s earnest hope and desire.” (ibid p 320)


BOOKS BY ARTHUR FINDLAY

On the Edge of the Etheric, Or, Survival After Death Scientifically Explained 1932

The Unfolding Universe, (1935 -1988 -13th reprints)

The Rock of Truth, Or, Spiritualism, the Coming World Religion 1933-1087 (16 reprints).

Curse of Ignorance Vol 1 & 2 - 1993 (1947-1993 7 reprints).

The Psychic Stream: Or, The Source and Growth of the Christian Faith 1939 (6 reprints).

Where Two Worlds Meet (1951- 1986 6 reprints)

The Torch of Knowledge: A Story about the Twentieth Century, and the Changes which Will Take Place as the Result of Increased Knowledge 1936

Looking Back: The Autobiography of a Spiritualist

The Way of Life: A Guide to the Etheric World ... (8 reprints 1953-86)

The Effect of Religion on History

The Way of Life: A Guide to the Etheric World : Giving 419 Extracts from the Verbatim Records of Sittings with John Campbell Sloan, the Famous Glasgow Direct Voice Medium 1953