First let us ask how is it defined? At the Golden Light Church we call ourselves Spiritualists and we know we are of Spirit. Quite often the reason that we arrive at this Church or any other spiritualist church is through a personal experience or maybe the loss of a loved one.
So let’s take a look at what is Spiritualism.
The Seven Principles of Spiritualism are:
- The fatherhood of God;
- The brotherhood of man;
- The communion of spirits and the ministry of angels;
- The continuous existence of the human soul;
- Personal responsibility;
- Compensation and retribution hereafter for all good and evil deeds done on earth;
- Eternal progress open to every human soul;
Spiritualism has no creeds or dogmas and we accept that we are known as the Seven Principles.
The primary objective of Spiritualism today is to prove the survival of the human personality after death. From the day of our birth we each have two bodies, the earthly body which can be seen, and the spiritual body, both of which are linked together by a cord. When we die the cord linking the two bodies is severed, the earthly body returns to the earth and the spiritual body becomes the vehicle of our spirit.
We are thus always spirit – hence the name Spiritualist.
We take with us into the beyond no material possessions but we do take with us our character and our individuality that we have moulded in our earthly lives. This determines our position hereafter. We cannot cheat. We cannot pretend. The sinner, to use a very clumsy word, cannot escape the consequences of his actions by uttering a magical formula on his deathbed and thus have all misdeeds absolved for him. He must make restitution for whatever wrong he has committed. There is no progress for him until he has done so.
We are personally responsible for the life that we live. Forgiveness does not release us from personal responsibility. A true balance can be struck only when we have made retribution.