The Gospel According to Spiritism Chap. 4 - NO ONE CAN SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD, NOT BORN AGAIN Resurrection and Reincarnation 1 - And Jesus came into the sides of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Said unto them, But who say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew XVI: 13-17) 2 - And he came to Herod the Tetrarch news of what Jesus obrava, and was to be suspended because it was said by some that John is risen from the dead; and the other is Elijah who appeared; and others: It is one of the old prophets is risen. So Herod said: John I beheaded; but who is this of whom I hear such things? And he sought an occasion to see him. (Mark VI: 14-15; Luke IX: 7-9) 3 - (After the transfiguration). And his disciples asked him, saying, For why do the scribes say that Elijah matter come first? But he answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things: I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they did not know him before made him as wanted. So the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then understood the disciples of John the Baptist is that he spake unto them. (Matthew, XVII: 10-13; Mark, XVIII: 10-12) RESURRECTION AND REINCARNATION: 4 - The reincarnation was part of Jewish dogmas, under the name of resurrection. Only the Sadducees, who thought everything ended with death, did not believe in it. The ideas of the Jews on this issue, as on many others, were not clearly defined. Because they had only incomplete and notions about the soul and its connection with the body waves. They believed that a man could revive without having a precise idea of the way in which this would happen, and designated by the word resurrection what is called Spiritualism, more precisely, of reincarnation. Indeed, the supposed resurrection of the dead return to life itself, that science proves to be physically impossible, especially when the elements of the body are long since dispersed and consumed. Reincarnation is around the body to the soul or spirit life, but in another body, again formed, and that has nothing to do with the old one. The word resurrection could thus apply to Lazarus, but not Elijah, nor the other prophets. If, therefore, according to their belief, John the Baptist was Elijah, Johns body could not be Elijah because John child and his parents had been seen were known. John could therefore be reincarnated Elijah, but not raised. 5 - And there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a Jewish senator. This one night, came seeking Jesus, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said to him: Actually, I say to you that can not see the kingdom of God unless he be reborn again. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mothers womb and be born again? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he can not enter the Kingdom of God, which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you that you matter to be born again. The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus asked: How can you do this? Jesus answered, Thou art the teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you, with all that, you do not accept our testimony. When I have spoken unto you earthly things, yet believe me, as you would believe, if I told you of heavenly things? (John, III: 1-12) 6 - The idea that John the Baptist was Elijah, and the prophets could revive the earth, is in many passages of the Gospels, especially in the above-reproduced (No. 1-3). If this belief was a mistake, Jesus would still fight it, as did so many others. Far from it, but he signed with all his authority, and turned it into a principle, making the necessary condition when he said: No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. And he insisted, adding: Marvel not that I have said that it is necessary to be born again. 7 - These words: If not born of water and the Spirit, were interpreted regeneration by water baptism. But the original text simply says not born of water and of the Spirit, while in some translations, the expression of the Spirit was replaced by the Holy Spirit, which does not correspond to the same thought. This point underscores the capital of the first comments made about the Gospel, as well as a day can be found unambiguously. (1) 8 - To understand the true meaning of these words, it is necessary to report the meaning of the word, which was not employed in its specific sense. The ancients had imperfect knowledge about the physical sciences, and believed that the Earth was out of the water. Therefore regarded as the absolute water element generator. Thus we find in Genesis: The Spirit of God was taken on water, floating on water, the sky is in the midst of the waters, which the waters under the heaven come together in one place and the dry land appear, the waters produce living creatures that swim in the water, and birds flying over the earth and under the heavens. According to this belief, the water had become the symbol of material nature, as the Spirit was the intelligent nature. These words: If a man be born of water and the Spirit, or water and the Spirit, they mean: If a man be born with the body and the soul. In this sense it is understood they were in the beginning. This interpretation is justified, moreover, by these other words: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Here Jesus makes a positive distinction between spirit and body. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, clearly indicates that the body carries only the body, and that the Spirit is independent of it. 9 - The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, is a walkway that can be understood by the Spirit of God who gives life to whom he will, or the soul of man. In this last sense, the sequence but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, which means no one knows what was or what will be the Spirit. If, on the contrary, the spirit, or soul, was created with the body, we would know where it comes from, because we would know its beginning. In any case, this passage is the consecration of the principle of the preexistence of the soul, and therefore of the plurality of stocks. 10 - Since the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who do violence are those who snatch. For all the prophets and the law, until John prophesied. And if ye will ye understand well, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew, XI: 12-15) 11 - If the principle of reincarnation, expressed in St. John, could, indeed, be interpreted in a purely mystical sense, it is no longer happen in this passage of Matthew, where there is no possible ambiguity: He himself is Elijah who is there to come. Here there is no figure in allegory; this is a positive affirmation. Since the time of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, these words mean, because John was still living at the time they were spoken? Jesus explains them by saying, And if ye will ye understand well, he is Elijah who is to come. Now John being Elijah, Jesus alludes to the time when John lived with the name Elias. Until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, is another allusion to the violence of the Mosaic law, which ordered the extermination of infidels, to conquer the Promised Land, Paradise Hebrews who, under the new law, the sky is earned by charity and gentleness. Then he adds: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. These words, so often repeated by Jesus clearly express that not everyone was able to understand certain truths. 12 - Your dead shall live. Mine, who took the life, rise. Awake and sing praise, ye that dwell in dust because the dew that falls on you is dew of light, and arruinareis the earth and the kingdom of the giants. (Isaiah XXVI: 19) 13 - This passage from Isaiah is also quite clear: Your dead shall live. If the prophet had intended to speak of the spiritual life, if he had meant that the dead were not dead in spirit, would have said: still live and not live. From the spiritual point of view, these words would be counter intuitive as it would imply an interruption in the life of the soul. Towards moral regeneration would denials of eternal punishment, because they establish the principle that all the dead will live again. 14 - When a man once, and his body apart from the spirit is consumed, it becomes he dies? Man having died once, he could revive again? In this war where I am, every day of my life, Im hoping to reach my mutation (Job, XIV: 10-14, as translated Sacy). When the man dies, loses all its force and expires later, where is he? If a man dies, shall he live again? Wait all day for my fight, till my change come? (Id. Protestant translation of Osterwald). When the man is dead, lives forever; coming to a close are the days of my earthly existence, wait, because it will come back again. (Id. Version of the Greek Church). 15 - The principle of plurality of stocks is clearly expressed in all three versions. One can not assume that Job wished to speak of regeneration by water baptism, which he certainly did not know. Having the man died once, he could revive again? The idea of dying and reviving once imply the dying and reviving many times. The version of the Greek Church is even more explicit, if possible: The days are coming to a close of my earthly existence, wait, because it will come back again. I mean: I will return to earthly existence. This is as clear as if someone said. I leave the house, but shell be back. In this war where I am, every day of my life, Im hoping to reach my mutation. Job wants to talk, of course, the fight that holds the miseries of life. He hopes his mutation, ie, he resigned. In the Greek version, the word wait appears before applying the new existence: The days are coming to a close of my earthly existence, wait, because it will come back again, Job seems to put up, after death, in a range what separates an existence of another, and say that there will wait your return. 16 - It is therefore doubtful that under the name of Resurrection, the principle of reincarnation was a fundamental beliefs of the Jews, and it was confirmed by Jesus and the prophets, in a formal way. Whence it follows that denying reincarnation is to deny the words of Christ. His words, one day, will constitute authority on this point, as on many others, when they meditated without partisanship. 17 - the authority of a religious nature, come join in the philosophical level, the evidence resulting from the observation of facts. When the effects one wants to go back to the causes, reincarnation appears as an absolute necessity, an inherent condition of humanity, in a word, as a law of nature. It turns out, its results, so the material so to say, as the engine is hidden reveals that produces the movement. Only she can tell the man where he comes from, where it goes, that is on the earth, and justify all anomalies and all the apparent injustices of life. Without the principle of the preexistence of the soul and the plurality of stocks, most of the maxims of the Gospel are unintelligible, and so has given rise to such contradictory interpretations. This principle is the key that should restore to them the true meaning. Chap. 4 - BORN AGAIN - Forum Espiritism The Gospel According to Spiritism, Ch. 4 - NO ONE CAN SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD, NOT BORN AGAIN Resurrection and Reincarnation 1 - And Jesus came FORUMESPIRITA.NET
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 01:26:40 +0000
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