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Spiritualism Today

By Arlon Staywell
RICHMOND — A perhaps ironic twist to the decline in religious values seen in the attitudes of the majority toward such things as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, destruction of embryos for research, the confusion over the sanctity of sex and marriage and the ignorance of an intelligent designer is the growing interest in spiritualism. It is ironic because it was not likely spiritualism that helped establish the religious values in the first place and it might not be an easy spiritualism that helps restore them.
Of course care must be taken in reading the cues about how much interest in spiritualism there actually is. It might mean little that at least three prime time television programs, although fiction, focus on spiritualism. There is also the success of numerous motion pictures in recent years concerned with spiritualism. And then too not everything actually promotes what it seems to promote on light inspection.
But should there be a strong interest in spiritualism what would that mean about the strength of established religions?
It would not necessarily indicate that people are returning to established religions; in fact it could mean the opposite. Established religions have traditionally avoided the daily practice of spiritualism.
Deuteronomy c18 v10-14 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times [astrology], or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
So it appears from those verses that communication with the dead is wrong. That was confusing to some who naturally began to wonder whether that religion was entirely materialistic.
Isaiah c8 v19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
Or what is the point of believing in God if there are no spirits?
The solution to that dilemma is to be found in the verses in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy c18 v18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
To many that shows how the section of the Old Testament known as "the Prophets" came to be included in the Bible at all. To others the "prophet" mentioned in the verse of Deuteronomy could only be Christ and all prayers must be directed to him alone.
And the New Testament conforms closely to the Old in Luke c16 v28-29 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
So the answer in both testaments to whether communication with the dead should be practiced would seem no, rather seek the prophets. Or as answered in Isaiah c8 v20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Similar attitudes can be found in Hinduism's Bhagavad Gita c17 v4 Men in the mode of goodness worship demigods, those in the mode of passion worship demons, and those in the mode of darkness worship the dead and ghosts.
Perhaps from all this it is now clear that established religions do not rely on frequent communications with the dead, although there are special circumstances and "the law" that establish certain "testimony" as spiritual and authentic. Today this middle road seems abandoned and the only choices appearing are undisciplined spiritualism and short-sighted materialism. Is it any surprise that many take comfort in spiritualism even if it is fictional? Is it also any surprise that established religious values are waning?
Perhaps there should be terms for "easy" and "difficult" spiritualism. "Easy" spiritualism would be the kind shunned by long established religions, that is consulting the dead about things they weren't qualified to address while alive, interruptions in the laws of the material universe for every whim of man, and life arising from nonliving substance easily and regularly. "Difficult" spiritualism would be the kind recognized by established religions, that we are spirits, but living in a material universe and bound by its laws so God provides a moral code that best adapts us to those laws.
One mistake of too many in America today is to carry spiritualism too far, to relax the laws of the material universe on every whim and that destroys the ethos, the moral code. The other mistake of too many in America today is to carry the avoidance of spiritualism too far. It leaves them with no means of persuasion other than violence, argumentum ad baculum, which destroys the ethos also.
One historical event that had a huge impact on attitudes toward spiritualism was the publication of Darwin's theory. Many saw it as the work of a clever God who made his hand in the universe undetectable and as a welcome relief from all those people running around believing they heard personally from the dead or God everyday. It indeed did not, as you have been told many times, threaten established religions. Not at first, but what has happened is that over time the complete elimination of all spiritualism has eroded our ethos, does threaten our values.
But modern technology with its higher powered microscopes has shown that life is exceedingly more complex than those early adherents to Darwinism peering through their low powered microscopes at "animalcules" ever guessed. The mathematical feasibility of Darwinism has also eroded and that places more demands on mere randomness than it can bear.
So perhaps it was a really clever God who made his hand in the universe undetectable for a time. Now we must again confront the stark reality of the spirit and having lost much of the practice the centuries had given us.

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