THE SPIRIT WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20618, 17 July 1930, Page 14

THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Sir,—l much dislike fighting an opponent unless I know who he is, but as Common Sense" tells mc I am not accurate in stating that Saul was slain for going to the Witch of Endor I would ask him to road with me Chronicles x., 13, 14, "So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of onc_ that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it. And inquired not of the Lord; therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse." Does that look as though I had been inaccurate? As for "Scientist," who has attended Spiritist services in different parts of the world, and who avows that Spiritists honour Christ and the Scriptures, I would state, first, Spiritists do not accept the Bible as a divinely inspired and authoritative record from God to man. Secondly, Spiritists do not believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Thirdly, Spiritists do not believe that He died on the Cross to atono for human sin and that only through faith in Him who shed the blood can a human soul be saved from sin and accepted as righteous in the sight of God. Fourthly, Spiritists do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave. Fifthly, Spiritists do not believe that it is necessary for a man to be born anew or from above in order to enter the Kingdom of God. They may sing hymns and talk about Christ, and even read portions of Scripture, but by their denial of the above fundamentals they put themselves outside the realm of Christianity and are not, entitled to be called Christians or a Christian Church. And all others, by whatever name they call themselves, who deny the samo essentials, put themselves outside the category of the Christian faiih. A. A. Murray.

Sir,—Permit me as a country reader to comment briefly on the two letters under the above heading in your issue of July 12. "Watson - ' has written a genuinely-open letter asking why Conan Doylo, in his messago to Mrs. 'Cottrell, has not made greater use of his descriptive powers regarding his entry into the spirit world. Intimate details of spirit life have been given from time to timo by numerous writers on psychic matters, including Conan Doyle himself. Let me refer "Watson" to the works of G. ValoOwen, Stainton Moses, H. D. Bradley and others. Furthermore, if we give Conan Doyle time to get his breath and become acquainted with the new conditions at first hand we will probably hear a good deal more from him. Rev. A. A. Murray has adopted an entirely different attitude toward this subject. He condemns it with a mixture of blatant ignorance and primitive fear. "What has Lady Doylo done," he says, "that she was not first to receive a message from her husband ?" The answer is simple. Mrs. Coltrell is an automatic writer, while Lady Doyle is not. I ask Mr. Murray to name one spiritualist of repute who flouts the truth of Christ's teachings or denies that He died on the Cross. I can go even further and inform him that the doctrines of Spiritualism are not antagonistic to any of tho three great religions of the world. Does Mr. Murray in seriousness and in his saner moments consign two-thirds of tho earth's population to hell—if there is one —because they were born in non-Christian countries? Conan Doyle spent a great part of his life endeavouring to definitely prove the theory of survival and claims to have produced irrefutable evidence in its favour. Mr. Murray lias a creed that depends entirely on an after-life. Ho cannot prove it and yet ho discredits those who are trying to do so. I would advise this gentleman to get better acquainted with the subject before decrying it from tho house-tops. It is the narrowness of misdirected enthusiasm such as his, together with the blind understanding he offers, that keeps the herd out of tho churches. Periscope.