619- Has God provided all humans the means of knowing God’s law?
“All may know about it, but not all understand it.
Moral persons and those who desire to examine it are the ones who understand it best. Nevertheless, all will understand it someday because such understanding is necessary for progress.”
The justice of multiple human incarnations springs from this principle because in each new existence humans’ intelligence becomes more developed and they better comprehend what is good and what is evil. If everything had to be accomplished in a single existence, what would be the fate of the many millions who die every day in the brutishness of the primitive state or in the darkness of ignorance simply because they were born into a situation that did not enable them to become enlightened? (See nos. 171 to 222)
620- Before its union with the body, does the soul comprehend God’s law more clearly than after incarnating?
“It comprehends God’s law according to the degree of its perfection, and it preserves an intuitive memory of it after uniting with the body. However, evil human instincts often cause it to forget it.”
621- Where is God’s law written?
“In the conscience.”
– Since humans carry God’s law in their conscience, why does it have to be revealed to them?
“They have forgotten and disregarded it; but God has willed for them to remember it.”
622- Has God endowed certain individuals with the mission of revealing the divine law?
“Yes, certainly. In every age individuals have received this mission. They are high order spirits who have incarnated with the purpose of enabling humankind to progress.”
623- Haven’t those who were meant to instruct humankind in God’s law sometimes erred, and haven’t they often led others astray through erroneous principles?
“People may have been led astray by those who were not actually inspired by God, and who, out of ambition, regarded themselves as having a mission that they did not in fact have. Nevertheless, they were geniuses and great truths could often be found even in the midst of their errors.”
624- What are the characteristics of true prophets?
“True prophets are moral individuals inspired by God, and whom we may recognize by their words and deeds. God does not employ a liar to teach the truth.”
625- What is the perfect standard that God has offered to humankind as a guide and model?
“Look at Jesus.”
Jesus is the highest standard of moral perfection to which humankind may aspire on earth. God offers him as the most perfect model, and the doctrine he taught is the purest expression of God’s law because he was animated by the divine spirit and was the purest being that has ever walked the earth.
If some of those who claimed to teach God’s law to humans have sometimes led them astray with erroneous principles, it is because they allowed themselves to be dominated by strong earthly sentiments, and because they confused the laws regulating the conditions of the life of the soul with those regulating the life of the body. Many of them presented as divine laws what were really only human laws, created to serve their own passions and to dominate others.
626- Have the divine or natural laws been revealed to humankind only by Jesus? Before him, were they only known by intuition?
“Haven’t we stated that they are written everywhere? From the remotest times, all who have meditated on wisdom have been able to understand and teach these laws. Though their teachings were incomplete, they prepared the ground to receive the seed. Since the divine laws are written in the book of nature, men and women are able to understand them as soon as they want to look into them. That is why the precepts of the divine laws have been proclaimed by moral persons in all ages and also why we have encountered their elements – though incomplete or altered by ignorance and superstition – in the moral doctrines of all cultures that have left barbarism.”
627- Since Jesus has already taught the true laws of God, of what value are the teachings given by the Spirits? Do they really have anything more to teach us?
“Jesus’ teachings were frequently allegorical and in the form of parables because he spoke according to his time and place, but today the truth must be made intelligible for all. Thus, it is necessary to explain God’s laws more fully and elaborate on them because there are so few who understand them and still fewer who actually practice them. Our mission is to awaken eyes and ears in order to confound the proud and unmask the hypocrites who display virtue and religion outwardly in order to hide their inner turpitudes. The teaching of the Spirits must be clear and without error so that no one can feign ignorance and so that all may judge it and evaluate it with their own reason. We are in charge of preparing the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus, and that is why no one should be able to interpret the law of God according to his or her own passions or to distort the meaning of a law that is entirely love and charity.”
628- Why hasn’t the truth always been within everyone’s reach?
“Each thing must come in its own time. Truth is like light: we must accustom ourselves to it little by little; otherwise, it dazzles us.
“There has never been a time in which God allowed humankind to receive communications as complete and instructive as the ones being given today. As you know, in ancient times there were only a few individuals who were in possession of what they regarded as a sacred science, and which they kept as a mystery from other individuals, whom they considered as being profane.
You must understand from what you know of the laws governing spirit phenomena that those ancients received only fragmentary truths amongst an ambiguous, often highly symbolic collection. Nevertheless, enlightened individuals nowadays should not discount any ancient philosophical system, tradition or religion, because they all contain the seeds of great truths. Although they seem to contradict one another and are scattered among unfounded embellishments, today they are much easier to comprehend, thanks to the key that Spiritism has provided. It is a key to an infinite number of things that until now seemed unreasonable, but whose reality has recently been irrefutably demonstrated. Therefore, do not fail to make those materials subjects of your study. They are very rich in teachings and may contribute a great deal to your education.”
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