About truth, charity and salvation according to Jesus
Davilson Silva

“Even if I spoke the language of men and the language of the angels themselves, if I don’t posses charity, I’d be just like that bronze that sounds and a cymbal that resonates.” ¹ – This is how Paul of Tarsus began one of the most admirable and coherent letters to the community of Corinth in Greece of his time.

As far as this virtue is concerned, the organized priesthood that took over the absolute truth, from the fourth century on, has also produced letters. In one of the pontific circulars, dated 7^th of July, 2009, the Caritas in Veritate (Charity in the Truth), in the 1^st paragraph it becomes visible the odd doctrine of “redemption by the blood of Christ”, that, at first, states:

Charity, in the truth, that Jesus Christ witnessed with his earthly life and, above all, with his death and resurrection, is the main driving force for the true development of each person and the whole of mankind.

Their truth

In another excerpt of this encyclical, in the 2^nd paragraph, it states that “charity must be understood and practiced in light of the truth”. Whoever reads it, will soon understand that this “truth”, obviously, is the organized priesthood’s. That is to say: who does not adhere to the truth of salvation through faith, cannot be saved. (the referred encyclical is available on the Internet.)

Concerning the concept of “salvation”, Jesus himself never stated, or even implied such nonsense. His doctrine is about the highest of all commandments² and nothing more. To save oneself, according to Jesus, means to fulfill the order of the Higher Law, which is about the love of all creatures, your neighbor and the nearest to you.

Without the higher moral commitment that recommends “love God above all else and your neighbor as yourself”,  the incarnated creature (and disincarnated!) will never hold the kingdom of God. Let’s remind ourselves that that kingdom does not belong to this world nor possesses an exterior form, being essentially a state of peace, of tranquil consciousness. Such state of well-being, sublimates him the accomplished duty by the generous action towards some or many.

Nothing but a liar

The good to others, to your neighbor, and finally, to what that surrounds or involves all living creatures and nature, provides this state of spirit and makes the benefactor the happiest of the beings even in the face of the ungrateful, the jealous, the slanderers and all the trials and tribulations of existence. It is unconceivable! If anyone claims to have within him this one kingdom, and at the same time disrespects other people’s beliefs, he builds barriers such as prejudice and unwillingness, thus judging condemning and denigrating respectable institutions. He is nothing but a liar.

One more thing religious intolerance and prejudice have produced is injustice and cruelty. The actions of the Holy Tribunal Office, the Holy Wars and  not to mention Jesus making it very clear the second commandment, besides loving God with all your heart and soul: “(…) You shall love your neighbor like yourself” (Mathew, 13, 30-40).

However, Christian religions and sects take Paul’s mistake referring to charity and faith, placing one in front of the other, in order to keep the dogma of “grace and salvation through faith”, in contrast with the moral of the Gospel. For this and other points of doctrine, foreign to the thought of the Master of Nazareth, they even defined the Church as “the only bastion of the truth”, based on the first epistle by the same Apostle (Timothy, 3,15).

For these and other reasons that this sentencing Christianity collides with “now these three virtues: faith, hope and charity linger on, charity being the most excellent”, from Paul himself (Corinthians, 13, 13); with “as well as faith, without work, is dead in itself” from James the Apostle (James, 2, 17).

Charity, and not the truth of a, b or c

Charity, as understood by Jesus, and confirmed by the Spiritualistic Doctrine, is and will always be the only path to salvation, and not according to the truth of a, b or c. By the way, modern biblical editions wisely substituted the term charity by love, overshadowing the brightness of the sense given by the Master. Hence, according to Spiritualism, it is not limited to giving to the poor material things; from the spiritualistic viewpoint, charity goes from donating “one coin” to “forgiving the enemy”. To forgive the enemy is about moral charity for having as principle Humility, the highest of virtues, hence Jesus placing it as the first item of beatitudes, during the Sermon of the Mount (Mt., 5,3). ³   

Salvation, according to the Doctrine, does not have to do with “eternal punishment” not even to the salvation from temptations of infernal beings, and not with hell itself. Paul – not the one from the letter to the Ephesians (Ef., 2,8) when he wrote: “by grace you shall be saved through faith”, but Paul when he wrote to the Romans (Rom., 2,6) “God shall reward each and every one according to your deeds” – understood that salvation occurs by practicing the good, by actions that stem from the charitable feeling. “Works”, in this case, is the same as we understand as charity, that is to say, the sum of all the virtues of the soul, because from it comes the benevolence towards all creatures, and is within everyone’s reach: from the ignorant to the scholar, from the poor to the rich, regardless of any particular belief. ⁴  

No philosophy, religion or sect has the privilege of absolute truth. Salvation means evolution; and it only has to do with ourselves; without it, we get stuck in error and suffering. If we don’t fight our bad tendencies, if we don’t overcome addictions and flaws, we shall never evolve and, therefore, it will become harder to see the Kingdom of Heaven in us, beatitudes or perfect happiness. This is only achieved through a deep reform of temperament, and Jesus has already done his part; He taught us well how to do it.

So let us leave with this beautiful illation by the Spirit Emmanuel:

(…) To save, in the true meaning of the word, is to “get rid of ruin or danger”, to “conserve”, “defend” yourself, to “take shelter”, and none of these terms exempts the person the responsibility of conducting himself and improve. A ship saved from imminent risk is not free from the journey, during which she will encounter new dangers. And a sick man spared from death is not allowed to continue existing, outsmarting trials and temptations. (…) Peter, saved from indecision, is compelled to work until exhaustion. Paul, saved from cruelty, is constrained to the maximum effort, for his own renovation, until the ultimate sacrifice. ⁵

References:

¹ KARDEC, Allan. O Evangelho segundo o Espiritismo. Tradução Herculano Pires. 62. ed. São Paulo: Lake — Livraria Allan Kardec Editora, 2001. Cap. 15, do item 1 ao 3, p. 197.

² Idem, ibidem. Item 4 e 5, p. 199.

³ Idem, ibidem. Cap. 7.^o, item 1 ao 13, p. 105.

⁴ Idem. O Livro dos Espíritos. Tradução Herculano Pires. 62. Ed. São Paulo: Lake — Livraria Allan Kardec Editora, 2001. Cap. 11, questão 886, p. 292.

⁵ XAVIER, Francisco C. Palavras de Vida Eterna (Espírito Emmanuel). 13. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Federação Espírita Brasileira (FEB), 1989. Tema 153, p. 322.

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