The Law of Psychic Phenomena: A working hypothesis for the systematic study of hypnotism, spiritism, mental therapeutics, etc.Hudson, Thomson Jay
Philosophy
The Law of Psychic Phenomena: A working hypothesis for the systematic study of hypnotism, spiritism, mental therapeutics, etc.
Hudson, Thomson Jay
Parapsychology
It has often been said that the laws which enable man to perceive
spiritual truths, or to apprehend the relation which his spiritual
nature bears to the Christ, cannot be formulated by any known methods
of finite reasoning, that spiritual truth must be approached from the
spiritual side, and that it must be perceived by the eye of faith.
Nevertheless, there are many who have never been able to attain that
faith in the spiritual nature of Christ, for the reason that they
persist in approaching him by and through the finite processes of
reasoning. Their conceptions of him come through the history of his
physical life, and their doubts arise through their unbelief in the
verity of the history of his physical manifestations. The history of
critical warfare upon Christianity will bear out the statement that
this is, and has ever been, the great stumbling-block. The assaults of
scepticism have always been upon the man Christ; and, being unable to
reconcile the accounts of his physical history and manifestations with
the laws of nature, as understood by his critics, sceptics have ignored
the spiritual side of his character, and ended in total unbelief in his
divine attributes.
If, therefore, the discoveries of modern science can be made to
throw any light upon the history of the man Jesus; if they confirm
all that has been said of the physical phenomena which characterized
his career,--the first great obstacle which stands in the way of the
acceptance of the essential spiritual doctrines which he promulgated
will be removed.
If, in addition to that, it can be shown that the discoveries of modern
science not only confirm the story of his physical manifestations,
but demonstrate the essential truth of the central idea which he
promulgated concerning man's immortality, show the philosophy of
his mission on earth, and prove that he was, and is, as a matter of
scientific truth, the Saviour of the souls of men, there will be little
left upon which scepticism can hang a reasonable doubt.
I undertake to say that modern science can do all this, and more.
It has often been said that the New Testament bears internal evidence
of its own truth. This is true. But it is not true in the sense in
which it has been stated. It has been said that such evidence consists
in the alleged fact that at the time when Christ lived, there was no
one else capable of formulating the code of ethics and morals which he
promulgated. That this is not true is evidenced by the writings of many
who preceded him. The golden rule itself, which may be said to embody
the noblest conception which has been given to mankind of man's duty
to his fellow-man, is found in the writings of Confucius. The code of
ethics found in the writings of the ancient Greek philosophers will
compare favorably with anything found in the New Testament. It is not
in this, therefore, that the internal evidence of the truth of the New
Testament is to be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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