THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM

Allan Kardec

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8. The maxim - without charity there is no salvation - stands upon a universal principle and opens the door to supreme happiness for all of God's children, whereas the dogma - without the church there is no salvation - rests not upon a fundamental faith in God and the immortality of the soul, which is a belief common to all religion, but on a special faith, in particular dogmas, which are exclusive and absolute. Far from uniting God's children, it separates them. Instead of inciting them to love their brothers and sisters, it feeds upon and sanctions the irritations between various sectarians of the different cults, who reciprocally consider each other to be eternally damned, despite the fact that these same sectarians may be relations or friends. Therefore by despising the great law of equality in the presence of the tomb, it separates people one from another, even in the area of repose. The maxim without charity there is no salvation consecrates the principle of equality before God and freedom of conscience. By taking this as a norm, all men and women become brothers and sisters, whatever their way of worshipping the Creator, holding up their hands and praying for each other. But with the dogma - without the church there is no salvation - they excommunicate and persecute each other reciprocally, living as enemies. The father does not ask after his son, nor the son after his father, nor a friend after his friend, since they consider themselves mutually condemned without possible remission. Therefore it is a dogma which is essentially against the teaching of Christ and the evangelic laws.

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