Spiritualism. Heated Discussions.

Why does Spiritualism cause so many arguments and heated discussions?
I am a member of many sites regarding Spiritualism and the truth of it.

I love good discussions of the subject but when things become too heated,it spoils the discussion itself and the subject itself becomes lost in the heat.
It is not often I see this in any other subject but Spiritualism seems to draw the rancour from members.
Not so much on this site,but have seen so much anger on some sites,it becomes embarrassing.

Why should the subject of 'life after death' draw such anger?

Deepsea

[Gem]

Originally Posted by deepsea

Why does Spiritualism cause so many arguments and heated discussions?
I am a member of many sites regarding Spiritualism and the truth of it.

I love good discussions of the subject but when things become too heated,it spoils the discussion itself and the subject itself becomes lost in the heat.
It is not often I see this in any other subject but Spiritualism seems to draw the rancour from members.
Not so much on this site,but have seen so much anger on some sites,it becomes embarrassing.

Why should the subject of 'life after death' draw such anger?

Deepsea

Doesn't matter, it gets angry for a while then it goes back to normal again. Ususally the thread gets closed though, so you rarely see the whole wave.

[psychoslice]

Because its a belief, and those who hold beliefs will do anything to protect them, also once you organize a belief such as Spiritualism, you destroy the truth of Spirit.

No belief Robbie, that's where you are going way wrong mate (the times you have been told)
Find the evidence of survival first and then have a look at 'Spiritualism'. Some find the evidence though from the inside looking out. Up to the individual I guess.
Don't expect a discussion on this from me again Rob. It's been done to death (no pun)

Good work re that other thing. Cheers bud.

G

There you see......disagreement already.

Behave G.

I did post this topic a little tongue in cheek.
Here,it is great,good discussions.
A little flare now and again,a bucket of water and we all shut up.

I have seen some right battles on other sites,quite disagreeable in fact.
When it gets to that stage,I step back and become a witness to the insults (including the rotten fruit that is thrown. )

Carry on,it's getting interesting.
Deepsea

That's not dissagreement J. It's fact. Like the evidence that Spiritualism tries to present in a structured way. Life continues after physical death. Look for the tonnes of evidence that is out there. Then look at Spiritualism. We aint far off the mark J'nie. No belief mate, just hard facts. Lordy, the folk who I have seen leaving church for example, in the sure knowledge that their loved ones have not 'gone' and the love they still have for those 'left behind'. The teachers who come through the mediums that speak of spirit, who leave people emotionally moved and more in the light of understanding than when they went through those doors. Hundreds of times I have seen it. The physical phenomena I have witnessed, the tonnes of absolute evidence that I have amassed, not just me, thousands of others as well.
Call it a religion, a gaziliobod, a grouping, call it whatever you like -- because J'nie we are 'on it'. Proving survival every day of the year. No religion, gaziliobod, or grouping as far as I know is doing it, not like we are.



G

You're right,Glen.

I've had more evidence than I could handle at times.
Plus without receiving any messages from mediums.
When you hear that 'voice' you know so well,right in the ear,you don't need evidence given by anyone else.
You just know!

Psycho is doing what he does well - winding up those known to be enthusiastic supporters. He understands but pretends he doesn't....

Heated debate shows that at least someone is reading and responding - problem is it's often the same few individuals!

I still find it puzzling, though, that in a Spiritualism forum are found detractors who just love to 'have a go' even though they often have no understanding - evident from what they write. I say all that on the basis of a long period of interchanges with such individuals.

Few can structure their arguments against what's taught in Spiritualism and often arguments are simply about peripheral issues or individuals' pet hates - sometimes a lot of 'em.....

ATTENTION TO MEMBERS.

Can you PLEASE remember the SF's respect rule. The thread will not be closed except for childish stone throwing. Agree to disagree, thrash it out but please remember everyone is entitled to their own opinions, truths and beliefs.

Thanks
Jules
SF Staff

Serious debate about all sorts of spiritual/energetic issues can happen w/o it being inappropriate. For some, debate in any way is anathema, while for others it is a productive exploration of the nuances of an idea. It is possible to have respectful debates.

When the issue is w/ the person rather than what they are saying, this is moving past the area of productive debate to that of a personal attack. Using a personal attack when discussing an issue is one of the weakest ways to debate an issue. Personal attacks usually mean the attacker has noting cogent to say about the comment whose writer they are personally attacking. There is a very big difference from saying, essentially, this idea is problematic for abc-xyz & YOU are problematic for saying it. The person can change, but the idea doesn’t.

Spiritualism may cause heated discussions as some consider it to be a religion. As w/ discussion about other religious beliefs, some can be touchy about their own chosen beliefs. The major organized religions have tried to make their beliefs beyond being questioned & this is viewed by many as problematic. As the following link of spiritualist churches shows, spiritualist churches are only in a few English speaking countries. In the US Spiritualism churches are only in slightly over half of the states, so many in the US may be completely unaware that Spiritualism is a religion for some. Those in non-English speaking countries may have never heard of it. Spiritualism churches seem to be more common in the UK.
http://www.spiritualist.tv/churches/

As a religion Spiritualism’s peak membership worldwide from 1840-1920 was about 8M worldwide. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism) This list shows Spiritism at 14th on the list w/ 2.5M followers worldwide w/ the top 6 categories being about 5.3 billion (low end estimate). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups)

Some look at our having a life force (spirit/soul) that survives the physical body’s death more as an energetic or metaphysical issue rather than a religious or spiritual one. Many see our spirit as a simple energetic fact like our having chakras, energy meridians, & an aura or the various systems of the physical body (circulatory, skeletal, etc.). Like all beliefs that are religions, these are entirely subjective.

It seems that some heated discussions in the spiritualism forum are from those who are offended when posts pop up that may not be consistent w/ what they feel the forum is intended for, which seems to be strictly the discussion of spiritualism as a religion, even though many would see many other related subjects to be applicable. It is worthwhile to be patient w/ those who may not know what spiritualism is given that it is primarily in English speaking countries, so some posters may have never heard that this is a religion. Others may not see the difference between the Spiritualism category & the Spirituality or Spiritual Development category or may have thought they were posting in one of the 2nd or 3rd ones.

While it could be useful to place a permanent first post explaining the difference between Spiritualism & Spirituality to assist those in placing their post where it will be most effective, I’m more concerned about making posters who may be completely unaware that Spiritualism is a religion or who just don’t know where to post feel as if they have committed an infraction about posting something about spirit in this category. For those who are concerned about this issue, it is very easy to let them know in a friendly, noncritical informative manner that spiritualism is considered to be a religion by some.

REBUKING someone who posts something about spirit in the Spiritualism forum publicly will likely make them less likely to post on the whole forum. If a post needs to be moved to another category, surely this can be requested to a site official via PM w/o publicly EMBARRASSING the poster by chastising them for posting in the wrong category. This type of public rebuke that often has a very sharp tone can be very off-putting & is more than enough to cause some to leave a site or never ask another question again, even in another forum category. If the objective is to give them cause to want to explore Spiritualism as a religion, their question that may be perceived as clumsy or tediously newbie may be an opportunity to explain things about Spiritualism that would make them feel welcoming to the subject. Rebukes seldom accomplish this.