I had an interesting conversation with a spiritualist recently. She was telling me that the thought that her departed loved ones were not so departed was a comfort to her. She liked the thought that they could see her and she could talk to them and they could help her. I asked her had she any reason to believe those things were actually true, she admitted she had no real evidence.
I told her that our main concern in life ought to be ensuring our beliefs are correct rather than comforting, because if the beliefs we hold turn out to be false we could find ourselves in trouble!
In took her back to what the Lord Jesus taught about death and the afterlife, and how He said there was heaven and hell (e.g. Luke 16 v 19-31). He taught that we all deserve hell because of our sins, but He has opened a way to heaven through His sacrificial death at Calvary, and through trusting in Him and the value of His death our sins are forgiven.
She told me that if that gave me comfort then good for me, but her beliefs gave her comfort. I replied that my beliefs certainly do give me comfort, but that's because I have good reason to think they're true!!! I'm pretty sure that if I was inventing a religion merely to comfort me I'd come up with something entirely different to the Gospel, but I find comfort in the fact I'm trusting in something, or rather someone, trustworthy!
At this point I spoke to her about the evidence for the resurrection, and how it stands stronger than ever, this tells me the message is true, which means that you need Christ and will perish without Him. But if you receive Him as Lord and Saviour you'll find it's not just good for me, it's good for you too!
