Rights and Wrongs of Killing

Recently, two female police officers were killed in a gun and grenade attack in Greater Manchester. Various MPs and other leading figures have called for the return of the death penalty for such crimes.*

I wondered if you are willing to give your view on this matter and whether the spirit world has given guidance on the rights and wrongs of executing those found guilty of murder – Marcus Mackenzie, by e-mail.

All spirit teachings state that the taking of life, for whatever reason, is wrong. Thrusting a person convicted of murder into the next world creates more problems than it solves, as spirit people constantly tell us.

What is spiritually wrong cannot be physically or morally right. Murder by a citizen or the state can never be justified. Forming judgments when all the facts can never be known is an extremely dangerous step to take. As Lord Birkenhead, a former Lord Chancellor of Britain explained, his eyes were opened when he saw the effects in the spirit world.

It is worth studying his communication which came through the direct voice mediumship of Leslie Flint. In his excellent book, “Voices in the Dark,” he states that Lord Birkenhead, who passed on in 1930, manifested in his séance room and spoke eloquently and urgently for almost an hour on the necessity for total abolition of the death penalty.

He quotes him as saying: “This is an aspect of criminal law most in need of change; whether it is through the hangman’s noose or whether it is done by some other supposedly more humane method, nothing justifies the taking of life outside the law or inside it.”

Admitting the views he now expressed were quite opposed to those held on earth, Lord Birkenhead explained this by saying: “I have seen the effects on this side of life when the law sends here souls who are unprepared and unready, their minds in turmoil, filled with thoughts of hate, revenge and fear.

“These souls linger near the earth. Often what are known as carbon-copy murders are due to such earthbound revengeful entities who impinge their thoughts on individuals in your world who may already be mentally unstable and cause them to commit the same kind of crime for which the entity forfeited his life under the law.”

As an alternative to capital punishment, Lord Birkenhead suggested that “the unfortunate people who commit murder could be put to useful work.

“They should be made to serve society in some way and given the opportunity to work out their own salvation and repentance.”

Towards the end of his impressive speech, he declared: “There is no death. We live and try constantly to inspire you. I ask you, I beg of you, I plead with you to do all in your power to bring this truth to all humanity.”

This may be a “How long is a piece of string?” question, but how much free will do you think we have in our lives? I really cannot work out how much is preordained or due to fate and our own decisions – Susan Simpson, Manchester.

In answer to a question about this subject, Silver Birch once stated: “You have free will. You may make your choice. Life is not chance, accident or even coincidence. The whole of life is governed by immutable natural law.

“Whatever aspect of being you examine, it is due to natural law. Human beings are not outside the operation of natural law. They are integral parts of it.

“There is a limitation placed by natural law on what man can do to the planet on which he lives. He cannot destroy the whole of the planet and all that it contains. Now this is part of man’s free will, his choice as to whether he will rise to the divinity within him or whether he will fail.

“In that case, he will not fulfill himself. He will pass to our world unequipped and unready, and have to learn all over again.

“No man, and no combination of men, have the power to thwart divine will. They can delay, they can harass and they can impede.”

The guide continued: “Infinite wisdom and love rule the universe. These will prevail because that is the law. The whole of life is regulated by natural laws. Nothing is left to freakishness, to miracles or to chance.

“All is cause and effect, sowing and reaping, otherwise the universe would be chaotic. You have evidence of the  infinite plan of an infinite intelligence in the operation of natural laws wherever you look.

“It is to be seen in the sequence of the seasons, the movement of planets and galaxies, the ebb and flow of tides and the growth of a myriad forms of floral life, where natural law reigns supreme.

“So there is the limit which the divine power has placed because nothing can occur beyond the framework of natural law. But there are laws within laws. There are not only physical laws; there are mental and spiritual ones.

“You live, you breathe, you exist. You have your being because from the moment of conception spirit begins to associate with matter in individual form and gradually that individuality unfolds.

“It is part of the plan that you should have an element of free will, the power and the ability to make choices in certain circumstances.

“Used for its best and highest, you can play your part in the spiritual unfoldment and evolution of the race, the world, the universe and the cosmos because your spirit is part of the Great Spirit.

“You share in the divinity that is responsible for all that exists everywhere. You are the Great Spirit in microcosm. All that the Great Spirit has of that infinity you have. You will have eternity in which to unfold it.

“Your free will is limited because your choice is restricted. There is another limitation placed on your free will. It is the mental and spiritual stage which you have reached in your development.”

Silver Birch added: “You are free to kill, but your character will ensure that you refrain. So even when you have choices these are limited by who and what you are at the time. Like many things in the universe you have a paradox. You have free will within limitation all the time.

“Now I must go a stage further because you introduced the question of karma. This, too, is a very important consideration because many of those who have work to do in your world chose to do it beforehand. Though awareness may not come immediately, the choice imposes another restriction in free will.

“Nobody has perfect free will. It is free will within a restricted range. Your will is subject to circumstances which you cannot control. The soul knows before it reincarnates what it has to achieve.”

* From Two Worlds Magazine. Founded in 1887