Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 161
Some Observations on the Life of Jesus by R. C. E. SKOLFIELD I am honoured to be speaking here today, in the company of many learned friends and scholars. I am not a scholar, but rather a sceptic. I am not an Ahmadi, but independent and holding to my own views. I am a spiritualist by sympathy and find that its teachings are lofty and understandable, about the Great Spirit, whom we call GOD, of the North American Red Indians, for example. Spiritualist philosophy is very impressive, and embraces all religions and all men as brothers. It is not like sectarian religion which forms itself into small groups (not altogether desireable and in many instances praiseworthy) but is all loving. I was brought up in the country in a conventional English way in the Christian teaching. My father was a school teacher and we worked with the clergyman who often lived near and took a natural interest in the life of the school. My father used to play the harmonium for the services on Sundays and my mother was active in social life in the village. As a child, the Christian teaching did not impress me and seemed remote. I imagined Jesus floating around in the sky somewhere. The church services appeared rather grim with their emphasis on blood and wounding, threats of hell fire on cold winter mornings, and the Great Redeemer in the Sky waiting to penalise me for my sins, with Eternal Damnation. It was not until the death of my mother that I began to seek out religion and began to wonder if it would have made me a better 153