From the doctrinal principle of Atonement, by Allan Kardec

Paulo Degering R Jr
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A Brazilian Spiritist group, with unquestionable merit for its approach to practical Spiritism through evocations and dialog with the Spirits, recently published an article in which, having evoked the Spirit of Allan Kardec, he supposedly commented on the ten Moisaic laws - the Ten Commandments. In this evocation, he said something about atonement that caught our attention.

We don't doubt the possibility of this Spirit communicating. In fact, he must be very keen to do this essentially spiritist work, wherever he is called. However, reading the comments attributed to him, we find the following:

Who punishes the iniquity of the fathers in the children who hate me to the third generation.

"That would be a denial of God's sovereign justice and supreme goodness. Truly, this is what has been said: everyone will be punished for his sin. Isn't that a refutation of these sad words? The guilty atone for their faults, for which they have no regretsin a series of painful incarnations."

Spiritist Review Group. "Explanations of the Ten Commandments given by the Spirits". Available at https://www.revistaespirita.net/pt-br/artigo/184/explicacoes-dos-dez-mandamentos-dadas-pelos-espiritos. Accessed on 01/12/2023. Emphases added.

The conclusion is not correct. I ask you to bear with me amicably, because I'm not here to throw stones at anyone.

"The guilty atone for their faults, which they do not repent of, in a succession of painful incarnations." This leads to the idea that atonement is a punishment given by God to unrepentant spirits:

The word atone means to purify, to pay for sins. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can purify ourselves in order to be reconciled with our Heavenly Father.

Available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/true-to-the-faith/atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

This cannot be Kardec's thinking. The third edition of Heaven and Hell contains the following, later removed in the adulteration of this work:

“8º) The duration of the punishment is subordinated to the improvement of the guilty spirit. No condemnation for a fixed time is pronounced against him. What God requires to put an end to suffering is repentance, atonement, and reparation—in short: a serious, effective improvement, as well as a sincere return to the good.”

The spirit is thus always the arbiter of its own destiny; he can prolong his sufferings by his hardening in evil, alleviate them or abbreviate them by his efforts to do good.

A sentence for any given period of time would have the double disadvantage of either continuing to affect the spirit that had been perfected, or ending while it was still in evil. God, who is just, punishes evil while it exists; and ends punishment when evil no longer exists.

Thus this expression is confirmed: I do not want the sinner to die, but for him to live, and I will accuse him UNTIL HE REPENTS

Then, in a passage removed in the 5th edition of The Genesis, he states:

"Far from replacing one exclusivism with another, Spiritism presents itself as the absolute champion of freedom of conscience. It combats fanaticism in all its forms, cutting it out at the root, announcing salvation for all good people, as well as the possibility for the most imperfect to reach, through their efforts, through atonement and reparation, the unique perfection that leads to supreme happiness. Instead of discouraging the weak, it encourages them by showing them the port they can reach."

Of course the atonement is a result of the Spirit's repentance. Before that he only suffers remorse, but sincere repentance puts him on the conscious path of reparation through atonement, the fruit of his choices (remorse and regret are different things). This is the result of all Kardec's long years of study and research, and is constantly evidenced in the Spiritist Review.

The clear evidence of adulteration, especially in Heaven and Hell, have disfigured the doctrine and tarnished Kardec's reputation as a fool who contradicts himself or someone who has lost his capacity for judgment. We have shown that item 10 of the 4th edition of this work demonstrates, without a doubt, that there has been tampering, and this tampering does not allow us to know the reality of Kardec's conclusions.

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