Beliefs......

 

Summary

 

Detailed

 

Emanuel Swedenborg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

New Church teachings are
very simple:

  • Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth.

  • We go to heaven if we do what He teaches.

  • The Lord speaks to us in His Word, giving us the teachings we need.

  • Every story in Scripture has a deeper meaning that is directly relevant to our lives.

  • All people who sincerely live their beliefs can go to heaven.

  • Marriages can be eternal. Everyone who goes to heaven is given a soul  mate that they live with forever.

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Detailed

The Lord

There is one God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is a Divine Trinity. There is no angry God the Father who had to be appeased by the blood of the Son who will then send the Holy Spirit to save us from damnation. The Lord is Mercy itself, and with His infinite Love (the Father) He came into the world in Human form (the Son) so that we could know and picture Him and feel His effect in our lives (the Holy Spirit). Just as we might talk about a person s soul, body, and his effect on those around him, so the trinity is a way of talking about three essential aspects of the one God.

    


 

The Word

The Bible, or God's Word, is the Lord speaking to us. Through the stories, prophecies and laws the Lord has given us all the truth we need to become good people. It is told in story form so that even the most simple people can see and understand the basic messages about serving the Lord and living a good life.

The Word has an inner meaning which lies hidden like the soul in a body. Many parts of the Word can seem confusing or irrelevant. Nevertheless within every detail of the Old and New Testaments there is a deeper meaning. This deeper meaning shows us how the stories of the Word have direct relevance to our lives and tell us more about who God is and how to love Him and our neighbours.


Becoming a Good Person

We are saved by believing in the Lord, and we believe in the Lord when we do what He says. Doing what the Lord says involves two things: shunning evils because they are sins against the Lord and doing what is good because it is from the Lord. In other words we stop doing the things the Lord has told us will harm ourselves and others and we do what He tells us will help them. People of all religions who acknowledge God and live well can be saved. The Lord looks at our hearts and sees if we have sincerely done our best based on our beliefs. If we have, our hearts will be open to Him and He can save us.


Life after Death

The Lord created us to become angels in heaven and everyone who lives a good life becomes an angel immediately after death. People who reject the Lord s gift of heaven are allowed to got to hell where they are as happy as they can be, given their bad decisions. We have a body in the next life and live in a world much like this one. But all that we see around us reflects our spirit. Heaven is a vibrant, active place where we have opportunities to learn and interact and love the people we care about. It has the good parts of life in this world without the bad. And it has many more good things that we cannot experience until we get there.


Marriage

All good people have a soul mate that they will live with for eternity. People who do not find their soul mate in this world will find him or her in the next. Marriage offers the greatest possibility for growth and happiness that we humans can experience. The New Church has many teachings about marriage and how to find true happiness in it.


The Second Coming

When Jesus Christ was born on earth, some people did not realize that He was the promised Messiah because they had expected an earthly king instead of a heavenly one. It is the same with the Second Coming. People are expecting an earthly coming when in fact the Lord has already come a second time in a new and clear understanding of who He is and how He is present in our lives. The Lord accomplished His Second Coming by revealing the inner meaning of the Word in the Writings for the New Church written by Emanuel Swedenborg. When we see the inner meaning of the Word and see its relevance to our lives it is as if the Lord speaks to us in a completely new way, even in stories we may have known all our lives. This is a Second Coming of the Lord into our lives.

 

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Emanuel Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was first a scientist and then a theologian who lived in the
eighteenth century. He wrote,

 

 “The Lord's second coming is taking place by means of a man, to whom He has shown Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, so that he may teach the doctrines of the New Church, which come from the Lord through the Word.

Since the Lord cannot show Himself in person, as has just been demonstrated, and yet He predicted that He would come and found a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who can not only receive intellectually the doctrines of this church, but also publish them in print. I bear true witness that the Lord has shown Himself to me, His servant, and sent me to perform this function. After this He opened the sight of my spirit, thus admitting me to the spiritual world, and allowing me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to talk with angels and spirits; and this I have now been doing for many years without a break. Equally I assert that from the first day of my calling I have not received any instruction concerning the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but only from the Lord, while I was reading the Word.” - True Christian Religion no. 779		  

 

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