The Doctrine Of Life

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SpiritualSon

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Repentance is the first stage in the development of the church.

The communion known as a church is composed of as many people as have the church in them.The church enters into a person when he is being regenerated.

Everyone is regenerated by abstaining from sinful evils, and shunning them as sins.

As a person advances into early manhood there are many ways in which he is prepared for the church and brought into it; but it is acts of repentance which really bring this about in him.

By acts of repentance are meant all that prevent him from willing and so from doing the evil actions which are sins against God. For until this happens, he stands outside the process of regeneration.

If at that time any thought about everlasting salvation occurs to him, he may incline towards it, but very soon he turns his back on it.

It does not reach further into him than the ideas he is thinking about, though from these it may emerge as spoken words, possibly also as gestures in keeping with what he says.

On the other hand, when it enters the will, it becomes a part of the person, for the will is the real person, because it is where his love resides.

Thought lies outside him, unless it comes out of his will. If so, will and thought act as one and together make up the person.

The consequence of this is that for repentance to be genuine and effective in a person, it must come from the will, and from thought coming from the will, not from thought alone. In other words, it must be expressed in action, not merely on the lips.

The Word establishes plainly that repentance is the first stage in the development of the church.

John the Baptist, who was sent beforehand to prepare people for the church the Lord was to found, preached repentance at the same time as he was baptising.

His baptism was therefore called a baptism of repentance, because baptism means spiritual washing, or being cleansed from sins.

He did this in the Jordan, because the Jordan meant being brought into the church, since it was the first boundary of the land of Canaan, which was where the church was.

The Lord Himself too preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins. By this He taught that repentance is the first stage in the development of the church, and that to the extent that a person repents, his sins are distanced from him.To the extent they are distanced, they are forgiven.

Moreover, the Lord laid upon the twelve Apostles, as well as the seventy He sent out, the duty of preaching repentance.

repentance is the first stage in the development of the church.

Without the acts of true repentance on the man’s part, his works of charity mean nothing, for the man alone is in the works,not the Lord with the man.

To bring forth good fruit is to repent from doing evil.When the man does this the Lord enter him. All the man’s good works are true and good.

Harry
 
Is this a summary of your beliefs as a Swedenborgian? If so, how do you know Emmanuel Swedenborg got it right when he had a New Revelation sometime between his birth in 1688 and 1783 when the first group formed to study his writings?

Thanks.
 
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Katholikos:
Is this a summary of your beliefs as a Swedenborgian? If so, how do you know Emmanuel Swedenborg got it right when he had a New Revelation sometime between his birth in 1688 and 1783 when the first group formed to study his writings?

Thanks.
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I am a New Church member.Swedenborgian is just a name other churches gave us. Swedenborg didn’t start the New Church. It started after his death in 1772.He knew what date and hour he would die.It will takes a Catholic a long time to understand the writings of Swedenborg,because of their Catechism.The Catholic Catechism and Swedenborg’s Writings do not mix. The New Church does not believe there was a trinity of three Divine persons before creation,and from this a Son of God was sent down to assume a human and be our Saviour and Redeemer. But the doctrine of three Divine persons before creation contradicts writings in the Old Testament,especially in Isaiah.

**I Jehovah will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light of the nations. I Jehovah, this is My name and My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6-8).

Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God. Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior (Isa.45:14,15).

**“Thou shalt have no other God before **Me;” Where does the other two Divine persons fit in?.
Christ the Savior (Luke 2:11)( John 4:42). The Father and Son are the same Person,because there is only one Redeemer and Saviour.

God and the God of Israel the Savior and Redeemer (Luke 1:47; Isa. 45:15; 54:5; Ps. 78:35).

Jehovah the Holy One of Israel the Savior and Redeemer (Isa. 41:14; 43:3, 11, 14, 15; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5).

Jehovah the Savior,Redeemer,and Former (Isa. 44:6; 47:4; 49:26; 54:8; 63:16; 50:34; Ps. 19:14; 130:7, 8; 2 Sam. 22:2, 3).

Jehovah God the Redeemer and Savior, and besides Me there is none else (Isa. 43:11; 44:6; 45:14-15, 21-22; Hos. 13:4). **
Am I not Jehovah, and there is no God beside Me? There is no righteous God and Saviour beside Me. Isa. 45:21, 22.

I am Jehovah,and there is no Saviour beside Me. Isa. 43:11.

I am Jehovah your God, and you are not to acknowledge any God beside Me,and there is no Saviour beside Me. Hosea 13:4.

Jehovah God the Father was not speaking for Himself and another person as one.He was speaking for Himself only, without no other.There are no other gods equal to Him.

The was no Son of God until Jehovah God took on a Human Form and became Man under the name Jesus Christ. **
I am Jehovah,and there is no Saviour beside Me. Isa. 43:11.

The name Jesus means Divine Good,and the name Christ means Divine Truth.Divine Truth,which means Christ,is the Messiah .

Jehovah God gave Himself that name,Jesus Christ, not to another person that never was.
**
**The “Holy Spirit,” which came upon Mary,signifies the Divine Truth.The "power of the Most High,"which overshadowed her,signifies,the Divine Good from which it exists.The Divine Essence of Jehovah God is Divine Good and Divine Truth,and these make one in Jehovah God.

It was Jehovah God who became Man.
The words “in the day” **and “in that time;” in which, by “day,” and “time,” is meant that **Jehovah God came into this world.
**
****The days come that I will establish the good word. In those days and at that time, will I make a righteous offshoot unto David. In those days shall Judah be saved (Jer. 33:14-16). This means Jehovah God is the Word. He didn’t say establish the Word through a second person.
**In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of darkness Isaiah(29:18). **

I will search for My flock in the day that he shall be in the midst of his flock; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered, in the day of cloud and of thick darkness (Ezek. 34:11-12).

In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities (Ezek.36:33). **

It shall be said in that day********, Lo, this is our God we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah, we have waited for Him; we will rejoice and be glad in His salvation (Isa. 25:9).

Harry

**
 
it seems luther opened the floodgates…all kinds of people now are having new “revelations” or “discovering” new truths in the Bible. .instead of making up a new religion, why not stck with one Christ founded…the Catholic Church?
 
Spiritualson,

sorry if the previous post seemed uncharitable…i wrote it quickly while juggling children…could you, in like a paragraph and without quoting a lot of material from your religion, just explain some of its main tennets. I heard of Swenberg (however his name is spelled) in college, but have forgotten all details of his “movement.”

thanks and God bless
 
Tom of Assisi:
it seems luther opened the floodgates…all kinds of people now are having new “revelations” or “discovering” new truths in the Bible. .instead of making up a new religion, why not stck with one Christ founded…the Catholic Church?
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It is time to see the truth.The real truth.

Harry
 
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SpiritualSon:
It is time to see the truth.The real truth.

Harry
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I’m not sure, but I don’t think you answered my question. :confused:
 
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SpiritualSon:
It is time to see the truth.The real truth.

Harry
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I’m not sure, but I don’t think you answered my question. :confused:
 
Spiritual son,

still waiting for the main features of your religion…the “real truth” part of it that you mentioned sounds interesting enough…could you expand on that a little more for me…?
 
Tom of Assisi:
Spiritual son,

still waiting for the main features of your religion…the “real truth” part of it that you mentioned sounds interesting enough…could you expand on that a little more for me…?
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I have a thread call “The truth about God”.It is in the non- catholic forum.I am sorry it took me a month to answer you. This thread concerns the doctrine of life,which is charity. I haven’t received any e-mail from this thread.

Harry
 
Tom of Assisi:
it seems luther opened the floodgates…all kinds of people now are having new “revelations” or “discovering” new truths in the Bible. .instead of making up a new religion, why not stck with one Christ founded…the Catholic Church?
Click to expand...
Because the Catholic Church worships one God in three persons. God is one Person, just as the soul,body and spirit make one person in man.God is one,in Person and in Essence. Swedenborg’s writings is for help the person better understand the Holy Word. There two sense of the Holy Word, one natural and one spiritual.The Catholic Church only believes in the natural sense of the Holy Word because God spoke it.

The spiritual sense is what is lacking in the church. The Spiritual sense of the Holy Word are called correspondences.

When the Lord preached naturally before man,He also preached spiritually before the angels in heaven. But man was created to understand like an angel, because both an angel and man have a will and understanding.

Harry
 
Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one’s sins, appealing to the Lord for help and beginning a new life.

There are in the Word many passages and plain sayings of the Lord which establish that the act of repentance is definitely required, and a person’s salvation depends upon it. The following quotations will serve for the present.

John preached the baptism of repentance and said, Produce fruit worthy of repentance. Luke 3:3, 8; Mark 1:4.

Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent. Matt. 4:17.

And He said, Repent, because the kingdom of God is at hand. Mark 1:14, 15.

Again:

Unless you have repented, you will all perish. Luke 13:5.

Jesus told his disciples that they should in His name preach to all nations repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12.

Therefore Peter preached repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. Acts 2:38. Peter also said:

Repent and be converted, so that your sins may be wiped out for you. Acts 3:19.

Paul preached to all everywhere that they should repent. Acts 17:30.

Paul also announced in Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout the whole district of Judaea, and to the gentiles, that they should repent, turn towards God and do deeds worthy of repentance. Acts 26:20.

He also preached both to Jews and to Greeks repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.

Harry
 
Tom of Assisi:
Spiritual son,

still waiting for the main features of your religion…the “real truth” part of it that you mentioned sounds interesting enough…could you expand on that a little more for me…?
Click to expand...
True repentance means not only examining what one does in one’s life, but also what one intends in one’s will to do.

The reason why true repentance means not only examining what one does in one’s life, but also what one intends in one’s will to do, is that deeds are the product of the understanding and the will. Thought is what makes a person speak and the will is what makes him act, so speech is thought speaking and action is the will acting.

Since this is the origin of all speech and action, it follows without a doubt that it is those two which sin when the body does. A person too can repent of the evils he has physically committed, but still think and will evil.

This is like cutting down the trunk of a tree that is no good, but leaving its root in the ground.The same tree grows up again and spreads itself around. But it is different if the root too is pulled up; and this is what happens in a person when he examines at the same time the intentions present in his will, and rids himself of evils by repentance.

A person can examine what in his will he intends to do by examining his thoughts, for intentions show up in these. He can do so, for instance, if he thinks about, wills and intends revenge, adultery, theft, false witness and longings for these things, as well as blasphemy against God, the holy Word and the church, and so on. In these circumstances, if he concentrates his mind on this and investigates whether he would do these acts if fear of the law or of losing his reputation did not prevent him, if after investigation he thinks that he does not will these acts because they are sins, then he is truly and inwardly penitent.

Even more does he do so, when he takes pleasure in those evils and at the same time is free to commit them, but still he desists and abstains. If he does this repeatedly, he finds the pleasures he gets from those evils become with repetition unpleasant to him, and he ends by consigning them to hell. This is what is meant by the Lord’s words:

If anyone wants to find his soul, he will lose it, and if anyone loses his soul for my sake, he will find it. Matt. 10:39.

A person who rids himself of the evils in his will by this kind of repentance is like the man who at the right time uproots from his field the tares sown by the devil, so that the seeds planted by the Lord God the Saviour find the ground unencumbered and grow into a crop (Matt: 13:24-30).

Harry
 
**Faith separated from charity is no faith. A faith of this kind is lost in the other life. Teachings about faith alone destroy charity. Those who separate faith from charity are represented in the Word by Cain, Ham, Reuben, by the first-born of the Egyptians and by the Philistines.

The further charity is withdrawn, the stronger becomes the dogma of faith alone. A church in course of time turns aside from charity to faith, and finally to faith alone In the final period of a church there is no faith because there is no charity.

If anyone regards faith alone as offering salvation, he is excusing wickedness of life; and those who lead wicked lives have no faith, because they have no charity.

These people are inwardly subject to the falsities of their own evil, although they do not know it. Consequently good cannot be linked to them.

In the other life too they oppose good and those who have good in them. Those who are simple at heart know better than the wise what constitutes goodness of life,and so charity, but not what faith is separately.

Harry**
 
**The principal reason why real repentance is highly distasteful in the world of the Protestant Christian churches is their belief that repentance and charity contribute nothing to salvation, which is due to faith alone.

Faith, they hold, being imputed brings with it the forgiveness of sins, justification, renewal, regeneration, sanctification and everlasting salvation, without a person co-operating of himself or as if of himself.

Their theologians call co-operation useless and a hindrance to Christ’s merit, something repugnant and harmful. The common people, though ignorant of the mysteries of that belief, have this idea implanted in them merely by hearing it said, that ‘faith alone saves,’ and ‘no one can do good of himself.’ It is because of this that repentance among the Protestants is like a nest full of chicks abandoned when the birds have been caught and killed by a fowler.

An accessory reason is that the so-called ‘reformed’ person associates in his spirit only with those in the spiritual world who are like him. They put ideas like this into his thoughts, and divert him from his course towards introspection and self-examination.

Harry

**
 
After confession
**When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I went out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and garnished, then he goes away, and takes to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

“The unclean spirit going out of a man,” signifies the repentance of him who is in evil. His “walking through dry places and not finding rest” signifies that to such a person, a life of good is of that quality.

“The house” into which he returned, and which he found empty, swept,and garnished, signifies the man himself, and his will, as being without good.

“The seven spirits” which he took to himself and with whom he returned, signify evil conjoined to good; “his state then being worse than his former,” signifies profanation. This is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to the man whom He healed in the Pool of Bethesda:
Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).

Also by these words of the Lord:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).

“To be converted and healed,” signifies to profane, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected, which would have been the case if the Jews had been converted and healed.

The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they have acknowledged remain, and also the evil and falsity,and because they cohere, a tearing asunder of the life takes place.

The greatest care is therefore taken by the Lord, to prevent profanation. Therefore man is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain to the end of life.

On this account man is kept in ignorance, and in external worship. The Lord also stores up the goods and truths which man has received by acknowledgment, in his interiors.

If interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the church is at its end. Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and opened interior truths, when the church was vastated.

Harry
**
 
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