358. (c) We are also able to acquire the life within faith and goodwill for ourselves. The situation is again the same. We acquire this life as we go to the Lord, who is life itself. No one's access to him is blocked. He constantly invites every person to come toward him. He says,

Those who come to me will not hunger; those who believe in me will never thirst. Those who come to me I will not throw out the door. (John 6:35, 37)

Jesus stood and cried out, "If any are thirsty, they must come to me and drink. " (John 7:37)

The kingdom of the heavens is like someone who put on a wedding for his son and sent his servants to call those who had been invited. Finally he said, "Go to the ends of the streets and invite any people you find to the wedding. " (Matthew 22:19)

Surely everyone knows that the Lord's invitation or calling is universal. So is the grace to accept it.

By going to the Lord, we gain life because the Lord is life itself. He is not only the life within faith but also the life within goodwill. It is clear from the following passages that this life is the Lord and comes to us from the Lord:

In the beginning was the Word. In it there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. (John 1:1, 4)

Just as the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so also the Son brings to life those whom he wishes to. (John 5:21)

As the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26)

The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (John 6:33)

The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)

Jesus said,

Those who follow me will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

I have come so that they may have life and abundance. (John 10:10)

Those who believe in me, even if they die, they will live. (John 11:25)

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

Because I live, you too will live. (John 14:19)

These things have been written so that you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

He is eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

"The life within faith and goodwill" means the spiritual life the Lord gives people in their earthly lives.

417. Loving Our Neighbor Is Not in Fact Loving the Person but Loving the Goodness That Is inside the Person

Surely everyone knows that people are not people because they have a human face and body - they are people because they have wisdom in their intellect and goodness in their will. The higher the quality of this wisdom and goodness, the more human the people are.

When people are born they are more brutish than any animal. They become human through being instructed. If they are responsive to the instruction, a mind forms within them. People are human because of their mind, depending on its particular nature.

There are animals that have faces that are close to human, but they have no faculty for higher understanding or for taking any action on the basis of that understanding. They act on an instinct that is activated by their earthly love. One difference between animals and people is that animals express in sound the feelings belonging to their love, while people speak their feelings as transferred into thought. Animals turn their faces downward and look at the ground, while people look at the sky in all directions, their faces lifted up.

From these points we can draw the following conclusion: the more we base what we say on sound reasoning and the more we focus on the time we will spend in heaven, the more human we are. Conversely, the more we base what we say on twisted reasoning and focus only on the time we are to spend in the world, the less human we are. In the latter case, we are still human, but only potentially rather than actually, since all people have the power to understand things that are true and to intend actions that are good. Even if we have no intention of doing what is good or understanding what is true, we nonetheless retain the ability to ape and mimic human qualities on the outside.