Here we are in the 21st century. We know that the universe is an enormous place. We're just bursting with scientific knowledge. But how are we doing with the even-bigger ideas? Our human societies seem to be erasing them, or ignoring them - maybe we think we're too busy for them.

Here on the New Christian Bible Study site, we'll buck the trend. We want to explore the big ideas that give us a framework for living better lives. Here's a start on a list of big ideas from a New Christian perspective. For each idea, there is a footnote that lists some references in Swedenborg's theological works:

1. God exists. Just one God, who created and sustains the entire universe in all its dimensions, spiritual and physical. ¹

2. God's essence is love itself. It's the force that drives everything. ²

3. God's essence comes into being, that is, it exists, in and through creation. ³

4. There are levels, or degrees, of creation - ranging from spiritual ones that we can't detect with our physical senses or sensors, to the level of the physical universe where most of our awareness is when we're alive here. ⁴

5. The created universe emanates from God, and it's sustained by God, but in an important way it is separate from God. He wants it to be separate, so that freedom can exist. ⁵

6. God operates from love through wisdom - willing good things, and understanding how to bring them about. ⁶

7. The physical level of creation exists to provide human beings with an opportunity to choose in freedom, with rationality, whether or not to acknowledge and cooperate with God. ⁷

8. God provides all people everywhere, regardless of their religion, the freedom to choose to live a life of love to God and to the neighbor. ⁸

9. God loves everyone. He knows that true happiness only comes when we're unselfish; when we're truly motivated by a love of the Lord which is grounded out in a love of the neighbor. He seeks to lead everyone, but will not force us to follow against our will. ⁹

10. God doesn't judge us. He tells us what's good, and what's evil, and flows into our minds to lead us towards good. However, we're free to reject his leading, and instead opt to love ourselves most. Day by day, we create habits of generosity or of selfishness, and live out a life in accordance with those habits. Those habits become the real "us", our ruling love. ¹⁰

11. Our physical bodies die eventually, but the spiritual part of our minds keeps going. It's been operating on a spiritual plane already, but our awareness shifts - so that we become fully aware of spiritual reality. ¹¹

Footnotes:

298. The right hand, when said of the Lord, signifies both omnipotence and omniscience, because there the south is at the right in heaven, and the north is at the left; and by the south is signified Divine truth in light, and by the north Divine truth in shade. And because Divine good has all power by means of the Divine truth, therefore by the right hand, when said of the Lord, omnipotence is signified; and because as Divine good has all intelligence and wisdom by means of Divine truth, and to the right in heaven is Divine truth in light as has been said, therefore, by the right hand, when said of the Lord, is also signified omniscience. That the south is at the right in heaven and that there Divine truth is in light, and that those who are there are in intelligence and wisdom; and that the north is at the left there, and that there Divine truth is in shade, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, where the four quarters in heaven are treated of (n. 141-153). That all power is from Divine good by means of Divine truth, may be seen in the same work, where the subject treated of is concerning the power of the angels of heaven (n. 228-235): also, that all intelligence and wisdom are from Divine good by means of Divine truth, may be seen in the same work, where the subject treated of is concerning the wisdom of the angels of heaven (n. 265-275): and concerning the wise and simple in heaven (n. 346-356).

[2] That the right hand, when said of the Lord, signifies both omnipotence and omniscience, and when said of men, power and wisdom, is evident from the following passage.

In David:

"The north and the right hand thou hast created them; Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is thy hand, and thy right hand shall be exalted. Justice and judgment are the support of thy throne; mercy and truth shall stand together before thy faces" (89:12-14).

That by the right hand is here meant the south, is evident, for it is said, the north and the right hand, thou hast created; and the south signifies the Divine truth in light, thus in the highest sense (in which the Lord is spoken of) the omnipotence and omniscience, which Divine good has by means of Divine truth, as has been said above. Because both, omnipotence as well as omniscience, are signified, it is therefore said, Tabor and Hermon, justice and judgment, mercy and truth. Tabor and Hermon here signify those who are in Divine good and in Divine truth: justice and judgment signify Divine good and Divine truth, and similarly mercy and truth; by both together, in the spiritual sense, is signified Divine good by Divine truth. Omnipotence and omniscience, which Divine good has by means of Divine truth, are signified by "Thou hast a mighty arm," and by "strong is Thy hand, and Thy right hand shall be exalted."

[3] Again:

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget" (Psalms 137:5).

Jerusalem signifies the church as to the doctrine of Divine truth; and the right hand of Jehovah, Divine truth in light, because those are at the right hand of the Lord in heaven who are in light and in wisdom from Divine truth, as was said above: hence it is evident why it is said, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget."

[4] Again:

"I was foolish and ignorant. But I am always with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou guidest me by thy counsel, and afterwards receivest me in glory" (Psalms 73:22-24).

Forasmuch as by the right hand, when said of man, is signified wisdom which is from Divine truth, it is therefore said, "I was foolish and ignorant; Thou guidest me in thy counsel, and afterwards receivest me in glory." To guide by counsel, is to lead by means of Divine truth: and to receive in glory, is to bless with intelligence: for glory, when said of the Lord, signifies Divine truth and Divine wisdom, but when said of man, it signifies intelligence therefrom.

[5] Again:

"Jehovah is thy keeper; Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night" (Psalms 121:5, 6).

To be a shade on the right hand, signifies to be a defence against evil and falsity. Shade is used there for a shady place to preserve from hurt, and the right hand for power and wisdom from Divine truth, which would be hurt by evil and falsity unless the Lord defended. Because these things are signified, therefore it is said, "the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." By the sun is there signified the love of self, and thence all evil; and by the moon the falsity of evil. (That these things are signified by the sun and moon, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 122, 123; and in the Arcana Coelestia 2441, 7078, 8487, 9755, 10130, 10189, 10420, 10702).

[6] Again:

"Let thy hand, Jehovah, be before the man of thy right hand, before the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself" (Psalms 80:17).

"Let thy hand, Jehovah," means for a guard from omnipotence and omniscience: "the man of the right hand" for whom there is a guard, signifies the wise; and "the son of man," the intelligent, both by means of Divine truth.

[7] Again:

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty, in thy grace and in thine honour. In thine honour, mount up, ride on the Word of truth, of meekness, and of justice; thy right hand shall teach thee wonderful things. Kings' daughters are among thine excellent; at thy right hand shall stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir" (45:3, 4, 9).

These things are said concerning the Lord. To gird the sword upon the thigh, signifies Divine truth combating from Divine good; wherefore it is said, "O mighty, in thy grace and in thine honour": by grace is signified Divine truth; and by honour, Divine good (as may be seen above, n. 131, 288). It is also likewise said, "In thine honour, mount up, ride on the Word of truth." In honour to mount up, signifies to combat from Divine good, and to ride upon the Word of truth signifies to combat from Divine truth, thus from Divine good by means of Divine truth. The Lord's omnipotence and omniscience are signified by "Thy right hand shall teach thee wonderful things." "The kings' daughters among the excellent," signify affections of truth, and "the queen who is at the right hand in the best gold of Ophir," signifies heaven and the church, and those therein who are in truths from good, the right hand denoting truth in light, and gold of Ophir the good of love.

[8] Again:

"The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his anger" (Psalms 110:1, 5; Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42, 43).

That these things are said concerning the Lord is well known. Thereby is described the Lord's combat in the world against the hells, and the subjugation which was effected from Divine good by means of Divine truth. The right hand there signifies Divine truth; wherefore it is said, "until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet." By enemies are signified the hells: by making them the footstool of the feet is signified to subjugate entirely. The same is signified by "the Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his anger": the day of anger denoting a state of combat, and kings those who are in falsities from evil. (That the Lord, when He was in the world, put on Divine truth from Divine good, and that He thereby subjugated the hells, and disposed all things in the heavens into order, may be seen in the small work concerning the Last Judgment 46: and in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293, 294, 301, 303.)

[9] In the Evangelists:

"Jesus said, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hands of power" (Matthew 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62; Luke 22:69).

And in Mark:

"The Lord after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God" (16:19).

To sit at the right hands of power, and at the right hand of God, signifies the omnipotence and omniscience which belong to the Lord from Divine good by means of the Divine truth.

[10] In Isaiah:

"I have strengthened thee, I have also helped thee by the right hand of my justice. I, Jehovah God, strengthening thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I help thee" (41:10, 13).

"I have strengthened thee, I have also helped thee," signifies to give power and intelligence from the omnipotence and omniscience, which are from Divine good by means of Divine truth: hence it is said, "I have upheld thee by the right hand of my justice." By the right hand is signified Divine truth, and by justice Divine good. To strengthen the right hand signifies the power and wisdom which man has thence; because both omnipotence and omniscience, which belong to the Lord from Divine good by means of the Divine truth, are here meant, He is therefore called Jehovah God; for the Lord is called Jehovah from Divine good, and God from Divine truth. (As may be seen, n. 709, 732, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4287, 4402, 7010, 9167.)

[11] Again:

"Jehovah hath said to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him doors that the gates may not be shut" (45:1).

By Cyrus, in a representative sense, is meant the Lord. His omnipotence and omniscience from Divine good by means of Divine truth, from which in the world He subjugated all the hells, and afterwards keeps them subjugated for ever, is signified by "whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings": also, by "to open before him doors that the gates may not be shut." By the nations which should be subdued before Him, are signified the hells as to evils; and by the kings whose loins He should loose, are signified the hells as to falsities; by the doors which should be open before Him that the gates may not be shut, is signified that from omniscience all things are manifest to Him, and that from omnipotence He has the power of saving.

[12]By the right hand are signified the omniscience and omnipotence which belong to the Lord from Divine good by means of the Divine truth, also in the following passages:

In David:

"Jehovah continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" (Psalm 16:8).

Again:

O God, "Thy right hand sustains me" (Psalm 18:35).

Again:

"O God, thy right hand is full of justice" (Psalm 48:10).

In Isaiah:

"My hand hath founded the earth and my right hand hath spanned the heavens" (Isaiah 47:13).

Again:

God "hath sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength" (62:8).

And in the Apocalypse,

The Son of man "having in his right hand seven stars" (1:16).

In David:

"The right hand of Jehovah doeth valour: the right hand of Jehovah [is] exalted" (118:15, 16).

[13] Because by the right hand, when said of angels and men, are meant the wisdom and the intelligence which they have from Divine good by means of Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, therefore

The angel of the Lord was seen by Zechariah standing at the right hand of the altar of incense (Luke 1:11).

And the angel was seen in the sepulchre where the Lord was laid, sitting on the right hand (Mark 16:5, 6).

And therefore also the sheep are said [to be] placed on the right hand, and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:33, 34).

By the sheep are here meant those who are in truths from good, or in the faith of truth from the good of charity: but by the goats are meant those who are in faith without charity, which faith is called faith alone, and, regarded in itself, is no faith.

[14] On account of this signification of the right hand, when Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the priesthood, the blood was sprinkled upon their right ear and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of the right foot (Exodus 29:20). By the blood here is signified Divine truth from Divine good; by the right ear, the perceptive [faculty] of truth from good; by the right hand and the right foot are signified the intelligence and power of truth from good in the internal or spiritual man, and in the external or natural man; and by the thumb and great toe, what is full.

[15] Because as most things in the Word have also an opposite sense, so also has the right hand; and in that sense it signifies falsity from evil, and reasoning and combat thereof against truth from good.

As in David:

"Thou hast set up the right hand of his enemies" (Psalms 89:42).

Again:

"Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood" (Psalms 144:8, 11)

In Isaiah:

"That he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" (44:20).

In the Apocalypse:

"They should receive a mark in the right hand or in the foreheads" (13:16:14:9).

The right hand, when said of the evil, signifies falsity, and the resulting reasoning and combat against truth, because the quarters with those who are in evil are opposite to the quarters which are with those who are in good; and so at the right hand of the former truths are in dense darkness, but falsities as it were in the greatest light. (That the quarters in the spiritual world, with those who are in evil, are opposite to the quarters that are with those who are in good, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell (n. 151, 152): and the reason thereof, n. 122, 123.)

25. After his life in the world everyone lives for ever. This is evident from the fact that he is then no longer natural but spiritual; and a spiritual person once separated from the natural stays in the same state for ever, since a person's state cannot change after death. Moreover every person's spiritual side is linked with the Divine, since it can think about and also love the Divine, and be acted upon by all the influences coming from the Divine, much as the church teaches. The spiritual side can as a result be linked to the Divine by willing and thinking, the two faculties of the spiritual man which make up his life. Thus a link can be made with the Divine which can never die, for the Divine is present with him and links him to Itself.

[2] Man has also been created so as mentally to be a model of heaven. The form of heaven derives from the Divine itself, as was shown in HEAVEN AND HELL (The Lord's Divine makes and forms heaven, 7-12, 78-86); man was created so as to be a model of heaven on the smallest scale (57); heaven taken all together resembles a single human being (59-66). Hence an angel has a perfect human form (73-77). An angel is a human being in his spiritual aspect.

[3] I have had a number of conversations with angels on this subject. They were extremely surprised that there are very many among those reputed intelligent in the Christian world, and believed to be intelligent by other people, who have totally rejected any idea that their life is not subject to death, but believe that the soul of a human being is dispersed after death like that of an animal. They fail to perceive the difference in the way human beings and animals live. Human beings have thoughts that can rise above themselves, and they can think about God, heaven, love, faith, spiritual and moral good, truths and such matters, thus rising to the Divine itself, and being linked to Him by all these means. Animals, however, cannot rise above their natural level so as to entertain such thoughts. As a result their spiritual side cannot be separated from their natural after death, ¹ and live on by itself as a human being's can. That too is the reason why an animal's life ² is dispersed together with its natural life.

[4] The angels said that the reason why many so-called intelligent people in the Christian world do not believe their life is immortal is that at heart they deny the existence of the Divine and acknowledge Nature in His place. Those who think from such premises cannot imagine how they can live for ever by being linked with the Divine, and consequently that the condition of human beings is any different from that of animals; for when they banish the idea of the Divine from their thoughts, they also banish that of eternity.

[5] They went on to say that every individual has a highest or most inward degree of life, something highest and inmost on which the Lord's Divinity primarily and most closely acts, and from which He controls the remaining interiors belonging to the spiritual and natural man and arranged in ordered sequence in them. They called this highest or most inward part the Lord's entrance into man and His truest abode with man. It is this highest or most inward part which gives man his humanity and sets him apart from dumb animals, which lack it. This is why men can, unlike animals, have their interiors, which belong to their minds and characters, raised by the Lord to Himself. Thus they can believe in Him, feel love for Him, and receive intelligence and wisdom and speak rationally.

[6] When asked whether those who deny the existence of the Divine and the Divine truths which link a person's life with the Divine Himself none the less live on for ever, they said that these had the ability to think and will, and thus to believe and love what proceeds from the Divine equally with those who acknowledge Him; and that this ability to think and will enables them equally to live for ever. They added that this ability results from that highest or most inward part everyone possesses which was mentioned just above. I have demonstrated at length that even those in hell have this ability, which enables them to reason and speak against Divine truths. This is why every person, irrespective of what sort of person he is, lives for ever.

[7] Because after death everyone lives for ever, no angel or spirit can think about death; in fact, they do not know what it is to die. Whenever therefore death is mentioned in the Word, the angels understand it as damnation, which is death in the spiritual sense, or the continuation of life and resurrection. ³ These remarks are intended as confirmation that all people who have ever been born from the beginning of creation, and have died, are alive, some in heaven and some in hell.

Footnotes: