1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

213. From the points just made it follows that without its literal meaning the Word would be like a palace without a foundation. It would be like a palace in the air, not on the ground, which would be only a shadow of a palace, and shadows disappear.

Without its literal meaning the Word would be like a church building that housed many sacred objects and had a sanctuary in the middle but lacked a roof or walls to contain them. If the roof and walls were lacking or taken away, the sacred objects would be stolen by thieves or violated by animals from the land and birds from the sky, causing the sacred objects to be lost.

It would be like the tabernacle of the children of Israel in the desert having the ark of the covenant in its innermost area, and the golden lampstand, the golden incense altar, and the table of showbread in its middle area, but lacking its outermost features - its curtains, veils, and pillars.

In fact, without its literal meaning the Word would be like a human body without the coverings called the skin and membranes or the structural supports called the bones. Without these all the inner organs would fall apart.

It would be like the heart and the lungs in the thorax without the covering called the pleura and the structural supports called the ribs. It would be like the brain without the coverings called the dura and the pia mater and without the general covering, container, and structural support called the skull. This is how the Word would be without its literal meaning. Therefore it says in Isaiah, "Over all glory Jehovah creates a covering" (Isaiah 4:5).

463. Chapter 8: Free Choice

Before even preparing to present what the new church teaches regarding free choice, I must first lay out what the church of today says about it in its doctrinal texts. Otherwise, devout and rational readers may think there is no point in my trying to write something new about it, since they would say to themselves, "Who doesn't know we have free choice in spiritual matters? Why else would ministers preach that we need to believe in God, turn ourselves around, live according to the precepts of the Word, fight against the lusts of our flesh, and prepare ourselves as new creatures, not to mention many other things of the same kind?" They cannot avoid the conclusion that if there were no free choice in matters of salvation, such words would be nothing but hot air; and that it is insane to deny free choice, because such denial goes against common sense.

Nevertheless, the church of today is in fact headed in the opposite direction. It casts the idea of free choice out of its sanctuaries, as is clear from the following teachings taken from the book called the Formula of Concord - a book Lutherans swear to observe. From the religious treatises of the Reformed churches, it is clear that there are similar teachings and a similar belief about free choice throughout the entire Christian world, and thus in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England, and Holland. The statements just following are copied from the Formula of Concord in the Leipzig edition of 1756: