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.

267. 13. Because of the Word, Even People Who Are outside the Church and Who Do Not Have the Word Have Light.

No connection to heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is a church where the Word exists and where the Lord is known through that Word. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth - without the Lord there is no salvation. (For the Word providing a connection to the Lord and association with angels, see 234-239 above.) It is enough if there is one church where the Word exists. Even if this church consists of comparatively few people, still the Lord is present throughout the world by means of the Word, since heaven is connected to the human race through the Word.

659. Why are we not blamed for any evil thing we think about? Because we have been created with the ability to understand and think about both what is good and what is evil. What is good comes from the Lord and what is evil comes from hell. We are in the middle. We have the capacity to choose one or the other, because we have free choice in spiritual matters (see the treatment of this topic in its own chapter [463-508]). Because we have the capacity to choose in freedom, we are able either to will something or else not to will it. What we choose to will is taken on by our will and becomes part of it; what we choose not to will is not taken on and does not become part of our will.

[2] All the evils that we have a tendency toward from the day we are born are a lasting part of the will of our earthly self. When we allow ourselves to be influenced by these evils they flow into our thinking. Good things along with truths flow down into our thinking from above, from the Lord. In our thoughts the two are weighed against each other, like weights on a pair of scales. If we choose evil things, they are received by our old will and become part of it. If we choose good things along with truths, a new will and a new intellect are formed by the Lord above our old will and our old intellect. Gradually over time, the Lord uses the truths that are in our new intellect to implant new forms of good on that higher level. Through these truths he also gains control over the evils that are below, moves them out of the way, and sets everything in order.

[3] This also makes it clear that our thought process purifies and excretes, so to speak, the evils that are resident in us from our parents. If we were assigned spiritual blame, then, for the evils we think about and consider, our reformation and regeneration could never take place.