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The Big Ideas

Написано New Christian Bible Study Staff

A girl gazes into a lighted globe, showing the solar system.

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

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Из произведений Сведенборга

 

Divine Love and Wisdom # 213

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213. As for love and wisdom, love is the purpose, wisdom the means, and service the result. Further, service is the composite, vessel, and foundation of wisdom and love, such a composite and such a vessel that every bit of love and every bit of wisdom is actively present in it. It is their total presence. We need to be absolutely clear, though, that in keeping with what was presented in 189-194 above, what are present in service are all the elements of love and wisdom that are of the same kind, harmonious.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

Из произведений Сведенборга

 

Arcana Coelestia # 1824

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1824. That 'a heifer' means those things that are the representatives of exterior celestial things, 'a she-goat' those that are the representatives of interior celestial, and 'a ram' those that are the representatives of spiritual-celestial, becomes clear from the sacrifices, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on when sacrifices are the subject. There are exterior celestial things and interior celestial things, as well as spiritual-celestial. Exterior celestial things are such as belong to the external man, interior celestial such as belong to the internal man, while spiritual-celestial are such as derive from both exterior and interior celestial things. The celestial itself consists in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. That celestial flows in from the Lord, and indeed by way of the internal man into the external. In the interior man it is called the interior celestial, in the exterior the exterior celestial. The exterior celestial consists of every affection for good, and also indeed every pleasure which springs from the affection for good. Insofar as these two, that is, the affection for good and the pleasure springing from it, have the good of love and charity within them, they have what is celestial within them, and happiness too: The spiritual-celestial however consists of every affection for truth which has within it the affection for good, that is, the affection for truth which is begotten by the affection for good; thus it is faith that has charity within it, or faith which is begotten by charity.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.