Nga veprat e Swedenborg

 

True Christianity #358

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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.

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

Nga veprat e Swedenborg

 

True Christianity #429

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429. There Are Obligations That Are Related to Goodwill. Some of Them Are Public; Some Relate to the Household; and Some Are Personal

Acts of kindness related to goodwill and obligations related to goodwill are distinguished from each other thus: The former belong to those things that we may or may not do of our own free choice and the latter to those that we must of necessity do. Nevertheless the obligations related to goodwill mentioned here do not mean the obligations connected with our job in our country or republic, such as the obligation a minister has to minister and the obligation a judge has to judge, and so on. They mean the obligations we all have regardless of the jobs we do. These have a different origin and flow from a different intention. These obligations are done with goodwill by people who have goodwill; they are done without goodwill by people who have none.

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