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.

422. Goodwill Itself Is Acting Justly and Faithfully in Our Position and Our Work and with the People with Whom We Interact

Goodwill itself is acting justly and faithfully in our position and our work, because all the things we do in this way are useful to the community; and usefulness is goodness, and goodness in an impersonal sense is our neighbor. As I have shown above [412-414], our neighbor is not only individual people but also our community and the country as a whole.

For example, if monarchs lead the way for their subjects by setting an example of doing good, if they want their people to live by the laws of justice, if they reward people who live that way, if they give all people the consideration they deserve, if they keep their people safe from harm and invasion, if they act like parents to their countries, and take care for the general prosperity of their people - these monarchs have goodwill in their hearts. The things they do are good actions.

Priests who teach truths from the Word and use truths to lead to a goodness of life, and therefore to heaven, are practicing goodwill in very important ways, because they are caring for the souls of the people in their church.

Judges who make decisions on the basis of justice and the law, and not because of bribery or because someone is their friend or relative, are caring for the community and for the individual - for the community, because their decisions influence it to stay obedient to the law and fearful of breaking it, and for the individual, because their decisions allow justice to triumph over injustice.

Business people who act with honesty and without fraudulence are caring for the neighbor they do business with. So are workers and craftspeople when they do their work uprightly and honestly rather than falsely or deceptively. The same goes for everyone else - for ship captains and sailors, for farm workers and servants.

258. Becoming adamant about apparent truths in the Word leads us to damnation because it takes those apparent truths in the wrong way and destroys the divine truth they have inside. The reason for this is that each and every thing in the Word's literal meaning communicates with heaven. As I have shown above [196-200, 248-253], within each and every detail of the literal meaning there is a spiritual meaning. The spiritual meaning opens as the literal meaning passes from us to heaven. Everything in the spiritual meaning is genuinely true. For this reason, when we have false ideas and apply the literal meaning to them, then our reading becomes entangled in false ideas; and when false ideas come in, true ideas are lost along the way between us and heaven.

For an analogy to this interaction, imagine someone throwing a balloon full of bile toward you, but before it reaches you the balloon bursts in midair and the bile goes in all directions. Aware that there is bile in the air, you turn away and shut your mouth so the bile will not touch your tongue.

Or imagine traveling with a jar that is cushioned by boughs of cedar. Inside the jar there is vinegar that is full of worms. During the journey, the jar breaks. Another passenger catches a whiff of it and, feeling nauseous, immediately grabs something to fan the smell away before it becomes overwhelming.

Or imagine an almond shell that has a tiny newborn snake inside it instead of an almond. Someone breaks open the shell and the wind carries the tiny snake right toward your eyes. Clearly, you would try to turn away before it hit you.

Similar things happen when the Word is read by people who have false ideas and who apply statements from the Word's literal meaning to those false ideas. En route to heaven, their reading is rejected to prevent it from flowing in and assaulting the angels. When falsity touches truth, it is like the point of a needle touching a fibril of your nervous system or the pupil of your eye. Science knows that the fibril of a nerve will immediately recoil and bunch up. In a similar way, as soon as something touches your eye, your eyelid closes. Clearly then, truth that has been falsified breaks and closes the channel of communication with heaven. This is why it is damning to become adamant about some heretical falsity.