Aquí estamos en el siglo XXI. Sabemos que el universo es un lugar enorme. Estamos rebosantes de conocimiento científico. ¿Pero cómo vamos con las ideas más grandes? Nuestras sociedades humanas parecen estar borrándolas, o ignorándolas - tal vez pensamos que estamos demasiado ocupados para ellas.

Aquí, en el sitio del Nuevo Estudio Bíblico Cristiano, vamos a romper con la tendencia. Queremos explorar las grandes ideas que nos dan un marco para vivir mejor. Aquí hay un comienzo en una lista de grandes ideas desde la perspectiva del Nuevo Cristiano. Para cada idea, hay una nota al pie de página que enumera algunas referencias en las obras teológicas de Swedenborg:

1. Dios existe. Un solo Dios, que creó y sostiene el universo entero en todas sus dimensiones, espirituales y físicas. ¹

2. La esencia de Dios es el amor mismo. Es la fuerza que impulsa todo. ²

3. La esencia de Dios llega a existir, es decir, existe, en y a través de la creación. ³

4. Hay niveles, o grados, de creación, que van desde los espirituales que no podemos detectar con nuestros sentidos o sensores físicos, hasta el nivel del universo físico donde está la mayor parte de nuestra conciencia cuando estamos vivos aquí. ⁴

5. El universo creado emana de Dios, y está sostenido por Dios, pero de manera importante está separado de Dios. Quiere que esté separado, para que la libertad pueda existir. ⁵

6. Dios opera desde el amor a través de la sabiduría - deseando cosas buenas, y entendiendo cómo llevarlas a cabo. ⁶

7. El nivel físico de la creación existe para proporcionar a los seres humanos la oportunidad de elegir en libertad, con racionalidad, si reconocer y cooperar con Dios o no. ⁷

8. Dios proporciona a todas las personas en todas partes, independientemente de su religión, la libertad de elegir vivir una vida de amor a Dios y al prójimo. ⁸

9. Dios ama a todo el mundo. Sabe que la verdadera felicidad sólo viene cuando somos desinteresados; cuando estamos verdaderamente motivados por un amor al Señor que se fundamenta en el amor al prójimo. Él busca guiar a todos, pero no nos forzará a seguir en contra de nuestra voluntad. ⁹

10. Dios no nos juzga. Nos dice lo que es bueno y lo que es malo, y fluye en nuestras mentes para guiarnos hacia el bien. Sin embargo, somos libres de rechazar su liderazgo, y en su lugar optar por amarnos a nosotros mismos. Día a día, creamos hábitos de generosidad o de egoísmo, y vivimos una vida de acuerdo con esos hábitos. Esos hábitos se convierten en el verdadero "nosotros", nuestro amor imperante. ¹⁰

11. Nuestros cuerpos físicos mueren eventualmente, pero la parte espiritual de nuestras mentes sigue funcionando. Ya ha estado operando en un plano espiritual, pero nuestra conciencia cambia - para que nos volvamos plenamente conscientes de la realidad espiritual. ¹¹

Notas a pie de página:

46. In Everything That It Does, the Lord's Divine Providence Is Focusing on What Is Infinite and Eternal

It is widely recognized in Christian circles that God is infinite and eternal. In fact, it says in the doctrine of the Trinity named after Athanasius that God the Father is infinite, eternal, and omnipotent, as are God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but that there are not three infinite, eternal, and omnipotent beings, but only one. It follows from this that since God is infinite and eternal, only what is infinite and eternal can be attributed to him.

However, we finite beings cannot grasp what anything infinite and eternal is--and yet at the same time we can. We cannot grasp it because the finite cannot contain the infinite; and we can grasp it because there are abstract notions that enable us to see that certain things do exist even though we cannot see what their nature is.

There are such notions about the infinite--for example, that because God is infinite, or Divinity is infinite, God is reality itself or essence itself and substance itself, love itself and wisdom itself, what is good itself and what is true itself, the Only--in fact, the essential Human. Then too, if we say that the infinite is the all, then infinite wisdom is omniscience and infinite power is omnipotence.

[2] These concepts, though, will get lost in the dim depths of our thought and perhaps even fall from incomprehension into denial unless we can rid them of elements that our thought gets from the material world, particularly those two essential features of the material world called space and time. These can only limit our concepts and make abstract concepts seem like nothing at all. However, if we can rid ourselves of them the way angels do, then the infinite can be grasped by means of the things I have just listed. This leads to a grasp of the fact that we ourselves are real because we have been created by the infinite God who is the All, that we are finite substances because we have been created by the infinite God who is substance itself, that we are wisdom because we have been created by the infinite God who is wisdom itself, and so on. For if the infinite God were not the All, substance itself, and wisdom itself, we would not be real, or would simply be nothing, or would be only ideas of existence, according to those dreamers called idealists.

[3] Material presented in the work Divine Love and Wisdom may serve to show that the divine essence is love and wisdom (Divine Love and Wisdom 28-39), that divine love and wisdom are substance itself and form itself and that divine love and wisdom are substance and form in and of themselves, and are therefore wholly "itself" and unique (Divine Love and Wisdom 40-46), and that God created the universe and everything in it not from nothing but from himself (Divine Love and Wisdom 282-284). It follows from this that everything that has been created, especially ourselves and the love and wisdom within us, is real, and is not just an image of reality.

If God were not infinite, then, nothing finite would exist; if the Infinite were not the All, there would not be anything; and if God had not created everything from himself, there would be nothing real, nothing at all. In short, we are because God is.

322. Everyone Can Be Reformed, and There Is No Such Thing as Predestination

Sound reason tells us that everyone is predestined to heaven and no one to hell. We are all born human, which means that we have the image of God within us. The image of God within us is our ability to discern what is true and to do what is good. Our ability to discern what is true comes from divine wisdom and our ability to do what is good comes from divine love. This ability is the image of God; it is enduring with everyone who is whole and is never erased. It is why we can become civic, moral individuals; and if we can become civic and moral individuals, we can become spiritual individuals, since civic and moral life is receptive of spiritual life. We are called civic individuals if we know and abide by the laws of the country we are living in. We are called moral individuals if we make habits and virtues of these laws and live by them for rational reasons.

[2] Next I need to say how civic and moral living is receptive of spiritual living. Live by these laws not only as civic and moral laws but also as divine laws and you will be a spiritual person.

There is hardly a nation so barbaric that it does not have laws forbidding murder, promiscuity with other people's spouses, theft, perjury, and violation of others' rights. Civic and moral individuals keep these laws in order to be or to seem to be good citizens; but if they do not regard them as divine laws as well, they are civic and moral individuals only on the earthly level. On the other hand, if they do regard them as divine laws, they become civic and moral spiritual individuals.

The difference is that in the latter instance they are not just good citizens of their earthly kingdom, they are good citizens of the kingdom of heaven as well; in the former instance they are good citizens of their earthly kingdom but not of the kingdom of heaven. It is the good they do that makes the difference. The good that worldly civic and moral individuals do is not intrinsically good because they themselves and the world are at its heart. The good that civic and moral spiritual individuals do is intrinsically good because the Lord and heaven are at its heart.

[3] This shows that since we are all born capable of becoming civic and moral individuals on the earthly level, we are also born capable of becoming civic and moral individuals on the spiritual level. All we have to do is acknowledge God and not do evils because they are against God, and do what is good because that is for God. Doing this enables the spirit to enter into our civic and moral acts, and they come to life. Otherwise there is no spirit in our acts, and they are not alive. This is why worldly people are called "dead" no matter how civic and moral their behavior is, while spiritual people are called "living."

[4] Under the Lord's divine providence, every nation has a religion, and the first principle of every religion is a recognition of the existence of God. Otherwise we cannot call it a religion. Every nation that lives by its religion--that is, that does not do evil because it is against its God--is given a spiritual element within its worldly life.

Imagine hearing non-Christians say that they do not want to do some evil thing because it is against their God. Is there anyone who would not say inwardly that these people are saved? Nothing else seems possible; that is what sound reason tells us. Conversely, suppose some Christian says, "One evil or another does not matter to me. What is this business about saying that it's against God?" Is there anyone who would not say inwardly that this person is not saved? It seems impossible; that is what sound reason tells us.

[5] If this individual says, "I was born Christian, I was baptized, I have confessed the Lord, read the Word, and taken the Holy Supper," does all this matter if this individual has a craving for murder and revenge, for adultery, surreptitious theft, perjury, lies, and all kinds of violence, and does not regard them as sins? Are people like this thinking about God or about some eternal life? Do they think that they exist? Surely sound reason tells us that people like this cannot be saved.

I make these statements about Christians because non-Christians pay more attention to God than Christians do, because their religion is in their life.

I need now to say more about this, though, in the following sequence.

1. The ultimate purpose of creation is a heaven from the human race.

2. Consequently, under divine providence everyone can be saved; and everyone is saved who believes in God and lives a good life.

3. It is our own fault if we are not saved.

4. This means that everyone is predestined to heaven and no one to hell.