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Heaven and Hell #318

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318. Non-Christians, or People outside the Church, in Heaven

The general opinion is that people who have been born outside the church, the people called "the nations" or "non-Christians," cannot be saved because they do not have the Word and therefore do not know the Lord; and without the Lord there is no salvation. They could know, however, that these people too are saved simply from the fact that the Lord's mercy is universal, that is, it is extended to all individuals. Non-Christians are born just as human as people within the church, who are in fact few by comparison. It is not their fault that they do not know the Lord. So anyone who thinks from any enlightened reason at all can see that no one is born for hell. The Lord is actually love itself, and his love is an intent to save everyone. So he provides that everyone shall have some religion, an acknowledgment of the Divine Being through that religion, and an inner life. That is, living according to one's religious principles is an inner life, for then we focus on the Divine; and to the extent that we do focus on the Divine, we do not focus on the world but move away from the world and therefore from a worldly life, which is an outward life. 1

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Non-Christians are saved just as Christians Arcana Coelestia 932, 1032, 1059, 2284, 2589-2590, 3778, 4190, 4197. On the lot of non-Christians and people outside the church in the other life: 2589-2604. The church specifically defined is where the Word is and where the Lord is known through it: 3857, 10761. This does not mean, though, that people belong to the church by being born where the Word is and where the Lord is known, but rather by living a life of thoughtfulness and faith: 6637, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829. The Lord's church is found among all the people in the whole world who live intent on what is good as their own religion defines it and who acknowledge a divine being; they are accepted by the Lord and enter heaven: 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #6700

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6700. As regards the worship of God which the inhabitants of other worlds offer Him, all there who are not idolaters acknowledge the Lord as the one and only God. None but a very few, it is true, know that the Lord assumed the Human on our planet and made that Human Divine. Yet they adore God not as a Deity who is altogether unknowable but as One who can be known through a human form. For when the Divine shows Himself to them He does so within that form, as He also did in former times to Abraham and to others on our planet. And since they adore the Divine under a human form they adore the Lord. They also know that no one can be joined to the Divine in faith and love unless He is present in a form that people can have some conception of. If He did not present Himself in such a form their conception of Him would be lost, like sight looking at outer space. When they have been told by spirits from our planet that the Lord assumed the Human on our planet, they have pondered on it a little and soon said that this happened for the sake of the salvation of the human race. They have also said that the Divine whom they adore and offer the holiest worship to shines in heaven as the Sun and, when He appears, presents Himself in visible Human form. Regarding the Lord's appearance in the next life as the Sun and the fact that all the light of heaven is derived from Him, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 5097. But more on these matters in particular is to be mentioned in later sections.

  
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Arcana Coelestia #2284

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2284. 'Perhaps ten will be found there' means if remnants were still present. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'ten' as remnants, dealt with in Volume One, in 576, 1738. What remnants are however has been stated and shown in various places already, as in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, namely that they are all the good and all the truth with a person which lie stored away in his two memories and in his life.

[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities - for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever - the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.

[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person's spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person's life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.

[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own - a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matthew 7:1-2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by 'if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten', that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.

[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.

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