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.

486. Predestination is an offspring of the faith of today's church. It is born from the belief that we are absolutely powerless and have no choice in spiritual matters. It arises from that belief and also from the notions that our conversion to God is more or less passive, that we are like a log, and that we have no awareness of whether grace has brought this log to life or not. [In other such teachings] it is said that we are chosen by the pure grace of God exclusive of any human action, whether that action is initiated by the powers of our nature or of our reason. We are told that our being chosen takes place where and when God wants - it is entirely up to him. In the sight of one who reflects, the good works that follow faith as signs of it are just like works of the flesh. The Spirit that produces those good works does not reveal what their origin is, but produces them as works of grace or good pleasure, just as it does with faith itself.

[2] From these teachings it is clear that the dogma of today's church regarding predestination has arisen from denial of free choice as a shoot arises from a seed. I can assert that it flows forth as a scarcely avoidable by-product of that belief. A flowing forth like this first occurred among the Predestinarians; then another came from Gottschalk, and later on yet another from Calvin and his followers. Eventually the concept was firmly established by the Synod of Dort. From there it was imported by the Supralapsarians and the Infralapsarians as a sacred central effigy in their religion, or better yet, as the head of Medusa the Gorgon carved into the shield of Pallas [Athena].

[3] How could we attribute more harmfulness or cruelty to God than by believing that he predestines some members of the human race to hell? It would be believing in divine cruelty to think that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, would want a multitude of people to be born for hell or millions to be born under a curse, that is, to be born devils and satans. It would be believing in divine cruelty to think that even though the Lord has divine wisdom, which is infinite, he would neglect to ensure through providence and foresight that those who live good lives and acknowledge God are not thrown into eternal fire and torment.

The Lord is in fact the Creator and Savior of all. He alone leads all people. He wishes the death of no one. How could we attribute greater savagery to him than by thinking that the vast arrays of nations and populations under his divine guidance and watchful eye would just be handed over by predestination as prey to satiate the Devil's gaping jaws? This is the offspring of the faith of today's church; the belief of the new church, though, abhors it as something monstrous.

218. 2. The Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod mean the things that are good and true in the Word's literal meaning. There were Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. Aaron's priesthood represented the Lord's divine goodness and his efforts to save us. The clothes of Aaron's priesthood and sacred office represented divine truths from the Lord. The ephod represented divine truth in its outermost form, and therefore it represented the Word's literal meaning, since this is divine truth in its outermost form. The twelve precious stones called the Urim and Thummim alongside the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, then, represented all the divine truths combined that come from divine goodness.

In Moses we read the following about these stones:

[The artisans] are to make an ephod out of [gold,] blue, and purple threads, interwoven with double-dyed scarlet and cotton threads. Then they are to make a breastplate of judgment in the same fashion as the ephod. You will cover it with settings for stones. There will be four rows of stones: a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald in the first row; a chrysoprase, a sapphire, and a diamond in the second row; a lapis lazuli, an agate, and an amethyst in the third row; and an aquamarine, a sard, and a jasper in the fourth row. These stones will be next to the names of the sons of Israel. For the twelve tribes there will be engravings on a signet stone next to their names. Aaron will carry the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of judgment. The Urim and Thummim should be over Aaron's heart when he walks before Jehovah. (Exodus 28:6, 15-21, 30)

The symbolic meanings of Aaron's clothes - his ephod, outer garment, inner garment, turban, and belt - have been given in Secrets of Heaven, published in London, in the treatment on this chapter [Secrets of Heaven 9834-9835, 9856-9878, 9905-9909]. There I showed that the ephod represents divine truth in its outermost form. Its precious stones represent truths made translucent by goodness. Twelve of them in four rows mean all truths of this kind from first to last. The twelve tribes mean every aspect of the church. The breastplate means the divine truth that comes from divine goodness in a universal sense. The Urim and Thummim mean the outermost radiance of the divine truth that comes from divine goodness. Urim means "shining fire. " Thummim means "radiance" in angelic language and "wholeness" in Hebrew. I also mentioned there that answers came through variations of light and a quiet awareness or else by direct verbal communication, and so on.

All this makes it clear that these stones stood for the truths in the outermost meaning of the Word that come from goodness. No other truths give answers from heaven. The divine emanating influence is fully present in the Word's outermost meaning.