人们普遍存在对他人的负面判断的倾向。在高中，这种趋势在群体中表现出来。一些受欢迎的孩子进入了一个小组，逐渐开始认为他们比别人更好，因为他们更喜欢。不“入内”的孩子可能会成为怜悯，鄙视甚至残酷笑话的对象。该集团以一种或另一种方式对其他人进行了微妙的判断，认为它们是人类的下层阶级。

在各种宗教中也表现出同样轻视他人的倾向。一些宗教团体变得如此以自我为中心，以至于他们相信任何一种不同的信仰都无法上天堂。极端化的话，这种态度比势利的少年集团残酷得多。

圣经的教导与此形成鲜明对比。首先，上帝的话语告诉我们，我们不应该将人们称为“得救”或“罪人”。耶稣说，

“不要判断，不要谴责您。为什么您要看哥哥眼中的斑点，却不考虑您自己眼中的木板？” （马太福音7:1, 3）

门徒詹姆士这样说：“有一个律政者，谁能拯救和毁灭。你是谁来审判另一个？” （雅各书4:1）

当主在世上的时候，教会的领袖中普遍存在一种判断态度。许多人以为，当弥赛亚降临时，他会拯救犹太人，而不是其他人。耶稣来的时候，他们谴责他与非犹太人和犹太人的交往。

耶稣不鼓励这种态度。祂曾经与一些“信任自己”的人说话，他们得救了，其他人则没有。他请他们考虑两个祈祷：“上帝，我感谢你，我不像其他人。”和“上帝，怜悯我，一个罪人！”耶稣称赞那个自以为是罪人的人。 （路加福音18:9-14）

最好将自己视为罪人，而不是认为自己已得救。

您可能还记得好撒玛利亚人的寓言，他停下来在路边帮助受伤的人。即使这个撒玛利亚人是“错误的”信仰（从犹太人的角度来看），耶稣说撒玛利亚人也应该被爱为邻居，因为他是个好人。实际上，他说，想要永生的人应该像这个撒玛利亚人（路加福音10:29-37），即使撒玛利亚人既不是基督徒也不是犹太人。耶稣看到了-并且看到了-一个人的内心，而不仅仅是教会所属的。

圣经清楚地表明，决定一个人是否去天堂的是人的生活方式，而不仅仅是他的信仰。耶稣说：“不是每个对我说'主啊，主'的人都要进入天国，但要奉行我父在天上的旨意。 （马太福音7:21）

再一次，“他将根据自己的工作奖励每一个人。” （马太福音16:27）

他说：“行善的人会复活，而行恶的人会死刑。” （约翰福音5:29）

由于一个人的生命不仅取决于他的信仰，还决定着他的永恒，耶稣预言许多基督徒将得不到拯救，因为他们过着邪恶的生活。

“那天有许多人对我说：'主啊，主啊，我们岂不是以你的名预言，以你的名驱赶魔鬼，以你的名行了许多奇事？”然后我向他们宣告：“我从不认识你：离开我，你们这是行不通的！””（马太福音27:22-23, 路加福音13:25-27）

非基督徒可以得救的一个原因是，他可以爱他的邻居。真正爱他的邻居的人也爱基督，尽管他可能没有意识到。耶稣说：“因为你照管了我弟兄中最少的一个，你就对我做了。” （马太福音25:40）

对耶稣的信仰，对邻居没有爱是没有意义的。

“尽管我有全部信念，所以我可以摘山，但没有爱，我什么都不是。” （哥林多前书13:2）

另一方面，真正的爱是一个人在心中认识主的标志，无论他信奉何种宗教。

“爱相信一切。” （哥林多前书13:7）

“行善的人是上帝的，但行恶的人却没有看见上帝。” （约翰三书1:11）

“让我们彼此相爱，因为爱是上帝的爱，每个相爱的人都是上帝所生，并且认识上帝。上帝就是爱，任何恪守爱心的人都恪守上帝，上帝也奉行上帝。” （约翰一书4:7-11）

摘要：

一些基督教教会教导：只有基督徒才能得救。

圣经实际上说的是什么（以及新基督教教会的教义）：拯救了来自所有宗教的好人。

有关新基督教教会教义的一些参考资料： 天堂与地狱318-328, 天命326

经非常有用的网站的作者John Odhner的许可使用：http://whatthebiblesays.info/Introduction.html

326.现在有必要逐一解释与论证这些论点.

对神的承认会带来神与人, 以及人与神的结合, 而对神的否认会导致他们的分离. 一些人可能认为, 不承认神的人会跟那些承认者一样得救, 只要他们过道德的生活. 他们说, 承认会成就什么呢? 它不就是单纯的想法吗? 要是我确切地知道存在一位神, 怎会轻易不承认祂呢? 我听说过祂, 但从没见过祂. 要是让我见到祂, 我就会相信. 否认神的人, 当他们有机会与承认神的人自由辩论时, 很多人的言辞就是如此. 然而, 我在灵界所知的一些事证明, 承认神就结合, 否认神则分离. 在灵界, 无论是谁, 当他想到另一人, 并渴望与他交谈时, 那人会立刻出现. 这在灵界很普遍, 屡试不爽. 原因就是灵界不象尘世那样存在距离, 而只存在距离的表象.

另一个事实是, 正如由于知道另一人而想到他使得这人出现, 因此, 对另一人热爱的情感会产生与他的结合. 正是这一点使得人们到处走动, 友好交谈, 同住于一所房子或一个社群里, 频繁会面, 互相服务. 相反的情形也会发生, 因此, 如果不爱另一人, 甚至还憎恶他, 那么就不会看见他或与他会面, 他们相隔的距离取决于缺乏爱或厌恶的程度. 事实上, 如果他们碰巧见面, 那么这种偶遇会触发憎恶, 这人就会在另一人眼前消失.

从这少数细节可明显看出在灵界是如何产生临在与结合的, 即, 临在来自对另一人的忆起和见到他的渴望, 结合则来自由那爱而发的情感. 人类心智的一切成分皆如此, 其中存在数不清的成分, 那里的各个细节按照情感被联系与结合起来, 或如同一个成分被另一成分吸引.

这就是属灵的结合, 总体与细节都是这样. 这属灵结合的源头, 无论总体还是细节, 皆存在于主与灵界和自然界的结合里面. 由此清楚看出, 一个人知道主, 并基于这认知而思及祂到什么程度, 主的临在就到什么程度. 基于爱的情感承认祂到什么程度, 主与他就结合到什么程度. 但另一方面, 不认识主到什么程度, 主就会缺席到什么程度, 否认主到什么程度, 主就与他分离到什么程度.

结合的结果是主将人的脸面转向祂自己, 然后引领他. 而分离的结果是地狱将人的脸面转向它自己, 然后引领他. 故, 所有天人都将其脸面朝向显如太阳的主, 而所有地狱灵都将其脸面背离主. 因此, 承认神与否认神各自会产生什么样的后果是显而易见的. 在世时否认神的那些人死后还会否认祂, 并变成如319节所描述的那种结构, 成形于尘世的这种结构会永远保留.

人对神的承认, 以及与祂的结合取决于良善的生活. 凡对宗教有所了解的人皆认识神. 他们还通过知识(科学), 即记忆谈论神, 一些人也会通过觉知思考祂. 然而, 若人生活不良善, 那么这一切只能产生临在, 因为尽管如此, 他仍然使自己背离神, 朝向地狱. 若他生活邪恶, 这种情形就会发生. 只有那些生活良善者才会发自内心承认神, 主根据其生活的良善使这些人远离地狱, 朝向祂自己. 其原因在于这些人唯独爱神, 因为他们以活出来的方式热爱来自祂的神性价值观. 来自神的神性价值观就是其律法的诫命. 这些诫命就是神, 因为祂就是自己神性的行进:这就是爱神, 故主说:

有了我的命令又遵守的, 这人就是爱我的….不爱我的人就不遵守我的道. (约翰福音14:21, 23)

这就是为何有两块十诫石板的原因, 一块涉及主, 另一块涉及人. 神不停作工, 以使人能接受在人石板上的事. 但是, 如果人不去做刻在人石板上的事, 他就不会发自内心接受刻在神石板上的事. 如果他不接受它们, 他就无法被结合. 因此, 这两块石板被拼成一块, 称作约柜, 因为立约象征结合. 人皆承认神, 并照其生活的良善与祂结合, 因为生活的良善就象在主内, 因此源自主的良善. 故, 当人处于生活的良善, 就会实现结合. 生活邪恶的情形与之相反, 因为它拒绝主.

良善的生活, 即正确地生活, 就是避开邪恶, 因为它们违背宗教, 因而违背神. 《新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇》全文充分说明了, 这就是生活的良善, 或正确地生活. 对此, 我只补充一点, 若你最大限度地行善, 比如, 若你建造教堂, 装饰它们, 并填满还愿祭; 为陌生人捐巨资给医院和宾馆, 每日施舍, 救济孤寡; 勤勉遵守敬拜的圣事, 发自内心地思考, 谈论和宣扬它们, 然而, 却不避恶如违背神的罪, 那么所有这些善行都不是善. 它们要么是虚伪的, 要么是邀功的, 因为它们内在里面仍存邪恶. 因为每个人的生命就在于他所做的一切事里, 无论总体还是细节. 善行只有通过移走它们的邪恶才会成为善. 因此, 很明显, 由于邪恶违背宗教, 因而违背神而避开邪恶就是正确地生活.

④ 这些就是一切宗教的基本原则, 通过它们, 每个人都能被拯救. 承认神与避免作恶(因为它违背神)是使得宗教成为宗教的两要素. 若缺失任何一个, 都不能称之为宗教, 因为承认神与行恶是自相矛盾的, 行善却不承认神也是如此, 因为一个若离开另一个是不可能的. 主已规定, 几乎处处都应有某种形式的宗教, 并且每一宗教都应有这两要素. 主还规定, 凡承认神并避免作恶(因为它违背神)者, 都应在天堂有一席之地. 因为复杂的天堂类似于一个人, 其生命或灵魂就是主. 这天堂人里面存在着自然人里面的一切成分, 其区别在于天堂成分与自然成分的区别.

众所周知, 人体内不但存在由血管与神经纤维组成的形式—我们称之为内脏, 而且还存在皮肤, 软骨膜, 肌腱, 骨骼, 指甲和牙齿, 这些东西所拥有的生命度量, 小于它们作为韧带, 覆盖物与支撑物而所服务的器官形式本身的生命度量. 天堂人, 即天堂里面要是存在所有这些成分, 不可能仅仅由一个宗教的人组成, 而是需要众多宗教的人. 因此, 凡将这两个教会普遍要素作为其生活的一部分者, 在天堂人, 即天堂里面皆有一席之地, 在那里享受他们自己级别的幸福. 关于这一主题的更多内容, 可查看254节.

这二者在一切宗教里都是基本原则, 可从这一事实明显看出, 即它们是十诫教导的两条戒律. 十诫是圣言的主要成分, 是耶和华神在西奈山通过口授颁布的, 是神的手指在两条石板上写就的. 然后, 它被安放在约柜里, 称作耶和华, 构成会幕的至圣所, 形成耶路撒冷圣殿的神龛, 那里的一切得其圣洁仅仅因为它. 关于约柜中的十诫, 圣言里面有大量细节, 可查看收集在《新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇》(新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇53-61)的经文, 对此我再补充以下内容:

通过圣言众所周知, 装着刻有十诫的两块石板的约柜被非利士人抬走, 安放在亚实突的大衮庙; 那大衮仆倒在耶和华的约柜前, 后来, 大衮的头和手掌在门槛上折断, 只剩下残体; 亚实突和以革伦人, 数目有成千上万, 由于约柜患上痔疮, 他们的田地被老鼠毁坏; 非利士人劝告他们民族的首领制作五个金痔疮, 五个金老鼠和一辆新车, 把约柜并金痔疮和金老鼠放在这车上, 由两头母牛沿途哞哞叫着拉走, 将约柜送回以色列民那里, 并把两只母牛和车献给耶和华为燔祭. (查看撒母耳记上5:1, 6:1)

现说明所有这些事物的象征含义. 非利士人象征那些处于从仁分离之信的人. 大衮代表那个形式的宗教. 他们所患的痔疮象征属世之爱若与属灵之爱分离, 就是不洁净的, 老鼠象征通过歪曲真理毁灭教会. 送约柜的新车象征新的但却是属世的教义, 因为圣言里的马车象征源自属灵真理的教义, 母牛象征良善的属世情感. 金痔疮象征属世之爱被洁净并成为良善, 金老鼠象征用良善结束教会的荒废, 因为圣言里的金象征善. 母牛沿途的哞哞声象征属世人的恶欲折向善情的艰难转变, 献两只母牛和车为燔祭象征以此方式取悦主.

以上就是这一历史素材中的事物所指的属灵含义. 将它们串联成一个意思, 就会看到它是如何被运用的. 关于非利士人象征那些处于从仁分离之信的人, 可查看《新耶路撒冷的信之教义》(新耶路撒冷的信之教义49-54). 约柜由于里面包含十诫, 所以是教会最神圣的事物, 对此可查看《新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇》(新耶路撒冷教义之生命篇53-61).

326. We need to look at these one at a time and expand on them.

(a) Belief in God brings about God's union with us and our union with God; and denial of God brings about severance. Some may believe that people who do not believe in God can be saved just like people who do, provided they lead moral lives. "What does belief accomplish?" they say. "Is it anything but a thought? I could easily believe in God if I knew for certain that God actually existed. I have heard about him, but I haven't seen him. Show me, and I'll believe." Many people who deny the existence of God talk like this when they are given space to argue freely with someone who does believe in God.

But I shall illustrate the fact that belief in God unites and denial of God separates by sharing what I have learned in the spiritual world. If people there think about others and want to talk with them, they are immediately present. This is taken for granted there and never fails. The reason is that there is no distance in the spiritual world the way there is in this physical world, but only an appearance of distance.

[2] Then too, just as thinking about others, together with some awareness of them, causes presence, so a feeling of love for them causes union. This is what makes people accompany each other and converse amiably along the way, live in the same houses or in the same community, meet with each other often, and work on tasks together. The opposite happens, too, if people do not love each other, and even more so if they dislike each other. They do not see each other or get together. They are as far from each other as their lack of love or their active dislike. If by any chance they do meet, that meeting triggers the dislike, and they vanish.

[3] These few examples show what makes for presence and what makes for union in the spiritual world. Specifically, presence comes from remembering others and wanting to see them, and union comes from a feeling that arises from our love.

The same holds true for everything in our minds. There are countless elements there, all arranged and united in accord with our feelings, or the way one element loves another.

[4] This union is spiritual union; and it works the same in widely inclusive instances and in individual ones. The source of this spiritual union is in the union of the Lord with the spiritual world and with the physical world, again in inclusive and in individual instances. We can see, then, that to the extent that we believe in the Lord and think about him on the basis of what we understand, the Lord is present, while to the extent that we believe in him on the basis of a loving feeling, the Lord is united with us. Conversely, to the extent that we do not believe in the Lord, the Lord is absent; and to the extent that we deny him, we are separated from him.

[5] A result of union is that the Lord turns our faces toward him and then leads us; and a result of separation is that hell turns our faces toward it and leads us. So all the angels of heaven face toward the Lord as the sun, and all the spirits of hell face away from the Lord. This shows what belief in God does and what denial of God does.

Further, people who deny God in the world deny him after death. They are inwardly structured as described in 319; and the structure adopted in this world remains forever.

[6] (b) Our belief in God and union with him depend on our living a good life. Everyone who knows anything religious can know about God. People can talk about God from this knowledge or from memory, and some of them can even think intelligently about God. If they do not live good lives, though, this brings only a presence. They are still perfectly capable of turning away from him and turning toward hell, which they do if they live evil lives.

Heartfelt belief in God, though, is possible only for people who live good lives. Depending on those good lives, the Lord turns them away from hell and toward himself. This is because it is only they who actually love God. They love the divine values that come from him by living them. The divine values that come from God are the commandments of his law. These commandments are God, since he is the divine nature that emanates from him. This is also loving God, which is why the Lord said, "Whoever does my commandments is the one who loves me, but whoever does not do my commandments does not love me" (John 14:21-24 [John 14:21, 24]).

[7] This is why there are two tablets of the Ten Commandments, one for God and the other for us. God is constantly at work to enable us to accept the things that are on his tablet. However, if we do not do the things that are on our tablet, we are not open to the heartfelt acceptance of the things that are on God's tablet; and if we are not open to them, we are not united. As a result, the two tablets are united as a single one and are called "the tablets of the covenant," and "covenant" means "union."

The reason our belief in God and union with him depend on our living good lives is that good lives are like the goodness that is in the Lord and that therefore comes from the Lord. So when we are engaged in living good lives, the union is accomplished. The opposite happens with people living evil lives. Then there is a rejection of the Lord.

[8] (c) A good life, or living rightly, is abstaining from evils because they are against our religion and therefore against God. There is ample support for the proposition that this is a good life, or living rightly, in Teachings about Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end. I would add only this, that if you do all the good you can, if you build churches and decorate and fill them with your offerings, if you devote your wealth to hospitals and hospices, if you give alms every day, if you help widows and orphans, if you faithfully attend divine worship, even if you think, talk, and preach about these things in all apparent sincerity, and still do not abstain from evils as sins against God, all these good deeds are not really good at all. They are either hypocritical or self-serving, because there is still evil within them. Our life is in absolutely everything that we do, and good deeds become good only by the removal of evil from them.

We can see from this that abstaining from evils because they are against our religion and therefore against God is leading a good life.

[9] (d) These are the general principles of all religions, through which everyone can be saved. Belief in God and refusal to do evil because it is against God are the two elements that make a religion a religion. If either is lacking, we cannot call it a religion, since believing in God and doing evil are mutually contradictory, as are doing what is good and not believing in God. Neither is possible apart from the other.

The Lord has provided that there should be some religion almost everywhere and that everyone who believes in God and does not do evil because it is against God should have a place in heaven. Heaven, seen in its entirety, looks like a single individual, whose life or soul is the Lord. In that heavenly person there are all the components that there are in a physical person, differing the way heavenly things differ from earthly ones.

[10] We know that there are within us not only the parts formed as organs from blood vessels and nerve fibers--the forms we call our viscera. There are also skin, membranes, tendons, cartilage, bones, nails, and teeth. They are less intensely alive than the organic forms, which they serve as ligaments, coverings, and supports. If there are to be all these elements in that heavenly person who is heaven, it cannot be made up of the people of one religion only. It needs people from many religions; so all the people who make these two universal principles of the church central to their own lives have a place in that heavenly person, that is, in heaven. They enjoy the happiness that suits their own nature. On this subject, though, there is more in 254 above.

[11] We are assured that these two principles are basic to every religion by the fact that these two principles are what the Ten Commandments teach, and they were the basis of the Word. They were given from Mount Sinai by the very voice of Jehovah and written on two tablets of stone by the finger of God. Then they were placed in the ark named for Jehovah and constituted the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the very center of the temple in Jerusalem. Everything else was holy simply by being there. We are told a great deal more about the Ten Commandments in the ark in the Word: see the passages collected in Teachings about Life for the New Jerusalem 53-61, to which I may add the following.

We are told in the Word that the ark containing the two tablets with the commandments written on them was captured by the Philistines and set up in the shrine of Dagon in Ashdod. Dagon fell to the ground before it, after which his head and his hands were found lying apart from his body on the threshold of the shrine. Because of the ark, the people of Ashdod and Ekron by the thousands were plagued by hemorrhoids, and their land was ravaged by mice. Then, on the advice of their leaders, the Philistines made five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice and a new cart. They put the ark on the cart with the golden hemorrhoids and mice beside it and sent the ark back to the Israelites drawn by two cows that lowed along the way, in front of the cart. The Israelites sacrificed the cows and the cart (1 Samuel 5, 6).

[12] Now let us see what all this means. The Philistines meant people who believe in faith separated from charity. Dagon portrayed that system of belief. The hemorrhoids that afflicted them meant earthly loves, which are unclean when they are separated from spiritual loves; and the mice meant the destruction of the church by distortions of the truth. The new cart on which they sent back the ark meant a new teaching, though on the earthly level, because a chariot in the Word meant a teaching derived from spiritual truths. The cows meant good earthly feelings, the golden hemorrhoids earthly loves purified and made good, and the golden mice the destruction of the church taken away by goodness (gold in the Word means what is good). The lowing of the cows along the way pointed to the difficulty of turning the obsessions with evil of our earthly self into good desires, and the sacrifice of the cows and the cart meant that the Lord was appeased.

[13] This is what this story means spiritually. Put it all together into a single meaning and see how it can be applied.

On the meaning of the Philistines as people who believe in faith separated from charity, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Faith 49-54; and on the ark meaning the holiest values of the church because it contained the Ten Commandments, see Teachings about Life for the New Jerusalem 53-61.