Examining Ideas Most Christians Misunderstand
I recently read both volumes of True Christianity, by Emanuel Swedenborg.
If you don’t know who Swedenborg is, watch the short video below by the Swedenborg Foundation.
I discovered Swedenborg’s writings after watching a few videos by offTheLeftEye, which is a YouTube channel devoted to getting Swedenborg’s ideas out into the public.
After watching just a few videos, I was hooked on the channel, and over the last two years I have become totally absorbed in his material. Everything Swedenborg writes hits the center on the theological bullseye. I’ve found myself many times reading his works and thinking “that sounds correct…” “as does that…” and “he’s so right, how come so few people understand this?”
For years I’d felt somewhat out of place among Christians, of many different sects. Although I was raised Christian, and I am one, I sometimes felt like they didn’t have the ability to think rationally. I would disagree with their rejection of certain ideas which were obviously true to me, such as the evidence for human evolution, the age of the universe, the test of true prophecy, the idolatry within rituals, and other things, but few people actually understood (or wanted to understand) my statements. If the ideas I shared didn’t fall in line with their doctrine, they were unwilling to examine my ideas and build an argument about what they believed beyond simply repeating what they were told. Often, in my conversations with them, they’d become so emotionally invested in their church doctrine that they would become upset if I questioned those doctrines. This happened even though my intent was always the truth, as if the more truth I spoke the more it aggravated them.
Other Christians were more rational, but just didn’t have all of the answers. This later group were much more patient with me, and some of the ideas they could answer helped lay the foundation for my faith today.
Either way, my thought was always this:
A lie stands on one leg, the truth on two.
—Benjamin Franklin
That is, for an idea to be true, you need to be able to defend your idea based on first principals.
Because of this, I often felt some degree of dissatisfaction with regard to the available theology Christians presented.
That is, until I found Swedenborg’s writings.
Not only did I discover answers to my questions, I discovered that these answers existed 250 years ago, and yet so few people were talking about them.
Discovering Swedenborg’s material opened up the door for a new spiritual awakening for me. I now feel fully at home with the idea that I’m a Christian and feel in complete harmony with the Christian movement as it’s truly meant to be, because somebody out there actually makes sense, aligns with my values, and has completed the work necessary to bring its theology into a comprehensive whole such that all the pieces fit together. That is to say, I see Jesus in Christianity now.
Jesus has done this through the hand of Swedenborg.
To illustrate this, here are some points Swedenborg makes in True Christianity:
He describes the Trinity in a way that can actually be comprehended. There is only One God in the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three aspects of God that dwell within the Lord and make up one person, the same way that the soul, body, and the good effects of a person’s actions all make up that one person. This is written in the Catholic Athanasian Creed, where it says:
Our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and a human being. Yet although he is both God and a human being, still he is one Christ, not two. He is one because the divine nature took on a human nature for itself. In fact, he is completely one; he is one person. As a soul and a body is one human being, so God and a human being is one Christ.
This part of the creed is true, but other segments of the creed contain some contradictory phrases by referring to three persons, which is only true so long as “person” is understood to mean “persona.” The creed implies that you should believe there are three gods outside of the Lord, rather than within Him, but just not say this, which creates a double-bind.
See my article, “Not ‘God the Fathers’, ‘God, Father.’” for more about this.
The Lord corrected this contradiction through Swedenborg’s writings:
…For example, the creed says that there are three persons, each of whom is God and Lord. It also says that because of Christian truth, people ought to confess or acknowledge that each person is individually God and Lord, but that the Catholic or Christian religion or faith forbids us to say three gods or lords. This would mean that truth and religion, or truth and faith, are not the same thing; they are at odds with each other.
The writers of the creed added the point that there is one God and Lord, not three gods and lords, so that they would not be exposed to ridicule before the whole world. Who would not laugh at three gods? On the other hand, though, anyone can see the contradiction in the phrase they added.
2. Jesus is the human manifestation of these three aspects of the Trinity, and because each dwells within him, we can and should look toward and worship him alone. We shouldn't think of the Father as a separate person, nor the Holy Spirit as a separate person, because upon Jesus’ resurrection, they became fully united within Him. The Father is the essence of Christ, his soul. The Holy Spirit is the power of Christ, the effects of his actions.
3. We need both faith and charity (also known as good works) to be saved, and this is a lifelong process, not something that happens in an instant. Although salvation is a gift from God, in order to achieve it we need to develop a partnership with God by living the way he tells us to live. The way we accomplish this is by turning away from evil and no longer sinning. Faith alone is not adequate. Without charity, we do not truly have faith or love for the Lord. The Lord said, “Those who love me keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Many people in the Protestant reformation have tried to sidestep this fact and some Protestant teachings have misinterpreted the epistles of Paul about faith and overlooked the epistle of James, who said “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26)
In context, we should remember just how kind and merciful the Lord is, and never be afraid to return to him.
4. Salvation is possible for anyone regardless of their religion, and regardless if they are raised a Christian or not. There are many non-Christians who will be saved and many so-called Christians who will be damned (Matthew 7:21-23). What is important is not what we claim, or what rituals or ordinances we perform, or what religion we belong to, but how we live our lives and what our true intentions are. If we do not act on our beliefs, then we do not really believe. The Lord said that there will be many who will claim to have known him, but that he will say that he never knew them (Matthew 25:12). It should be noted that Swedenborg describes that Jesus doesn’t pass judgement by human standards (as is said in the Gospel of John). Rather, his Word judges those who by their own will turn away from him, and because of the laws of the spiritual world, those who choose to hurt people without remorse effectively throw themselves into hell. His Word is designed this way not to hurt anyone, but to protect the innocent. In hell they hurt themselves.
5. The Lord will not be returning physically to the earth. How many people have tried to predict when the Lord’s second coming would occur and have been wrong and continue to be wrong? Swedenborg describes that the Lord’s return looked something like the above picture in the spirit world, but that this won’t occur visibly in the physical world. Instead, understand that the Lord has already returned with the Holy Spirit, which, being an aspect of the Trinity, is Him. Swedenborg describes that the Lord’s return is occurring spiritually rather than physically because everything in the Bible has a spiritual meaning and that everything Jesus said was said in parables and contains a symbolic correspondence with everything on earth. The Lord’s second coming is a part of a continual work of reforming humanity by removing human fallacies with regard to the meaning of love and wisdom. “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.” (Matthew 13:34) This, by definition, includes what he spoke about his second coming. Those who have “ears to hear,” as he’d often say, are those who look deep into his words and understand the spiritual meaning and symbolism of them.
This movement is called the New Church and describes a change of heart throughout all of humanity, rather than a physical organization. The New Church emphasizes the importance of the heart more than religion, and therefore exists among people from all religions. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.” (John 10:27)
6. Almost all of modern Christendom misunderstands the above points.
This was true in Swedenborg’s day, and I feel is still very much the case today, albeit things are gradually changing.
Both the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed, as well as many of Martin Luther’s teachings and ideas from several other sects of Christianity all contain fallacies.
I held these ideas in some form or another before discovering Swedenborg’s works, and once I found them, I felt very glad that I was not the only one to hold these beliefs. These concepts are all founded in scripture and he backs them up repeatedly throughout his writing. After reading several of his works, however, I have a much better understanding of them.
True Christianity by Emanuel Swedenborg contains the answers to the modern problems within the Christian worldview.
And there’s so much more…
If you’re just learning about Swedenborg, a great place to start is with his book Heaven and Hell.
Once you finish Heaven and Hell, I recommend True Christianity, taking the time to read the entire two volumes. Although each volume may be long, it is well worth it, and invaluable spiritual food. Taking the time to actually read through it all is a part of the process of allowing these ideas to sink into you and become a part of you.
An interesting aspect of this work is that Swedenborg included several of his spiritual experiences at the end of each chapter. Each of his experiences provides precious insight into heaven and hell that no other prophet has described before with such clarity, each one rooted in the Word.
What’s impressive about Swedenborg is that he is a true prophet, the Lord truly did instruct him in everything he wrote. True Christianity perfectly harmonizes with the Bible, and amply quotes from it, claiming no authority over or beyond it. Instead, it encourages you to look deeper into it.
The evidence for this is in the content of all of his writings, the fruits of his life, and in their consistency with the Word of God and with the Holy Spirit. The deeper I examine Swedenborg’s works and his life, the more convinced I am of this, and the more closely I see the connection between his writings and the Bible, which are incredibly enlightening and that I’m convinced all come from the Lord.
These books are the second most important set of books you will read in your life, after those in the Bible. If you haven't read the Bible yet, you may want read it in tandem with Swedenborg’s books. This way, as you read the Bible, you'll understand the Lord's Word perfectly, without being confused by fallacies that are prevalent in mainstream Christianity.
