Beginning with the revelations given to Swedenborg, the Lord began a spiritual movement or "church" called The New Jerusalem or The New Church. The New Jerusalem is a spiritual concept, meaning that is exists everywhere that the Lord is worshiped as one God, which can and does include people from almost every religion. Within The New Jerusalem, it doesn’t matter where you were born. What makes you a part of the new church is the charitable life you live by. With this church the Lord began a new paradigm, one that wouldn’t decay into the false idea of exceptionalism derived from birth.

There is only one God, the Lord Jesus Christ, but he has the ability to take on many forms and personas. When, in the Bible, Jesus speaks about the Father, he is speaking about his inner self — his soul — and when he speaks about the Holy Ghost, he is speaking about the effect of his actions and energy which radiate out into the universe, all of which are him, but simply different aspects of the same person.

Swedenborg wrote that the center of heaven is, in fact, made up of married partners, and although this is generally taught in D&C as well, it is sullied by false things that are spun into and among it. What’s most important to accomplish on earth is being joined to the Lord’s Spirit through the charitable way a person lives his or her life, which is symbolized by marriage. So long as that regeneration in the Lord is accomplished, if a marriage to a partner is not found on earth, one can be found in heaven, regardless of Mormon membership or temple rituals.

Although it’s obvious they still love each other, Mary is no longer Jesus’ mother. She was his physical mother who birthed him while he was on earth, but his physical body was progressively transformed and glorified, made one with the Father of Heaven, so that it’s no longer the case that she is his mother.

From this, we can easily discern that when Jesus said “hate” in the verse prior, he wasn’t talking about malice or violence. He was talking about getting your priorities straight. As a Christian, Jesus must be central to your life in every way. He must be more important than your father, mother, sister, brother, spouse, child, friends, employer, employee, etc. As sad as it is to say, I think the reality is that a lot of us choose to side with our family instead of with Jesus. We’re Christians by name only, simply to appear in good social standing.

An important concept to understand is that the Father within Jesus is nothing but goodness. Sometimes that goodness may involve punishment, but he never wants that result. He wills that the sin never occurs in the first place, but if it does occur, allowing a consequence is the most loving outcome for everyone, not only to help reform the person, but to protect the innocent.

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.