Questions and Answers.

In common with most other churches we believe that people are basically spiritual. We live for a time in the physical world, but we are essentially spiritual beings. We can rise above our physical limitations, above the seeming demands of the moment. We can think rationally: we can see and respond to ideas – ideas that are timeless and beyond where we are now. Our spirits are free to choose new thoughts and feelings over old ones, higher ones over lower ones. We can learn new things every day. We can change! We can do these things because we are spiritual and eternal beings.

Choose a subject from the list to learn more.

Lord and God

God is one, in whom is a Divine trinity, and the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ is that One.
(True Christian Religion 3 Swedenborg)

The name Lord is used and not Jehovah, because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New, as is shown in the following passages. In Moses:
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Deut. 6:4, 5)
In Mark:
The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Mark 12:29, 30).
Again, in Isaiah:
Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make level in the wilderness a highway for our God (Isa. 40:3)
In Luke:
Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way 1:76)
Besides other passages. Moreover, the Lord commanded His disciples to call Him Lord, and this is why He was so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and afterwards by the Apostolic Church, ... The reason of this was that the Jews did not dare to say the name Jehovah on account of its holiness; ... For this reason, by the Lord, here and in the following pages, Jehovah in His Human is meant. And since a knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other knowledges in the church, and even in heaven, the subject shall be so arranged in order as to bring this knowledge out into clear light.
(True Christian Religion 81, Swedenborg)

Life and Salvation

ALL RELIGION IS OF THE LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF RELIGION IS TO DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.
Every man who has religion knows and acknowledges that:
- he who leads a good life is saved, and that
- he who leads an evil life is damned;
for he knows and acknowledges that the man who lives aright thinks aright, not only about God but also about his neighbour; but not so the man whose life is evil.

The life of man is his love, and that which he loves he not only likes to be doing, but also likes to be thinking. The reason therefore why we say that the life is to do that which is good is that doing what is good acts as a one with thinking what is good, for if in a man these two things do not act as a one, they are not of his life.
(Life 1 Swedenborg)

Faith

Real faith is nothing else than an acknowledgment that the thing is so because it is true; for one who is in real faith thinks and says, "This is true, and therefore I believe it." For faith is of truth, and truth is of faith. If such a person does not see the truth of a thing, he says, "I do not know whether this is true, and therefore as yet I do not believe it. How can I believe what I do not intellectually comprehend? Perhaps it is false."
But a common remark is that no one can comprehend spiritual or theological matters because they are supernatural. Spiritual truths however can be comprehended just as well as natural ones; and even if they are not clearly comprehended, still as soon as they are heard it is possible to perceive whether they are true or not.
(Doctrine of Faith, Swedenborg)

Life After Death

Heaven is with man in his internal, thus in his willing and thinking from love and faith, and thence in his external, which is in acting and speaking from love and faith. But heaven is not in man's external without the internal; for all hypocrites can act and speak well, but they cannot will and think well.
When man comes into the other life, which takes place immediately after death, it is evident whether heaven is in him or not; but not while he lives in the world. For in the world the external appears, and not the internal, but in the other life the internal is made manifest, because man then lives as to his spirit.
(New Jerusalem And Its Heavenly Doctrine 234-235, Swedenborg)

LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN
It is a belief of some that only such children as are born within the church go to heaven, and that those born out of the church do not, and for the reason that the children within the church are baptized and by baptism are initiated into faith of the church. Such are not aware that no one receives heaven or faith through baptism; for baptism is merely for a sign and memorial that man should be regenerated, and that those born within the church can be regenerated because the Word is there, and in the Word are the Divine truths by means of which regeneration is effected, and there the Lord who regenerates is known. Let them know therefore that every child, wherever he is born, whether within the church or outside of it, whether of pious parents or impious, is received when he dies by the Lord and trained up in heaven, and taught in accordance with Divine order, and imbued with affections for what is good, and through these with knowledges of what is true; and afterwards as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel.
(Heaven And Hell 329 Swedenborg)

Marriage in Heaven

Marriage in the Next Life
Most married couples meet after death, recognize each other, associate again, and live together for a time, which occurs in their first state, thus while they are still maintaining the outward aspects of their lives as they did in the world. Progressively, however, as married partners put off outward appearances and enter into their inward qualities, they gradually perceive what sort of love and mutual feeling they had had for each other, and consequently whether it is possible for them to [continue to] live together or not.

If it is possible for married partners to [continue to] live together, they remain partners. But if it is not possible, they separate, the husband sometimes separating from the wife, the wife sometimes from the husband, and both of them sometimes from each other. A man is then given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband.
(Marriage Love 45 Swedenborg)

Prayer

So that crying he shall cry unto Me.
That this signifies supplication to the Lord for aid, is evident without explanation. Intense supplication is expressed in the Word by 'a cry,' because the supplication of those who supplicate from the heart, even if silent, is heard in heaven as a cry. Such is the case when men merely think, and still more when they groan, from a sincere heart.
(From Arcana Colestia 9202)

Repentance

Anyone who wishes to be saved must confess his sins and repent.

Confessing one's sins is:
- recognising evils and seeing them in oneself,
- acknowledging them,
- considering oneself guilty and
- condemning oneself on account of them.
If this is done in God's presence, that is confessing one's sins.

Repentance is, after thus confessing one's sins and with a humble heart begging for forgiveness, to:
- stop doing them, and to
- lead a new life in accordance with the commandments of charity and faith.

From The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
159-161.

Spiritual Qualities

As it is unknown at this day what the celestial man is, and scarcely what the spiritual man is, or a dead man, it is permitted me briefly to state the nature of each, that the difference may be known.

First, a dead man acknowledges nothing to be true and good but what belongs to the body and the world, and this he adores.

A spiritual man acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good; but he does so from a principle of faith, which is likewise the ground of his actions, and not so much from love.

A celestial man believes and perceives spiritual and celestial truth and good, acknowledging no other faith than that which is from love, from which also he acts.

The ends which influence a dead man regard only corporeal and worldly life, nor does he know what eternal life is, or what the Lord is; or should he know, he does not believe.

The ends which influence a spiritual man regard eternal life, and thereby the Lord.

The ends which influence a celestial man regard the Lord, and thereby His kingdom and eternal life.

A dead man, when in combat almost always yields, and when not in combat, evils and falsities have dominion over him, and he is a slave. His bonds are external, such as the fear of the law, of the loss of life, of wealth, of gain, and of the reputation which he values for their sake.

The spiritual man is in combat, but is always victorious; the bonds by which he is restrained are internal, and are called the bonds of conscience.

The celestial man is not in combat, and when assaulted by evils and falsities, he despises them, and is therefore called a conqueror. He is apparently restrained by no bonds, but is free. His bonds, which are not apparent, are perceptions of good and truth.
(Arcana Caelestia 81, Swedenborg)