Swedenborg Sampler

Stap 1: Swedenborg Sampler Introduction

Stap 2: Part 1: True Christian Religion

Stap 3: What is God's love like?

Stap 4: Why doesn't God save everyone?

Stap 5: Why do we need the Lord?

Stap 6: The power He can give us

Stap 7: Fatal errors in traditional Christian doctrine

Stap 8: Why is a notion of God such a remote part of Western culture?

Stap 9: What do people see when they look at the Word of God?

Stap 10: The Word's deeper meaning

Stap 11: The Word's deeper meaning (continued)

Stap 12: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal")

Stap 13: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal") (continued)

Stap 14: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal") (continued)

Stap 15: How do we acquire faith?

Stap 16: How much do we have to know?

Stap 17: What is charity?

Stap 18: What is charity? (continued)

Stap 19: First remove the beam from your own eye

Stap 20: True expressions of charity are God working through us

Stap 21: Doesn't everyone believe that people have freedom of choice in spiritual things?

Stap 22: Our freedom exists from our spirit

Stap 23: What seems like freedom isn't necessarily so

Stap 24: Repentance is the first thing of the church with a person

Stap 25: Repentance is not just a matter of saying the right words

Stap 26: A person is not born evil, but is born with inclinations to love things that are evil

Stap 27: Seeing good and evil within our own lives

Stap 28: What is real repentance?

Stap 29: It's easier to see sin in another than in oneself

Stap 30: Two advancing states of mind for those on the path to heaven

Stap 31: The Lord brings about spiritual rebirth with our cooperation

Stap 32: What is temptation?

Stap 33: Why do some people think that God doesn't care what choices we make in our daily life?

Stap 34: There is a current drawing all toward heaven

Stap 35: Part 2: Arcana Coelestia

Stap 36: People don't see the Lord's presence in the Word

Stap 37: People don't see the Lord's presence in the Word (continued)

Stap 38: The state of mind of a person before his regeneration

Stap 39: The evil of every church that ever was and is. . . .

Stap 40: The evil of every church that ever was and is. . . . (continued)

Stap 41: Seeing the evil in others versus seeing the good in them

Stap 42: How the love of self blinds a person to reality

Stap 43: Why Christianity has been split into conflicting groups

Stap 44: What motivates a person's efforts in difficult times?

Stap 45: Without charity in our hearts we cannot live together as brethren

Stap 46: The Lord never compels anyone because it doesn't work; each person needs to compel himself

Stap 47: The quality of a person who knows the truth but doesn't care about what is good

Stap 48: True wisdom of life is gentle and yet also conquers all

Stap 49: The essential importance of self‑compulsion

Stap 50: The Lord's willingness to adapt to where a person is

Stap 51: Prayer regarded in itself is talking with God

Stap 52: An affirmative or negative approach to God's Word

Stap 53: Feeling terrible can lead to wisdom

Stap 54: The Lord cares for the very tiniest details of our lives

Stap 55: If a person believed as the case really is. . .he could not become guilty of any evil

Stap 56: If a person believed as the case really is. . .he could not become guilty of any evil (continued)

Stap 57: The Lord does not allow the evil which accompanies doubt and temptation unless some good can come of it

Stap 58: Peace has in it confidence in the Lord

Stap 59: Care for the morrow and trusting in the Lord

Stap 60: The Lord looks after the details as well as the big picture

Stap 61: Stages of human development

Stap 62: Part 3: Divine Love and Wisdom

Stap 63: Love is the life of a person

Stap 64: Feeling the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving

Stap 65: If a person thinks from ideas of space and time, he can never understand God or anything spiritual

Stap 66: Without a knowledge of discrete degrees [spiritual levels] nothing of cause can be known

Stap 67: There are three degrees of spiritual life potential in each person

Stap 68: There are three degrees of spiritual life potential in each person (continued)

Stap 69: What distinguishes humans from animals?

Stap 70: In the human mind the will and understanding work together, but the will leads

Stap 71: The quality life of a person who is natural but with whom the spiritual degree of his mind is opened

Stap 72: The quality of life of a person who is natural and in whom the spiritual degree of his mind is not opened, yet not closed

Stap 73: The quality of life of a person life who is natural and in whom the spiritual degree of his mind is not entirely closed.

Stap 74: A bad person as well as a good one who has both freedom and rationality

Stap 75: In a state of evil, goodness seems like slavery and evil like freedom

Stap 76: True love has use for an end and intends it

Stap 77: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for sustaining the body

Stap 78: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for perfecting the rational

Stap 79: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord

Stap 80: Reasons why it is excusable for some people to see nature as a source of life

Stap 81: Love of self and the world were by creation heavenly loves

Stap 82: Part 4: Divine Providence

Stap 83: A person can see the Lord's hand in all of creation if he wishes

Stap 84: The Divine Providence of the Lord has as its goal a heaven from the human race

Stap 85: The more someone recognizes what he gets from the Lord, the more free he is

Stap 86: It is a law of the Divine Providence that people should act from freedom according to reason [that is, according their best understanding of what is true].

Stap 87: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should, apparently by their own power, remove evil [thoughts and deeds] as sins in the external person.

Stap 88: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade and at times compel himself to do so.

Stap 89: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of himself.

Stap 90: The Word taught by means of people, but still directly by the Lord

Stap 91: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should not perceive and feel anything of the operation of the Divine Providence, but still that he should know and acknowledge it.

Stap 92: Why doesn't the Lord allow us to gain a specific knowledge of future events?

Stap 93: Why doesn't the Lord allow us to gain a specific knowledge of future events? (continued)

Stap 94: How would we tend to behave if we were able to clearly see the direction the Lord is leading us?

Stap 95: God is the master architect of our eternal lives

Stap 96: If therefore, you wish to be led by the Divine Providence. . . .

Stap 97: What is fortune or luck?

Stap 98: Images of the Divine Providence operating in our lives

Stap 99: The Lord never wills that an evil [event] should happen, but He does permit it to occur

Stap 100: Reasons why people doubt or deny that there is such a thing as the Divine Providence

Stap 101: Evil [loves] cannot be removed unless they appear

Stap 102: No one is born to fry

Stap 103: The operation of the Divine Providence from birth to the end of life

Stap 104: Part 5: Conjugial Love

Stap 105: Very few people know the true source of joy in heaven

Stap 106: What happened to people who arrived in the life after death thinking that heavenly happiness comes from endless opportunities for wonderful conversations?

Stap 107: What happened to people who arrived at the life after death thinking that heavenly happiness comes from mere admission to heaven?

Stap 108: In the life after death a male is still very much a male and a female very much a female

Stap 109: What about the Lord's statement from the New Testament that there is no marriage after death?

Stap 110: What is a male angel's reaction to the opposite sex?

Stap 111: What happens when married partners meet after death?

Stap 112: Why some marriages formed on earth do not continue to eternity?

Stap 113: All joys and all delights are gathered within a true love of marriage

Stap 114: A true love of marriage requires a person to approach the Lord directly

Stap 115: The arguments of a polygamist (in the life after death) on why his approach to marriage is best

Stap 116: Contrary to some people's ideas, the husband is not the head of the wife

Stap 117: Love of marriage is closely related to a person's outlook on religion

Stap 118: The states of mind that accompany a true love of marriage

Stap 119: Will my marriage get better or worse as time goes by?

Stap 120: What happens when a relationship is a power struggle?

Stap 121: A temporal or non-eternal focus is contradictory to a true love of marriage

Stap 122: The first meeting of a future husband and wife in heaven

Stap 123: Spiritual intimacy is the real basis for a true love of marriage

Stap 124: Part 6: Heaven and Hell

Stap 125: Why did Swedenborg have the experiences that he did, and why was this book written?

Stap 126: The Lord loves variety

Stap 127: Everything of this world springs from and has permanent existence from the spiritual world

Stap 128: The Lord's presence in heaven is like the light and warmth of the sun

Stap 129: The Lord's presence in heaven is like the light and warmth of the sun (continued)

Stap 130: The ups and downs in the life of an angel

Stap 131: Life in heaven does not follow a clock

Stap 132: Life in heaven does not follow a clock (continued)

Stap 133: Life in heaven does not follow a clock (continued)

Stap 134: In heaven when you want to be somewhere, distance doesn't get in the way

Stap 135: In heaven when you want to be somewhere, distance doesn't get in the way (continued)

Stap 136: What is the innocence of a wise person?

Stap 137: What is heavenly joy like?

Stap 138: What happens to children who die?

Stap 139: What happens to children who die? (continued)

Stap 140: Children in heaven need to learn how to resist the pressure to follow others

Stap 141: The Lord doesn't expect us to choose a poor and rough life to earn heaven

Stap 142: The Lord doesn't expect us to choose a poor and rough life to earn heaven (continued)

Stap 143: What happens after death to someone who intentionally chose a deprived life to earn a heavenly reward?

Stap 144: Being poor can lead one away from heaven just as much as being rich

Stap 145: How big is heaven?

Stap 146: How big is heaven? (continued)

Stap 147: Angels live at the peak of youthful life forever

Stap 148: We are spirits even now

Stap 149: We are spirits even now (continued)

Stap 150: The end of natural life is but a passing

Stap 151: Intention makes the person

Stap 152: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death?

Stap 153: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Stap 154: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Stap 155: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Stap 156: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Stap 157: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Stap 158: It is not so difficult to lead the life that leads to heaven

Stap 159: How is there a balance between the power of heaven and that of hell?

Stap 160: Determined evil can be controlled only by punishments

Stap 161: How does anyone end up in hell if the Lord sends no one there?

Stap 162: What is it like to arrive in a community in hell?

Stap 163: How does the equilibrium between heaven and hell affect our lives?