Swedenborg Sampler

Passo 1: Swedenborg Sampler Introduction

Passo 2: Part 1: True Christian Religion

Passo 3: What is God's love like?

Passo 4: Why doesn't God save everyone?

Passo 5: Why do we need the Lord?

Passo 6: The power He can give us

Passo 7: Fatal errors in traditional Christian doctrine

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

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

Passo 10: The Word's deeper meaning

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

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

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

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

Passo 15: How do we acquire faith?

Passo 16: How much do we have to know?

Passo 17: What is charity?

Passo 18: What is charity? (continued)

Passo 19: First remove the beam from your own eye

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

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

Passo 22: Our freedom exists from our spirit

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

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

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

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

Passo 27: Seeing good and evil within our own lives

Passo 28: What is real repentance?

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

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

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

Passo 32: What is temptation?

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

Passo 34: There is a current drawing all toward heaven

Passo 35: Part 2: Arcana Coelestia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 43: Why Christianity has been split into conflicting groups

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 49: The essential importance of self‑compulsion

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

Passo 51: Prayer regarded in itself is talking with God

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

Passo 53: Feeling terrible can lead to wisdom

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

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

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

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

Passo 58: Peace has in it confidence in the Lord

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

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

Passo 61: Stages of human development

Passo 62: Part 3: Divine Love and Wisdom

Passo 63: Love is the life of a person

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 69: What distinguishes humans from animals?

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

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

Passo 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

Passo 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 82: Part 4: Divine Providence

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

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

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

Passo 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].

Passo 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.

Passo 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.

Passo 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.

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

Passo 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 97: What is fortune or luck?

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

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

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

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

Passo 102: No one is born to fry

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

Passo 104: Part 5: Conjugial Love

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 124: Part 6: Heaven and Hell

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

Passo 126: The Lord loves variety

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

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

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

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

Passo 131: Life in heaven does not follow a clock

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 137: What is heavenly joy like?

Passo 138: What happens to children who die?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 145: How big is heaven?

Passo 146: How big is heaven? (continued)

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

Passo 148: We are spirits even now

Passo 149: We are spirits even now (continued)

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

Passo 151: Intention makes the person

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passo 160: Determined evil can be controlled only by punishments

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

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

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