Question to Consider:
What resolution do you think the Lord hopes we will come to on tragedies large and small, such as the loss of a loved one, our house burning down, a car accident, a stain on a favorite blouse?
By Emanuel Swedenborg
Step 99: The Lord never wills that an evil [event] should happen, but He does permit it to occur
Divine Providence #234
See bibliographic informationBy Emanuel Swedenborg
234. Laws of Permission Are Also Laws of Divine Providence
There are no "laws of permission" that are simply that, or that are separate from the laws of divine providence. They are the same thing; so saying that God allows something to happen does not mean that he wants it to happen but that he cannot prevent it because of his goal, which is our salvation. Whatever happens for the sake of this goal, our salvation, is in accord with the laws of divine providence, since as already noted [183, 211], divine providence is always moving away from and contrary to our own intentions. It is constantly focused on its goal; so at every moment of its work, at every single step of its course, when it notices that we are straying from that goal it leads and turns and adapts us in accord with its laws, leading us away from evil and toward good. We will see shortly that this cannot be accomplished without allowing bad things to happen.
Further, nothing can be allowed to happen without some cause, and causes are to be found only in some law of divine providence, a law that tells us why something is allowed to happen.
