New Church Life May/June 2017 | Page 29

     In addition to what he said about the meaning of the Word and the life after death, he told them about the following things: 1. Your world has a different sun than ours. 2. There are three levels of life and three heavens. 3. Information about the Last Judgment; 4. That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth; 5. God is not only one essence but one person, in whom is the divine Trinity, the Lord is that person. 6. About the new church, and about the holiness of Sacred Scripture. 7. The Book of Revelation has been unveiled. 8. About the inhabitants of other planets. 9. Not to mention accounts of memorable occurrences and amazing things witnessed in the spiritual world; through these accounts much that relates to heavenly wisdom has been made known. (True Christianity 686) Are these really the most important concepts? At several points the angels say, “Wait, didn’t they know about this already?” such as when Swedenborg mentions levels of life or discrete degrees. The angels are amazed that people would not know about this, because it is so fundamental to the workings of the universe. To most of us, though, it is a fairly obscure idea, not one that we may think of as a leading doctrine. Yet understanding the difference between what is physical and what is spiritual, which is what these levels are about, is key to understanding the Word, the life after death and how the Lord works. We might wonder the same thing about the emphasis on the difference between the sun of heaven and the sun that we see in this world. Why is this idea so important? Similarly, that there is life on other planets. Although people commonly speculate that there is probably life elsewhere in the universe, and even human life, why would this belief be an important religious teaching? People also sometime wonder about the “accounts of memorable occurrences and amazing things witnessed in the spiritual world.” Charles Frederick Von Hopken, a friend of Swedenborg’s during his lifetime, wrote: I asked Swedenborg once why he wrote and published these Memorable Relations, which seemed to throw so much ridicule on his doctrine, otherwise so rational, and whether it would not be best for him to keep them to himself, and not to publish them to the world? But he answered that he had orders from the Lord to publish them, and that those who might ridicule him on that account would do him injustice. (Documents Concerning Swedenborg, Volume 2, p. 417) 209