new church life: november/december 2017
if you want to go to this kingdom, stop
and consider what you would want to
happen to you in any given situation,
and treat others likewise. Again, there’s
a historic context which feeds into why
the Lord delivered this truth in the way
He did.
But we know there’s much more to
this principle, revealed by means of the
Heavenly Doctrines. Arcana Coelestia
8223 is a great example. It provides us
with a broad statement of reality: This
law is “unchanging and everlasting
in the spiritual world. . . . [There] the
evil which people aim in the direction
of others recoils on themselves.” The
same is true of goodness: it comes
back on those who do it in overflowing
measure. (See Luke 6:38) There is a
timelessness to a truth like this that’s right there for us to see.
Finally, we encounter Emanuel Swedenborg’s testimony concerning this
reality: “It is a frequent occurrence in the next life for the evil to be severely
punished . . . ” (Arcana Coelestia 8223:3) Our mind is drawn by this statement
to the reality that the Lord caused Swedenborg to be able to see into the next
life and share with us what he saw there.
A time-bound series of events is the means of adding depth and perspective
to this universal law. Not only is it stated, but we can see through Swedenborg’s
eyes how it plays out in the lives of people in the life to come. We can imagine
the whole of heaven and hell governed by means of this eternal truth, and we
can reflect that our own lives will be too.
So we see one thread of many in the Word where truths are given within
a particular context. They’re true in that context as literally spoken, yet also
deliver one of the most powerful “timeless” truths we have about human
interactions.
So we see one thread
of many in the Word
where truths are given
within a particular
context. They’re true
in that context as
literally spoken, yet also
deliver one of the most
powerful “timeless”
truths we have about
human interactions.
Two Other “Test Cases”
It could be argued that the example just given is so obvious as not to present
any challenge whatsoever. After all, most of us would agree that the Golden
Rule is a “face and hands” or “genuine truth” passage. (See Sacred Scripture 55,
True Christian Religion 444)
Therefore, we could consider other teachings where the intended meaning
494