new church life: september/october 2016
It is true that in the
Heavenly Doctrine there is
not an abundance of direct
teaching on a subject such
as homosexual practices. . .
However, not infrequently,
the observant reader can, as
it were, “pick up the trail” in
a published work and then,
if so moved, follow it back
into the unpublished works.
works He may actually refuse to talk
about it. For example in the Arcana
Coelestia the Lord illustrates the sad
and consummated internal state of
the Christian world at the time of the
Last Judgment by heart-wrenching
descriptions of physical cruelty to
little children. (See, for example,
Arcana Coelestia 2125 and 2126.)
As an extension of this teaching,
in Arcana Coelestia 2125 there is
reference to two women in a kitchen,
but at this point in the passage,
Swedenborg is given to report, “but I
am not at liberty to mention what I saw
therein.” Still, it is added: “But what
was seen in the kitchen represented
the same hatreds and thoughts in their
further developments.”
Again in most ages we may happily leave it at that and not offend people
needlessly with what was seen to be going on in that kitchen. And yet in the
age in which we now live it would appear that sadly for the sake knowing the
truth and being moved to take strong action against this evil, we need to take
the matter further, dig down to the roots of this guarded reference. And this
we can do, in The Spiritual Diary/Spiritual Experiences. As to the depraved
people represented by the two women in the kitchen, Swedenborg records:
“I was instructed that these are they, who are delighted with that foulest lust of
defiling infants and very little girls. (These things it is not thus proper to speak in
public, lest they come into man’s thought.)”
Lest there be any who have any lingering question about the seriousness
of the crime involving sexual molestation of children, the Lord concludes the
passage with this assertion: “Things are generated before unheard of , which
destroy the nature of man – like as with those who perished at last by the deluge.”
(Spiritual Diary/Spiritual Experiences 2711 and 2712; see also 2719, 2801,
2883, 3993ff.)
Again, do we not disclose these teachings that abide at the roots of
passages in the published works? I think there ar e times when we must do so,
times when the people of the Church, living in certain cultures, must stand
and draw a clear and indelible line in the spiritual sand in defense of our –
really the Lord’s – children.
Other instances might be noted where the Lord chooses not to discuss
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