Wednesday, June 20, 2012

"Blessed be ye poor" - Swedenborg


On the Beach in Northeast of Tokyo

Swedenborg

A notable 18th-century Swedish scholar wrote about what will happen after one is dead.
World of Spirits 
(This is not to be confused with “the spiritual world,” which is a general term referring to the whole extent of Heaven, Hell and the World of Spirits) The traditional idea was of resurrection on Judgment Day at the end of history. Swedenborg says judgment takes place in the World of Spirits immediately after each individual’s death. After we die, we wake up in the intermediate region of the spiritual world, neither in Heaven nor Hell, but in the neutral "no man's land" Swedenborg calls the World of Spirits. Here we gradually lose the ability to pretend and the spiritual “real us” comes out. The resulting stripping of one's self bare, even to one's most secret thoughts and intentions, is the judgment. “There is nothing concealed that shall not be uncovered, and nothing secret that shall not be known …” (Luke 12:2, 3; Matthew 10:26, Heaven and Hell, #498). Following this judgment the new spirit goes on to Heaven or Hell of his or her own free will. God does not force them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_and_Hell_(Swedenborg)

However, the scholar Swedenborg cannot be trusted as a faithful follower of Christ Jesus, since he was rich and he wanted to enter Heaven without becoming poor in this world to save the poor.
But those who know anything of the spiritual sense of the Word think otherwise; they know that heaven is for all who live a life of faith and love, whether rich or poor. But who are meant in the Word by "the rich" and who by "the poor" will be told in what follows. From much conversation and intercourse with angels it has been granted me to know with certainty that the rich enter heaven just as easily as the poor, and that no man is shut out of heaven on account of his wealth, or received into heaven on account of his poverty. Both the rich and the poor are in heaven, and many of the rich in greater glory and happiness than the poor.
http://swedenborg.newearth.org/hh/hh39.html

But it is still likely that Christ Jesus chose Swedenborg for some kind of holy mission.
In April 1745, Swedenborg was dining in a private room at a tavern in London. By the end of the meal, a darkness fell upon his eyes, and the room shifted character. Suddenly he saw a person sitting at a corner of the room, telling Swedenborg: "Do not eat too much!". Swedenborg, scared, hurried home. Later that night, the same man appeared in his dreams. The man told Swedenborg that He was the Lord, that He had appointed Swedenborg to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and that He would guide Swedenborg in what to write. The same night, the spiritual world was opened to Swedenborg.
The point at issue is that poverty causes pain in a human being.  In his private and social life, a poor man cannot obtain essential products and services, so that he has to suffer more, working more in worse condition.  He is also forced to be subject to a rich man who would pay wages to him.  Such a rich man can avoid a painstaking task as he can force a poor man to do it.  A rich man keeps his pride by sacrificing the pride of a poor man.  And a poor man cannot enjoy a high-level medical services a rich man can use casually.  So, poverty causes big pain in the poor man while money spares the rich man even health problems.  Accordingly, a rich man cannot be admitted into Heaven so easily while a poor man can, since a rich man is one of causes for pain a poor man suffers. while he can be stopped being such a cause if he has love to the poor.

Nonetheless, Christ Jesus chose Swedenborg, a rich Swedish scholar, for a certain mission.  Accordingly, even Immanuel Kant studied writings of Swedenborg.  And though Kant first criticized Swedenborg even by publishing a book to deny Swedenborg's intellectual and spiritual ability, he changed his view on Swedenborg 14 years after the publication of the book.  Kant accepted an idea of existence of the spiritual world or the world of spirits Swedenborg depicted in his books, saying, "It constitutes a special realistic world.  It must be understood that this world is distinct from the world we perceive."

Indeed, what we see is too simple; there must be another world we cannot easily see but our spirits are linked to.

http://www.7netshopping.jp/books/detail/-/accd/1101494954/subno/1


(to be continued)

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Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.