"Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch" - Freedom Making Evil or Performing Virtue

 

Mt. Fuji from around Tokyo

Freedom Making Evil or Performing Virtue

How evil or vice came to exist and influence human beings is a critical issue, since none is free from such an influence.

According to Swedenborg who observed the spirit world or the afterlife while living in this world in the 18th century, evil was generated from freedom human beings were enjoying.  Based on freedom, men could choose good or bad.  But men gradually came to choose small goodness or virtue than great goodness or virtue.  In this trend, men came to finally choose evil than any small virtue.  Good or bad is also an issue in the spirit world or the afterlife, since there are many evil spirits and demons there.

The hell is not the place where bad men are punished in their afterlife, but bad men prefer to go to the hell since they cannot bear receiving bright light in Heaven.  The hell is the place built by souls of evil men in the afterworld.  Following freedom, they choose to build and live in the hell.

But when the God created the spirit world, there was no hell.  However, when the God created the material world from the spirit energy, He gave freedom to men who would live there.  And, men chose evil rather than virtue in living in the material world as they tried to satisfy their lives in the material world.

In the material world, men used his freedom to satisfy themselves which had material bodies.  When they were hungry, they had to feed themselves to go on living in the material world.  For them to further live, they would give priority to themselves first than others.  If they had enough foods, they could give some of them to others, but they still chose to feed themselves first.  They acted as if they had been a god who had power to make themselves or others live in the material world.  

Or they might choose to give all the foods they had to others from their love to those in hunger.   But, they chose to give only part of the foods to others.  First, they gave a half of the foods to others.  But, next time, the chose to give one quarter of foods.  Further, next time, they gave eighth part.  And, finally they stopped giving any part to others.  They gradually chose smaller goodness and eventually evil in the material world for their love to themselves.

In the spirit world, they need not to feed themselves.  Love from the God makes them live.  But, in the material world, they can feed themselves and others as if they were a god.  And, for love to themselves, they came to practice smaller and smaller goodness to others to make themselves even more happy.

And when such men as behaved like a god or practiced evil in the material world died and entered into the spirit world or the afterworld, they became evil spirits or demons under the control of Satan who was against the God.  And, more and more evil spirits gathered in the spirit world, the hell was formed.  In this way, this material world is connected to the spirit world.

From wrong execution of their freedom in this material world, men came to build and live in the hell in the spirit world or the afterlife.  In other words, from right execution of freedom, men can live near Heaven in the spirit world or the afterlife.

Therefore, knowledge of religion or even teachings of Christ Jesus alone cannot make men accepted in Heaven.  How they executed their freedom or how they behaved in this world decides whether they can enter into Heaven of fall into the hell.  So, faith based on knowledge alone is not enough, but good actions are needed for men to be accepted in Heaven.         

 

Therefore, love that makes men execute their freedom in a right way is greater than faith.     　　 

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John 10, King James Version

22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

"go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor" - Forbidden Fruit and Death due to Reason

 

Autumn around Tokyo

Forbidden Fruit and Death due to Reason

Everybody knows the story of Adam, Eve, and the forbidden fruit, but its meaning is not necessarily fully understood. 

According to Swedenborg (1688 – 1772), Eve ate the fruit as she followed her rational mind.  The rational mind is generated based on the human body but does not reflect heavenly wisdom.  Therefore, it is natural that Adam and Even started to live on their rational minds leaving heavenly wisdom, since they had physical bodies.  Consequently, they were expelled from Heaven.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

— Genesis 2:16–17

Put simply, men came to regard themselves as a kind of gods.  Therefore, the God would forsake men, so that men were destined to death.

Human reason is generated based on the human body.  Men living while following human reason turn their eyes to material matters and worldly things rather to heavenly wisdom.  Human reason is generated for men to handle material matters and worldly things in this material world.  However, it is not effective in understanding heavenly meaning of material matters and worldly things.

There is no death in Heaven, since every spirit is given eternal life by the God.  If a man with the material body has his spirit living in Heaven while he is living in this world, he is not afraid of death in this world, since he understands that even if his body dies in this world, his spirit goes on living in Heaven.  But if the man is living in this world based on his reason, he would lose this spiritual understanding to concentrate only on material matters.  As a consequence, he would come to be afraid of physical death, since he has already lost the spiritual understanding.      

Therefor, when Christ Jesus came to this world 2000 years ago, people had already lost the spiritual understanding and did not believe that their spirits could live forever in Heaven if the God allowed it.  That is why Christ Jesus had to teach them that those who believed in Him would live forever in Heaven even if they died in this world.

Put simply, we have to understand that heavenly wisdom takes priority over human reason.  For example, laws, regulations, rules, etc. in this world is based on human reason, but we have to give priority to heavenly wisdom in some cases.  Christ Jesus did not come to abolish Torah and laws, but He gave priority to heavenly wisdom.

If people rely only on human reason, Satan would interfere with work of human reason linked to material conditions, since handling of material matters and worldly things is influenced by physical desires that are vulnerable to the influence of Satan.

From another point of view, when a man loses spiritual understanding or spiritual sight, he would believe that physical death in this world is absolute and final death.  So, he would do anything such as selling his soul to Satan to get rich and live happily in this world till his death, which should satisfy Satan.

Physical death in this world of a man without knowing eternal life to be given by the God in Heaven would be real death.  In other words, he has chose death over life.  But, those who believe in the words of Christ Jesus can be said to have chosen life over death or heavenly life over worldly death.

However, the God is merciful.  If a man does not know and understand the words of Christ Jesus, he would be accepted in Heaven if he respects and fears the God and rejects Satan.  It also means that those who blindly follow the Vatican and other churches might not be accepted in Heaven especially if they are rich.          

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Mark 10, King James Version
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

"a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings" - Believe and Die to Enter into Heaven

 

Autumn around Tokyo

Believe and Die to Enter into Heaven

When a man dies, his soul leaves his body to enter into the afterworld or the spirit world and obtains eternal life if he believes in Christ Jesus.  This is what was preached by Christ Jesus as written in the Gospels.  

John 11
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

This truth must be taught in every elementary school in the world, so that everybody will not be afraid of death.

Indeed, according to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross who studied people's dying or death for decades till her death in 2004, there are only few people who did not at all believe in any form of the afterlife among thousands whose death she had observed.  Put simply, most of people believe in the afterlife or something like that.  But, most of Christians seem to have some kind of fear or insecure feeling toward death despite influence of Christianity.  Rather, non-Christian Asians seem to die in a more smooth way due to their religions such as Buddhism.

For example, some schools of Japanese Buddhism focus on dying of people, so that they teach that people can enter into Paradise if only they they chant names of Buddhism deities or simple phrases in creeds when they are dying.  Tibetan Buddhism has The Tibetan Book of the Dead where the method and process to send a dying man to Paradise is described.

Swedenborg, who observed the afterworld while living in this world in the 18th century, wrote that there were confusions in Christians who died and came to the spirit world.  They could not easily adapt to the afterworld.  And, it was because the Vatican and other Christian churches did not teach right and correct things about death and the afterlife.  He even wrote that some past Popes, Martin Luther, St. Paul, etc. were found in the hell.  He did not see even David in Heaven.  It seems that poor men without learning who simply followed the teaching of the God while living in this world are accepted in Heaven.  

The Vatican and Christian churches should teach people simply that they can enter into Heaven after their death if only they believe in Christ Jesus.  Other matters should be secondary.  They should not discuss about the Trinity and other theological issues.  They should teach just that people can enter into Heaven after their death if only they believe in Christ Jesus.  It is not a fairy tale but truth.     

  

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John 10, King James Version

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

"they will scourge you in their synagogues" - Evoke the Spirits of Christ Jesus and Judas

 

Autumn around Tokyo

Evoke the Spirits of Christ Jesus and Judas

According to The Manhood of Jesus by Geraldine Dorothy Cummins (1890–1969), an Irish spiritualist medium, Judas Iscariot was different than what he looks like as taught in churches.

Put simply he was a friend of Christ Jesus, although he betrayed Christ Jesus.  And after the arrest of Christ Jesus, Judas committed a suicide to give his life to Christ Jesus while other disciples ran away to hide.  Therefore, the word of Christ Jesus that there was no more greater love than dying for one's friend seems to refer to the friendship of Judas to Christ Jesus. 

(John 15
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.)

As for the background of Judas, his father was a respectable Jew who fought against Romans but was betrayed by his colleague to be executed by Romans.  Judas was in charge of managing money given by people to Christ Jesus, but he secretly diverted some of the money to buy swords and other weapons to prepare for an expected fight against Romans.  Christ Jesus must have known all these circumstances.  But according to the Gospel, He cursed at Judas:

Mark 14

21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

Anyway, spiritual media should do is to evoke the spirits of Christ Jesus and Judas.  There seems to be more secrets in Judas in relation to Christ Jesus.

Or Judas simply died due to woe caused by the word of Christ Jesus   


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Matthew 10, King James Version
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.