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Episode Synopsis
True Christian Religion 11. (4) AS TO THE NATURE OF THIS ONE GOD, NATIONS AND PEOPLES HAVE DIFFERED AND STILL DIFFER, FROM SEVERAL CAUSES.
The first cause is that a rational conception of God, and a consequent acknowledgment of Him, are not attainable without revelation. Such a conception, with the consequent acknowledgment that "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," is not attainable, except from the Word, which is the crown of revelations. For by the revelation there given man can approach God and receive influx from Him, and thereby, from being natural can become spiritual. In the earliest ages of the world revelation existed everywhere, but natural men perverted it in many ways, with the result that there arose disputes, dissensions, heresies and schisms in religion.
The second cause is that the natural man cannot perceive and apply to himself the things of God, but only the things of the world. It is therefore one of the doctrines of the Christian Church that the natural man is opposed to the spiritual, and that they war against each other. Hence it is that those who have learned from the Word, or other revelation, that there is a God, have differed and still differ, concerning His nature and unity.
[2] Those whose mental vision depended upon the senses of the body, but who still wished to see God, made for themselves images of gold, silver, stone and wood, in order that under the guise of visible objects they might worship God. Others, rejecting this form of worship, formed their idea of God from the sun, moon and stars and other objects of nature. Others, again, who thought themselves wiser than the common people, but who yet remained natural, from the immensity of God and His omnipresence in creating the world, acknowledged nature as God, some recognizing Him in her inner operation and some in her outer manifestations. Some, on the other hand, in order to distinguish between God and nature, formed a conception of something most universal, which they termed the Being (Ens) of the universe. As, however, they know nothing more of God, this Being is merely a creature of their own reason, and has no meaning at all.
[3] Conceptions of God are like mirrors in which He may be seen. Those who know nothing of God look for Him, as it were, on the back of a mirror; but this, being covered with quicksilver or some black preparation, does not reflect any image. Faith in God enters into a man by an inner way, from the soul into the higher parts of the understanding. Knowledge concerning God, from which are formed conceptions of Him, enters by an outer way, because it is derived from the revealed Word by the understanding through the senses of the body. Both these forms of influx meet midway in the understanding. There natural faith, which is merely persuasion, becomes spiritual faith, which is real acknowledgment: the human understanding therefore, is, as it were, a place of exchange, or a refining vessel, in which the change takes place.
Arcana Coelestia 7349. Thus saith Jehovah, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. That this signifies that they should leave those who are of the church to worship their God in freedom, is evident from the signification of “letting go,” as being to leave; from the representation of the sons of Israel, who are here “My people,” as being those who are of the spiritual church (see n. 6426, 663, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223); and from the signification of “serving Me,” as being to worship their God. That it denotes to worship in freedom, is because there could be no worship where falsities were infesting; and because all worship which is truly worship must be in freedom (n. 1947, 2875, 2876, 2880, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031).
Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner li...
The first cause is that a rational conception of God, and a consequent acknowledgment of Him, are not attainable without revelation. Such a conception, with the consequent acknowledgment that "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," is not attainable, except from the Word, which is the crown of revelations. For by the revelation there given man can approach God and receive influx from Him, and thereby, from being natural can become spiritual. In the earliest ages of the world revelation existed everywhere, but natural men perverted it in many ways, with the result that there arose disputes, dissensions, heresies and schisms in religion.
The second cause is that the natural man cannot perceive and apply to himself the things of God, but only the things of the world. It is therefore one of the doctrines of the Christian Church that the natural man is opposed to the spiritual, and that they war against each other. Hence it is that those who have learned from the Word, or other revelation, that there is a God, have differed and still differ, concerning His nature and unity.
[2] Those whose mental vision depended upon the senses of the body, but who still wished to see God, made for themselves images of gold, silver, stone and wood, in order that under the guise of visible objects they might worship God. Others, rejecting this form of worship, formed their idea of God from the sun, moon and stars and other objects of nature. Others, again, who thought themselves wiser than the common people, but who yet remained natural, from the immensity of God and His omnipresence in creating the world, acknowledged nature as God, some recognizing Him in her inner operation and some in her outer manifestations. Some, on the other hand, in order to distinguish between God and nature, formed a conception of something most universal, which they termed the Being (Ens) of the universe. As, however, they know nothing more of God, this Being is merely a creature of their own reason, and has no meaning at all.
[3] Conceptions of God are like mirrors in which He may be seen. Those who know nothing of God look for Him, as it were, on the back of a mirror; but this, being covered with quicksilver or some black preparation, does not reflect any image. Faith in God enters into a man by an inner way, from the soul into the higher parts of the understanding. Knowledge concerning God, from which are formed conceptions of Him, enters by an outer way, because it is derived from the revealed Word by the understanding through the senses of the body. Both these forms of influx meet midway in the understanding. There natural faith, which is merely persuasion, becomes spiritual faith, which is real acknowledgment: the human understanding therefore, is, as it were, a place of exchange, or a refining vessel, in which the change takes place.
Arcana Coelestia 7349. Thus saith Jehovah, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. That this signifies that they should leave those who are of the church to worship their God in freedom, is evident from the signification of “letting go,” as being to leave; from the representation of the sons of Israel, who are here “My people,” as being those who are of the spiritual church (see n. 6426, 663, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223); and from the signification of “serving Me,” as being to worship their God. That it denotes to worship in freedom, is because there could be no worship where falsities were infesting; and because all worship which is truly worship must be in freedom (n. 1947, 2875, 2876, 2880, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031).
Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner li...
In God we trust