Frequently Asked Questions

The New Church is a new spiritual framework to live by, as opposed to a specific church organization. Let us explain it in context. As the Old Testament reads, people were in deep darkness and trouble (Isaiah 9:2, John 1:5, John 3:19) and that is why God came on earth in human form as Jesus Christ. He came to conquer the power that hell had over the human race, and to make His human Divine. He restored our freedom to choose again – and by doing this he provided that the human race could be saved. The Christian church was set up in response to His coming. This church has grown and also experienced throughout its history a falling away from what it was intended to be, and again spiritually speaking, people were in a type of darkness. So the Lord has come again in a new body of revelation or truth – creating a New Church. In this new revelation He describes Himself, and what true Christianity is. He explains how His Word (Bible) has a deeper, inner meaning. He describes our salvation process and what we must do to be salvable. He describes heaven and hell and the life after death, and many more wonderful things in great detail. These teachings are contained in what are called the Heavenly Doctrines or the Writings for the New Church.

God is one: Traditional Christianity says that God is one, yet insists that there are three distinct Divine persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When you have three persons who are all–knowing, all–powerful, and all–present it makes three Gods. New Christianity says that God is one (Mark 12:32, Isaiah 44:6, Zechariah 14:9). The one God (out of love and concern for the human race and the state of humanity at that time) took on a physical human conceived of the Divine and born of the virgin Mary. Within the human of Jesus was the Divine itself – His soul was divine. Throughout His lifetime Jesus gradually got rid of what was merely human and took on more and more of the Divine within Him until He made His human completely Divine. This means, God is one, within whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18). Just as we all have a soul, a body and the actions of our life (and are one person) so it is with God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are names given for the soul, body and activity of the one God. One God, one divine person. Further references: Mark 12:29, 30, Deut. 6:4, 5, Matt. 19:16, 17, Isaiah. 37: 20, Isaiah. 45:5, 6, Isaiah 44:8, Psalm 18:31, Isaiah. 45:14, 15, 21, 22, Isaiah. 43:11, Hosea. 13:4, Isaiah 44:6, Zech. 14:9

The Lord by His life on earth taught us how to prepare for heaven. He showed us how to cooperate with Him to do the work of changing our character from one that is selfish, self centered, inconsiderate and fearful (living in a hellish way) to one that is kind, giving, generous and confident in the Lord (living in a heavenly way). This is a process and it takes time – a lifetime. As we make choices to turn away from selfish and merely worldly gratification and in turn make choices that are based on the truth, and inspired by generosity and kindness, we develop a desire or will for what is good. It is that will or dominant love within us that determines our place after the death of this body. If we primarily love what is kind, good, and true we will find our happiness in heaven where we can continue to live this way with others of a like mind and heart. If we primarily love what is selfish, hateful and deceitful we will actually find heaven an uncomfortable place, and instead find a place in hell where we can continue to live this way with others of like mind and heart. We therefore essentially judge ourselves - or choose our own eternity.

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John 12:46-48)

We have choices. We need to freely choose to live a life according to the Lord's principles. The Lord can only approach us with His love and wisdom and mercy if we prepare ourselves to receive Him. We are taught that the Lord can only be present with us in what is His own. So we must acquire truth from the Word and attempt to live by it, shunning evils as sins. When we do this we create a place where the Lord can dwell. The power to do this of course is not ours, but comes from the Lord when we ask for it, and live in the light of the Word.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20)

Traditional Christianity teaches that the human race had turned away from God and God was angry and ready to destroy the human race. According to this view, Jesus interceded and offered the sacrifice of Himself, to die, to appease the wrath of the Father. They teach that we are saved by acknowledging that Jesus, by dying on the cross, took upon Himself all the sins of the human race, and by a confession of belief in His sacrifice all of our sins are washed away and we are saved - made acceptable to God and able to enter into heaven. This is why an emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is stressed by traditional Christian theology. It is, in their eyes, the way, and the only way, to heaven.

New Christianity teaches that God saved the human race by coming on earth, but He didn’t come to die. He came to restore freedom to human beings so we could again be free to choose. He came so that we would have a clear understanding of who God is, and what He asks of us. Before the Lord came on earth, the influence of hell had risen to such a level that it was essentially choking off the life from God with the human race. It was like a completely cloudy and polluted atmosphere which needed to be purified. The Lord cleared the way by taking on the attacks of the hells with His vulnerable humanity, and by His own inner strength putting them under lock and key so that they didn’t over-extend their influence and cause an imbalance. The final battle was the one on the cross – it was not the only battle. When Jesus proclaimed on the cross, "It is finished," He was declaring that all the work He came to do against the hells was complete. On Easter morning His body was no longer in the tomb because all that was human was unified with the Divine, and made Divine.

The Lord’s governance of all people is called His Divine Providence. There is nothing that happens outside of the care of the Lord and His providence. This does not mean that the Lord wills evil things to happen. The Lord is continually providing for all that is good and true and useful to effect us and inspire us. His will is only that good things happen. However, He also created people to be free. Therefore people make choices that are merely somewhat good, or partially good and sometimes downright evil and wrong. The Lord is present with people in these choices trying to bend them to a lesser evil or even to what is good. He will never exert His influence to the point where someone’s will is broken or pushed beyond their own free choice. We are also told that the Lord will only permit evil to happen if good may come from it. For example, we can see in the death of an individual how often it will impact people for good; by either inspiring others to change their lives, or live more spiritually, or some such thing. When evil things happen the Lord is there permitting it (not willing or desiring it to happen), providing that good might come from the choices made.

When it is said that God permits, this does not mean that He wills, but that He cannot avert on account of the end, which is salvation. Whatever is done for the sake of the end, namely, salvation, is according to the laws of the Divine Providence. (Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Providence 234)

We will be effected by our heredity that is passed on from our parents and ancestors, our environment, our experiences, and our ruling or dominant love. We are created to have free choice so it is completely up to us what we choose to do and what we choose to love. The Lord knows what we are going to choose but that doesn’t mean He is deciding for us. It means that He can allow for, and provide for, our choices.

Read the article "God doesn't make bad things happen", or "Personal Crisis and Spiritual Growth".

There is no one devil or Satan that strives in opposition to God. Devil is a term used for those who in this life have chosen a life of hate and hurt towards others. The Devil can mean (in an aggregate sense) all those who are working together for ill. Satan is a term used for those who in this life have chosen a life delighting in lies and deceit – they love what is false. Satan can mean (in an aggregate sense) all those who are working together to deceive or persuade others of what is false.

When we read the Old Testament we are sometimes given a view of God being angry or jealous. Let it be clearly said: God is never angry. God is pure unending love and wisdom and completely incapable of having anything but love towards us. The appearance of an angry God in the Old Testament was necessary for the people at that time. That was the only image of God they were able to respond to at that point. They projected this image of the Lord because fear was in their hearts. The Lord loves you completely and never wishes any harm on you. There is a beautiful passage in the Writings for the New Church that says the Lord can't even turn His face from us or frown on us.

Read what the Bible says about God's Anger

The answer is, "no." God never withdraws from us – He is always present and loving us. We are however, left in freedom and we can use that freedom to turn away from the Lord if we choose. The Writings for the New Church also teach that when we are going through temptation that the Lord draws even closer to us, but that it can feel like He's farther away. This is because the closer the Lord is to us, the more freedom we are in, and the more it feels like we are doing things on our own. The bottom line is that God is all loving and ever present. He doesn't choose to leave us or back away. He tells us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5