What is the New Church?

The New Church is a new spiritual framework to live by. 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 saved the human race. 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 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 in great detail heaven and hell and the life after death, and many more wonderful things. These teachings are contained in what are called the Heavenly Doctrines or the Writings for the New Church.

On this page we offer you explanations of the core teaching of the New Church.

God Is One & The Trinity
What Did Jesus Accomplish By His Death On The Cross?
The Leading of the Holy Spirit
Salvation & Are We Judged by God?
Can you Contribute To Your Own Salvation?
Who Goes To Heaven?
Forgiveness Of Sins
The Second Coming
The Bible Is Not To Be Taken Only Literally
Importance of Reading the Word
Baptism
Heaven
Who is the Devil? Who is Satan?
Predestination
Is God Really Jealous and Angry?
Does Trusting God Mean I Stop Thinking?
Does God Withdraw From Us and Test Us?
Love All People - Not Just "Believers"
Usefulness
Are Our Talents Predetermined? Can We Choose Them?
Church Universal
Variety
Why Are Bad Things Permitted to Happen?
Evangelization
How Were The Writings for the New Church Revealed?

God Is One & The Trinity

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, Zecheriah 14:9). The one God of all, 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. 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
Use Bible Gateway to look up these quotes.

What Did Jesus Accomplish By His Death On The Cross?

Traditional Christianity teaches that the human race had turned away from God and God was angry and ready to destroy the human race. 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. 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 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 over. 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 Leading of the Holy Spirit

The New Church teaches that there are not three gods, nor that there are three persons in the one God, but rather there is one God in one person – the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. There are three aspects of the one God. 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 person. The New Church teaches that the Holy Spirit is the Lord’s activity in the world, or the "Divine Proceeding." It is the love and wisdom, the heat and light, the good and truth that radiate from the Lord to each of us. We’re also taught that the Lord has instilled order in all that He has created and those rules of order are laid out in the Writings for the New Church as the rules of Divine Providence. The goal and purpose of Divine Providence is a heaven from the human race -- that each of us humans will live a life that leads us to heaven. So everything the Lord is doing is an attempt to lead us towards that goal – continually bending in a gentle way our inclinations, but never forcing our will.

Salvation & Are We Judged by God?

The Lord by His life on earth made the way clear so that we may do the work, with Him, 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 take ourselves to 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 take ourselves to hell where we can continue to live this way with others of like mind and heart. We therefore judge ourselves - or choose our own eternity.

Can you Contribute To Your Own Salvation?

Yes. In fact, without your participation you are going to experience no spiritual growth. 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)

Who Goes To Heaven?

New Christianity teaches that all people of all faiths will go to heaven if they believe in one God and live in charity and kindness according to the principles of their religious persuasion. It is what is in your heart, not what is in your mind only, or the words on your tongue or the membership card in your wallet that determines your eternal condition. When people arrive in the spiritual world after the death of the physical body they are not asked, "what is your religion?" but rather, "what is your life?"

Forgiveness Of Sins

The Lord immediately forgives us of everything thing that we ever do that is wrong because He is love and mercy itself. The same premise mentioned above is true for this topic too – that we have to stop doing the behavior in question in order for the forgiveness to mean anything, because until we stop the Lord’s love and mercy can not enter in and find a place with us. It is never that the Lord is not willing to forgive us, but that we are unwilling to change our behavior and let His forgiveness have effect in our life.

The Second Coming

We believe that the Second Coming has already happened. Throughout the history of the human race the Lord has always had some way of connecting with people on earth. At the beginning of creation (represented by the Garden of Eden in the Genesis story) He had a very direct connection with people and they were able to communicate directly with Him. Due to human choice, the first people left this state and other means of connection were established. Before the Lord came on earth the human race was in a sorry state, and evil had risen up to the point where it was threatening human freedom. The Lord came down on earth to be the light that shines in the darkness, (John 1:5) and to restore human freedom. While He was on earth He fought and conquered the hells and restored an equal playing field for people. The Christian church was established and was able to be the conduit for the Lord for some time. Over time the teachings of the Christian church started becoming perverted and the idea of three persons in God and salvation by faith alone began to be taught and lived. Because of this falling away from the true message darkness began to come over the human race again. The Lord came again in a new body of revelation, of truth, and established the New Church. This new revelation is laid out in the Teachings of the New Church and shows us the true nature of God and how salvation is attained. It unlocks the deeper meaning of the Bible and shows us how it all relates to our spiritual growth. We’re given a detailed and clear picture of what life can be like for us after death and how our choices determine our place in heaven or hell. It teaches about marriage lasting to eternity and how we can strive to attain true married love. All of these teachings, and more, can open up to each of us a new connection with the Lord and a new way of living. It is in our accepting and living by this new body of truth that the Second Coming has effect on our lives.

The Bible Is Not To Be Taken Only Literally

The Lord’s Word is not to be taken only literally. There are several layers of meaning within the Word. There is the literal meaning – the meaning that you get from reading the Word at face value. There is the historical meaning – the meaning you get that describes the relationship between God and His people. This meaning talks about the history of the different churches on earth. There is the Spiritual Meaning – the inner meaning that contains the lessons of spiritual growth within them. For example, the Children of Israel being in bondage in Egypt pictures how we can become enslaved to bad habits or evil desires. The pain and oppression they endure pictures how living that kind of life is really a type of slavery, full of pain and sorrow. The Lord, by means of Moses freeing the slaves, pictures how the Lord can lead us out of this condition and set us free – leading us to the promised land of spiritual life. There is also a heavenly or celestial meaning of the Word which explains the path that Jesus had to endure to make His human Divine. The spiritual and celestial are similar, but the celestial explains the glorification of the Lord and the spiritual sense explains our personal regeneration or spiritual rebirth.

Importance of Reading the Word

The Word is the Lord speaking. In order to get in touch with the Lord’s will and His plan for our lives we need to read the Word wherein these things are explained. Looking to the Lord and hearing what He has to say in the Word is a vital part of the spiritual growth process. We can work to fight the negative tendencies and evils in our lives on our own and we may make some progress. But it’s not even close to the amount of progress that we can make if we are willing to go to the Lord, learn truths from the Word and then apply them to our lives, knowing that God’s power will be part of the process.

The Lord’s Word can be seen as our guidebook -- the owner’s manual from our Creator. The Lord wants each one of us to learn to live a life that leads to heaven, and that brings heaven into our daily lives. If you are searching for answers from God and looking for clarity on what He’s telling you – go to the Word and see what you find.

If you don’t know where to start, say a prayer and ask the Lord to teach you what He wants you to know. Then open up to one of the Psalms, or to a story in the gospels and start reading. Take the time to reflect on what you read, and ask the Lord to show you how it applies to your life.

Baptism

Baptism is a sign that a person is a follower of the Lord God Jesus Christ; that they are a Christian. The New Church teaches that the act of baptism does not transfer faith or "save" you. It is a sign of what a person must do to be regenerated or be born again spiritually (which is a process, not an event). Water is used because it is a symbol for truth. We must learn what is true (why water is applied to the forehead) and strive to love what is true (why water is applied to the chest) and this comes about through our efforts to shun negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors we observe in ourselves. The fact that this is difficult and trying is why the water is applied in the symbol of the cross – a sign signifying temptation. If we do this we are a true follower of the Lord which is what a Christian truly is.

Baptism is a promise made between an individual and the Lord. It is often done in public because there is value in recognizing that our efforts to live this way are best achieved with the support of, and accountability found, in a community. Baptism is an introduction into the church, not a confirmation that one believes everything of the church. It is a sign of intention to learn about the Lord and His Word and to follow Him.

Heaven

Life in heaven is not an eternal paradise of leisure. Heaven is a kingdom of usefulness. Everyone there gets personal satisfaction and true meaning from being in useful service to others.

Who is the Devil? Who is Satan?

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

Predestination

You may wonder whether the idea of the Lord knowing every moment of our lives, and creating us for a specific purpose, means that we are predestined to heaven or hell or that our lives are already figured out. New Christianity teaches us that every person is predestined to heaven. We are all created to live in heaven for eternity. Why does hell exist? Because the Lord has created a plan where we can live in freedom and where we have choices. He wants us to be happy and He wants us to be free. In order to be free we need to be able to choose our path. The choices that we make on a daily basis are what determines whether we end up in heaven or in hell after death, as well as creating our existence here on earth. If we make choices to love and serve God and each other than we are living a heavenly way of life and we will continue to live that way after death. If we spend our time here on earth being selfish, rejecting the Divine and living a hellish life, we will spend eternity living that way. The Lord loves us, and wants more than anything else for us to spend eternity learning, growing and serving in heaven. A heaven made from the human race is His goal in creation. It’s God’s greatest wish and He is leading each one of us towards that. But, He will not do anything that is against His order, and within that order is letting us have the freedom to choose, moment by moment, where we want to be.

Along with this question comes the idea of God knowing everything about us and knowing what we are going to do, what we’re planned for, and so on. The New Church teaches that the Lord is omniscient, that He perceives, sees and knows down to the tiniest detail everything that happens in our lives. So yes, He does know everything that we are doing, the choices we are making, and what our life holds. But He also has gifted us with freedom that we exercise at every moment. The Lord will never force us to do something or make us choose a certain way. He will continue to present us with opportunities to make choices that will lead us to a heavenly way of life, leaving it up to us to choose. His knowing doesn’t take away the fact that we are choosing.

Is God Really Jealous and Angry?

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 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.

Does Trusting God Mean I Stop Thinking?

New Christianity teaches that we are given freedom and reason and that the Lord wants us to be able to understand Him, and the way He leads us, and what His plan is for our lives. The New Church does not believe in blindly following something that doesn’t make sense to us. That being said, there are times when there can be pieces of our religious philosophy and ideas that we don’t always understand. Not getting all the intricate details doesn’t mean that we can’t hold a solid belief in the Lord and in the truth of His Word. Many find that if something isn’t making sense at the moment in the Bible or the Writings for the New Church, that eventually answers will come. Often it requires putting teachings in the context of other teachings and the bigger picture. Sometimes it comes through a shift in one's thinking or understanding. The Lord wants us to understand Him and His plan and order for the universe. He wants us to trust Him from a place of understanding, not from a place of blind trust. In human relationships we all know that you need to know someone to trust them, the same is true with the Lord. The more we can know about Him and the way He operates, the more trust we can place in Him.

Does God Withdraw From Us and Test Us?

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 also teach that when we are going through temptation that the Lord draws even closer to us, but that it can feel like He’ 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

Love All People – Not Just "Believers"

You may have encountered in other Christian circles the idea of loving only other "believers." The sense that one gets is that we are to love and serve Christians but those outside the church aren’t worthy of our love. We are to love others as much as, and even more than, ourselves. Jesus encouraged us to love our enemies, do good to those that hate us and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. Obviously He was raising the bar pretty high for those who would choose to follow Him. The Lord does ask us to love our neighbor as our self, and does qualify who our neighbor is. The parable of the Good Samaritan made it clear that it wasn’t just people "in the church," or "believers." The parable was told to answer the question, "Who is my neighbor that I am to love?" The answer is not what was expected. The Samaritan, who helped the man who was robbed, was said to be the neighbor who is to be loved. This answer showed that it isn’t a particular group of people who are the neighbor, but it is the good in other people that is the neighbor which is to be loved. We are to support the good we see in other people and to love those good qualities. This is true of all people we encounter.

Usefulness

We are created to be of use. All things that have been created by the Lord are for the sake of some use. The point of truth is to show us the things we must stop doing and the things we must begin doing to be of use. When we do things that are useful to others, with no thought of reward or recognition, the Lord gives us a delight far surpassing any external reward. This is the same delight that the angels of heaven experience from the joy of use in heaven. The greatest delight of angels is doing good with no thought of reward.

Are Our Talents Predetermined? Can We Choose Them?

Each of us is unique. There is not one person who is the same as another. Therefore we are inevitably going to have different loves and passions and interests. It 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, that doesn’t mean He is deciding for us, what it means is that He can allow and provide for our choices.

Church Universal

The Lord’s church is throughout the whole world and is comprised of people of all different religions who believe in a God who is one and live in charity according to their religious persuasion. The name given to this church is the "church universal."

Variety

The Lord loves variety. All of the variety in the universe is a reflection of depth and extension of the Lord’s love and wisdom. Heaven is perfected by the variety there. Each person that enters heaven adds to its beauty and perfection. It is something to think about in relation to our dealings with others who may see things differently than us.

Why Are Bad Things Permitted to Happen?

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, therefore, 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. [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.

Evangelization

This is an area where New Church culture differs greatly from other Christian communities. Many put out the traditional Christian battle cry of "save one more for Jesus," and the idea that we have to bring all people to Christ to ensure their salvation. It’s this pressure and feeling of "rightness" that many of us react to when we encounter the Fundamentalist Christian culture. This is not something that the New Church embraces. A fundamental teaching of the New Church is that every person needs to be left in freedom to choose their own path. Another comforting teaching is that there are many paths to heaven and to the Lord, and that people who believe in God and live in charity according to their religious beliefs can spend eternity in heaven. These teachings take away the pressure on each of us to, "save one more for Jesus."

That being said, the Lord does call each one of us to spread the good news and share His teachings and the love He wants to offer us all. The Bible and the Writings for the New Church make it very clear that we are to share the good news with others and to reach out and spread the teachings of the New Church. We’re told in the New Testament, "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) The Lord ended the gospels with commands to, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," (Mark 16:15), to "Go and make disciples of all the nations," (Matthew 28:18), saying, "You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:48), and to "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17). The Lord tells us, "You are the light of the world. A city that is on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

The Writings for the New Church have many passages that tell us to reach out and share what we have with others. A favorite passage on this subject talks about how in heaven the angels take great delight from sharing what they have with others (Heaven and Hell 399). Divine Love and Wisdom 47 states, "Love consists in willing what one has to be another’s." A very clear command to reach out and share what we have with others comes in the context of an example that the Writings for the New Church set for us: "Since it has been granted to me to be in the spiritual world and in the natural world at the same time, and those to see each world and each sun, I am obliged by my conscience to communicate these things. For of what use is knowledge unless it is communicated. What is it, but like collecting and storing up riches in a casket, and only looking at them occasionally and counting them over, without any intention of applying them to use. Spiritual avarice is nothing else." (Interaction Between the Soul and the Body 18:2)

How Were The Writings for the New Church Revealed?

The Writings for the New Church were revealed through Emanuel Swedenborg. For the first fifty-seven years of his life, Emanuel Swedenborg was a scientist and philosopher in 18th century Sweden. He devoted his last twenty-seven years to writing and publishing (mostly anonymously and all at his own expense) the theology and experiences which he said he had been called by the Lord to present. He wrote thirty-five volumes about religious topics including the life after death, the spiritual meaning of many Bible stories, the nature and development of the human mind, and how the Lord lovingly guides each of us.

We hope that this information served to get you started in examining the teachings of the New Church. There are many additional resources available if you are interested in learning more. Feel free to contact us for more information. David Roth, Pastor or Anna Woofenden, Outreach Director, 303-443-9220