This doctrine is not new, it is old. And it explains several things in Christianity:
- The incarnation of the Word made flesh (John 1:14), why it was necessary to save the human race
- Why Jesus had to be born of a virgin (Luke 1:35)
- Why the Eucharist or Communion is the central ritual of worship, where the focus is on the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
- Why Jesus had to rise from the dead, even as to the flesh and bones (Luke 24:39)
- How that transformed body, Jesus could pass through walls, appear and disappear, and with that body ascended into heaven
- How Jesus is now omnipresent through the Holy Spirit to reform and regenerate each person through repentance
- Why John said that those who deny Jesus came in the flesh belong to the Antichrist (1 John 4:3)
It was through the process of making His human Divine, united to His Divinity (the Father) that Jesus saved the human race. For humanity has sunk into materialism, cut off from heaven, and there is a tendency to only believe that which is seen with the senses. Free will originates from a balance between heaven and hell, which plays out in the conscience of each and every human mind. By becoming like us in human form, Jehovah fought directly against all of hell through temptations in His human, and by overcoming all of them He subdued all of hell, and can now interact directly with each human without need for mediation from angels. Salvation was a lifelong process until He overcame all temptation and rose from the dead:
HOW FALSE CHRISTIANITY OPPOSES THE TRUTH
Through the centuries, theologians have modified and added to the original revelation, corrupting the very foundation of the Christian Church. This is the reason why a New Church must and will arise to take its place. This is the true meaning of the following prophecy:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the Antichrist], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)In the spiritual sense "the earth" is not the planet earth, but rather the earth or land is symbolic of the visible church on earth. The book of Revelation speaks how many in the church will become deceived by a false Christianity. Also in the spiritual sense "the Lamb" signifies the Divine Human of the Lord. The Lamb was "slain" or killed due to non-acknowledgment. It began at the "foundation of the world" - that is, at the foundation of the Christian Church. For Jesus was not only rejected as the Messiah by the Jews, but right after his time many heresies arose, and even the Church itself began to turn away from acknowledging His human as Divine. This is apparent to anyone who studies the early history of the Christian Church. But without revelation, it is confusing to an outsider to discern who is right and who is wrong.
So how does the false version of Christianity oppose the acknowledgment of the Divine Human in Jesus Christ? There are several teachings and doctrines taught in theology that have hold of the mind of many people within the existing churches. The main one is that externally it appears monotheistic, but internally in the mind it is tritheistic:
- The division of the Trinity among three distinct persons, rather than acknowledging that the Trinity is the soul, body and spirit of Jesus Christ (see Col. 2:9)
- From the Trinity of three persons, many Christians pray to the Father as a separate being from Jesus Christ, bypassing Him in prayer. Jesus is "secondary" or forgotten in prayer.
- From the Trinity of three persons, Jesus is divided into two natures: a "Divine nature" and a "human nature."
- The Catholic Church states that Mary was born without sin, and as such do not understand how Jesus saved the human race by making His human Divine
- In place of making the human Divine, the church invented the doctrine of "vicarious atonement," where sins are automatically transferred to Jesus, which is contrary to basic logic
- Because of vicarious atonement, religion became one of belief alone, and lip service alone.
- A religion of belief alone does not regard how a person lives their life, nor repentance for salvation
- In order to maintain this theology, the Catholic Church had to make blind belief higher than rational understanding, emphasizing authority of the priesthood and "mysteries of faith."
It is because of this false theology, that many outside of the Christian church regard Jesus as just a teacher or prophet. It is also the reason why God allowed the religion of Islam to arise in the Middle East, to help destroy the tritheistic doctrine of the Trinity. The theology of the older churches is diametrically opposed to the doctrine of the New Church, which is the doctrine of the Divine Human.
It was the physical body born in time to the virgin Mary that is the Son of God. There is no such thing as a Son of God "born from eternity" as declared by the Nicene Creed. There is only Jehovah:
"...the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father in human form, but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has not flesh. And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He also assumed the flesh. Wherefore it is said, God was the Word . . . and the Word became flesh. And in Luke: Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (xxiv. 39). The Lord taught by these words that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel, but that He was Jehovah Man..." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9315.5, by Emanuel Swedenborg)
The doctrine of the Divine Human of the New Church can actually be found in the ancient Athanasian Creed, where it is stated that in Jesus God became man and man became God. This was clarified further in Swedenborg's waking heavenly visions:
"I have been told from heaven that in the Lord from eternity, Who is Jehovah, before the assumption of the Human in the world, there were the two prior degrees actually, and the third degree in potency, such as they are also with the angels; but that after the assumption of the Human in the world, He put on also the third degree, which is called the natural, and that thereby He became a man similar to man in the world, with the difference, however, that this degree, like the prior degrees, is infinite and uncreated in Him, while these degrees in angel and in man are finite and created." (Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 233, by Emanuel Swedenborg).
OPPOSITION OF THE OLD CHURCH FORETOLD IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION
While the West is constantly bashing Islam, they fail to look in the mirror and see the falsehoods within their own religion. For one born into a religion cannot see falsehoods of his or her religion. The same is true of Muslims in Islam, for they have only been given a partial truth, and it is easy to find fault with the false theology of the old church. Most people accept the truth on the basis of authority alone. Few question the religion they were brought up in by their parents.
Is man justified by faith alone? Think again.
The book of Revelation throughout is a prophecy predicting the rise and decline of the Christian Church, how in the end a false theology would take hold of it. This is the tritheistic religion of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. This is where religion becomes one of belief alone, without regard to how one lives. Opposed to this are the two witnesses, which symbolize the doctrine of the Divine human, and the doctrine of a life according to the 10 commandments, which is opposed by those in a religion of belief alone. The two witnesses, and the woman fleeing into the wilderness, signify that at its beginning the New Church will be small and among the few, in obscurity in the wilderness. This is explained in detail in Swedenborg's works, Apocalypse Revealed and Apocalypse Explained, who explained each and every word of this book according to the spiritual sense.
As Jesus grew, He eventually realized His identity, and fought against dark powers to deliver humanity, a process that is described in the internal spiritual sense in scripture as detailed in Heavenly Arcana . Reminds me of this final scene from Dark City:
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"And not only is He Jehovah in human form, upon the resurrection, He made His entire human body Divine."
ReplyDeleteDoes the logic you draw from harmonize with the entire Bible or just a few scripture?
All of scripture is focused on the Lord and the Church. And yes, all of scripture discusses the glorification of Jesus in the Divine Human. Much of this is apparent in the literal sense, but it becomes clearer in the spiritual sense as well. So for example, the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob discusses the progressive glorification of the Lord in His human, which Swedenborg discussed in detail in Heavenly Arcana. What I am stating in the blog is merely a summary.
DeleteThere are short passages from scripture that are hard to explain without the doctrine of the Divine Human, I can point to a few:
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matt. 28:18) This cannot be true unless His human was made Divine. Only the Divine has power over heaven and earth. The Trinitarian view of three persons makes no sense, God is not handing over His power to another person here. His body was glorified and made Divine, that is why He is stating power has been given to Him after the resurrection.
"All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16:15) This is straightfoward.
"For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:26). Only the Divine is the source of life and is life itself, we are but recipients of life.
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" (John 14:10) This makes no sense if there are two distinct persons. The Father is the Divine itself which no man has seen, the Son is the Divine Human. The relationship is similar to that of the soul and body.
The question to ask is which portions of scripture do NOT indicate this. The portions of scripture which people typically point to is when Jesus suffered temptation, and when He prays to the Father. Before the resurrection His body was that of a human, which had inherited sinful tendencies from His human mother, it is through the human He could be tempted. But the Divine within could commit no sin. Thus a conflict, a spiritual war, arose between Jehovah and all of hell in His human. This is how the human race was saved. Before the resurrection, when He was in a state of humiliation where He could be tempted, He prays to the Father as to another person. But this is an appearance, from a state of temptation which can only arise in a state of separation. He progressed towards union with the Divine, and in a state of union He would say He was one with the Father.
These two states of being are described in detail in "Doctrine of the Lord" in the work "Doctrines of the New Jerusalem." I believe it is also explained in the work "True Christian Religion." These works quote scripture after scripture to prove this point. All one has to do is compare titles given to Jehovah in the OT with the titles given to the Lord in the NT. They are the same. Its because we are talking about one person here, Jehovah.
With this understanding one arrives at a deeper understanding of Communion - we reach communion with God through His human which He made Divine, from which we receive His love (the bread) and His truth (the wine).
With this understanding, Jesus is in first place, not in second. The Son of God is the human that was born to Mary in time. And not once does He call Mary His mother, but "woman" - as He began to divest His humanity and replace it with His Divinity.
"And not only is He Jehovah in human form, upon the resurrection, He made His entire human body Divine.
ReplyDeleteDoes the logic you draw from harmonize with the entire theme of the Bible or just a few scriptures?
The jews did not worship a triune god. We worship the same god they worshiped. Why do worship something different?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, the Trinity of three persons was invented in the 4th century A.D. by a church council. Before that time, it was unknown to the Christian Church. In the New Church, the trinity is seen as the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine proceeding - an emanation of the Divine in Jesus Christ. In the New Church, the Trinity of three persons led to the ultimate decline of the Christian Church - this is the "abomination of desolation" as foretold by the prophet Daniel.
DeleteThe Jews worshiped Jehovah in invisible form, although in some passages they are aware that Jehovah appeared in angelic form to certain prophets. Jehovah revealed Himself as I AM WHO I AM to Moses, thus when Jesus told the Jews that He was I AM, he made himself the same as Jehovah, thus the Jews almost stoned him at that time (John 8:58-59)
The closest one comes to a trinity in the Old Testament is this passage: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Gen. 2:7). Here you have the living soul, the ground, and the breath of life as a trine in Adam - the soul, body and spirit. This trine exists in every person. Thus when Jehovah became incarnate, this trine became the Holy Trinity of the soul, body and spirit of Jesus Christ. This definition of the trinity was given by revelation to Swedenborg in vision, where he saw the angels were strongly opposed to the trinity of three persons. All who enter heaven are eventually taught that the doctrine of three persons is incorrect, when they are ready to receive it.
The Jewish laws are representative and symbolic, so spiritual truths are in shadow in the Old Testament, but they shine more clearly with Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Thus the temple in which they worshipped Jehovah to them was but a building, but in the New Testament it was revealed that the temple was the human form which contained Jehovah (John 2:19).
Okay. Much to respond. There are many points of conversation you bring up. At some point, I was not sure which way you were leaning. I will be brief in my response for each point.
Delete"the Trinity of three persons was invented in the 4th century A.D. by a church council. Before that time, it was unknown to the Christian Church. In the New Church, the trinity is seen as the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine proceeding - an emanation of the Divine in Jesus Christ. In the New Church, the Trinity of three persons led to the ultimate decline of the Christian Church - this is the "abomination of desolation" as foretold by the prophet Daniel.”
“Invented” would be fact and not just form a religious sense, but forma purely historical sense. The Jews did not worship someone or something they did not know. They knew the God they worshiped was one person. This debate over Jehovah and Jesus being the same person is something that did not need to be resolved. The Christian claim to worship[ the God of the Hebrews. If that is who they want to be worshiping, then they would be worshiping the only true God, Jehovah.
Jesus coming on the scene did not complicate issues for the Jews. Those that opposed him knew exactly who he was, the Son of God, Jehovah. The charge for the oppress was not a religious one, it was a political one. Jesus did not match what they thought they were getting in a Messiah. They were looking for someone to break the Roman bonbdage and return them back to the glory days of their ancestors. They were looking for a military solution. Jesus refuted that notion. The problem was not with him, it was with them. For this reason, during Jesus 3.5 year ministry, they did everything to discredited him. The last straw came with the resurrection of Lazarus. From that moment going further, they sought a way to kill both of them.
While on Earth, Jesus prayed to Jehovah, not himself. Prior to him performing many of the miracles he gave credit to his Father, Jehovah. On more than one occasion, Jehovah spoke form heaven about his son starting with the his baptism at the Jordan. And since no man has ever seen God and lived, Jesus being Jehovah in the flesh would make that impossible.
Since the first Christians were Jews, they did not understand Jehovah to be a tune God. Many of the prophecies pointed to someone the Jehovah would raise up. The Jews were looking for the Messiah. They were not looking for Jehovah. They already had him. Jehovah sent Jesus to be lead the Jews back to pure worship since by the time he did come, the jew had veered away from the Law through many manmade traditions, the Trinity not being one of them. If the Jews did not worship a triune god in the Hebrew or the Greek, this false teaching can only be attributed to Demonic influence.
Jehovah and Jesus are to different and distinct persons. One was created and a subordinate, that sort to do the will of someone else. The other always existed.
"The Jews worshiped Jehovah in invisible form, although in some passages they are aware that Jehovah appeared in angelic form to certain prophets. Jehovah revealed Himself as I AM WHO I AM to Moses, thus when Jesus told the Jews that He was I AM, he made himself the same as Jehovah, thus the Jews almost stoned him at that time (John 8:58-59)"
DeleteAnyone that worships Jehovah will be worshiping a Spirit. His body is like test of the Angels he created, spirit which different from our bodies, earthly.
Exodus 33:20, John 6:46 and John 1:18 clearly show test no man has seen God and lived. It makes a distinction between him and his Son. If Jesus is God in the flesh, this would render the Bible controversial which it is not. The statement in those three verses are a inconvenient truth that those of the Trinity belief cannot get a round. They have written many books trying to work around this fact. Sound have even suggested that they are symbolic. The truth is, their thinking is incorrect.
The lesson here is that what ever your understanding, it has to harmonize with all of the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 clearly states All Scripture is Inspired by God.
As for "I AM":
DeleteIn John 5:58, the words "I am" are stated in many bible translations. Some have capitalized "I AM" to convey the idea of a title. They seek to connect it to Exodus 3:14.
To suggest that the Hebrews did not know who the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was would be incorrect. When Jehovah use the phrase I am, he was not referring to his name. That was not the concern Moses had. Moses was not seeking God's name, he was concerned that the Hebrews would not believe him. After all, he did not leave Egypt on good terms with the Egyptians or the Hebrews. Jehovah was reassuring Moses that he would be and do exactly what he said he would do.
However, when Jesus used the words, he was not speaking about name, title or about a definitive action he would take in the future. The conversation centered around age. They wanted to know how he knew Abraham. In order for Jesus to have known Abraham, he, Jesus, had to be living during the times of Abraham which was true. That does not mean he was Jehovah. There were a lot of Sons of God (Angels) living during, before and after Abraham. They are still living today since none of them gave been destroyed yet. Jesus was just one of many to include Satan and the rebellious Angels to be in existence during Abraham. This is the reason some translation render it in this manner, "I have been" or something similar.
Hello Steve, from your comment on April 29, 7:05pm you wrote this:
Delete"While on Earth, Jesus prayed to Jehovah, not himself. Prior to him performing many of the miracles he gave credit to his Father, Jehovah. On more than one occasion, Jehovah spoke form heaven about his son starting with the his baptism at the Jordan. And since no man has ever seen God and lived, Jesus being Jehovah in the flesh would make that impossible."
and
"Jehovah and Jesus are to different and distinct persons. One was created and a subordinate, that sort to do the will of someone else. The other always existed."
Jehovah and Jesus are distinct, but not as to being or person. They are two different states of being, or levels of being. It is the same with each person, there are higher and lower states of being in our own psychology. The reason why Jesus prays to the Father is that when Jehovah became incarnate, his external human form was not Divine, and had inherited sinful tendencies from the mother Mary (which Catholics do not acknowledge). Thus He could be tempted, which occurred in a state of separation from the Divine. On this issue, see Doctrine of the Lord. He had to grow as a human and as such, in an early stage he may have forgotten who he was until he reached a higher mature spiritual development.
So, when Jesus says all power is given to Him, He is saying He has become omnipotent even as to His human form, which could not happen until He conquered all sin from hell in His human. If the Father was another distinct person, the Father would have no power. Also the apostle Philip asked Jesus to show the Father (John 14), and Jesus replied He was the Father, as that resided within Him. No one can see the Father direct, but we can indirectly through His human form. In the Old Testament, the titles of Jehovah are appropriated by Jesus - thus in the OT Jehovah calls Himself "the First and the Last", and the same is true of Jesus in Revelation.
The Divine itself is outside space and time, and as such is present everywhere. In Jesus, the Divine made itself "finite" for a period of time until He became fully united back to the Father.
Again, the Father and Son are distinct, but as the soul is to the body, not as to person or being.
At a higher level, the Father and Son are distinct, but as to Divine love and Divine wisdom. When the Divine made the descent to become incarnate, it did so as to Divine wisdom or truth, which is the Word. As all are judged by Divine truth, so Jesus said the Father entrusted all judgment to him. This is a larger subject, for which I recommend Divine Love and Wisdom.
There are three views:
1. The Son of God is the human born in time to the virgin Mary. This is the position of the early Christian Church.
2. The Son of God was created at some point in time before creation. This is the view of Arianism.
3. The Son of God was "born from eternity" and "begotten not made", which makes no sense. Since it makes no logical sense, belief was made dominate over understanding. This is the view of the Nicene Creed.
Unfortunately, viewpoint #3 became orthodox, which is tritheistic, which killed off not only viewpoint #2 but the original doctrine of the Church (#1). #2 is almost correct but they got the timing wrong, and did not understand the concept of Divine love and Divine truth. Back then, distinctions were always understood in terms of "person" and nothing else.
When Jesus said before Abraham was, "I AM" he is definitely identifying himself with Jehovah and not a pre-existing angel. Otherwise the Jews would not have picked up stones to stone him, for if he were just a man he just committed blasphemy. And that is why he was crucified - for making himself equal to God. He was crucified for blasphemy.
DeleteAs for the origin of the angels, there is a belief that angels pre-existed before man, but the truth of the matter is that all angels originate from the human race. That is why they have human form. See The Origin of Angels.