On Skepticism and Speaking to Angels

I decided to randomly browse some blogs on Christianity to see what other topics people are talking about...and the first one was about debunking Christianity.  I read it, and it is quite apparent that there is a BIG disenchantment and dissatisfaction with the Christian Church as a whole.  The funny thing is I can understand their point of view, as I had left the church as it was not answering some very basic and fundamental questions. However I never rejected the faith that Jesus was Divine, or that He rose from the dead...the preponderance of evidence suggests something very unique happened. Otherwise we would have just another failed prophet killed off by the Jews, and Christianity would not even exist. And there were a host of prophecies that were fulfilled. But I could see at the time there are some very fundamental doctrinal problems with the churches...so began a long hunt for the truth.  The problem is, many give up when seeking the answers to their questions, and some go even further, down into an atheistic skepticism.

I realized that when it comes to religion, there are two kinds of people:

1. Those with simple faith, who follow the Lord and the commandments.
2. Those who have questions, who want to have a rational explanation for their religion.

When seeking a rational explanation for certain matters of religion...a bit of care is required. For not everything that is true is known through our knowledge of the senses, and our own rationality.  There is that inner voice, conscience, intuition, precognitive dreams, clairvoyance...this kind of knowledge comes from above, and it flows in.  Many revelations of religion are adapted to the understanding of those receiving them.  There are methods to open this up, but you have to shut down your senses, and learn how to shut down your rational mind and not analyze the information received (e.g., Remote Viewing used within some secret U.S. intelligence agencies.)  Then, there is knowledge we receive from our outer senses and our own rationality.  While this can provide a "sanity check" on the information you receive, the danger with extensive reasoning is some sink down into a perpetual skepticism, where they desire to disprove and tear apart anything constructive.  For you can use logical reasoning to tear down anything, and there are some plain limits to our human understanding. This lower kind of knowledge, the desire to confirm heavenly revelation with one's own knowledge, is known as the "serpent" - the lowest creature nearest the earth, representing sensual intelligence.

So for that reason, there are a set of "mysteries of faith" within Christianity.  But as the Christian Church degenerated into falsehoods, the church developed a habit of using the argument of "mystery of faith" to shut down any valid questioning. The Catholic Church, especially, became a political power, and used many methods to shutdown questioning. This is also called "blind faith" - where "faith" is taken to mean to accept something as true without questioning, instead of the true meaning of faith: living by the truth that you know.  And this is harmful, because as humans progress from knowledge to rationality, the rational mind is the medium between the natural self and the higher spiritual self.  And the spiritual mind must be conjoined to the rational.  And another side effect: Christians cannot even defend what they believe against rational skeptics.  As the church degenerated into further and further falsehoods, then it was time for a revelation to be given -- for if it has been given before, the Church would have shut it down or distorted it. After all the doctrines were laid down by Swedenborg, he saw a vision of a door which read above it Nunc Licet - Latin for "it is now permitted" -- meaning that it was now permitted to use reasoning to understand the inner mysteries of faith which were kept hidden in previous times.

Anyway, I was curious what arguments those who were pursuing means of "debunking Christianity."  Skeptics and atheists generally hold to the following points:

1.  There is no such thing as a trinity of three persons.  One can not logically maintain the trinity is One Being.
2.  The idea of vicarious or blood atonement makes no sense.
3.  It is a fallacy of the Protestant churches to believe that one is saved by faith alone.
4.  The literal sense of the Bible contains errors.

So I compared this with some of the general tenets that I hold to:

1.  There is no such thing as a trinity of three persons.  One can not logically maintain the trinity is One Being.
2.  The idea of vicarious or blood atonement makes no sense.
3.  It is a fallacy of the Protestant churches to believe that one is saved by faith alone.
4.  Errors and false theological doctrines can be drawn from the literal sense of the Bible, which hides an inner spiritual meaning.

Oh wait! My list is the same as many skeptical atheists. This was somewhat of a surprising realization on my part. The difference is, many cannot get out of the trap of the falsehoods they see in the churches, and become atheistic. The revelations given to Swedenborg counter every single point they bring up to debunk Christianity. The fact of the matter is, they do have a point: the modern churches have degenerated into many foundational falsehoods. I then realized: the revelations of Swedenborg were not written for those who hold to simple faith, they were written for people who have questions, or who want a rational explanation for their religion.

Swedenborg once wrote that it was now safe to reveal the inner mysteries of faith, of heaven and hell, the afterlife, the spiritual meaning of scripture - because the world had become so darkened in their blindness that no one would believe it.  Which I thought was a rather ironic statement. There is a danger in knowing inner matters of faith, believing it, and then turning against it - one has then profaned what is Most Holy, and there are no longer any means to turning a person back from blindness. Thus Jesus stated it was better to enter heaven with one eye, then to have two eyes and enter the outer darkness. Here we have 25 years of visions and revelations...and they are completely unknown to the majority of the world.

That one day a person would be revealed everything of heaven and hell, and would come back to tell the world about it, and would not be believed -- is foretold in an oblique manner in the gospels:

"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
"Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'
But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
"Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'
Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' " (Luke 16:19-31)

And with that, I now have an excuse to share this song I just found called "Speak to Angels" by 009 Sound System: