The True Meaning of Father and Son in Christianity

Most people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Father and Son in Christianity, and conceive of them as two distinct persons.  This is a fundamental mistake of modern Christianity, and it can be traced back to church councils of the 4th century A.D.  But what is the true meaning?  Many reject Christianity as there is a false thought of three persons, and Christian theologians declare they believe in one God when yet in the thought there is three. But let us for the moment forget what is taught to many in the churches, and go back to the time of Jesus Christ. And instead of just blindly following church councils, let us read what scripture tells us.

POINT #1: GOD IS THE FATHER SINCE JESUS WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN

The first point to make is quite a simple one: Jesus called God his father since he was born of a virgin. Pure and simple. There was not concept of three persons of the Godhood, there was only one God whose name is Jehovah or Yahweh.  Jehovah or Yahweh is a personal name for a singular being. There was no concept of a "son born from eternity" as later theologians would invent. Rather, Jesus Christ is the Son of God born in time to the virgin Mary.

God is the father of Jesus Christ, due to the fact that he was born of a virgin, is a fundamental testimony of the gospels. This can be first seen in Gabriel's explanation to Mary as to how she would give birth without having any relations with a man:

Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man? ”The angel replied to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:34-35)

There you have it. Jesus calls God his Father, and he is known as the Son of God, because he was born of a virgin.

POINT #2: THE FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP DID NOT EXIST UNTIL JESUS WAS BORN

Given that Jesus is the Son of God by virtue of having been born of a virgin, the next point is a corollary conclusion: the Father-Son relationship did not exist until Jesus was born. This can also be derived from the following prophecies:

I will recount the statute, Jehovah has said to me, You are my Son, this day I myself have begotten You. (Ps. 2:7)

This is quoted in Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5 as having been fulfilled by the birth of Jesus Christ. "This day" is to be born in time. This particular passage caused a lot of problems for theologians as they wanted to declare that the Son existed from eternity, which obviously does not fit the phrase "this day" and "begotten."

Besides that, there is another passage is not so well known, which can be found in Psalm 89 which is another Messianic prophecy, the Christ who would be descendant of David:

He shall call to Me, You are my Father (Ps. 89:26)

This was fulfilled when Jesus was born. After that, he most commonly called God his Father. Up until that time the title "Father" was rarely used to reference God in the Old Testament.

POINT #3: THE FATHER DIRECTED EVERYTHING JESUS DID

Jesus was not an independent entity or being from the Father. In fact, the Father directed everything that Jesus did. Throughout the gospels, Jesus speaks of the "will" of the Father.  The "will" is always associated with the Father, but never with Jesus. And Jesus declared that the Father directed everything he did:

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father  does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)

I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:30)

POINT #4: THE FATHER IS THE SAME PERSON AS JESUS

So how could the Father direct everything that Jesus did? Because the Father is the same person as Jesus - they are one and the same!  This we know from what Jesus said to Philip, as Philip thought the Father was another person:

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (John 14:8-11)

There is a lot said in this passage. Philip conceived of the Father as a separate person, and Jesus said he is the Father. Moreover the Father exists inside Jesus - we can say, the Father is to the Son as the soul is to the body. Thus it is the Father within Jesus who does the works that Jesus does. How can two separate entities or beings exist inside each other? They cannot.

That Jesus is the human form of Jehovah, can be seen from the fact that the name Jehovah was pronounced by the Jews as "Lord" or Adonai in Hebrew.  And this is the reason why Jesus is called Lord in the New Testament. Thus Jesus says:

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. (John 13:13)

And Thomas declares this to Jesus when he realizes he rose from the dead:

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

The Father is the invisible God beyond our reach, unseen, but Jesus is the visible human form of God, as He is God incarnate:

He is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15)

No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18)

That the Father is the invisible Divine, and the Son is the visible Divine, and the Spirit is the proceeding Divine -- one Divine Being -- is the essential doctrine of the New Church, and this doctrine is supported from scripture.

POINT #5: GOD INCARNATE WAS BORN INTO A LOWER STATE

This last point is essential to understand. When God became incarnate in human form, He was born into a lower state, where He had to grow as a human.  Moreover, his human form inherited evil tendencies from his mother Mary.  Thus Jesus could be tempted.  Without being born incarnate the Divine could not be tempted. The difference was, his soul was Divine, it was Jehovah himself, so Jesus could not succumb to the temptations. By becoming incarnate, Jehovah in His human form could fight against all of hell and save humanity by resisting temptations. These temptations could only be possible if God was born as another man into this lower state of humanity. The Catholic Church, in elevating Mary, miss the whole point of the incarnation and diverge from the truth of Christianity, and they really cant explain how salvation was effected. Nor can the Protestants who inherited their theology from the Catholic Church.

Thus when God became incarnate and was born into a lower state, he was born as another man, like us in every way. Thus Jesus does pray to the Father as to another person. And this is where a lot of people, judging from appearance, assume there are two persons. But this is not the case: God incarnate was born into a lower state where he has to grow like all humans do. The gospels declare this:

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:52)

And thus Jesus declared himself lesser than the Father:

For my Father is greater than I (John 14:28)

And during his life Jesus wanted to return to his former glory before he was born:

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)

And Paul explained this better in how God lowered Himself to become a servant:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5-11)

Jesus became "highly exalted" when the human form he had adopted became transformed into a Divine Human, one that had become completely Divine. From His glorification, His spirit could then flow into all humanity, and we can now all become sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. To declare "Jesus Christ is Lord" had a more significant meaning back then: the word Lord, or Adonai, was used as a title of Jehovah. To truly acknowledge Jesus as Lord is to acknowledge Him as Jehovah in human form, and to live by His commandments.

OTHER QUESTIONS

When confronted with a new way of thinking of God incarnate in Jesus Christ, it takes time for people to assess this and questions arise as they assume what they have been told is correct. When I have brought this up before, I have heard the following objections:

1. The Father and Son must be two distinct persons as otherwise Jesus would be praying to Himself.
2. The Father and Son must be two distinct persons since they are referenced with personal pronouns in the New Testament
3. The Father and Son relationship must be eternal as otherwise "God is changeable."
4. The Trinity of three distinct persons must be correct as there is no way for God to allow a falsehood to be perpetuated for several centuries in the church.
5. If the Father and Son relationship did not exist until Jesus was born, then that would mean there was no pre-incarnate Christ.

To which there are the following answers, summarized:

1. Rather than thinking of distinct beings or persons, we should look at One Personal Being, who is Being itself, which can exist in multiple states. A lowered state in a human form will bring upon the appearance of distinctness or separation, but in actuality that is not the case. It can also be compared to modern psychological concepts of the human personality, which postulates a higher and lower self using their own terminologies.
2. To create a distinct person just because a personal pronoun is used would be a misuse of the language, where Jesus speaks of different aspects of Himself using personal pronouns. The Father and Son are indeed distinct aspects or states of the Divine, must not distinct persons. A similar distortion occurred in ancient times where different aspects of the One God were worshiped using different personal images, thus polytheism arose. One also has to ignore the OT in which God declares Himself to be "I AM" (not, "we are.")
3. In Greek philosophy God was declared to be unchangeable, and as Christianity spread west the concept of God becoming incarnate brought up this question of changeableness in the Divine, thus engendering the theological disputes that led to the creation of a Trinity of three persons. This idea tends to imagine God as static and abstract, and not interacting with creation.
4. Everyone assumes they were born into the "one true religion" from what they learned as a child. The way we should look at this is everyone's understanding varies, and no one is going to be 100% correct. Also it was foretold that in the latter days the church would become corrupt, and that there would be a lack of faith in the end times. God cares more about one living a good life, rather than having a singular one true belief.
5. The objection that there would be no pre-incarnate Christ stems from the idea is everyone thinks that there was a "Son born from eternity" as declared in church councils. But Jehovah always existed, and Jesus is simply Jehovah in human form. So He indeed pre-existed, as a visible Divine Human in the heavens that would occasionally invest itself in an angel to appear to men.

The end result, when acknowledging one personal being Jehovah who became incarnate in Jesus Christ, there is no longer a question of who one should pray to. All prayers should be directed to Jesus Christ, for no one can approach the Father except through Him.

Military confirms UFOs are Real, but Who are They and Why are they Here?

In case anyone has not been paying attention, recently the U.S. Navy declassified three videos in 2017 and confirmed that UFOs are real. They apparently prefer to call them "unidentified aerial phenomenon."  Here is a news clip from CNN showing portions of the three videos:


So what I like about this is we have a chain of custody for these videos, one taken from the gun camera of a fighter jet off the coast of the United States. So this eliminates any argument about the authenticity of the video or photograph. A U.S. Navy pilot reported that one of the objects was hovering over the water and immediately accelerated vertically to 12,000 feet. And in less than 2 seconds it flitted out of sight to not be seen.

So the next argument is they are just indicated as "unidentified."  But their behavior shows an object under intelligent control that clearly exceeds the capabilities of our military aircraft or any drone. From the NY Times article 2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’:

"The objects appeared suddenly at 80,000 feet, and then hurtled toward the sea, eventually stopping at 20,000 feet and hovering. Then they either dropped out of radar range or shot straight back up."

And not only could they accelerate and manuever very quickly, they would play around with our fighter jets listening in on the communication between the U.S.S. Princeton aircraft carrier and the fighter jets:

"The two fighter jets then conferred with the operations officer on the Princeton and were told to head to a rendezvous point 60 miles away, called the cap point, in aviation parlance.They were en route and closing in when the Princeton radioed again. Radar had again picked up the strange aircraft.
“Sir, you won’t believe it,” the radio operator said, “but that thing is at your cap point.”"

So this is not exactly news - this has been going on for over 60 years since the explosion of the atomic bomb. What has changed is that the U.S. Military, or a group in the intelligence community, has apparently decided to slowly disclose what they know to the public. Before it was outright denial, and pilots who had reported this phenomenon would often be met with ridicule and perhaps subjects to a psychological evaluation. It was reported that in 2019 that the U.S. military has finally changed this policy, and is now asking pilots to come forward with information on sightings, as these things have been increasingly doing regular incursions on military exercises - see U.S. Navy drafting new guidelines for reporting UFOs.

SO WHO ARE THEY AND WHY ARE THEY HERE?

So, there is something technologically advanced under intelligent control that likes to perform incursions on our military exercises, or on our high speed aircraft and even rocket launches. In the past they have shown an interest in our nuclear sites. From their behavior we can derive the following:

1. They prefer to observe and not make open contact
2. They wish to gather information on our military and/or technological advancement
3. They may be concerned on how human activity is destroying the earthly environment

As for their origin, I can propose three options:

1. Our own military is testing secret craft against our own military, or
2. An advanced civilization or base that lives underground or underwater, or,
3. Extraterrestrial

As for #1, I have no doubt that the U.S. military has done some reverse engineering in top secret facilities. But I doubt we would test something having this capability against our own military and then declassify it for public release. It is also apparently causing concern in the U.S. military as they are now telling pilots to report what they encounter instead of hiding it.  I consider #3 the most likely explanation, and if so, it is likely they have established forward bases in remote locations somewhere in our solar system for logistical reasons.

SWEDENBORG'S CONTACTS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS

As far as I know, the earliest explicit contact with extraterrestrials occurred in the 18th century through the waking visions of Emanuel Swedenborg. In his exploration of the spiritual world, he discovered that certain spirits were indeed human but not from this planet earth. In his attempt to identify where they came from, he may have surmised incorrectly that they came from other planets of our solar system (for a summary of explanations, see An Explanation of Swedenborg's Extraterrestrial Encounters).  Among the ones that may explain something about these UFOs are the humans he identified as coming from the planet Mercury. They traveled across the universe, with the goal of collecting and gathering knowledge. They would travel across the universe in the form of a  globe. If indeed they are same as the ones piloting these UFOs, it may mean they are just here to gather knowledge.

So why do they not make contact? Swedenborg provides more answers in this area. In his encounters, the extraterrestrials wished to avoid contact with humans on earth, simply because we tended to be much more evil than they were. From an angelic perspective, earth itself was under a "spiritual quarantine" and contact with other extraterrestrial societies was very restricted, even in the spiritual world. Also unlike most other extraterrestrial societies, humans on earth have lost direct contact with heaven. On other planets, extraterrestrial human societies had direct spiritual communication with the angelic spirits of heaven. This creates a spiritual barrier to communication, for Swedenborg explained that due to evil human nature contact with spirits on this planet with those who are not in true belief is strictly forbidden (see The Origin and Cause of Demoniac and Poltergeist Activity).

So the answer to this mystery, if we wish to know more - is to become more spiritual, to look inward, and to cease from evil. And of course be willing to have an open mind, and acknowledge that they are here, observing from a distance.

A Christian Revelation on Marriage and Sex

One fundamental truth of Christianity is the sacredness of marriage between husband and wife. Jesus affirms that it is only lawful for a man to join in permanent union with his wife (Matt. 19:4-6), and that any union outside of marriage is against God's law. Christianity is based on the sacredness of marriage, and a new Divine revelation has been given that affirms this.

When it comes to marriage and sexual relations, they are to be distinguished according to spiritual degrees which in general correspond to one's intent or purpose in regards to love:

1. Spiritual marriages are between one man and one woman only which originate from a Divine influx between God and mankind.
2. Natural marriages are polygamous given by permission to those who are in ignorance of spiritual marriages.
3. Lustful relations are all other sexual relations which cause harm and profane what is spiritual.

Natural and lustful relations devolve into a love and self and pleasure. Spiritual marriage tends toward of love of another more than oneself and thus towards a love of God. Without understanding spiritual degrees, as most do not, one will devolve sexual relations into the lowest third category and not see any distinction between what is good and evil as the only criteria is self pleasure. Those who are in the highest spiritual degree will be seen by them as "intolerant" due to their lack of knowledge because they are in effect in opposite degrees to each other. All are born natural into a love of sex in general, but hidden within this love is a spiritual love of one of the sex. One is introduced to this spiritual love only through a love of the One God in Jesus Christ.

First let's discuss what is mentioned in the Bible in regards to marriage, how the Christian advent restored God's original law, and then finally discuss what has been revealed as to why marriage is a holy and sacred contract.

BIBLICAL COMMANDS AND LAWS OF PERMISSION

The Jewish laws were representative and symbolic, and were abrogated when they were fulfilled by the coming of Jesus Christ. Also many laws that were given by way of permission, adapted to those who were incapable of the higher good:

"It is to be known that very many things which were commanded by Jehovah or the Lord, in the internal sense do not signify that they were commanded, but that they were permitted." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 6914.5)

Not everyone will accept laws concerning marriage. Thus when Jesus spoke of marriage, he said it was not going to be received by everyone:

"Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those it has been given to." (Matt. 19:11)

Among the 10 commandments, the seventh forbids adultery. The 10 commandments tend to begin with what "not to do" as one must withdraw from evil before good can be implanted, and here the prohibition against adultery is to protect marriage. Adultery is one of the legitimate reasons for divorce as it breaks the marriage contract (Jer. 3:8).

Jesus says something else in regards to divorce: the law which permits divorce (Deut. 24:1-3) was given because of the evilness of the Israelites (Matt. 19:7-9). That this was given by way of permission is indicated by  God's original command as exemplified by the story of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:24), by the law that a priest should not marry a divorced woman (Lev. 21:7,14), and that marriage should lead to godly offspring and divorce due to hate is a departure from God (Mal. 2:15-16). The implication here is that inasmuch one withdraws from God in doing evil one withdraws from the marriage contract, and the second implication is that due to evil, laws of permission are given to limit the evil and protect what is good in marriage.

Just as the Mosaic law permitted divorce it also permitted polygamy (Ex. 21:10). Polygamy is similar to divorce: it was allowed by means of permission because of evil tendencies and many would not accept monogamous marriage. That this was not the original command, but rather a law of permission, is indicated by these passages:

1. A king should not "acquire many wives" as his heart will turn away from God (Deut. 17:17).
2. In a polygamous relationship one wife will tend to be loved more than another. The Mosaic law guards against this by ensuring the inheritance rights of children (Deut. 21:15-17).
3. Jesus said it was Moses who permitted them to divorce their wives (Matt. 19:8), indicating polygamy like divorce was given by permission.

Laws of polygamy are for those who are natural and ignorant in spiritual matters. Animals are born with innate instinctual knowledge, but man is born into no knowledge and must be taught in spiritual matters. Thus one who is ignorant and regards marriage as no more than the love of sex and enters into a polygamous relationship cannot be judged to be evil (see Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 350). Thus it is allowed in Islam, for those who are ignorant in the identity of Jesus Christ. Muslims are generally kept in ignorance in regards to what the Bible teaches.

Beyond marriage after divorce, and polygamy, there is no other marriage contract given as permissible. Polygamy is not permitted to those who have entered a spiritual marriage contract, and as the Jews were a representative church and not a spiritual one it was permitted for them. The original command was for one man to marry one wife, to be one flesh (Gen. 2:24); other sexual unions that break this union are to be avoided and shunned as evil (examples of forbidden unions are given in Ex. 20:14, Lev. 18:8-23, 20:10-21, Deut. 27:20-23). Should one engage in sex before marriage, if consensual it should be confirmed in marriage (Ex. 22:16).

MARRIAGE CORRESPONDS TO ONE'S SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

That monogamous marriages are sacred is declared in the last book of the Old Testament:

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? (Mal. 2:15)

Earthly marriages between husband and wife correspond to one's spiritual relationship with God. A marriage of one husband and one wife corresponds to the worship of One God, and this is constantly emphasized in scripture as idolatry and worship of multiple gods is known as spiritual fornication and adultery.  A departure from One God is declared to be spiritual fornication and adultery in Isa. 1:21, Jer. 3:1-8, Eze. 16:32, 23:37, and in another case those who depart from One God will tend to engage in fornication and adultery (Hos. 4:13-14).

That spiritual adultery and marriage adultery correspond to each other can be seen in the the first and second tablets of the 10 commandments: the first 4 commands of the first tablet regard one's relationship with God and the second tablet of the latter 6 commands regard one's relationship with others. The first commandment declaring that there is One God corresponds to the fifth commandment of honoring one's father and mother, as in the spiritual sense a father and mother signifies God and the church. The second commandment which forbids idolatry or worship of multiple gods corresponds to the seventh commandment which forbids adultery.

In the Christian revelation, it is clearly stated that the marriage of one husband and one wife corresponds to the relationship between Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. Thus the disciples are called children of the bridechamber (Matt. 9:15), the kingdom of heaven is declared to be similar to a wedding banquet (Matt. 22:2-9) and of virgins meeting the bridegroom (Matt. 25:1-13) and when the Lord comes it is declared to the marriage of the Lamb of God (Rev. 19:7-9).

But why is this so? There is a rational reason behind it, but it would take a heavenly revelation to indicate why earthly marriages are sacred and correspond to the relationship between the Lord and His people.

A DIVINE REVELATION CONCERNING MARRIAGE

In the 18th century Emanuel Swedenborg received many revelations concerning Christianity, mainly concerning that Jesus Christ is the One God of the universe, that we should live by His commandments, that there is life after death, and indicating how and why books in the Bible are Divinely inspired. In all things, the Divine One is a union of Love and Truth, and this flows in as marriage love into the male and female forms of the human race. Anything that opposes this union of Love and Truth in marriage is opposed to God's will. Marriage love contains within it the highest heavenly love that can be experienced on earth, and this is a gift to those who desire and ask it from the Lord. Swedenborg's second to last published work was devoted to this one subject only, entitled Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, which contains accounts of his interactions with angels in the heavenly world on this one subject.

All things Divine are related to the marriage or union of Love and Truth. Love is one's purpose or intent, Truth or Wisdom is the thought in fulfilling one's purpose, and when joined together it manifests in Use or Usefulness, otherwise known in scripture as good works. Marriage love is from Divine influx, thus true marriage love is only possible in couples who live according to God's commandments and trust in the Lord.  Love and wisdom flow into the humans according to the following manner:

"the truth of good or truth from good is the masculine, and the good of truth or good from truth is the feminine" (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 88).

Good must be in conjunction with truth and truth must be in conjunction with its good; separate from each other they cease to exist. This is the spiritual origin of marriage love in the male and female forms of the human race. Males are born into a form of intellect and intelligence:

"a perpetual union of love and wisdom or marriage of good and truth flows in from God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; and that created subjects receive this, each according to its form. And that from this marriage or this union the male receives truth of wisdom, and to this the good of love is conjoined by the Lord according to reception; that the reception takes place in the understanding; and that from this fact the male is born to become intellectual." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 90).

Females, however, are born to be volitional and to be in affection for the intellect, and as love seeks its truth, and truth seeks its love, this leads to marriage love and union between a man and a woman:

"the male was created to be an understanding of truth, thus truth in form; and the female was created to be a will of good, thus good in form; and to both was imparted from the inmosts an inclination to conjunction into one" (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 100)

Love and truth flow into living forms in the form of the will and understanding; when the will and understanding act as one that leads to useful activity.  In females there is a focus on the volition and in males there is a focus on the understanding. Divine influx causes the desire for each to seek their mate and be one, which is first a union of mind and afterwards a union of body. When this happens between a single pair in true marriage love, the love grows to eternity, and this is a spiritual union that is the sacred union within the Christian revelation, and among those who are wiser than others.

One rather interesting point - the Divine influx of marriage love flows into the female only and through the female into the male sex. This is one of the hidden abilities that women have over men, and it only became known to Swedenborg through heavenly revelation:

"That love and thence conjunction is inspired into the man by the wife, is at this day concealed from men, yea, is universally denied by them. The reason is that wives persuade that only the men love and they themselves receive; or that the men are loves and they obediences. And they rejoice in heart when men believe so...  The reason why the inspiration and insinuation of love is from the wives into men is that with men there is nothing of marriage love, nor even of love of the sex, but only with wives and women. That this is so has been shown me to the life in the spiritual world." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 161)

Swedenborg observed that there was a hidden sphere or aura that emanates from females, whereby the love of sex and marriage was insinuated into their husbands. He explains why this is so, albeit briefly since much of the knowledge would be misunderstood:

"That the masculine is an understanding form and the feminine a will form, and an understanding form cannot of itself grow warm with marriage heat, but from the conjunctive heat of one in whom it is implanted by creation. Just so it cannot receive that love except through the will form of a female adjoined to itself, because this also is a form of love." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 223)

As a corollary of this, since women are direct recipients of marriage love, as a general rule (with exceptions) it is more harmful to them than for males to engage in sexual promiscuity. Fornication and adultery are opposite to marriage love, and destroy it, albeit the latter more so than the former. On this subject see The Spiritual Consequences of Adultery and the Origin of Marriage Love. Other forms of sexual unions can be classified as purely natural, if the person is lacking in spiritual knowledge. But one should turn away from illicit sexual unions:

"[Marriage love] viewed from its origin and its correspondence is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, beyond every love that exists among the angels of heaven and among the men of the church... and these its attributes cannot be given except to those who are conjoined with the Lord and are consociated by Him with angels of heaven. For these shun loves outside of marriage, which are conjunctions with others than one's own consort, as they would flee from ruin of the soul and from the lakes of hell; and so far as consorts shun such conjunctions even as to the lusts of the will and intentions thence, in so far the love is purified in them, and gradually becomes spiritual,—first while they live on earth, and afterwards in heaven." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 71)

WHY TRUE CHRISTIANITY SHOULD DEFEND MARRIAGE

There is a general lack of understanding as to why true Christianity should defend traditional marriage, especially in this day and age. Swedenborg acknowledges that there is a lack in understanding of how marriage is related to the church, and thus those outside the church will take hold the opinion that such a view is intolerant:

"The marriage of the Lord and the Church and the correspondence of it are treated of here because without knowledge and understanding of this one can scarcely apprehend that marriage love in its origin is holy, spiritual, and heavenly, and that it is from the Lord. It is indeed said by some in the church that marriages have a relation to the marriage of the Lord with the church, but what the relation is is not known." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 223)

True Christianity and marriage go hand in hand, which is indicated by the fact that the Lord is called the bridegroom and the church is called the bride. Another similar correspondence is God is known as Father (Isa. 9:6, John 10:30, 12:44-45, 14:7-9), and the church is known as the Mother (Hos. 2:2,5, Ez. 16:45, 19:10, Isa. 50:1). From this correspondence, those who follow God's commandments and live by them are called His children throughout scripture. The reason for this is that goods and truths are spawned as children by conjunction of the Lord with the church:

"the spiritual offspring which are born of the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths,—from which come understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods,—from which are love, charity, and all affection.—That goods and truths are the spiritual offspring born of the Lord by the Church, is because the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and these in Him are not two but one; and nothing can proceed from Him but what is in Him, and is Himself. That the marriage of good and truth proceeds from the Lord and flows into men, and is received according to the state of mind and life of those who are of the church" (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 121)

The Word of scripture itself is a marriage of good and truth:

"the Word is the perfect marriage of good and truth; and because it is from the Lord, and what is from Him is in truth Himself, it results that when a man reads the Word and takes truth therefrom the Lord adjoins good." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 128)

As marriage originated from the union of good and truth, the more wise one is, the more one acknowledges and lives a life according to marriage love.  With man there are three degrees of truth:

1. Truth by knowledge, or what is known from the memory (experience, skill, from the five senses)
2. Truth by reason, what is learned by the understanding (civil level, what is applicable to use in the world)
3. Truth by wisdom, which is in regards to life in shunning evil and doing good (spiritual level)

Each of the the three degrees correspond to different levels of the mind. The highest is the spiritual, though which one has conjunction with the Divine. Wisdom, which is what is applicable to life, or one's spirituality, can also be measured in how one regards marriage love:

"Since wisdom is of life and thence of reason, as was said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a brief summary it is this:—To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the state, and hurtful to the body; and to do good deeds because they are of advantage to the soul, to the state, and to the body. This is the wisdom which is meant by wisdom wherewith marriage love allies itself. It allies itself therewith in truth by the fact that it shuns the evil of adultery as a bane to the soul, to the state, and to the body. And as this wisdom springs from spiritual things which are of the church, it follows that marriage love, because it is according to the state of wisdom is according to the state of the church in a man. It is also meant by this, that—as has been stated many times before—in the degree that a man becomes spiritual he is in true marriage love; for man is made spiritual by means of the spiritual things of the church." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 130)

And to those who have marriage love with their end in view, a soulmate is given by the Lord, whether in this life or in the next, for which see The Truth of Eternal Soul Mates and Twin Flames.

"marriage love is celestial spiritual and holy, because it corresponds to the celestial spiritual and holy marriage of the Lord and the church. This correspondence moreover follows from the origin of marriage love from the marriage of good and truth... because the marriage of good and truth is the church in man; for the marriage of good and truth is the same as the marriage of charity and faith, since good is of charity and truth is of faith. That this marriage constitutes the church cannot but be acknowledged, for it is a universal truth, and every universal truth is acknowledged as soon as it is heard—which comes of influx from the Lord and at the same time from the confirmation of heaven. Now, as the church is the Lord's, because from the Lord, and as marriage love corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church, it follows that this love is from the Lord." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 62)

"[Marriage love] is also the fundamental love of all loves, celestial, spiritual, and therefore natural. The reason why marriage love considered as to its essence is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven and the church is, that its origin is from the marriage of good and truth, and from that marriage all the loves which make heaven and the church with man proceed." (Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage Love, n. 65)