Emanuel Swedenborg

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SWEDENBORGIANISM

Swedenborgianism was started by Emaunel Swedenborg who lived from 1688-1772. This group goes by many different names including; The New Church, The Church of the New Jerusalem, or the Swedenborg Foundation. The history of this organization starts out with Emanuel Swedenborg in 1743 when he was visited by the Lord God Jehovah himself. Emanuel claims that God commissioned him to reveal to humanity the true interpretation of the word of God. Today this church continues onward and claims to have divine revelations to the word of God.
Emanuel Swedenborg once stated;

"The falsities of the dogmas of the faith of the present Church must first be exposed and rejected, before the truths of the dogmas of the New Church are revealed and received."

The 'New Church' that Emanuel Swedenborg was referring to in this quote was his own church.

The basic tenant and teaching of this belief is institute the new church as God's new plan for the world. Swedenborgianism claims to represent the only true interpretation of 'The Word' meaning the Bible. To achieve this the writings of Swedenborg are acceptable portions of the Bible because they are interpreted by him. 

The basic doctrinal teachings of the Swedenborg Foundation are as follows. They believe that God is a uni-personal, moralistic and pantheistic in his tendencies. They believe that Jesus or Jehovah (The Father) was a incarnated man - a divine Son of God. The Trinity is taught to be within the one divine person of one's self. Salvation is achieved by a combination of faith and works not by faith only. They teach that the fall was Symbolic and that Man is the "symbol" of  God. The bible is believed to contain the Word of the Lord but is authoritative only when interpreted by Swedenborg's writings. When a person dies it is seen as a continuation of life on earth in the spirit world. How one spends your time here on earth as a spirit is dictated by your spiritual condition at death. 

(Edited from website Empowered by Christ which is generally critical of Swedenborgianism and calls it a cult.)

 

Emanuel Swedenborg was a minister's (Bishop) son and genius who excelled in several disciplines.

He was a writer, assayer, carpenter, mathematician, teacher, professor, inventor, architect, chemist, language master ... and much more. He attended a different church denomination every Sunday to seek the word of God and inspiration from outside aspects. He slept very little and was absorbed in his connection to the spirit world and putting his experiences in writing. He wrote over 32 books of great volume by hand in a Latin script. His books have been translated into almost every earthly language. 

 

Swedenborg was not interested in being the center of a movement based on his beliefs. He never organized any church. Most of the interest in his writing occurred after his death when his books were translated and distributed. His followers today recognize him as a true mystic with special powers of perception and interpretation. He was also a clairvoyant who could see events hundreds of miles from his location. His theory that God maintains a constant flow of blessings called "influx" and that Heaven and Earth are reflections of each other and presented as 'correspondences'.  

 

His books are considered a hard read and are being re-translated presently into a more absorbable format. Many of his books are predicated on the personal definitions of individual words that Swedenborg calls 'symbolic.' Like many religious and sacred texts they are repetitive and threaded with symbolic code. When reading (Heaven and Hell) a Swedenborg tome, one often feels beaten to the ground with repetitious phrases and descriptions -- but the result of having read each book gives the student the feeling of being lifted to a higher consciousness. I felt that my eyes were opened to the relationships of God - Man - and Angels for the first time.

Over all the Swedenborg Foundation is not big in the United States. Most of it's followers are found overseas in European regions. 

 

The website Entitled the Empowerment of Christ falsely warns traditional Christians to be wary of Swedenborg teachings. Actually the complete opposite is true. Any person of any religion can enrich his worship with knowledge from the writings of Emanual Swedenborg. There is no contradiction to modern religious practice in the Swedenborg community. Many followers also attend the traditional church of their choice. Some well-knowed celebrities are followers of Swedenborg and ministers often quote his writings. The Swedenborg practice is one of positivity, love, inclusiveness, and beauty.