Spiritual Topics
Many struggle with questions about life and death, how the bible relates to us today, and so much more. We hope these answers can give you clarity and help you along your journey.
These answers are written by ministers of our church and are written in the hope that they can guide you or give you peace through understanding. They are not meant to represent the beliefs of our church as a whole. If you want to talk with a minister directly, go to our contact us page and select “Spiritual and Theological Questions” as the subject line.
Life Questions
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Should we love our country? What if we don’t agree with its policies?
In our service for Adult Baptism*, we find these words: “The neighbor to be loved is not only individual people, but people in their group relationships. The larger the group, the greater our obligation to it. Our community, our country, the brotherhood of nations are larger neighbors; also our church, and other churches constituting the…
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What is addiction and how do we overcome it?
Emanuel Swedenborg believed that a state of addiction is a natural consequence of humanity’s tendency to be self-centered. Addiction goes beyond substance abuse disorders as it can apply to almost anything. We can yearn for many things in life, although some things are more socially acceptable than others. Swedenborg believed that we are generally all…
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Should gay people be allowed to get married?
Short answer, yes. Of course! I was ordained before gay marriage had been legalized in many places. This always struck me as a huge obstacle to my religious freedom. How could I not be allowed to marry couples who I could see were deeply in love and committed to one another? Couples who wanted to…
Spiritual Concepts
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Is the world gonna end?
The theme of the “Apocalypse” has been discussed within Christianity from its very beginning. Often these discussions are inspired by The Book of Revelation which contains visions of St. John the Divine in which he foresees the “second coming”, “last judgment” and “end of the world”. These passages include very grim imagery like disasters, wars,…
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What is the role of Jesus?
The Swedenborgian understanding of the Jesus narrative has been very powerful and liberating to me. To Swedenborg, the story of Christ is a story of inner struggle, which relates directly to our own spiritual journey. Rather than a story of sacrifice, it is one of growth and self-exploration. Swedenborg believed that Jesus was born with…
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Is reincarnation real?
Reincarnation is the idea that people have been born as many different beings throughout the course of their soul’s journey and may continue to be reborn until reaching enlightenment or heaven. Swedenborg did not directly address this idea in his published writings–which inspired our churches’ beliefs– however, reincarnation is an idea that a number of…
Core Beliefs
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What does Emanuel Swedenborg say about scripture?
The Bible says that Jesus always spoke in parables, which are stories crafted to have a deeper meaning, and this is exactly how Emanuel Swedenborg viewed all of scripture. He believed that scripture is meant to have multiple levels of meaning, like a parable, using similar symbols as he saw used in heaven in his…