Here is the most extensive eyewitness account of the spiritual world ever published:
Heaven and Hell
By Emanuel Swedenborg
Heaven and Hell was originally published in Latin in 1758. I recommend the New Century Edition linked here for the most readable and accurate modern translation. It is also available in a deluxe hardcover edition.
For further description and review, please click here to read on.
For a video reading of this article on YouTube, click here.
In a comment on my recent article, “If God is Love, Why all the Pain and Suffering?” a reader named Mike wrote:
All good and fine but where is the proof there is life after we die? You contend that there is suffering in this material world but our spirit will go on to another world after this one. Where is the proof? Not enough to just believe blindly (like communism or some other ism).
Great question! Let’s talk about it.
First, as you have gathered from my earlier article, I believe that the afterlife is not in this physical world after some future Last Judgment, as some people think. Instead, I believe it is in a spiritual world that is entirely distinct from the physical world.
Obviously, for that to be true there would have to be a spiritual world. So let’s broaden the question:
Where is the proof that the spiritual world exists?
Now, I assume that by “proof” you mean conclusive evidence by which one person could demonstrate to another person that the spiritual world definitely exists. Is that a reasonable assumption?
If so, then the answer is:
There is no proof that the spiritual world exists.
In fact, God has specifically designed the universe and the human mind so that it is impossible for one person to prove to another person that the spiritual world exists. This is to protect the very same freedom that I talked about in the “Pain and Suffering” article.
But here’s the real kicker:
There is also no proof that the material world exists.
For more on proof and reality, please click here to read on.
All it takes is a glance at the top stories in the daily news to show us that there is an awful lot of death, destruction, pain, and suffering in our world. Perhaps God is not paying attention. Perhaps God is punishing us for our sins. Either way, it doesn’t make God look all that good.
However, much of the evil in human life is self-inflicted. Through greed, desire for power, or simply a focus on our own pleasure and well-being, we bring most of the evils in our world down upon ourselves. Unfortunately, many innocent people suffer in the process.
Why does God allow it? And is God doing anything about it?
God’s tolerance of evil has to do with preserving human freedom, and not interfering with the results of our freely made choices. God wants human beings who can choose for themselves how to live, and whether to return God’s love.
As for whether God is doing anything about it, a better question might be whether we are doing anything about it. God is continually urging us to express active love and compassion for our fellow human beings. Are we listening?
For more on God’s love in the face of human pain and suffering, please click here to read on.
Rumor has it that in an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong will make a “limited confession” to using performance-enhancing drugs during the time period when he won the prestigious Tour de France bicycle race for seven straight years from 1999 to 2005.
Lance Armstrong with his Seven Tour de France Jerseys
If so, this would be a major about-face for Armstrong, who for years has actively and vociferously denied charges of using performance-enhancing drugs. He has even gone so far as to aggressively pursue both defensive and offensive legal action against individuals, publications, and organizations that have publicly charged him with doping.
However, the tide began turning against him when in June 2012 the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) formally accused Armstrong of doping. In August 2012 USADA released a damning 202 page report providing extensive eyewitness and documentary evidence of Armstrong’s doping. As a result of the charges and the supporting evidence, Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, and given a lifetime ban from participating in cycling competitions or any other sport over which USADA has jurisdiction.
Armstrong predictably denied all charges, but opted not to appeal the decision. From then until now, he has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
For more on Lance Armstrong’s struggle against the world, please click here to read on.
Bob and Norma Clark
Bob and Norma Clark were married on August 29, 1964.
Or were they?
Yes, they had a beautiful wedding in a church, complete with all the trimmings.
But no, their marriage never got recorded with the County Clerk in San Mateo County, California, where their wedding took place.
However, they didn’t discover that until forty-eight years later. It turns out that they had never been legally married.
So were they married or not?
That depends on your definition of marriage.
For more on real marriage vs. legal marriage, please click here to read on.
On December 31, 2012, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, gave a New Year’s speech, vowing that his country would open up a new phase and make a radical turn-around in its economy during the coming year. He also made overtures of peace toward South Korea.
Skeptical Western analysts responded, “We’ve heard all of this before.” And in fact, the same speech included plans to upgrade North Korea’s military capabilities against all comers.
Embedded in much of the reportage on the event is a fascinating comment by John Delury, an Assistant Professor of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Speaking of the relationship between South Korea and North Korea in a December 18 piece for CNN World Delury wrote, “It is up to the stronger power [South Korea] to unclench its fist first, so that the leader of the weaker state [North Korea] can outstretch his hand.”
Does South Korea have a fist?
Can North Korea stretch out a hand?
It’s as if nations were people!
Are nations people? Please click here to read on.
New Year’s resolutions: they’re easy to make, and easy to break.
In fact, according to a 2007 study by professor and psychologist Richard Wiseman, 88% of the people who make New Year’s resolutions fail to achieve their goal. (Click here for his latest blog post on “How to Keep your New Year’s Resolution.”)
It’s not too late to revise your resolutions in case you’re setting yourself up for failure! Let’s look Biblically at one factor in making your New Year’s resolutions successful: Considering them carefully to make sure they are achievable.
In speaking of the costs of becoming one of his disciples, Jesus gave these two examples:
If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you had laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it might start laughing at you. They will say, “Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!”
Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. (Luke 14:28–32)
Isn’t it a good idea to sit down and calculate the “cost” of each resolution you might make, and consider whether you can realistically achieve it?
After all, if you don’t achieve it, you’ll feel defeated, and it will actually make it harder to change your life for the better in the future, as you limp along in life berating yourself for your weakness, lack of willpower, and so on. It’s better not to make any resolution at all than to make a resolution and fail.
However, it’s even better to make an achievable resolution, and succeed!
For more on calculating the cost of your resolutions, please click here to read on.
Fans of (American) football recently either celebrated or protested the fortieth anniversary of the most controversial play in the history of the sport.
On December 23, 1972, with only 22 seconds left in an American Football Conference (AFC) divisional playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled out a win against the Oakland Raiders thanks to a crazy play in which a pass intended for Pittsburgh receiver John “Frenchy” Fuqua ricocheted twenty yards backwards off either Fuqua or Oakland defensive back Jack “Assassin” Tatum, or both, right into the hands of Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris, who ran it up the field for the winning touchdown with only five seconds to spare.
Of course, if you’re a long-time football fan, you already know all about it—and probably have an opinion. In fact, the play has been debated ever since. Pittsburgh fans insist that the play was legal, while Oakland fans believe they got robbed. In fact, the play is so famous and so controversial that last week the National Football League (NFL) released a 45 minute video documentary of the play as part of its series, “A Football Life.”
Today, in the Pittsburgh airport, a statue of Franco Harris scooping up the errant pass stands next to a statue of George Washington. Pittsburgh fans passing through the airport think that this is completely normal.
George Washington shares the glory with Franco Harris at the Pittsburgh Airport
In fact, such a mystical and religious fervor surrounded the play that it was soon dubbed “The Immaculate Reception.” (Raiders fans call it “The Immaculate Deception.”)
Huh? “The Immaculate Reception?”
For more on immaculate receptions, conceptions, and deceptions, please click here to read on.
Our wish for you this Christmas is that you may find true happiness and joy.
Happiness does not have to be dependent on your physical environment. Happiness can be yours whatever your external circumstances may be, as these pictures of happiness show:
Happiness comes from our love for others. These two girls are enjoying one another’s company despite the torrential rain. The driver, presumably their father, has an expression of contentment in their presence even while he is soaked to the skin and delivering a heavy load.
Girls Laughing in a Monsoon
All happiness and all pleasure comes from love. The greatest happiness in life comes from loving God and loving other people, because the very nature of God flows into that kind of life.
—Emanuel Swedenborg (Secrets of Heaven §3539)
For more happiness photos and quotes, please click here.
The world is coming to an end! Right . . . about . . . now! Or maybe next year? Anyway, it’s gonna happen soon, so you’d better be ready!
So say the Christian fundamentalists. And lately, a whole lot of people who don’t understand the Mayan calendar have joined them.
But every time they’ve predicted the end, the world has kept right on turning.
That’s because the “end times” described in the Bible are not about physical events at all. Even the book of Revelation itself describes them as taking place in the spiritual world.
According to Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), the events described in Revelation have already taken place—and we are now living in the days when the New Jerusalem is coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21:1–2).
How else can we account for the unprecedented changes that have taken place in human society in the last few hundred years?
The power of the church to control human minds and lives that lasted for thousands of years is now largely a thing of the past. And the amazing scientific, technological, and social advances of recent centuries are unique in the history of humankind.
Coincidence?
I don’t think so!
Lee & Annette Woofenden
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Great Truths on Great Subjects
By Jonathan Bayley
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Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life 