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How are we guided by the Lord from the mis-impressions and tainted motives of our natural heredity to the wisdom and love of a genuinely good life? One key answer is that we need to learn what the Lord teaches in His Word. We need to learn and we need to consciously work to make different choices from many that come naturally to us. We need to ask the Lord’s help in this work. We need to pray that the light of heaven shine upon our minds. We also need to pay attention to the fruits of our present motives...

Here is a link to the December 26, 2012, Bible study. Unlike many books in our world about God, the Bible has stories about a long list of the worst human failings, yet it does not glamorize or sensationalize those things. We look at Nathan's parable about David's adultery, and see that the whole Word is like that parable--it is ultimately far more personal and direct than we might at first like to think. Spirit and Life Bible Study on Facebook

The internal meaning of Joseph, Mary and Jesus tells how we can open our hearts to love todayThe birth of Jesus on earth represents His birth in our hearts. His birth in us is the creation of unselfish love in our hearts. We cannot create this; only He can do it. But before He can come to us we must do our part – through obedience to His law, shunning the evils forbidden in the Ten Commandments, and doing good to the best of our abilities. The story of His birth follows those actions in our lives. Here is the...

This Bible Study offers thoughts about how to move away from violence and mayhem, where the Lord is in all this, and what His life on earth did (and did not) do for us.I can field questions or comments here or feel free to use Spirit and Life Bible Study on Facebook

I'd like to pose a question to the defenders of the three 'person' Trinity:Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will...

Everything in the Old Testament history leads up to the crossing of the Jordan, and yet the way the story is told in Joshua 3 and 4 has major inconsistencies and problems. Is there another way to read it? Can the Bible be taken literally?

Many people read the Bible literally and feel very strongly that there's nothing more to it than that, and yet Jesus Himself says the whole Old Testament is about Him. How could that be?!? We ponder this through a bizarre story in which Caleb pleads with Joshua to be given a mountain inhabited by enemy giants in fortified cities (Joshua 14). Also see: Spirit And Life Bible Study on Facebook

If we generally agree that loosing our temper at someone means that we have some more growing up to do, why would we think that God does it?

The core topic is whether we are expected to understand Scripture or not, and how each of us is affected by the particular lens through which we view Scripture.

What's the difference between attacking from a zeal for the public good, and just being nasty? The primary concept behind this video was borrowed from Emanuel Swedenborg.

This is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in Switzerland. The book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “Liber Novus,” which is Latin for “New Book.” Its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils. If you didn’t know the book’s vintage, you might confuse it for a lost medieval tome. (See article for details) ###

An exploration of Isaiah 53, John 1; 16:26, and 17:5, 24 from a Swedenborgian perspective. The key to it all is to see that Jesus is not a separate person; He IS "the arm of Jehovah." -- 90 minute study of Scripture

Last Judgment 28 V. THE LAST JUDGMENT IS TO BE WHERE ALL ARE TOGETHER, AND SO IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, NOT ON EARTH The general belief about the Last Judgment is that the Lord accompanied by angels will appear in glory in the clouds of heaven, and He will then raise up from their graves all who have ever lived from the beginning of creation, clothe their souls with a body, and, when they have been summoned to meet, judge them, sending those who have lived good lives to everlasting life or heaven, and those who lived wicked lives...

On January 15, Rick Warren will kick-off a 52-week Daniel Plan to become healthier with Dr. Mehmet Oz, a follower of cult leader Emmanuel Swedenborg. According to Warren's website, his church will host a 52-week course to stress losing weight and becoming healthier. The kick-off event will include Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman. All three have Eastern spiritual connections. Dr. Mehmert Oz is a follower of Emmanuel Swedenborg according to The New Church website. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and is Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Columbia University. He is inspired by...

Abraham Lincoln's Religious Beliefs By Eldon Smith -- Sunday, February 11, 1996 Bible Reading At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal...

Johnny Appleseed (born John Chapman) was a direct descendent of Edward Chapman, who came from Yorkshire, England, to Boston in the 1640s and became a prosperous farmer and miller in Ipswich. John was of the sixth generation from Edward. He was the second child of Elizabeth Simonds and Nathaniel Chapman, who were married at Leominster, Massachusetts on February 8, 1770. John was born in Leominster on September 26, 1774, and was baptized with his sister Elizabeth in the Congregational Church on June 25, 1775, the day his father and mother were received into that church. John's father, Nathaniel, was a...

"And the Lord spoke all these words: I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. (Exodus 20: 1-3) Their names are Legion, for they are many; the Romans knew them as Juno, or Diana, or Ops. Freyr, Gerd, Idun, and Jord ruled the Norse, Dziewona and Mokosh were their names to the Slavs. The Hawaiians had Papa, the Aztecs Coatlicue, the Egyptians had Geb and Nut.  The Celts had many: Cerunno, Cyhiraet, Druantia, Maeva. The ancient Canaanites had...

Though lagging a bit through negotiations, representatives from the Swedenborgian church say they are still actively pursuing the former Our Lady Help of Christians Church and plan to move to West Concord in the fall. In April, negotiations between the town, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Swedenborgians seemed to be reaching their conclusion. Conservation and preservation restrictions were being ironed out and all parties seemed primed to complete talks by the beginning of summer. Interviewed in March, Huard Smith, chairman of the Swedenborgian church Building Committee, anticipated a late-May move in date. Now, six months later, talks...