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To: betty boop; hosepipe; Alamo-Girl; cornelis
This seems pretty clear:

Hence it is now that those who are in the spiritual affection of truth have an internal acknowledgment of it. As the angels are in that affection they utterly reject the dogma that the understanding should be kept in subjection to faith; for they say, What is it to believe a thing, and not to see whether it is true? If any one declares that still it must be believed, they reply, Do you think that you are God whom I ought to believe, or that I am mad to believe an assertion in which I do not see any truth? Cause me therefore to see it. So the dogmatic one retires. Angelic wisdom consists solely in this, that angels see and comprehend what they think.

Doctrine of Faith #4 (Swedenborg)

623 posted on 06/14/2007 7:19:13 PM PDT by DaveMSmith ("Heaven is the only basis for our continued existence".)
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To: DaveMSmith; Alamo-Girl; hosepipe; .30Carbine
Hence it is now that those who are in the spiritual affection of truth have an internal acknowledgment of it. As the angels are in that affection they utterly reject the dogma that the understanding should be kept in subjection to faith; for they say, What is it to believe a thing, and not to see whether it is true? ... Angelic wisdom consists solely in this, that angels see and comprehend what they think.

Thank you so much DaveMSmith for this beautiful excerpt from Swedenborg!

It seems to me faith leads the internal acknowledgement of truth. For God is truth; the created soul has truth innately, for God made us in His image and likeness. And has placed us in the creation, a divine work of incredible beauty that testifies to the glory of the Creator, ever manifesting the truth of God's creative and sustaining Word, the Logos.

But truth is often smothered by dogma. Where God wants us to live in direct communion with Himself and His truth (for which we are equipped to be responsive partners in the divine-human dialogue), a dogma is a reduction or "hypostatization" of truth, not the living truth itself.

If that makes any sense! :^) My two cents, FWIW.

660 posted on 06/15/2007 9:23:21 AM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein)
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