If I may add my 2 cents....
Eph 2:1-5
1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
(NKJ)
The above verse is what the bible claims Christ sets us free from. That is, He empowers us to overcome the traps that the world(Satan) has set for us.
Here is another one....
Rom 12:1-2
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
(NKJ)
When we lose ourselves to Christ, we begin to be "transformed" like a caterpillar trnsforming into a beautiful butterfly. But notice it takes action on our part. We are to be a "living" sacrifice not a dead sacrifice. This is done by "renewing " our minds to the truths of the bible. We are to "put off" lies, stealing, etc.
Eph 4:11-16
11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-- Christ--
16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
(NKJ)
Eph 4:17-32
17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
19who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20But you have not so learned Christ,
21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
25Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
26"Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
27nor give place to the devil.
28Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
29Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
(NKJ)
What Christ sets us free from is the old sinful nature by giving us a choice and then "empowering us as Christians.
Originally posted by stockenA seductive world 🙂
Oh, my... it's a strange world, indeed.
"Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction & Repulsion, Reason & Energy, Love & Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy.
Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell." (W. Blake, The Marriage of Heaven & Hell).
Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air;
Hungry clouds swag on the deep
Once meek, and in a perilous path,
The just man kept his course along
The vale of death.
Roses are planted where thorns grow.
And on the barren heath
Sing the honey bees.
Then the perilous path was planted:
And a river, and a spring
On every cliff and tomb;
And on the bleached bones
Red clay brought forth.
Till the villain left the paths of ease,
To walk in perilous paths, and drive
The just man into barren climes.
Now the sneaking serpent walks
In mild humility.
And the just man rages in the wilds
Where lions roam.
Rintrah roars & shakes his fires in the burden'd air;
Hungry clouds swag on the deep.
As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb; his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now is the dominion of Edom, and the return of Adam into Paradise.
Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy.
Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell.
----------
I didn't get that Swedenborg name thing, though. Sounds stupid. Like a marriage between Sweden and Björn Borg. 😕
[Edit: and since Björn is swedish it would make for a nasty self-incestual scandal story!]
Originally posted by stockenSweden + Borg = Heaven + Hell? I don't get it either.
I didn't get that Swedenborg name thing, though. Sounds stupid. Like a marriage between Sweden and Björn Borg.
As for scandal, consider the implications of taking the Christ as Jesus' bride literally.
Swedenborg refers to Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic who held conversations with angels and other spirits. He lived not too long before Blake.
Originally posted by Bosse de NageOh, yes. Of course. I should know, shouldn't I? (Being swedish and all).
Sweden + Borg = Heaven + Hell? I don't get it either.
As for scandal, consider the implications of taking the Christ as Jesus' bride literally.
Swedenborg refers to Emmanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish mystic who held conversations with angels and other spirits. He lived not too long before Blake.
Originally posted by Bosse de NageHere goes:
Perhaps you find "no ideas but in things" obscure? It's a quote (W.C. Williams) and it means exactly what it says. It calls for interpretation. What's yours?
The Man With The Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens.
One
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."
And they said to him, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar,
Of things exactly as they are."
Two
I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.
I sing a hero's head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,
Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.
If a serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,
Say that it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.
Three
A tune beyond us as we are,
Yet nothing changed by the blue guitar;
Ourselves in tune as if in space,
Yet nothing changed, except the place
Of things as they are and only the place
As you play them on the blue guitar,
Placed, so, beyond the compass of change,
Perceived in a final atmosphere;
For a moment final, in the way
The thinking of art seems final when
The thinking of god is smoky dew.
The tune is space. The blue guitar
Becomes the place of things as they are,
A composing of senses of the guitar.
Four
Tom-tom c'est moi. The blue guitar
And I are one. The orchestra
Fills the high hall with shuffling men
High as the hall. The whirling noise
Of a multitude dwindles, all said,
To his breath that lies awake at night.
I know that timid breathing. Where
Do I begin and end? And where,
As I strum the thing, do I pick up
That which momentarily declares
Itself not to be I and yet
Must be. It could be nothing else.
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI found this on the matter:
Does Swedenborg have a following in Sweden today? He was very popular in the 18th century but times have moved on.
http://www.euro-tongil.org/swedish/emanuel5.htm
Written by Olle Hjern (a swedish chief priest in the lord's new church - whatever that means) and the writer of: "Swedenborg och hans vänner i Göteborg" (1990) "Swedenborg and his friends in Gothenburg".
Roughly translating the beginning paragraphs:
Swedenborgs religious impact on the world
The most distinguishing feature of swedenborganism has from the very beginning been the social heritage. For both historical and ideological reasons the largest number of followers are black people in both western and southern africa. Since the beginning of this new century thousands of people have been captured by the teachings of Swedenborg and formed congregations in Ghana, Nigeria, Southafrica, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The same is true in many other countries in Europe, North America, India, Japan, Korea and in Australia.
----
As for Sweden, there are clearly followers of Swedenborg here. I just didn't know about them 'til a few minutes ago. 🙂
Swedenborg, as far as I can tell, was not just a theologian but somewhat a philosopher. Very interesting. I'll have to read some of his work now, don't I?
[Edit: Actually I'm not sure if it's black people in africa. Olle says: "anhängare i det svarta afrika", which directly translated, means: "followers in the black africa". I interpreted that as black people in africa, but he could have meant something else. Just thought I'd add this comment.]