{"id":4617,"date":"2025-03-26T17:50:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T21:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/explore\/beliefs\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:13:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:13:49","slug":"our-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/explore\/our-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Beliefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Our Lord Jesus Christ is One Loving God.<\/h3>\n

The Lord Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth \u2014 the all-powerful Creator and Provider, and the approachable, loving, personal God who reaches out to all of us. The Father is the Soul, the Son is the Body, and the Holy Spirit is the Activity of the One Divine Person. He is intimately aware of the directions of our lives, and works in countless ways to inspire our free response to all that He offers.<\/p>\n

Read more about God and the nature of God here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The Bible is God speaking through literal stories with a systematic meaning.<\/h3>\n

The Bible, the Word of God, is how God teaches us about Himself, about the eternal life He gives us, and that heavenly happiness can be found by living according to His Commandments. We can read the Bible on many different levels. There is a literal meaning, which is a history of God\u2019s relationship with His people, a deeper symbolic meaning that teaches about our own spiritual lives, and the deepest level, which teaches about His love for all people and His work to bring us close to Himself in heaven. We call this allegory the \u201cinternal sense\u201d of the Word.<\/p>\n

Read more about the internal sense of the Bible here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Love is the essential message of scripture.<\/h3>\n

Jesus said, \"The most important [commandment] <\/span>is this: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. <\/span><\/span>The second is this: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u201d (Mark 12:29-31).<\/span><\/span> What we love determines who we are and whether we choose heaven now and in the afterlife. \u201cThe whole of heaven rests on love as its foundation\u201d (Secrets of Heaven 1055).<\/p>\n

Read more about the Bible's message of love here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Life after death, heaven, and angels are all real. People freely choose their eternal destiny.<\/h3>\n

The book Heaven and Hell<\/em> by Emanuel Swedenborg has inspired people for over two centuries with its detailed description of life after death. It teaches that death is merely a transition from the natural world to the spiritual world, where life continues for all people according to the patterns they have developed in life. Those who have cooperated with God in this life by striving to become better people, find themselves in a heavenly way of life in the next. Those who have chosen to serve themselves above their neighbors gravitate towards others like themselves in the place called hell. People freely choose their eternal destiny.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/newchurch.org\/explore\/heaven\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Salvation is progressive and involves an ongoing process of spiritual growth.<\/h3>\n

Being \"born again\", or spiritual rebirth, is not a single event. Having faith and living it are two parts of a journey of change and growth. The New Church teaches that every person is saved (chooses heaven) who acknowledges God and lives according to the Ten Commandments. The Lord makes sure that all people have the opportunity to learn these two most basic principles of religion, working through many churches in many nations.<\/p>\n

Read more about Faith and Salvation here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Happiness comes when we let God inspire our daily work and service to others.<\/h3>\n

We open ourselves to the love of God by turning away from evil and learning to do what is good. In acting from that love by living a useful and productive life for the sake of others, the Lord opens heaven within us and prepares us for an eternal life of ever growing love and happiness in heaven.<\/p>\n

Read more about Happiness and Fulfillment here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Married love can become spiritual and continue to eternity.<\/h3>\n

Love in marriage is a precious gift from the Lord. When spiritual principles are applied not only to one\u2019s spiritual growth, but also to marriage, troubled times can be overcome. That marriage will grow in friendship, mutual support, and happiness. Genuine marriage does not end with death, but continues to eternity.<\/p>\n

Read more about Spiritual Marriage here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ is One Loving God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth \u2014 the all-powerful Creator and Provider, and the approachable, loving, personal God who reaches out to all of us. The Father is the Soul, the Son is the Body, and the Holy Spirit is the […]<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"parent":1515,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4617","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4617"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10041,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4617\/revisions\/10041"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wnc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}