{"id":10642,"date":"2015-10-27T19:25:45","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T23:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=10642"},"modified":"2015-10-27T19:25:45","modified_gmt":"2015-10-27T23:25:45","slug":"bible-stories","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/bible-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inner Meaning of Popular (and Puzzling) Bible stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here's a list of stories that have verse-by-verse and keyword-by-keyword discussions based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. The discussions reflect our own attempts to synthesize ideas from Swedenborg's writings into simple modern language, but the entries also include key passages from the texts themselves, for those who would like to dig a little deeper.<\/p>\n

Ada<\/span><\/a>m, Eve and the Serpent<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s ironic\u00a0<\/span>that the story of Adam and Eve is so often in the cross-hairs of the debate between sci<\/span>ence and\u00a0<\/span>faith; according to the Swedenborg<\/a>, the story itself is, in fact, about that very debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elisha and the Bears<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

If Elisha would cause bears to attack children \u2013 42 children! \u2013 for insulting his hairless head, how can we regard him as a good person? He is described as a \u201cMan of God,\u201d but what kind of God would want this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus and the Fig Tree<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

Why would Jesus, in all his perfection, curse a poor defenseless tree for the small crime of having no fruit \u2013 especially when, as the version of the story in Mark says, it is not even the season for figs?<\/p>\n

Moses, the 'Bridegroom of Blood'<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

This strange little story has baffled scholars for centuries. Having just told Moses to go to Egypt, Jehovah meets him on the way with the intent of killing him. Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sodom: Violence Toward the Angels<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

This story has long been used to support negative views toward homosexuality, but in its internal, spiritual sense it\u2019s\u00a0actually not about homosexuality at all \u2013 it\u2019s about evil, temptation, salvation and judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Beatitudes: A Progressive Path to a State of Love<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

These verses, the opening phrases of the Sermon on the Mount, hold some of <\/span>the Bible<\/span>\u2019s most beautiful\u00a0and best-loved\u00a0<\/span>poetry. Part of its beauty, though, lies in the fact that the meaning is not quite clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Parable of the Unjust Steward<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

The steward <\/span>has been wasting his master\u2019s goods, and under threat of being fired goes scrambling around settling debts on the cheap. His motivation is rotten... And for this he gets praised!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Word Was God: The Answer to 'Why?'<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

The beautiful but cryptic words of these passages open the book of John, the most beautiful and cryptic of the gospels.\u00a0Scholars have long pondered them, wondering why John would call Jesus \u201cthe Word\u201d and what it means to say \u201cthe Word was God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking on Water<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

Did Jesus walk on water just to amaze the disciples and to amaze the reader? Or did it have some deeper meaning?<\/span><\/p>\n

The 23rd Psalm: Showing the Path to Heaven<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

According to Swedenborg, the symbolic power of this Psalm is connected to\u00a0precise internal meanings.\u00a0When we see them, the poem becomes powerful on a whole new level -- because what it actually describes is the path to heaven, and the fierce desire the Lord has to lead us there.<\/p>\n

Cain and Abel: A Murder of the Heart<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

The story of Cain and Abel has been inspiring art and literature for centuries, and it\u2019s not hard to see why...\u00a0Where Adam and Eve seem otherworldly, Cain seems all too human.<\/span><\/p>\n

Water into Wine: A Transformation of Truth<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

As the first miracle of Jesus, turning water into wine marked the beginning of his public ministry. On a deeper, it showed that deeper spiritual ideas would transform the relationship between God and humanity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a list of stories that have verse-by-verse and keyword-by-keyword discussions based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. The discussions reflect our own attempts to synthesize ideas from Swedenborg’s writings into simple modern language, but the entries also include key passages from the texts themselves, for those who would like to dig a little deeper. […]<\/p>\n

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