{"id":11160,"date":"2016-04-15T10:18:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=11160"},"modified":"2016-04-15T10:18:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:18:41","slug":"faith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/spiritual-glossary\/faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFaith\u201d is an interesting word. Technically it simply means \u201cbelief,\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n

but it has taken on a thick layer of emotional import in the modern world. That\u2019s certainly true in terms of religion: We could happily entertain intellectual questions about what we believe to be true, but if those questions touch on our \u201cfaith\u201d they suddenly become an \u201cattack,\u201d and we use \u201cfaith\u201d to describe the connection we can feel with God during emotionally charged worship services. This idea also filters through to secular uses: When we express \u201cfaith\u201d that our favorite football team can win a game, that\u2019s more of an emotional statement than an intellectual one.<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason for that emotional content may be that Christian<\/a> churches adopted the word \u201cfaith\u201d to mean \u201caccepting something as true even though it can\u2019t be seen or understood.\u201d For instance, the idea that God is one, divided into three persons<\/a> without being divided. This defies reason, but Christians have long been called on to accept it as a \u201cmystery of faith.\u201d The idea that God the Father is completely loving, but that He requires the blood sacrifice and pleading of Jesus to let anyone into heaven is equally confounding, but is also an article of faith. Since it\u2019s basically impossible to see the truth in these ideas from our minds, we have to simply believe them in our hearts, which makes them into emotional issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Swedenborg<\/a>, however, uses \u201cfaith\u201d in a more traditional sense, defining it as \u201can internal acknowledgement of truth.\u201d That has some connection to the Christian concept of faith \u2013 it is truth<\/a> seen and acknowledged, not necessarily truth that has been reasoned out and proven logically. But it\u2019s not truth that defies logic; instead it is truth that is plain on its face.<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, the idea of faith goes hand in hand with that of \u201ccharity<\/a>,\u201d or the desire and actual act of being good to others and serving others. In essence, we recognize something as true because we can see how it leads to good actions, and in trying to do something good we turn to those truths we already recognize.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Passages from Swedenborg<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 355 (5)<\/b>
<\/span>Faith<\/span>\u00a0without Goodwill Is Not\u00a0<\/span>Faith<\/span>;<\/span>
<\/span>Goodwill without\u00a0<\/span>Faith<\/span>\u00a0Is Not Goodwill;<\/span>
<\/span>and Neither of Them Is Living Unless It Comes from the Lord<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>\u00a0The church today has separated\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>\u00a0from goodwill. The church says that\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>\u00a0alone apart from the works of the Law justifies us and saves us. It says that goodwill cannot be united to\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>, because\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>comes from God while goodwill (to the extent that it becomes actual in deeds) comes from ourselves.<\/span>
<\/span>These concepts, however, never entered the minds of any apostle, as their letters make obvious. This separation and division was introduced into the Christian church when the one God was partitioned into three persons and each was allotted equal divinity.<\/span>
<\/span>The next part of this chapter will illustrate that there is no\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>without goodwill or goodwill without\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>, and that neither of them has life except from the Lord. Here the following points need to be demonstrated in order to pave the way:<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We are able to acquire\u00a0<\/span>faith\u00a0<\/span>for ourselves.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The same is true of goodwill.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The same is also true of the life within each of them.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Nevertheless, no\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>, no goodwill, and none of the life within\u00a0<\/span>faith<\/span>or goodwill comes from ourselves; instead they come from the Lord alone.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 1<\/b><\/p>\n

    Faith is an internal acknowledgment of truth<\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>By faith at the present day is understood nothing more than the mental presumption that a thing is so, because it is taught by the Church, and because it is not evident to the understanding. For it is said: Believe, and do not doubt. If you answer, I do not comprehend it, you are told that this is the reason why it must be believed. The faith of the present day, therefore, is a faith in what is not known, and may be called a blind faith; and as it is the dictate of one person passed on to another, it is an historical faith. That this is not spiritual faith will be seen in what follows.<\/span>
    <\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 2<\/b><\/p>\n

    Faith itself is an acknowledgment that a thing is so, because it is true. For he who is in real faith thinks and speaks to this effect: \"This is true, and therefore I believe it.\" For faith is related to truth, and truth to faith. Moreover, if he does not comprehend a thing to be true, he says: \"I do not know whether this is true or not; and therefore I do not yet believe it. How can I believe what I do not comprehend? It may possibly be false.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 4<\/b><\/p>\n

    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.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 11<\/b><\/p>\n

    Since the internal acknowledgment of truth is faith, and since faith and truth are one, as was said above Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, it follows that an external acknowledgment without an internal acknowledgment is not faith; and also that a persuasion of what is false is not faith. An external acknowledgment without an internal acknowledgment is a faith in what is unknown; and faith in what is unknown is merely knowledge which is a matter of the memory; and if it is confirmed, it becomes a persuasion. Those who are in this faith and this persuasion think that a thing is true because someone has said so, or they think it is true from having confirmed it: and yet a falsity may be as easily confirmed as a truth, and sometimes more strongly. By thinking that something is true from having confirmed it, is meant thinking that what another says is true and merely confirming it without previous examination.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 13 (2)<\/b><\/p>\n

    An internal acknowledgment of truth, which is faith, cannot exist with any but those who are in charity<\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>It was stated above what faith is; here it will be explained what charity is. Charity in its first origin is the affection of good; and as good loves truth, the affection of good produces the affection of truth, and by the affection of truth, the acknowledgment of truth, which is faith. By these in their series, the affection of truth* manifests itself, and becomes charity. This is the progression of charity from its origin, which is the affection of good, through faith which is the acknowledgment of truth, to its end in view, which is charity: its end is action. From these considerations it is evident how love, which is the affection of good, produces faith, which is the same thing as the acknowledgment of truth, and by this produces charity, which is the same thing as the act of love through faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 18<\/b><\/p>\n

    It should be known that charity and faith make one, as the will and the understanding do, since charity has relation to the will and faith to the understanding. It should likewise be known that charity and faith make one, as affection and thought do, since affection has relation to the will and thought to the understanding; likewise that charity and faith make one as good and truth do, for good has relation to affection, which belongs to the will, and truth has relation to thought, which belongs to the understanding.<\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>In a word, charity and faith make one, like essence and form, since the essence of faith is charity, and the form of charity is faith. Hence it is evident that faith without charity is like a form without an essence, which is not anything; and that charity without faith is like an essence without form, which likewise is not anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 24<\/b><\/p>\n

    From all that has thus far been said it may be evident that saving faith, which is an internal acknowledgment of truth, cannot exist in any but those who are in charity.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 25 (3)<\/b><\/p>\n

    Cognitions* of truth and good are not related to faith before a man is in charity; but they are a store from which the faith of charity can be formed<\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>Man from his earliest childhood has the affection of knowing. By it he learns many things which will be of use to him, and many things which will be of no use. When he grows up, by application to some business he takes in the particulars relating to his business, which then becomes his use; and by it his affections are disposed. Thus begins the affection of use; and this produces an affection of the means by which he progresses in his business, which has become his use.<\/span>
    <\/span>
    <\/span>This progression takes place with every one in the world; because every one has some business, to the acquiring of which he proceeds from the use which is his end in view, through certain means leading to that use which is the ultimate effect. Since, however, this use, together with the means of attaining it, is for the sake of the life in this world, its love is natural.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Doctrine of Faith (Dick) n. 27<\/b><\/p>\n

    But all these cognitions, whatever their number and nature, are only a store out of which the faith of charity may be formed: and this faith is not formed except in proportion as a man shuns evils as sins. If he shuns evils as sins, then these cognitions become related to a faith in which there is spiritual life. If, however, he does not shun evils as sins, these cognitions are merely cognitions and do not become related to a faith in which there is any spiritual life.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

    \"\"<\/p><\/div>

    Who (or What) is Swedenborg?<\/span><\/h4>\n

    The ideas on this site are based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg<\/a>, an 18th<\/sup>-century Swedish scientist and theologian. Swedenborg claimed that his religious writings, the sole focus of the last three decades of his life, were done at the behest of the Lord<\/a> himself, and constituted a revelation for a successor to the Christian<\/a> Church.<\/p>\n

    In keeping with Swedenborg\u2019s own statements, modern believers downplay his role as author, attributing the ideas to the Lord instead. For this reason they generally refer to Swedenborg\u2019s theological works as \u201cthe Writings,\u201d and some resist the label \u201cSwedenborgian\u201d as placing emphasis on the man rather than the message.<\/p>\n

    Since \u201cthe Writings\u201d would be an unfamiliar term to new readers, we have elected to use the name \u201cSwedenborg\u201d as a label for those theological works, much as we might use \u201cIsaiah\u201d or \u201cMatthew\u201d to refer to books of the Bible<\/a>. The intent, however, is not to attribute the ideas to Swedenborg, any more than we would attribute the divinity of the Bible to Isaiah the man or Matthew the man.<\/p>\n

    So when you read \u201caccording to Swedenborg\u201d on this site, it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201caccording to the theological works from the Lord through Swedenborg.\u201d When you read \u201cSwedenborg says,\u201d it\u2019s really shorthand for \u201cthe theological works of Swedenborg say.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cFaith\u201d is an interesting word. Technically it simply means \u201cbelief,\u201d but it has taken on a thick layer of emotional import in the modern world. That\u2019s certainly true in terms of religion: We could happily entertain intellectual questions about what we believe to be true, but if those questions touch on our \u201cfaith\u201d they suddenly […]<\/p>\n

    Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":10647,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11160","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","blog-style1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11160\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}