Teachings and Practices
The Church is a branch of what is commonly called the "New Church" or the "Swedenborgian Church", and is a post-Reformation form of Christianity that bases its teachings on the Old Testament (written in Hebrew), the New Testament (written in Greek), and the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (written in Latin), the last of which is referred to as the Latin Word. The Lord's New Church differs from the General Church, as its parent denomination is commonly called, and from other Swedenborgian branches, in that the former's members view Swedenborg's theological writings as a Third Testament.
The Three Essentials
The Church propounds three essential theological principles:
- The acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Human as the one only God of Heaven and Earth, in Whom is the Divine Trinity.
- The acknowledgment of the Word of the Lord in its three Testaments, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which are the Third Testament. In this Third Testament the Lord has fulfilled His Second Coming, and all the Divine Truth of His Divine Human from firsts to lasts is present therein in fullness, holiness and power. What is said in this Testament concerning the Sacred Scripture or Word applies also to itself.
- The life of faith, charity and love into the Lord that is of Heaven, being the Divine essence of eternal life in man and in the Church.
The Principles of Doctrine
The Church also identifies three 'Principles of Doctrine':
- It is not the Word that makes the Church, but the understanding of it. The Church is according to its Doctrine and the Doctrine is out of the Word. However the Doctrine does not instaurate the Church, but the integrity and purity of the Doctrine, consequently the understanding (intellectus) of the Word.
- The Doctrine is spiritual out of celestial origin not out of rational origin.
- The Third Testament without Doctrine is as a candlestick without light, and those who read that Testament without Doctrine, or who do not acquire for themselves Doctrine out of the Third Testament, are in darkness as to all Truth.
Read more about this topic: Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma
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