The knowledge of eternal life is most important to
the good of religion with men. The question of whether there is a life after
death, and of what quality is that life is one of vital concern to us, not only
when we are confronted with the death of those whom we love or with our own
death, but also in connection with our consideration of every problem of
religion. Without a knowledge of eternal life we cannot possibly understand
God's purpose in creating us, and without this we cannot grasp the nature of His
Love, nor the nature of His will with us. Ignorance of the spiritual world may
lead men to the doubt and denial of all things spiritual, and thus leave our
religion a mere materialistic, worldly thing, without reason and without life.
Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scientist,
philosopher and theologian of the Eighteenth Century, stated that he was
permitted by the Lord to be with the angels, and to speak with them as man with
man, and that he was commissioned by the Lord to write down and publish the
things thus revealed to him for the sake of mankind. To quote from the
introduction of his work, "Heaven and Hell," "The man of the Church at this day
knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell, or about his life after death,
although all things are set forth and described in the Word; yea, many even who
have been born within the Church deny them, saying in their heart, 'Who has come
thence and told us?' Lest therefore such a spirit of denial, which prevails
especially with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and
corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted to me
to associate with angels and to talk with them as man with man, and also to see
the things which are in the heavens, and those which are in the hells, and this
for thirteen years; also from what I have thus heard and seen I am now permitted
to describe these, in the hope that ignorance may thus be enlightened, and
unbelief dissipated." (Heaven and Hell, no. l)
Because we believe that the wonderful things
revealed about heaven and hell through Swedenborg constitute an entirely new
basis for the thought of mankind in the understanding of spiritual things, we
present here the answers given in his Writings to ten questions commonly asked
about the life after death.
