often readily admitting some of the
allegations against them, but showing
developments since that time. Modern
historians attempt to be impartial,
often admirably so, but every historian
has a particular lens through which he
or she views the past.
This is equally true of New Church
historians. The Heavenly Doctrine
has a great deal to say about Luther
and the reformers, Catholics and
Protestants, and concepts of salvation,
all of which is woven into the narrative
of church history building up to the
establishment of the New Church.
The Doctrine paints a picture of
Christianity in steep decline, with
increasing falsity (for example, papal
power and the sale of indulgences) and
the evils of life that flowed from them.
Spirits entering the World of Spirits
created false heavens based on these
falsities, forming what the Doctrine’s
describe as a “dense cloud” between
heaven and earth.
As truth descended from the Lord through this cloud of spirits, it was
twisted into falsity so that by the time it reached the people of this world, it
bore little relation to the Lord’s truth. Unless something changed, the Church
would be completely cut off from the Lord, and humans would perish. This
change came with the Last Judgment of 1757.
Like every church before it, the Christian Church was not designed to fall,
but to grow in understanding and love, becoming increasingly receptive of
the heavenly things the Lord wished to teach, and which He promised would
follow in time. But the Christian Church did fall. There are many reasons for
this, but a principle one was the failure to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as
the God of heaven and earth.
Early Christians battled to understand the relationship between the Father
and Son, with the different positions growing increasingly acrimonious until
the Council of Nicaea, in 325, arrived at a solution which became binding on
the entire church. The doctrine of the Trinity that developed at that council
has been the unquestioned foundation of doctrine for all Christian Churches,
The Heavenly Doctrine
paints a picture of
Christianity in steep
decline, with increasing
falsity and the evils
of life that flowed
from them. . . . Unless
something changed,
the Church would be
completely cut off from
the Lord, and humans
would perish. This
change came with the
Last Judgment of 1757.
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