In a Carpenter's Overall: A Catechism for the Third Millennium

Ishmael Angelo

ene 2006 · Xlibris Corporation

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The foundation of religion is a true idea of God. It is upon this idea of the Divine that all doctrines ultimately rest. Christianity affirms the existence of three Divine persons in the one God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. This is an erroneous concept that has been uncritically embraced in the Roman, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches. The idea of a triumvirate of Divine persons has had disastrous consequences for mankind. It spawned the doctrine of the atonement that interprets the Crucifixion in terms of a human sacrifice for sin, a propitiation by the Son to a wrathful Father whose sense of justice demanded punishment for sin. As a direct consequence of the widespread acceptance of this preposterous doctrine, Christianity inevitable acquired the status of a do-nothing religion, the gods having done it all for man who is justified, that is, declared righteous by mere faith in the atoning death of Jesus. The result has been the emasculation of the Christian Faith and the erosion of genuine spirituality, as no serious effort is mad towards a reformation of character through the renunciation of evil.

In A Carpenter's Overall affirms the existence of one God who incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ, in whom resided the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit one God in one Divine person. In the words of Paul, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.' Colossians 2:9 Having established that the Jesus of the New Testament is the very I AM THAT I AM' of the Old Testament, the idea of the Crucifixion as a human sacrifice for sin is examined and shown to be unscriptural, unnecessary, and utterly blasphemous. The doctrine of instant salvation justification by faith is refuted, repentance and the renunciation of evil being the only means whereby salvation can be attained. A true idea of the Divine is affirmed, one God whose very nature is centered infinite love and compassion for the human race, and who enfleshed Himself, entering into the dimensions of space and time in response to the demands of this unfathomable love.

In A Carpenter's Overall is based on the revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg, the eminent 18th century scientist-turned-theologian and revelator, the sleeping giant in the bosom of Christianity waiting to be discovered. And the most fascinating part of the book is the 138 quotations from his theological works, classified under 20 subject-headings in Appendix V. These quotations are utterly sublime and make an excellent introduction to the Writings, the name applied to Swedenborg's 30 volumes of theological exposition God's glorious gift to the human race, divinely inspired as the Old Testament and the New. In the Writings is the Second Coming of the Lord.