Homosexuality

This is the opening essay in our series on homosexuality. Here Coleman elaborates on his position that homosexual attraction is disorderly. By voicing that conclusion, he feels he can offer people who experience same sex attraction the opportunity to disconnect from that inclination with integrity and pursue a higher path. -Editor

“Growing up I thought homosexuality was kind of gross, and I just kind of accepted the church’s teaching that it was wrong, although even then I guess I had doubts about it. Then as I got older and went to high school, and then to college, I made friends with a lot of gay people. And I realized they were real people. And not only real people: real good, loving, warm, funny people. I realized that the ones who were in relationships truly loved their partner and were committed to the relationship. And so, yeah, I think the General Church’s stance on homosexuality is wrong. God cannot possibly disapprove of a loving relationship between two people. Love can’t be a sin.”

That quote isn’t from any one person, but it’s a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed again and again by my peers. If you did a poll of people raised in the General Church in my generation, I think you would find that the vast majority of them think that homosexuality is not evil, and that many homosexual relationships are positive and healthy.

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Meditate | "Lord Willing!"

“The ignorance about [perception] is so great that people are capable of believing it to be a kind of ongoing revelation, or else something instinctive. Some suppose that it is no more than make-believe, while others have other ideas. Yet perception is the epitome of the heavenly character that the Lord gives to those who have a loving belief in him” (Secrets of Heaven 536).

I feel like I’ve fallen under the idea before—and translated it into my whole life—that perception is “ongoing revelation.” Life—once it’s all in order, once I’m ‘living the heavenly life’—always will feel good. It will be just an ongoing experience of blissful revelation—joy, perpetual good feelings, wise insights, the whole bit. But perception is not ongoing revelation. Thank goodness, really, because being under the impression that my life is somehow meant to have a relentless effusion of positivity, and being faced with the reality that it clearly doesn’t, is a combination ripe to get me feeling down. So what is perception?

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The Atheist Perspective

Owen contemplates atheistic beliefs in light of arguments presented by the New Church about the ultimate fate of those who carry such beliefs. He posits that belief and its consequences are at the center of our life on earth and that to suggest otherwise is to ignore or obfuscate the truth as he sees it. -Editor

You might wonder what atheists have to do with the New Church. Also, you might not wonder that. I don’t know that I really even believed in atheists until one of my old school friends and then brother became one.

If you’re like I was back in the old days, you might just write atheists off as misled and/or confused and/or wronged in some way by the church and so turned against it. I think, honestly, that all that atheists are, are people who have chosen to not believe in God. Of course there are psychological reasons behind their choice, but there are psychological reasons behind every choice every person makes.

The truth is some people just choose to not believe the same things we believe and it’s very possible those choices will lead them down a terrible road.

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Creating Your Own Reality

Todd Beiswenger leads off a series of three dissertation digests. In the following short essay, Todd gives us a taste of the topic he is exploring for his capstone research and writing project in the Academy of the New Church Theological School (ANCTS, www.ancts.org). Todd's goal is to uncover what role humans have in manifesting or “creating” their own destinies. In the following two weeks we will hear from two other ANCTS students: Pearse Frazier on Celestial Bliss and Stephen Muires on The Sacred. -Editor

Every love has a purpose. If you understand all this in the right way, you will be able to see the universe as a coherent work from beginning to end, a work holding purposes, means, and results in indissoluble connection. (True Christian Religion 47)

Every now and again, I drive to some familiar place, and ask myself, “How did I get here?” I’ve driven it so many times that the turns, the traffic, and the surroundings are tuned out. I don’t remember hardly a thing about the drive, but nevertheless I made it to my destination. This happens to us as well with our whole life. We have certain mental routines that drive us to various places, often without us remembering why it is we do these things. The fact is there is a reason why we do what we do.

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Are You Happy?

Ronald explores how to actually be happy. States of desolation may have to come but they still aren't any fun. How can we work towards real happiness? How can we ask the Lord to experience joy along the journey?

Are you happy? I mean actually happy? Many of us are not happy and at times there is no apparent cause. For whatever reason, walking the spiritual path can be difficult and at the end of a day we may find ourselves wondering why we endeavored to walk such a path in the first place. Maybe it’s just a flash of a moment, but many of us in a moment of desperation wonder if satisfaction lies in other places. It happens to even the best of us.

At times we may feel tempted to be bitter or maybe we are bitter. This state can be compared to a barren wasteland where nothing is growing.

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4 Reasons Most New Year's Resolutions and Other Habit Changes Fail and What You Can Do to Succeed

Derrick's essay on effective habit changing is appropriately timed with the turning of the New Year. He explores the reasons why people so often lose their resolve and fall back into familiar patterns. He offers short and simple recommendations for making lasting changes and he also provides further reading from the Writings of Emanual Swedenborg and the Bible.

Making and keeping resolutions to change habits is hard. You will probably see a lot of blog posts or magazine articles about making and keeping your New Year's Resolution this time of year. The New Church offers some new perspective about what goes wrong when we try and fail to change our ways. Here are four things that often go wrong and what you can do to prevent or fix the problems.

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