The Real Reason Jesus is an Inspiration

Todd takes a fresh look at Jesus as a role model. Even if we can't personally live up to His example, we can be blown away by His commitment and love. Todd takes us through the real meaning of Jesus' actions and shows us the amazing inspiration to be had from contemplating His example.

I can see why mainstream Christianity gets so much inspiration from Jesus: just before we were all going to hell, Jesus stepped in front of His Father and said, “Take me instead.” He stood up to the Almighty for us. That’s inspiring. However, my New Church educated brain knows things did not actually happen that way. Instead a divine human was on earth that straightened out the mess that finite humanity created. That, to me, never was a fair fight. Infinite good versus finite evil? “He could not but conquer” (Arcana Coelestia 1812). Of course hell was going to lose! It never had a chance.

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Spiritual Body Image

Taryn and Pearse explore the idea of people created in the image and likeness of God. In a certain way, everything in creation reflects the human form from the Divine but how are people distinct from the rest of creation? Malcolm continues to look at issues of body image, though his focus is on clothing.

We humans place a lot of importance in appearances, especially our own, often glancing at a mirror several times every day. But most of us are aware of a part of a person beyond that assemblage of cells. People have inklings of another reality apart from bodies made of flesh and bone. Someone can be “beautiful on the inside,” while another can be “inhumane” and even “bestial.” On this earth, these are just turns of phrase.

Meandering through a zoo, no one should have trouble telling the human visitors from the animal inhabitants. One only has to look at the forms of the people and compare them to those of tigers or elephants. People look human. But we are not human merely because of our outward appearance.

According to the Word, the Lord modelled the human race after Himself.

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Even as We are One

Isaac tells of making friends on an airplane and traveling in China and East-Africa. He questions some General Church assumptions about who is actually the heart and lungs of the Lord's church on earth. In the same vein, he wonders whether we are confused in making assumptions about who is in or out of the New Church. These types of questions are addressed further in the context of relationships by Garrett Smith and Meryl Mochado.

Last week I walked our family dog up Guinea Road and visited some dear old friends nestled in their vineyard spread on a hill not too far from my family's new home. I've been away in China and Africa for some time and it was gift of sweet mercy to near their home and enter the door into their smiles and share the Lord's love together. I was again awed by the peaceful view of the mountains from their spacious windows, mountains I knew, mountains I was used to seeing from a different angle. There was the Pinnacle, which I hiked as a boy and a young man, and another mountain, the Sharp, on whose face sat the beloved cabin my family called home.

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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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