Allegorically, Swedenborg likens both the nature of each heaven as well as the illumination in the sky of each heaven to the sun, moon, and stars.[63] He states that the sun of the celestial heaven and the moon of the spiritual kingdom is the Lord.[64] In Mormonism's view of I Cor 15:40–42, the resurrected bodies of those in three degrees of glory (celestial, terrestrial, and telestial heavens) are likened to the Sun, Moon, and stars.
Why have I never heard of this before??? Is there anything Joseph Smith didn't plagiarize?
I think he came up with the flaming sword story all on his own. Otherwise he plagiarized everything else.
"Religion is about providing human community in the guise of solving problems that don’t exist or failing to solve problems that do and seeking to reconcile these contradictions and conceal the failures in bogus explanations otherwise known as theology." - Kishkumen
Allegorically, Swedenborg likens both the nature of each heaven as well as the illumination in the sky of each heaven to the sun, moon, and stars.[63] He states that the sun of the celestial heaven and the moon of the spiritual kingdom is the Lord.[64] In Mormonism's view of I Cor 15:40–42, the resurrected bodies of those in three degrees of glory (celestial, terrestrial, and telestial heavens) are likened to the Sun, Moon, and stars.
Why have I never heard of this before??? Is there anything Joseph Smith didn't plagiarize?
For whatever it's worth, I read this years ago. Not saying at all that you should have known...I'm just saying that this information has been out there for quite a while.
If I remember correctly Swedenborg had a religious following for a while. I wonder if any of the Swedenborgians joined the LDS Church?
Joseph didn't grow up in a vacuum. There was ferment/movement in many quarters.
I love the pretty lame argument that Jo didn't grow up in a vacuum to mitigate the damage of his blatant plagiarizing. This argument is pretty ignorant because Jo himself said:
“Did I build on any other man’s foundation? I have got all the truth which the Christian world possessed, and an independent revelation in the bargain, and God will bear me off triumphant. (History of the Church, 6:479; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on June 16, 1844, in Nauvoo, Illinois; reported by Thomas Bullock)
Riding on a speeding train; trapped inside a revolving door; Lost in the riddle of a quatrain; Stuck in an elevator between floors. One focal point in a random world can change your direction: One step where events converge may alter your perception.
What if both Swedenborg and Joseph Smith are right? Enjoy eternity in the Telestial Kingdom while all the righteous will be chilling in the 3rd highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. It's your soul and eternity. Try to be good.
MetalSlasher wrote:What if both Swedenborg and Joseph Smith are right? Enjoy eternity in the Telestial Kingdom while all the righteous will be chilling in the 3rd highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. It's your soul and eternity. Try to be good.
What if they were both frauds? That's more likely. Swedenborg claimed to travel to other planets and converse with the inhabitants. The man started out as a credible thinker and writer of his time and descended into visionary experiences that discredited him. Proponents rely on his vision of a distant, real fire as a sign of his clairvoyance and disregard his many other visions of nonsensical things.
MetalSlasher wrote:What if both Swedenborg and Joseph Smith are right? Enjoy eternity in the Telestial Kingdom while all the righteous will be chilling in the 3rd highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. It's your soul and eternity. Try to be good.
"What IF"? Are you nuts?
If "ifs" and nuts are candy and nuts then the Explanations of Facsimile No. 3 would be true. They aren't true. Neither are ifs and buts candy and nuts.
Mormonism is all about: Ifs, ifs, ifs. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Could be, could be, could be. Faith, faith, faith.