A life of faith without love is like sunlight without warmth — the type of light that occurs in winter, when nothing grows and everything droops and … - Emmanuel Swedenborg

PARTICULAR CAUSES OF DISEASE That straitness of spirit is a state near desperation, may be manifest from this consideration, that they who are in a state near desperation have an external anxiety, and in such case are actually in straitness of spirit. Straitness of spirit, in the external sense, is a compression of the breast, and thence as it were a difficulty of respiration. In the internal sense it is an anxiety by reason of the deprivation of the truth which is of faith, and of the good which is of charity, and thence a state near desperation. A state of compression as to respiration, and anxiety on account of the deprivation of the truth of faith and the good of charity, correspond to each other, as a natural effect in the body grounded in a spiritual cause in the mind. That the deprivation of spiritual truth and good produces such anxiety, and consequently such straitness, cannot be believed by those who are not in faith and charity, for these imagine that to be tormented on such account is weakness and sickliness of mind.

I asked, “What does a religion need to be like in order to save people?” They said, “We are going to divide this question into a number of subquestions. Before we have come to conclusions on these we will not be able to give a reply to your question. The points for discussion will be the following. (1) Is religion anything? (2) Does salvation exist or not? (3) Is one religion more effective than another? (4) Do heaven and hell exist?

There is one God, in whom there is the Divine Trinity, and he is the Lord Jesus Christ. This can be briefly illustrated in the following way: It is a certain and established truth that God is one, and his essence cannot be divided; and also that there is a Trinity. Since God is One, and his essence cannot be divided, it follows that God is one Person. And since he is one Person, the Trinity is in that Person. It is clear that this Person is the Lord Jesus Christ from the fact that he was conceived from God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35), and thus as to his soul and life itself he is God. Therefore, as he himself said, "he and the Father are one." (John 10:30).