ChadWooters Wrote:Yeah well, unfortunately, a Swedenborg guy isn't the best person to answer that kind of question. In the New Church God is more human than we are, i.e. the source of our humanity. There couldn't be a non-human messiah.
So I take it the messiah can't be non-human because of what you said here:
Quote:Or why anti-theistic atheists can't handle the possibility of humans having a spiritual aspect :-) ...
It's the victory over sin thing (Christ Victorious)...if Jesus could overcome the limits of his physical existence then he has the authority to guide us through the same process.
What makes you think that bit of theology is 'original', that he overcame the limits of his physical existence? It all depends on whether he was human or not which is something that isn't very clear to me.
In those times, the belief in these saviour gods included a 'human aspect' but with the saviour god still being in the heavenly sphere somewhere up in the sky. Mithra slaying the bull is an example of this, which apparently was good enough for salvation. The inscription found at caves goes like this: Us too you have saved by shedding blood which grants eternity.
Could it be possible that Paul and friends believed Christ to be of a similar nature?
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
