What does it matter how we think about God, or what image we have of God? Some people wonder why we would argue about ideas like “the trinity” or other concepts of God. “How do these concepts affect my regeneration?” they ask. Swedenborg writes, “We may gather how important it is to have a right concept of God from the fact that this concept is the very core of the thinking of everyone who has religion. All the elements of religion and of worship focus on God . . .” (DLW 12). God is at the heart of all our religious concepts.
But further, how we live out our religion depends on how we view God, too. Swedenborg sees God as the risen Jesus Christ, and because God is the Divine-Human, we all are humans, too. “It is because God is a person that all angels and spirits are perfectly formed people” (DLW 11). We can see how we are to live by studying the life of Jesus. We can form a personal relationship with God when we see Him as the Divine-Human Jesus Christ. Can you form a relationship with anything other than a person? Can you form a relationship with pure energy, as some like to think about God? Can you form a relationship with the creative power of the universe, as others might think of God? I think not. I find my relationship with God becomes heartfelt when I pray to the Divine-Human risen Christ. I find I know how to live my life in a religious way when I meditate on the life of Jesus. This is why the concept of God is so important.
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