A New (To Me) Swedenborgian Blog

Last updated on: February 7, 2017 at 1:58 pm by Coleman Glenn

A New (To Me) Swedenborgian Blog 2017-02-07T13:58:32-07:00 Coleman Glenn

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Swedenborgian minister Lee Woofenden and his wife Annette Woofenden have been blogging on “Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life” since 2012. Somehow, I didn’t come across the site until last week, despite the fact that is very well trafficked, with lively discussions on most of the posts. It’s a goldmine. Lee and Annette bring unique spiritual perspective to questions posed by readers from all different religious backgrounds and walks of life. In every post, their pastoral concern and extensive knowledge come through. Here’s Lee’s response to a recent question about whether a reader’s father who was disabled by a stroke before he died would return to good health after death:

When we die and move on to the spiritual world, we leave our physical body behind, and live in our spiritual body instead. We therefore also leave behind any handicaps or sicknesses that have purely physical causes. In other words, since your father has now left his physical body behind, the stroke that affected his physical body is no longer a factor in the spiritual world where he now lives.

A good, straightforward answer. But it doesn’t stop there. As a pastor, I’m sure that Lee has had people express the opposite concern – what if my disability feels like part of my identity? How will I still be myself if it’s gone? And so he continues:

Ordinarily, when we leave our physical body behind, we also leave behind all of its handicaps and illnesses.

However, for people who strongly identify with their handicap or sickness, there may be some time period in the spiritual world when it still persists. That’s because our spiritual body responds directly and immediately to our thoughts and feelings. So if being sick or handicapped is a strong part of our identity as a person, our spiritual body may reflect that for a shorter or longer time.

Some people who have been sick or handicapped for a long time may also need some time to adjust to having a healthy, fully functional body. So there may be a transition period for them as well when they enter the spiritual world.

But for people who hate their physical sicknesses and handicaps, long for full health and fitness, and are fit and healthy in their minds, their physical limitations and maladies will be immediately removed upon death, and they will enjoy full physical and mental health right away.

That section is typical of the pastoral care and thoughtful insight that the Woofendens offer. The post goes on to dive deeper into the relevant doctrine about spiritual bodies and spiritual health, providing helpful links to the multitude of previous posts that have touched on related subjects. I recommend reading the whole post and digging into the archives on the site. As I said, it’s a goldmine – a vast collection of insights from a Swedenborgian perspective, written with no assumption of prior exposure to Swedenborg. Are there places where I see things differently from Lee and Annette? Of course there are (if you want to talk in terms of “conservative” and “liberal,” I tend toward the conservative end of the spectrum and they tend more toward the liberal or libertarian). But my overall impression of the site is of a solid source of unique, practical Swedenborgian insights. I’m glad it came to my attention – even if I am five years behind the times in discovering it.

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Annette Woofenden

Lee Woofenden

spiritual insights for everyday life

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