The Bible

 

John 20:19-23

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19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you."

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!

23 Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained."

      

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #315

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315. But if he is not the kind who wishes to be told, the awakened person, or soul, is in that case eager to get away from the company of those angels. This the angels are quick to perceive, for in the next life all the ideas constituting a person's thought are communicated. When he is eager to get away from them, it is not they who abandon him, but he who severs his connection with them. Angels love everybody and above all else wish to render kindly services, to inform, and to lead him to heaven. Their chief delight consists in doing these things.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.