55. Surely anyone with any wisdom can see that ideas like these only become part of our memory; they do not become part of our higher understanding, even though they can be supported by reasoning based on appearances and mistaken impressions from below the intellect.

There are two kinds of light that shine in the human intellect: one from heaven, and the other from the world. The light from heaven, which is spiritual in nature, flows into human minds at a level above the memory. Light from the world, which is earthly in nature, flows in at a level below the memory. As I have shown in the memorable occurrence that appears in §233 of my recently published work Marriage Love, in light from the world we can support whatever concepts we like. False concepts are as easy to support as true ones; and after we have given them support, we see false ideas as completely true.

18. Brief Analysis

The churches that separated from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation consist of those who call themselves Evangelicals and those who call themselves the Reformed and also Protestants, and who are named Lutherans or Calvinists after the founders of their churches. The Anglican Church holds middle ground between them. (I am not referring here to the Orthodox churches, which separated from Roman Catholicism a long time ago.)

Many people are aware that the Protestant churches have theological disagreements with each other in a number of areas — especially concerning the Holy Supper, baptism, the person of Christ, and the process whereby people become “the chosen.”

It is not widely recognized, however, that there are four points on which all these churches agree: there is a trinity of persons in the Divine; there is such a thing as original sin; Christ’s merit is assigned to us; and we are justified by faith alone. The reason this is not widely recognized is that few people conduct research on the dogmatic differences between the churches, and therefore few realize the points the churches have in common. Members of the clergy limit themselves to an investigation of the tenets of their own church; and lay people rarely examine those tenets deeply enough to see the differences and similarities.

Nevertheless, on these four points, Protestants do agree, both generally and in most of the details, as you will find if you consult their books and listen to their sermons. (This point is established first for the sake of the points that are about to follow.)