The Gospel of Matthew proudly begins with the statement, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The obvious and simple problem with this account is that Jesus was not biologically connected to Joseph, who was the descendant of David.

I was filled with amazement and fear when I met Roiy for the first time. I was amazed at the beauty of the little being who was full of life and innocence. Just being in his presence was inspiring and fulfilling. Yet, as much as I was amazed, I was filled with a deep fear because I had no idea how to be a good father to him.

Reading the Bible through the lens of Emanuel Swedenborg, I believed I was beginning to understand the book for the first time. After many years, I suddenly felt that my life-long thirst for seeking truth about life, and my life in particular, had disappeared. My mind was at peace for the first time and with a degree of understanding about life, the world, and myself.

Both Isaiah and Luke intentionally use the word “mercy” as the essential nature of God. The Hebrew word for mercy is racham, which means “to love or to have compassion.” In Greek, the word for mercy is oikkos, which also means “to pity or to have compassion on.”

When our ancestors began to make metal weapons around 3,300 B.C., their main target was no longer forces in nature, but other humans. Ever since, humanity has never been free of wars and thus, the pain, sadness, and sorrow caused by wars fills our history.

How could God, who loves humans, stay angry forever and the condemnation was final until the sacrificial death of Jesus?