"The Word cannot be understood without doctrine, and doctrine resembles a lantern which allows genuine truths to be seen; and that this is because the Word is entirely written by means of correspondences. That is why many things in it are appearances of truth and not bare truths, and why many things are written to be intelligible to purely natural people, and yet in such a way that the simple can understand it simply, the intelligent intelligently and the wise wisely. Seeing the Word is like this, the appearances of truth, which are truths wrapped up, can be taken for bare truths; and when these are confirmed, they become fallacies, which in themselves are falsities. It is the taking and confirming of appearances of truth for genuine truths which have given rise to all the heresies, which there ever have been and still exist in the Christian part of the world. But what damns people is not the heresies themselves, but drawing on the Word and using reasonings on the part of the natural man to confirm the falsities contained in the heresy, and living a wicked life." E. Swedenborg TCR 254

The Word cannot be understood without doctrine. This is because the Word in the sense of the letter consists exclusively of correspondences, allegories, parables and symbols, to the end that things spiritual and celestial may be simultaneous or together therein, and that every word may be their container and support. For this reason, in some places in the sense of the letter the truths are not naked, but clothed, and are then called appearances of truth. Many truths also are accommodated to the capacity of simple folk, who do not uplift their thoughts above such things as they see before their eyes. There are also some things that appear like contradictions, although the Word when viewed in its own light contains no contradiction.

Interesting that the common church system is still locked into a literal view of scriptural content. Jesus instructed those that follow Him to not "judge not according to appearance, but to judge righteously." Appearances are deceptive if only judged by our five senses and do not always give us a clear understanding of what is on the inside of the literal printed "word". Doctrine proper, is the concept of taking Scriptures and connecting similar principles and ideas together to complete a truth. When we say that we are not to judge one another, i.e. "judge not lest ye be judged", we only have a partial truth that can be easily taken out of context. Doctrine proper, brings in other scriptures and we can see or understand that "judgement" then becomes one of "not according to appearance, but a righteous judgment". Then what ever judgment we judge by is then the same we are judged by. Living in and through this particular doctrine, fellowship with others takes on a whole new meaning and clarity.