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Lucas 10:29-37

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29 Mas él, queriéndose justificar á sí mismo, dijo á Jesús: ¿Y quién es mi prójimo?

30 Y respondiendo Jesús, dijo: Un hombre descendía de Jerusalem á Jericó, y cayó en manos de ladrones, los cuales le despojaron; é hiriéndole, se fueron, dejándole medio muerto.

31 Y aconteció, que descendió un sacerdote por aquel camino, y viéndole, se pasó de un lado.

32 Y asimismo un Levita, llegando cerca de aquel lugar, y viéndole, se pasó de un lado.

33 Mas un Samaritano que transitaba, viniendo cerca de él, y viéndole, fué movido á misericordia;

34 Y llegándose, vendó sus heridas, echándo les aceite y vino; y poniéndole sobre su cabalgadura, llevóle al mesón, y cuidó de él.

35 Y otro día al partir, sacó dos denarios, y diólos al huésped, y le dijo: Cuídamele; y todo lo que de más gastares, yo cuando vuelva te lo pagaré.

36 ¿Quién, pues, de estos tres te parece que fué el prójimo de aquél que cayó en manos de los ladrónes?

37 Y él dijo: El que usó con él de misericordia. Entonces Jesús le dijo: Ve, y haz tú lo mismo.

      

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Divine Providence #327

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327. 3. It is our own fault if we are not saved. Even on first hearing it, any rational person accepts the truth that evil cannot come from what is good, and that good cannot come from what is evil, since they are opposites. This means that nothing but good comes from what is good, and nothing but evil comes from what is evil. Once we admit this truth, we also admit that good can be turned into evil, not by the goodness itself but by the evil that receives it. Every form changes what it receives into something of its own nature (see 292 above).

Since the Lord is goodness in its very essence, or goodness itself, then, we can see that evil cannot flow from the Lord or be brought forth by him, but that it can be turned into evil by a recipient subject whose form is a form of evil. In respect to our claim to autonomy, we are this kind of subject. This apparent autonomy of ours is constantly receiving good from the Lord and constantly changing it to suit the nature of its own form, which is a form of evil. It therefore follows that it is our own fault if we are not saved.

Evil does come from hell, of course, but since our insistence on autonomy accepts evil as its own and thereby incorporates it into itself, it makes no real difference whether you say that the evil is from ourselves or that it is from hell. I need to say, though, where this incorporation of evil has come from, even to the point that religion itself is dying. I will do so in the following sequence. (a) Every religion eventually wanes and comes to completion. (b) Every religion wanes and comes to completion by inverting the image of God within us. (c) This happens because of the constant increase of hereditary evil from generation to generation. (d) The Lord still provides that everyone can be saved. (e) He also provides that a new church will take the place of the earlier one that has been razed.

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