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Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

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True Christian Religion #489

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489. VII. But for free will in spiritual matters God would be responsible for evil, and thus there could be no imputation of charity and faith. 1

It follows from the belief held at the present time, a belief which was first hatched by the members of the Council in the city of Nicaea, that God is the cause of evil. That was where the heresy was invented and devised which still persists, that there were three Divine Persons from eternity, and each of them was God in Himself. Once this theory was hatched, its followers had no alternative but to approach each Person singly as God. They put together a belief in the imputation of the Lord God the Saviour's merit or righteousness, and to prevent anyone intruding on the merit with the Lord , took away from man all free will in spiritual matters, and attributed to him utter impotence as far as faith is concerned. And because they deduced everything spiritual in the church solely from that faith, they claimed like impotence in regard to everything the church teaches about salvation. This was the source from which sprang a succession of dreadful heresies, based upon that faith and belief in man's impotence in spiritual matters, as well as that most harmful doctrine of predestination discussed in the preceding section. All these beliefs imply that God is the cause of evil, or that God created both good and evil.

But, my friend, do not place your trust in any Council, but in the Word of the Lord, which is superior to Councils. Is there anything the Roman Catholic councils have not hatched, anything the Council of Dort did not hatch, where that dreadful viper, predestination, was brought to light?

[2] It might be thought that giving man free will in spiritual matters was a mediate cause of evil, and consequently, that if he had not been given such free will, man could not have sinned. But, my friend, pause here for a moment and consider whether any man, if he was to be a man, could have been created without free will in spiritual matters; if that were taken from him, he would cease to be a man and be merely a statue. What is free will but the ability to will and do, to think and speak to all appearance as if from oneself? Since man was given this ability so that he could live as a man, two trees were placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This means that he could use the freedom given him to eat the fruit of the tree of life or the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Notes de bas de page:

1. The last four words are added from the Table of Contents.

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

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Psalms 19:2

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2 Day unto Day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.