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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.

Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #196

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196. In ancient times people who relied on sensory evidence rather than matters of revelation were called serpents. Nowadays the position is even worse, for not only are there people who believe nothing unless they can see it with their eyes and apprehend it with their senses, there are also those who confirm themselves in that attitude by means of facts unknown to the most ancient people, and who in so doing blind themselves very much more. To make known how people who draw conclusions about heavenly things on the basis of sensory evidence, facts, and philosophical arguments, so blind themselves that they subsequently see and hear absolutely nothing, and who are not only the deaf serpents but also the far more deadly flying serpents, mentioned in the Word as well, let their belief concerning the spirit serve as an example.

[2] Anybody who is sensory-minded, that is, whose belief is rooted solely in the senses, denies the existence of the spirit because he does not see it. He says, 'Because I do not feel it, it is nothing; what I see and touch, I know to exist'. Anybody who is factually-minded, that is, who bases his conclusions on factual knowledge, says, 'What is the spirit but perhaps breath, or vital heat, or something else known to me, which is dissipated when it comes to an end? Do not animals as well have a body, and senses, and something analogous to reason? Yet people say that animals are destined to die but man's spirit to live.' In this way they deny the existence of the spirit. Philosophers, men wishing to be more incisive than everybody else, speak of the spirit in terms which they themselves are not clear about since they argue about them. They contend that not a single expression is applicable which in any way derives from what is material, organic, or spatial. In this way they dismiss the spirit from their ideas, and as a result it passes from their notice and becomes nothing at all.

[3] Those among them however who are more sensible say that the spirit is thought, but when they begin to reason about thought they at length conclude, since they separate thought from substance, that it will disappear when the body breathes its last. In this way everyone who reasons on the basis of sensory evidence, facts, and philosophical arguments denies the existence of the spirit, and in denying its existence never believes anything that is said about the spirit or about spiritual things. But if indeed the simple in heart are questioned they say that they know that the spirit exists because the Lord has said that they will live after death. Instead of smothering their rationality they nurture it by means of the Word of the Lord.

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