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.

1308. 'And let us make a name for ourselves' means that as a result they might gain a reputation for power. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'making a name for oneself' Indeed they know that everybody wishes to engage in worship of some kind, for that wish is common, existing even with every gentile. When anyone considers the universe' even more someone who considers the order of it, he acknowledges some supreme Being. And because he seeks his own welfare he offers that supreme Being his adoration. Furthermore there is something within which dictates this, for such an idea flows in from the Lord through the angels present with every individual. Anyone with whom this is not the case is under the control of spirits from hell, and does not acknowledge God. Because those who build towers of Babel know this they use matters of doctrine and holy things to make a name for themselves. Without that they could not be worshipped, which is the meaning of the statement coming next about their otherwise being scattered over the face ¹ of the whole earth, that is, receiving no recognition. From this it also follows that the higher such people are able to rear their heads up into heaven, the more they make a name for themselves. Their dominion is greatest with people who have some conscience, for these they lead wherever they like. But those who have no conscience they govern by various external bonds.

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