The Bible

 

Postanak 2

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1 Tako bude dovršeno nebo i zemlja sa svom svojom vojskom.

2 I sedmoga dana Bog dovrši svoje djelo koje učini. I počinu u sedmi dan od svega djela koje učini.

3 I blagoslovi Bog sedmi dan i posveti, jer u taj dan počinu od svega djela svoga koje učini.

4 To je postanak neba i zemlje, tako su stvarani. Kad je Jahve, Bog, sazdao nebo i zemlju,

5 još nije bilo nikakva poljskoga grmlja po zemlji, još ne bijaše niklo nikakvo poljsko bilje, jer Jahve, Bog, još ne pusti dažda na zemlju i nije bilo čovjeka da zemlju obrađuje.

6 Ipak, voda je izvirala iz zemlje i natapala svu površinu zemaljsku.

7 Jahve, Bog, napravi čovjeka od praha zemaljskog i u nosnice mu udahne dah života. Tako postane čovjek živa duša.

8 I Jahve, Bog, zasadi vrt na istoku, u Edenu, i u nj smjesti čovjeka koga je napravio.

9 Tada Jahve, Bog, učini te iz zemlje nikoše svakovrsna stabla - pogledu zamamljiva a dobra za hranu - i stablo života, nasred vrta, i stablo spoznaje dobra i zla.

10 Rijeka je izvirala iz Edena da bi natapala vrt; odatle se granala u četiri kraka.

11 Prvom je ime Pišon, a optječe svom zemljom havilskom, u kojoj ima zlata.

12 Zlato je te zemlje dobro, a ima ondje i bdelija i oniksa.

13 Drugoj je rijeci ime Gihon, a optječe svu zemlju Kuš.

14 Treća je rijeka Tigris, a teče na istok od Ašura; četvrta je Eufrat.

15 Jahve, Bog, uzme čovjeka i postavi ga u edenski vrt da ga obrađuje i čuva.

16 Jahve, Bog, zapovjedi čovjeku: "Sa svakoga stabla u vrtu slobodno jedi,

17 ali sa stabla spoznaje dobra i zla da nisi jeo! U onaj dan u koji s njega okusiš, zacijelo ćeš umrijeti!"

18 I reče Jahve, Bog: "Nije dobro da čovjek bude sam: načinit ću mu pomoć kao što je on."

19 Tada Jahve, Bog, načini od zemlje sve životinje u polju i sve ptice u zraku i predvede ih čovjeku da vidi kako će koju nazvati, pa kako koje stvorenje čovjek prozove, da mu tako bude ime.

20 Čovjek nadjene imena svoj stoci, svim pticama u zraku i životinjama u polju. No čovjeku se ne nađe pomoć kao što je on.

21 Tada Jahve, Bog, pusti tvrd san na čovjeka te on zaspa, pa mu izvadi jedno rebro, a mjesto zatvori mesom.

22 Od rebra što ga je uzeo čovjeku napravi Jahve, Bog, ženu pa je dovede čovjeku.

23 Nato čovjek reče: "Gle, evo kosti od mojih kostiju, mesa od mesa mojega! Ženom neka se zove, od čovjeka kad je uzeta!"

24 Stoga će čovjek ostaviti oca i majku da prione uza svoju ženu i bit će njih dvoje jedno tijelo.

25 A bijahu oboje goli - čovjek i njegova žena - ali ne osjećahu stida.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christianity #470

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470. We Are Not Life, but We Are Vessels for Receiving Life from God

There is a generally held belief that there is life in us, that it belongs to us, and that therefore we are not only vessels for receiving life but we ourselves are life. This common belief derives from the way things appear to be, because we are alive, that is, we sense, think, speak, and act completely as if we had autonomy. Therefore the statement that we are not life, but are vessels for receiving life, cannot help but seem like something completely unheard of before, or like a paradox that goes against our sense-oriented thinking because it goes against the way things appear to be. I have blamed this misleading belief on the way things appear to be - the belief that we are in fact life, and therefore that life has been created as part of us and grafted onto us from birth. But the real reason for this misleading belief (which is based on the way things appear to be) is that many people today are earthly, and few are spiritual. The earthly self makes judgments based on appearances and resulting false impressions, when in fact these run directly counter to the truth, which is that we are not life but are vessels for receiving life.

[2] The fact that we are not life but are vessels for receiving life from God is demonstrated by the following clear points of evidence: All things that have been created are intrinsically finite. Human beings, because they are finite, could only have been created from finite things. Therefore in the Book of Creation it says that Adam was made from the ground and its dust [Genesis 2:7; 3:19]. In fact, he was named for the ground, since "Adam" means the soil of the earth. And every human being actually consists of nothing other than types of materials that are in the earth or are in the atmosphere from the earth. The elements that are in the atmosphere from the earth we absorb through our lungs and through the pores all over our bodies; we absorb the denser substances through foods made up of earthly elements.

[3] As for the human spirit, however, that too has been created from things that are finite. What is the human spirit but a vessel for the life that the mind possesses? The finite things of which it is made are spiritual substances. These substances exist in the spiritual world, but they have also been incorporated into our earth in a hidden way. If these spiritual substances were not present within material substances, seeds would not be loaded with hidden instructions and would not miraculously develop, without deviation, from the first shoot all the way to the production of fruit and new seeds. Worms would not be generated from emanations from the ground and from the gases exuded by plants with which the atmosphere is saturated.

[4] It is unreasonable to think that the Infinite could create anything other than what is finite; and that human beings, because they are finite, are anything other than forms that the Infinite is able to bring to life from the life he has within himself. Indeed, this is what is meant by the following: "Jehovah God formed the human being, the dust from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). Because God is infinite, he is life in itself. This life is not something he can create and then transfer into a human being - that would make the human being God. The serpent or Devil, and from him, Eve and Adam, had the insane thought that this had actually happened. This is why the serpent said, "On the day you eat some of the fruit of this tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God" (Genesis 3:5).

[5] At the end of the earliest church, when it came to its final close, people latched onto the dreadful conviction that God had transfused and transferred himself into human beings. I know so because I have heard it from their own mouths. On account of their horrendous belief that they are gods, they remain profoundly hidden in an underground chamber. No one can get near it without collapsing as a result of inner dizziness. (The fact that Adam and his wife mean and describe the earliest church was made known under the previous heading [466].)

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