The Bible

 

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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #380

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380. (ii) Spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith, and is possessed by those who climb up another way and look upon the Lord not as God, but merely as a human being.

It is self-evident that spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith; for when one faith is the truth, it follows that anything that departs from it is not the truth. All good and truth in the church spring from the marriage between the Lord and the church. Thus everything which is in essence charity, or which is in essence faith, is the product of that marriage. But anything in charity and faith which is not the product of that marriage is not from a legitimate union but an illegitimate one. Thus it is the product either of a polygamous marriage or union, or of adultery. Any faith is the product of polygamy, if it acknowledges the Lord and espouses the falsities contained in heresies; a faith is the product of adultery, if it acknowledges three Lords in one church. For it is like a woman who is a prostitute, or one married to one man, but hiring herself out for the night to two others, each of whom she calls her husband when she sleeps with him. This is the reason their faiths are called spurious.

The Lord calls these people in many passages 'adulterers', and this too is what He means by 'thieves and robbers' in John:

Truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up another way, is a thief and robber. I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved, John 10:1, 9.

Entering the sheepfold is entering the church, and also heaven. It entails entering heaven too, because they make one, and it is nothing but the presence of the church in it which makes heaven. Therefore just as the Lord is the bridegroom and husband of the church, so too is He the bridegroom and husband of heaven.

[2] It is possible to investigate and recognise whether a faith is a legitimate offspring or an illegitimate one by using the three indicators described above. These are the acknowledgment of the Lord as the Son of God, the acknowledgment of Him as the God of heaven and earth, and the acknowledgment that He is one with the Father. Therefore in so far as any faith departs from these essentials, so far is it a spurious faith. There is a spurious and adulterous faith with those who look on the Lord not as God, but as merely a man. The truth of this is evident from the two unspeakable heresies, those of the Arians and the Socinians, which were made anathema in the Christian church and excommunicated from it. This was because they deny the divinity of the Lord, and climb up another way. But I am afraid that these abominations lurk hidden in the general attitude of the people in the church to-day. It is an astonishing fact that the more anyone believes himself to excel others in learning and judgment, the more prone he is to seize on and make his own ideas about the Lord being a human being and not God, arguing that because He is a human being He cannot be God. Anyone who makes those ideas his own betakes himself to the company of the Arians and Socinians, who in the spiritual world are in hell.

[3] The reason why this is the general attitude of people in the church today is that every person possesses a companion spirit. Without him the person could not think analytically, rationally and spiritually, so that he would not be a human being, but an animal. And each person attracts a spirit who resembles him in the affection of his will and thus the perception of his understanding. If someone brings himself into good affections by means of truths taken from the Word and by living in accordance with them, the companion assigned him is an angel from heaven. But if someone brings himself into evil affections by proving falsities to himself and living a wicked life, the companion assigned to him is a spirit from hell. Once so assigned, the person enters more and more into a kind of brotherhood with satans, and then strengthens more and more his belief in falsities in opposition to the truths in the Word, and in the abominable Arian and Socinian attacks on the Lord. The reason is that all satans cannot bear to hear any truth from the Word, or even the name of Jesus; if they do hear them, they become like furies, running about blaspheming. Then if light floods in from heaven, they throw themselves headlong into caves and the thick darkness they love; in this they enjoy the kind of light that owls do in the dark, and like that enjoyed by cats hunting mice in cellars. This is the fate after death of all who in their heart and faith deny the divinity of the Lord and the holiness of the Word; and this is the nature of their internal man, however much the external puts on an act and plays the role of a Christian. I know this is the case, because of what I have seen and heard.

[4] All who honour the Lord as Redeemer and Saviour merely with their mouth and lips, while in their heart and spirit they look upon Him as purely a human being, when they utter and teach such ideas have a mouth like a skinful of honey, but a heart like a skinful of gall. Their words are like sugared loaves, but their thoughts are like poisoned draughts of wine, or like curlicues of cake containing flying serpents. 1 If they are priests, they are like pirates at sea who fly the flag of a country which is not hostile, but when a passing ship approaches them as friends, they hoist the pirate flag instead of the former one, and seize the ship and make prisoners those on board. They are also like the serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, who come up to one in the guise of angels of light, holding in their hand apples from it coloured with golden tints as if they had been plucked from the tree of life, offering them with the words:

God knows that on the day you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil, Genesis 3:5.

When they have eaten, they follow the serpent down to the underworld and live with him. Around that underworld are the satans who have eaten the apples of Arius and Socinus. It is they too who are meant by the man who went in not wearing a wedding garment, and who was cast into outer darkness (Matthew 22:11-13). The wedding garment is faith in the Lord as the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. Those who honour the Lord merely with their mouth and lips, but in their heart and spirit look upon Him purely as a human being, if they reveal their thoughts and persuade others, are spiritual murderers, and the worst of them are spiritual cannibals. A person's life comes from his love and faith in the Lord; but if this essential of faith and love, the belief that the Lord is God-man and Man-god, is taken away, his life is turned into death. So in this way the person is killed and devoured like a lamb by a wolf.

Footnotes:

1. This and the previous sentence are given rhetorical point by verbal assonances in Latin, which cannot be reproduced in English.

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

The Bible

 

Matthew 22:13

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13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.