The Bible

 

Genesis 11

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1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #754

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754. There are various ways in which a church comes to an end. It happens principally through circumstances which cause falsity to look like truth; and when this happens, the good which is inherently good, what is called spiritual good, can no longer exist. What is then believed to be good is only natural good, the product of a moral life. The reason for truth coming to an end, and good with it, is principally the two natural loves which are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves; these are called self-love and love of the world. When self-love is dominant, it is the opposite of love to God; and when the love of the world is dominant, it is the opposite of love towards the neighbour. Self-love is wishing well to no one but oneself, except for selfish reasons; and likewise the love of the world. Once those loves have got a grip, they spread like mortification through the body, and stage by stage destroy every part of it. It is clear that such a love attacked past churches from the description of Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9; Isaiah 13, 14, 47; Jeremiah 50; and in Daniel 2:31-47; 3:1-7ff; and Daniel 5; 6:8-end; Daniel 7:1-14; and in Revelation 17, 18, both from beginning to end). In the end, Babylon vaunted itself so much that it not only transferred to itself the Lord's Divine power, but also did its best to attract to itself all the riches of the world.

[2] Omens and far from misleading appearances allow us to conclude that outside Babylon similar loves would have broken out from many of the leaders of churches, had not their power been checked and so limited. What else might be expected but that such a person would look upon himself as God, the world as heaven, and pervert all the church's truth? For real truth, which is inherently true, cannot be known and acknowledged by a purely natural person; nor can God impart it to him, because it turns upside down and becomes falsity. As well as those two loves there are many more causes for truth and good coming to an end, and so causing the end of churches; but these are secondary causes, subordinate to the two mentioned.

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