The Bible

 

Jezekilj 11

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1 Tada me podiže duh, i odnese me na istočna vrata doma Gospodnjeg, koja gledaju na istok, i gle, na vratima beše dvadeset i pet ljudi, i među njima videh Jezaniju, sina Azurovog i Felatiju sina Venajinog, poglavare narodne.

2 I reče mi: Sine čovečji, ovi ljudi smišljaju bezakonje, i zlo savetuju u tom gradu,

3 Govoreći: Nije blizu; da gradimo kuće; ovaj je grad lonac a mi meso.

4 Zato prorokuj protiv njih, prorokuj, sine čovečji.

5 I pade na me duh Gospodnji i reče mi: Reci: Ovako veli Gospod: Dome Izrailjev, tako govoriste, i znam misli srca vašeg.

6 Mnoge pobiste u tom gradu, i napuniste ulice njihove pobijenih.

7 Zato ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Koje pobiste i pobacaste usred njega, oni su meso, a on je lonac, a vas ću izvesti iz njega.

8 Bojite se mača; mač ću pustiti na vas, govori Gospod Gospod.

9 I izvešću vas iz njega, i daću vas u ruke tuđincima, i izvršiću na vama sudove.

10 Od mača ćete pasti, na međi Izrailjevoj sudiću vam, i poznaćete da sam ja Gospod.

11 Ovaj grad neće vam biti lonac niti ćete vi biti u njemu meso; na međi Izrailjevoj sudiću vam.

12 I poznaćete da sam ja Gospod, jer po uredbama mojim ne hodiste niti zakone moje izvršavaste, nego činiste po zakonima tih naroda što su oko vas.

13 A kad prorokovah, umre Felatija sin Venajin; tada padoh na lice svoje i povikah glasno i rekoh: Jaoh Gospode Gospode! Hoćeš li da istrebiš ostatak Izrailjev?

14 A glas Gospodnji dođe mi govoreći:

15 Sine čovečji, braća su tvoja, braća tvoja, rodbina tvoja i dom Izrailjev vaskoliki, kojima govoriše Jerusalimljani: Idite daleko od Gospoda, nama je data zemlja u nasledstvo.

16 Zato reci: Ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Ako ih i odagnah daleko među narode, ako ih i rasejah po zemljama, opet ću im biti svetinja za malo u zemljama u koje otidoše.

17 Zato reci: Ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Sabraću vas iz naroda i pokupiću vas iz zemalja u koje se rasejaste, i daću vam zemlju Izrailjevu.

18 I kad dođu u nju, izbaciće iz nje sve gadove njene i sve gnusobe njene.

19 I daću im jedno srce, i nov duh metnuću u njih, i izvadiću iz tela njihovog kameno srce i daću im srce mesno,

20 Da bi hodili po mojim uredbama i držali moje zakone i izvršavali ih; i biće mi narod, i ja ću im biti Bog.

21 A kojima srce ide po želji gnusoba njihovih i gadova njihovih, njihov ću put obratiti na njihovu glavu, govori Gospod Gospod.

22 Potom mahnuše heruvimi krilima svojim, i točkovi otidoše prema njima, i slava Boga Izrailjevog beše ozgo nad njima.

23 I podiže se slava Gospodnja isred grada, i stade na gori koja je s istoka gradu.

24 A mene duh podiže i odnese u utvari duhom Božjim u Haldejsku k roblju: i utvara koju videh otide od mene.

25 I kazah roblju sve reči Gospodnje što mi pokaza.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of Life #86

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86. A person has a natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind is below and the spiritual mind above.

The natural mind is the mind he has in the world, and the spiritual mind is the mind he has in heaven.

The natural mind may be termed his animal mind, and the spiritual mind his human mind.

Human beings also differ from animals by their having a spiritual mind. By virtue of that mind they can be in heaven while still living in the world. It is also by virtue of that mind that a person lives on after death.

[2] A person may be intellectually functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven, but he cannot be volitionally functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven unless he refrains from evils as being sins. If he is not volitionally functional in that mind, he is still not in heaven, because his will draws his understanding downward and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.

[3] A person may be likened to a garden, with his intellect likened to light, and his will to warmth. A garden has the benefit of light and not at the same time of warmth in wintertime, but of light and warmth together in summertime. A person who has only light in his intellect is like a garden in winter, whereas someone who has both light in his intellect and warmth in his will is like a garden in summer.

Spiritual light also causes the intellect to grow wise, and spiritual warmth causes the will to become loving. For spiritual light is Divine wisdom, and spiritual warmth is Divine love.

[4] As long as a person does not refrain from evils as being sins, the inner regions of the natural mind are, as regards the will, blocked up by lusts for those evils, where they form a kind of thick veil and a kind of dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind and keep it from opening.

On the other hand, as soon as a person refrains from evils as being sins, the Lord flows in then from heaven, removes the veil, dispels the cloud, and opens the spiritual mind, and so introduces the person into heaven.

[5] Lusts for evils block up, as we said, the inner regions of the natural mind, and as long as they do, the person is for that time in hell. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is in heaven.

So, too, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person remains for that time a natural person. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is a spiritual person.

Again, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time an animal. He differs only in the fact that he can think and speak, even about matters not visible to the eye, a faculty he has from his ability to raise his intellect into the light of heaven. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person becomes human, because he then thinks true thoughts in his intellect from goodness in his will.

Moreover, as long as the lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time like a garden in winter. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer.

[6] The union of will and intellect in a person is meant in the Word by heart and soul and by heart and spirit. So we are told, for example, to love God with all our heart and with all our soul (Matthew 22:37), and that God will give us a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26-27). The heart means the will and its love, and the soul or spirit means the intellect and its wisdom.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.