The Bible

 

Genesis 3

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1 Ang ahas nga ay lalong tuso kay sa alin man sa mga hayop sa parang na nilikha ng Panginoong Dios. At sinabi niya sa babae, Tunay bang sinabi ng Dios, Huwag kayong kakain sa alin mang punong kahoy sa halamanan?

2 At sinabi ng babae sa ahas, Sa bunga ng mga punong kahoy sa halamanan ay makakakain kami:

3 Datapuwa't sa bunga ng punong kahoy na nasa gitna ng halamanan ay sinabi ng Dios, Huwag kayong kakain niyaon, ni huwag ninyong hihipuin, baka kayo'y mamatay.

4 At sinabi ng ahas sa babae, Tunay na hindi kayo mamamatay:

5 Sapagka't talastas ng Dios na sa araw na kayo'y kumain niyaon ay madidilat nga ang inyong mga mata, at kayo'y magiging parang Dios, na nakakakilala ng mabuti at masama.

6 At nang makita ng babae, na ang bunga ng punong kahoy ay mabuting kanin, at nakalulugod sa mga mata, at kahoy na mananasa upang magpapantas sa tao, ay pumitas siya ng bunga niyaon at kinain; at binigyan din niya ang kaniyang asawang kasama niya, at ito'y kumain.

7 At nadilat kapuwa ang kanilang mga mata, at kanilang nakilalang sila'y mga hubad; at sila'y tumahi ng mga dahon ng puno ng igos, at kanilang ginawang panapi.

8 At narinig nila ang tinig ng Panginoong Dios na lumalakad sa halamanan sa kulimlim ng araw: at nagtago ang lalake at ang kaniyang asawa sa harapan ng Panginoong Dios sa pagitan ng mga punong kahoy sa halamanan.

9 At tinawag ng Panginoong Dios ang lalake at sa kaniya'y sinabi, Saan ka naroon?

10 At sinabi niya, Narinig ko ang iyong tinig sa halamanan, at ako'y natakot, sapagka't ako'y hubad; at ako'y nagtago.

11 At sinabi niya, Sinong nagsabi sa iyong ikaw ay hubad? nakakain ka ba ng bunga ng punong kahoy, na iniutos ko sa iyong huwag mong kanin?

12 At sinabi ng lalake, Ang babaing ibinigay mong aking kasamahin, ay siyang nagbigay sa akin ng bunga ng punong kahoy at aking kinain.

13 At sinabi ng Panginoong Dios sa babae, Ano itong iyong ginawa? At sinabi ng babae, Dinaya ako ng ahas, at ako'y kumain.

14 At sinabi ng Panginoong Dios sa ahas, Sapagka't ginawa mo ito, ay sumpain ka ng higit sa lahat ng hayop, at ng higit sa bawa't ganid sa parang; ang iyong tiyan ang ilalakad mo, at alabok ang iyong kakanin sa lahat ng mga araw ng iyong buhay:

15 At papagaalitin ko ikaw at ang babae, at ang iyong binhi at ang kaniyang binhi: ito ang dudurog ng iyong ulo, at ikaw ang dudurog ng kaniyang sakong.

16 Sinabi niya sa babae, Pararamihin kong lubha ang iyong kalumbayan at ang iyong paglilihi; manganganak kang may kahirapan; at sa iyong asawa ay pahihinuhod ang iyong kalooban, at siya'y papapanginoon sa iyo.

17 At kay Adam ay sinabi, Sapagka't iyong dininig ang tinig ng iyong asawa, at kumain ka ng bunga ng punong kahoy na aking iniutos sa iyo na sinabi, Huwag kang kakain niyaon; sumpain ang lupa dahil sa iyo; kakain ka sa kaniya sa pamamagitan ng iyong pagpapagal sa lahat ng mga araw ng iyong buhay;

18 Ang isisibol niyaon sa iyo ay mga tinik at mga dawag; at kakain ka ng pananim sa parang;

19 Sa pawis ng iyong mukha ay kakain ka ng tinapay, hanggang sa ikaw ay mauwi sa lupa; sapagka't diyan ka kinuha: sapagka't ikaw ay alabok at sa alabok ka uuwi.

20 At tinawag na Eva ng lalake ang kaniyang asawa, sapagka't siya ang naging ina ng lahat ng mga nabubuhay.

21 At iginawa ng Panginoong Dios si Adam at ang kaniyang asawa ng mga kasuutang balat at sila'y dinamitan.

22 At sinabi ng Panginoong Dios, Narito't ang tao'y naging parang isa sa atin, na nakakakilala ng mabuti at ng masama; at baka ngayo'y iunat ang kaniyang kamay at pumitas naman ng bunga ng punong kahoy ng buhay, at kumain at mabuhay magpakailan man:

23 Kaya pinalayas siya ng Panginoong Dios sa halamanan ng Eden, upang kaniyang bukirin ang lupaing pinagkunan sa kaniya.

24 Ano pa't itinaboy ang lalake; at inilagay sa silanganan ng halamanan ng Eden ang mga Querubin at ang isang nagniningas na tabak na umiikot, upang ingatan ang daang patungo sa kahoy ng buhay.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christianity #380

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380. (b) Illegitimate faith is all faith that departs from the one and only true faith. Illegitimate faith exists in people who climb up some other way and view the Lord not as God but only as a human being. All faith that departs from the one true faith is illegitimate. This is self-evident. Given that only one faith is true, it follows that any faith that departs from it is not true. The marriage between the Lord and the church generates everything that is good and that is true in the church. Everything that is essentially goodwill and essentially faith comes from that marriage. Any goodwill and faith that are not from that marriage come from an illegitimate bed, not a legitimate one. They come from either a polygamous marriage bed or an adulterous one. Every faith that acknowledges the Lord and yet adopts false and heretical beliefs comes from a polygamous bed.

A faith that acknowledges three lords over one church comes from an adulterous bed. It is like a single woman who is promiscuous; or like a married woman who has a husband but rents herself out overnight to two other men, and when she sleeps with them she calls each of them her husband. Therefore these types of faith are called illegitimate.

In many passages the Lord calls people with these types of belief "adulterers. " He also means people like this when he mentions thieves and robbers in John:

Truly I say to you, those who do not enter through the door to the sheepfold but instead climb up some other way are thieves and robbers. I am the door. Anyone who enters through me will be saved. (John 10:1, 9)

Coming into "the sheepfold" is coming into the church and also coming into heaven. It means coming into heaven because heaven and the church are one. Nothing else constitutes heaven except the church in the spiritual world. Therefore just as the Lord is the bridegroom and husband of the church, he is also the bridegroom and husband of heaven.

[2] To test and find out whether a given faith is a legitimate or an illegitimate offspring, one can use the three indications presented just above: acknowledgment that the Lord is the Son of God; acknowledgment that he is the God of heaven and earth; and acknowledgment that he is one with the Father. The more a given faith departs from these essentials, the more illegitimate it is.

People who view the Lord not as God but only as a human being have a faith that is both illegitimate and adulterous. This is obvious from two atrocious heresies, the Arian heresy and the Socinian heresy, which have been anathematized by and cut off from the Christian church because they deny the Lord's divinity and climb up another way. I am afraid that these abominations lie hidden in the general spirit of people in the church.

Astounding to say, the more that people believe they have better scholarship and judgment than others, the more readily they latch onto, and adopt as their own, ideas that the Lord is human but not divine and that because he is human he could not be divine. When people adopt these ideas as their own, they join the club of Arians and Socinians who in the spiritual world are in hell.

[3] The reason for this general spirit among people in the church today is that all of us have a spirit who is allied with us. Without that spirit we could not think analytically, rationally, or spiritually. Without those types of thinking we would be brute animals, not human beings. We all invite to ourselves a spirit who is similar to the desire in our will and the consequent perception in our intellect. If we develop good desires through truths from the Word and through living by those truths, we connect an angel from heaven to ourselves. On the other hand, if we develop evil desires through convincing ourselves of false beliefs and through living an evil life, we connect spirits from hell to ourselves. Once these evil spirits are connected to us, we increasingly develop a kind of sibling relationship with satans. Then we become more and more convinced of falsities that are against the truths in the Word and more and more hardened in an Arian and Socinian loathing for the Lord, because no satan can stand to hear any truth from the Word or to say the name Jesus. If satans hear these things, they turn into furies running around and uttering blasphemy. Then if light from heaven flows in they throw themselves headfirst into caves, into their own pitch darkness. In those places they have a light like that of night birds in the dark or like that of cats in basements when they are chasing mice. This is how all people who deny the Lord's divinity and the Word's holiness in their heart and in their faith turn out after death. Their inner self has this nature no matter how well their outer self does impressions and pretends to be Christian. I know this is true, because I have seen it and heard it.

[4] There are people who honor the Lord as their Redeemer and Savior with their mouth and lips alone but view him in their heart and spirit as a mere human being. In every case, when these people speak and teach, their mouth is like a jar full of honey but their heart is like a jar full of bile. Their words are like pastries but their thoughts are like poisoned wine. They themselves are like cake rolls with little worms inside. If they are priests, they are like pirates at sea who fly the flag of a peaceful country, but when a nearby ship signals to them as allies, they replace that flag with a pirate flag and capture the ship and its passengers.

They are also like serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil who approach you as if they were angels of light. They hold apples in their hand from that tree that have been painted with deep red colors as if they were plucked from the tree of life. They offer them and say, "God knows that on the day you eat these, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). When you eat, you follow the serpent into some underworld and you make your home with it. All around that underworld there are satans who ate the apples of Arius and Socinus.

People like this are also meant by the person who came [to the wedding] but was not dressed in a wedding garment and was thrown into outer darkness (Matthew 22:11-13). The wedding garment is faith that the Lord is the Son of God, is the God of heaven and earth, and is one with the Father.

People who honor the Lord with only their mouth and their lips, while in heart and spirit they regard him as a mere human being, and who reveal their thoughts and convince others to believe those thoughts are spiritual murderers. The worst of them are spiritual cannibals. Human life comes from love and faith in the Lord. If this essential ingredient of faith and love is removed - the recognition that the Lord is the human God and the divine Human - our life becomes death; its removal kills and devours us the way a wolf kills and devours a lamb.

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