The Bible

 

Éxodo 20:18-26 : Idols and Altars

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18 Todo el pueblo consideraba las voces, y las llamas, y el sonido de la bocina, y el monte que humeaba: y viéndolo el pueblo, temblaron, y pusiéronse de lejos.

19 Y dijeron á Moisés: Habla tú con nosotros, que nosotros oiremos; mas no hable Dios con nosotros, porque no muramos.

20 Y Moisés respondió al pueblo: No temáis; que por probaros vino Dios, y porque su temor esté en vuestra presencia para que no pequéis.

21 Entonces el pueblo se puso de lejos, y Moisés se llegó á la osbcuridad en la cual estaba Dios.

22 Y Jehová dijo á Moisés: Así dirás á los hijos de Israel: Vosotros habéis visto que he hablado desde el cielo con vosotros.

23 No hagáis conmigo dioses de plata, ni dioses de oro os haréis.

24 Altar de tierra harás para mí, y sacrificarás sobre él tus holocaustos y tus pacíficos, tus ovejas y tus vacas: en cualquier lugar donde yo hiciere que esté la memoria de mi nombre, vendré á ti, y te bendeciré.

25 Y si me hicieres altar de piedras, no las labres de cantería; porque si alzares tu pico sobre él, tú lo profanarás.

26 Y no subirás por gradas á mi altar, porque tu desnudez no sea junto á él descubierta.

Commentary

 

Don't Let That Happen To You

By Todd Beiswenger


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When we stop putting our trust in God, bad things always happen. God regularly reminds us that if we just keep Him in charge of our life, we can avoid the mistakes of others and as a result live a happier, more prosperous life.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 8941, 8944; Exodus 20:18-26; Jeremiah 10:3-4)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #874

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874. This describes the first state following temptation in the regeneration of the member of this Church, a state common to all who are being regenerated. It is a state when people imagine that they themselves are the source of the good they do and of the truth they think. And because they are still in the greatest obscurity, the Lord lets them cling to that opinion. But as long as they cling to that opinion which is false, no good deed they do nor any truth they think is the good or truth of faith. For whatever a person carries out from himself cannot be good since it has come from self, an impure and most unclean origin. From that impure and most unclean origin no good can possibly emerge, for the individual is thinking all the time about his own merit and righteousness. Some go even further, and look down on everybody else, as the Lord teaches in Luke 18:9-14. And others' attitudes are different again. People's selfish desires intermingle in such a way that the outside may look good while the inside is filthy. The good therefore that a person does in this state is not the good of faith. And the same applies to the truth he thinks. What he thinks may be the perfect truth; but as long as the proprium is the source of it, though it is in itself the truth of faith, he does not have the good of faith within him. To be the truth of faith all truth must include from the Lord the good of faith. Only then do they become good and truth.

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