525. Having a Concept of Sin and Then Looking for Sin in Ourselves Is the Beginning of Repentance

It is impossible for anyone in the Christian world to lack a concept of sin. Everyone in Christianity from early childhood on is taught what evil is, and from youth on is taught which evils are sinful. All adolescents learn this from their parents and teachers, and also from the Ten Commandments, which for all who grow up in Christianity is the first book they own. As they get a little older, they are further taught this by the preaching they hear in church, by instruction they receive at home, and most thoroughly by [their own reading of] the Word. Beyond that, they are also exposed to it by the civil laws of justice, which teach much the same things as the Ten Commandments and the other injunctions in the Word.

The evil that is sinful is simply evil against our neighbor; and evil against our neighbor is also evil against God, which is what sin is.

Nevertheless, having a concept of sin does nothing for us unless we examine the actions we have taken in our lives and see whether we have either openly or secretly done any such thing.

Before we take this action, everything about sin is just an idea to us; what the preacher says about it is only a sound that comes in our left ear, goes out our right ear, and is gone. Eventually it becomes a subject relegated to vague thoughts and mumbled words in worship, and for many it comes to seem like something imaginary and mythical.

Something completely different occurs, however, if we examine ourselves in the light of our concepts of what is sinful, discover some such thing in ourselves, say to ourselves, "This evil is sinful," and then abstain from it out of fear of eternal punishment. Then for the first time we receive the instructive and eloquent preaching in church in both of our ears, take it to heart, and turn from a non-Christian into a Christian.

835. Africans, and Non-Christians in General, in the Spiritual World

In the spiritual world, the peoples who did not know anything about the Lord appear farther from the center than those who did know something about him. The people on the farthest outskirts are those who were utterly devoted to idolatry or worshiped the sun and the moon while they were in this world. The members of those populations who acknowledge one God, however, and follow principles such as those embodied in the Ten Commandments in their religious practices and lives have direct communication with the Christians who are at the center; that communication is not intercepted by the Muslims or the Catholics.

Those populations are also subdivided according to their disposition and their capacity for receiving light through the heavens from the Lord. Some among them are relatively shallow in nature and some are deep. How deep or shallow they are is attributable partly to climate, partly to their inherited nature, partly to their upbringing, and partly to the particular religion they practice. The Africans are by nature deeper than the rest.