172. Of the Profane and Profanation, spoken of above at (n. 169).

Profanation is a commixture of good and evil, as also of truth and falsity in man (n. 6348). None can profane goods and truths, or the holy things of the church and the Word, except those who first acknowledge, believe, and still more live according to them, and afterwards recede from and do not believe, and who live to themselves and the world (n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398-3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 8394, 10287). He who believes truths in his childhood, and afterwards does not believe them, profanes lightly; but he who confirms truths in himself and after that denies them, profanes grievously (n. 6959, 6963, 6971). They who believe truths, and live evilly, commit profanation; as also they who do not believe truths and live holily (n. 8882). If man, after repentance of heart, relapses to his former evils, he profanes, and then his latter state is worse than his former (n. 8394). Those in the Christian world who defile the holy things of the Word by unclean thoughts and discourses, profane (n. 4050, 5390). There are various kinds of profanation (n. 10287).

They who do not acknowledge holy things cannot profane them, still less they who do not know them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10287). They who are within the church, can profane holy things, but not they who are out of it (n. 2051). The Gentiles, because out of the church, and who do not have the Word, cannot profane (n. 1327-1328, 2051, 9021). Neither can the Jews profane the holy interior things of the Word and the church, because they do not acknowledge them (n. 6963). Therefore interior truths were not revealed to the Jews, for if they had been revealed and acknowledged, they would have profaned them (n. 3398, 3479, 6963). Profanation is meant by the words of the Lord above quoted at n. 169:

When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I went out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and garnished, then he goes away, and takes to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

"The unclean spirit going out of a man," signifies the repentance of him who is in evil; his "walking through dry places and not finding rest" signifies that to such a person, a life of good is of that quality; "the house" into which he returned, and which he found empty, swept, and garnished, signifies the man himself, and his will, as being without good. "The seven spirits" which he took to himself and with whom he returned, signify evil conjoined to good; "his state then being worse than his former," signifies profanation. This is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to the man whom He healed in the Pool of Bethesda:

Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).

Also by these words of the Lord:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).

"To be converted and healed," signifies to profane, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected, which would have been the case if the Jews had been converted and healed.

The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they have acknowledged remain, and also the evil and falsity; and because they cohere, a tearing asunder of the life takes place (n. 571, 582, 6348). The greatest care is therefore taken by the Lord, to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287). Therefore man is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain therein to the end of life (n. 3398, 3402). On this account also man is rather kept in ignorance, and in external worship (n. 301-303, 1327-1328). The Lord also stores up the goods and truths which man has received by acknowledgment, in his interiors (n. 6595).

Lest interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the church is at its end (n. 3398-3399). Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and opened interior truths, when the church was wholly vastated (n. 3398). See what is adduced on this subject in the work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 73, 74).

In the Word "Babel" signifies the profanation of good, and "Chaldea," the profanation of truth (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321-1322, 1326). These profanations correspond to the prohibited degrees, or foul adulteries, spoken of in the Word (n. 6348). Profanation was represented in the Israelitish and Jewish church by eating blood, wherefore this was so severely prohibited (n. 1003).

1059. Dat de woorden ‘dit is het teken van het verbond, dat Ik opricht tussen Mij en tussen alle vlees, dat op de aarde is’ betekenen, dat de aanwijzing van de tegenwoordigheid van de Heer in de naastenliefde niet alleen bij de mens van de Kerk is, maar ook bij de mens buiten de Kerk, blijkt uit de betekenis van alle vlees, dat elk mens is en derhalve het gehele menselijke geslacht. Dat het het gehele menselijke geslacht is, zowel binnen als buiten de Kerk, blijkt niet alleen hieruit dat gezegd wordt alle vlees, maar ook uit het feit, dat hier niet, zoals eerder ‘levende ziel in alle vlees’ gezegd wordt, en nog duidelijker wordt het door de toevoeging ‘dat op de aarde is’. Dat de Heer bij hen, die buiten de Kerk zijn en heidenen genoemd worden, evenzeer in de naastenliefde tegenwoordig is, zie men eerder uiteengezet in de nrs. 932 en 1032; ja, zelfs is Hij daar nog meer tegenwoordig. De reden is, dat in hun verstandsdeel niet zo’n grote wolk is, als in het algemeen bij de zogenaamde christenen, want de heidenen kennen het Woord niet, noch weten zij wie de Heer is, dus weten zij niet, wat het ware van het geloof is; daarom kunnen zij ook niet tegen de Heer zijn en tegen het ware van het geloof, en vandaar is hun wolk niet tegen de Heer en tegen het ware van het geloof; een dergelijke wolk kan gemakkelijk uiteen gedreven worden, wanneer zij verlicht worden. Daarentegen is de wolk van de christenen tegen de Heer en tegen de waarheden van het geloof, en deze wolk is zo donker, dat het een duisternis is, en wanneer haat in de plaats van de naastenliefde heerst, is het een dikke duisternis; en nog groter is de duisternis bij hen, die de waarheden van het geloof ontwijden, hetgeen de heidenen niet kunnen doen, omdat zij in onwetendheid omtrent de waarheden van het geloof verkeren; niemand toch kan datgene ontwijden, waarvan hij de aard en het bestaan niet kent. Dit is de reden, waarom er meer uit de heidenen zalig worden, dan uit de christenen, hetgeen de Heer ook gezegd heeft bij, (Lukas 13:23, 28, 29, 30), en voorts dat hun kinderen allen tot het rijk van de Heer behoren, (Mattheüs 18:10, 14; 19:14; Lukas 18:16).