August 4, 2019

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 70-71)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
(pt. 70-71)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.
As evil and good are two opposite things, precisely as are hell and heaven, or as are the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a man shuns evil as sin, he comes into the good that is opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil that is meant by "murder," is the good of love toward the neighbor.

As this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by means of the former. Two opposites cannot be together, even as heaven and hell cannot; if they were together there would be lukewarmness, of which it is said in Revelation:
I know that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth (3:15, 16).
(LIFE 70-71)