521.但是，我的朋友，父母才是遗传邪恶的唯一源头，这遗传邪恶并非人实际所犯邪恶本身，而是向恶的倾向。凡将理智运用于经验的人都承认，事实的确如此。谁不知道小孩子一生下来，面貌、举止、性情与其父母大致相似，甚至孙辈、曾孙辈类似祖父母、曾祖父母？很多人还能以此辨别各家族，甚至各民族，如辨别非洲人与欧洲人，那不勒斯人与德国人，英国人与法国人等等。谁不能通过面貌、眼睛、言谈举止认出犹太人？并且，如果你能感知人的固有本性散发出的生命气场，你同样能确信他们性情与心智的相似性。
上述事实表明，人并非生来就进入实际的邪恶，而只是进入向恶的一种倾向，或多或少偏向某些特定邪恶。所以，死后人受审判不是根据遗传的邪恶，而是根据他本人实际犯下的罪恶。对此，从以下主的法令也明显可知：
不可因子杀父，也不可因父杀子；凡被杀的都为本身的罪。（申命记24:16）
在灵界，这一点通过死于婴儿期之人的状况向我证实了，他们只有向恶的倾向，也就是说，他们想去做，但没去做。因为他们是在主的看顾下被抚养长大，并得救。刚才所提到的这种向恶的倾向与偏好，会通过父母遗传给孩子及其后代，只有通过从主新生，即所谓的重生才能被打破。若不重生，那倾向不但持续存留，还会通过历代父母强化，变得更容易偏向邪恶，最终倾向各种罪恶。正是由于这个原因，犹太人仍是其先祖犹大的形象，这犹大娶迦南女子为妻，奸淫儿媳他玛，从而生了他们三个分支。所以，这遗传的性情随着时间推移逐渐强化，以至于现在犹太人不能发自内心接纳和信仰基督教。说他们不能，是因为其心智的内在意愿是抵触的，正是抵触的意愿造成了这种不可能。
521. 但是, 我的朋友, 父母才是遗传邪恶的唯一源头, 这遗传邪恶并非人实际所犯邪恶本身, 而是向恶的倾向。 凡将理智运用于经验的人都承认, 事实的确如此。 谁不知道小孩子一生下来, 面貌, 举止, 性情与其父母大致相似, 甚至孙辈, 曾孙辈类似祖父母, 曾祖父母? 很多人还能以此辨别各家族, 甚至各民族, 如辨别非洲人与欧洲人, 那不勒斯人与德国人, 英国人与法国人等等。 谁不能通过面貌, 眼睛, 言谈举止认出犹太人? 并且, 如果你能感知人的固有本性散发出的生命气场, 你同样能确信他们性情与心智的相似性。
上述事实表明, 人并非生来就进入实际的邪恶, 而只是进入向恶的一种倾向, 或多或少偏向某些特定邪恶。 所以, 死后人受审判不是根据遗传的邪恶, 而是根据他本人实际犯下的罪恶。 对此, 从以下主的法令也明显可知:
不可因子杀父, 也不可因父杀子; 凡被杀的都为本身的罪。 (申命记24:16)
在灵界, 这一点通过死于婴儿期之人的状况向我证实了, 他们只有向恶的倾向, 也就是说, 他们想去做, 但没去做。 因为他们是在主的看顾下被抚养长大, 并得救。 刚才所提到的这种向恶的倾向与偏好, 会通过父母遗传给孩子及其后代, 只有通过从主新生, 即所谓的重生才能被打破。 若不重生, 那倾向不但持续存留, 还会通过历代父母强化, 变得更容易偏向邪恶, 最终倾向各种罪恶。 正是由于这个原因, 犹太人仍是其先祖犹大的形象, 这犹大娶迦南女子为妻, 奸淫儿媳他玛, 从而生了他们三个分支。 所以, 这遗传的性情随着时间推移逐渐强化, 以至于现在犹太人不能发自内心接纳和信仰基督教。 说他们不能, 是因为其心智的内在意愿是抵触的, 正是抵触的意愿造成了这种不可能。
521. My friend, the evil we inherit comes in fact from no other source than our own parents. What we inherit, though, is not evil that we ourselves actually commit but an inclination toward evil. All who reflect on their experience will acknowledge the truth of this. Surely everyone realizes that children are born with faces, habits, and temperaments that are like those of their parents. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren resemble their grandparents and great-grandparents. By these similarities we tell families apart. This applies to nations as well. We can tell Africans from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, the British from the French, and so on. Who is unable to tell whether people are Jewish by their faces, eyes, speech, and gestures?
If you were able to sense the sphere of life that emanates from people's native character, you would be convinced that minds and personalities, too, carry family and national resemblances.
[2] We are not born with actual evils but only with a tendency toward them. We may have a greater or a lesser tendency to a specific evil. Therefore after death no one is judged on the basis of his or her inherited evil; we are judged only on the basis of our actual evils, the evils we ourselves have committed. This is clear from the following commandment of the Lord: "Parents will not be put to death for their children; children will not be put to death for their parents. Each will die for her or his own sins" (Deuteronomy 24:16). I have become certain of this from my experience in the spiritual world of little children who had died. They have an inclination toward evils and will them, but they do not do them, because they are brought up under the Lord's supervision and are saved.
[3] The only thing that breaks the inclination and tendency toward evil that is passed on by parents to their offspring and descendants is the new birth from the Lord that is called regeneration. In the absence of rebirth, this inclination not only remains uninterrupted but even grows from one generation to the next and becomes a stronger tendency toward evil until it encompasses evils of every kind.
This is why Jewish people today are still images of their father Judah, who took a Canaanite woman as his wife and through adultery with his daughter-in-law Tamar generated three lineages. This heredity among Jewish people grew to such a degree that they were incapable of embracing the Christian religion with any heartfelt faith. The reason I say they were incapable is that the inner will within their mind was opposed to it, and this made it impossible.
521. Hereditary evil, my friend, comes from no other source but one's parents. And it is not real evil that one actually commits, but a tendency to it. That is something anyone would acknowledge, provided he applied his powers of reasoning to his experiences. Everyone knows that sons have by birth a general likeness to their parents, in their faces, their behaviour and their characters; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren too show the same resemblance to their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Many people can tell families apart by this, and even races; Africans can be distinguished from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, Englishmen from Frenchmen, and so on. Anyone can recognise a Jew by his face, his eyes, his speech and gestures. And if you were able to perceive the life-sphere radiating from anyone's inherent nature, you could likewise be convinced of the similarity of their temperaments and minds.
[2] It follows from this that what a person has by birth is not real evils, but only a tendency to evils, being more or less prone to particular evils. No one, therefore, after death is judged on his hereditary evil, but the actual evils he has himself committed. This is obvious too from the following rule of the Lord:
The father shall not die on account of the son, and the son shall not die on account of the father; each shall die as the result of his own sin, Deuteronomy 24:16.
This was proved to me in the spiritual world from the case of those who die as children; they merely have a tendency towards evils, that is to say, they want to, but do not do them. For they are brought up under the Lord's guidance and are saved.
[3] This tendency and proneness to evils just mentioned, which is transmitted from parents to their children and descendants, can only be broken down by a person being born anew by the Lord's help, a process called regeneration. Without this not only does the tendency remain unbroken, but it is reinforced by a succession of parents, becoming more prone to evils, and eventually to every kind of evil. That is why the Jews are still copies of their ancestor Judah, who married a Canaanite wife, and fathered three lines of descent by adultery with Tamar, his daughter-in-law. This heredity has become so amplified in the course of time that the Jews are unable to embrace the Christian religion and believe it in their hearts. I say they are unable, because the inner will in their minds resists, and it is this will which creates the impossibility.
521. But, my friend, parents are the only source of inherited evil; not the evil itself which a man actually commits, but the inclination thereto. Everyone who combines reason and experience will acknowledge that this is so. Who does not know that children are born with a general resemblance to their parents in features, manners, and disposition, and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren with a resemblance to grandparents and great-grandparents; also that many are able thus to distinguish families from each other, and even nations, as Africans from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, Englishmen from Frenchmen, and so on? Who does not recognize a Jew by his face, eyes, speech and gestures? And if you were sensible of the sphere of life flowing out from the native genius of everyone, you would in like manner be convinced of the resemblance of dispositions and minds.
[2] From all this it follows, that man is not born into actual evils, but only into an inclination to evils, but with a greater or lesser proclivity towards particular evils; consequently after death man is not judged from any inherited evil, but from the actual evils which he himself has committed. This is also evident from the following statute of the Lord:
The father shall not die for the son, and the son shall not die for the father; everyone shall die for his own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16).
This was made certain to me in the spiritual world from the state of those who die in infancy; in that they have only an inclination to evils, and thus favor them in will, but do not commit them; for they are educated under the auspices of the Lord and are saved.
[3] The aforesaid inclination and proclivity to the evils that are transmitted by parents to children and their posterity, are broken only by the new birth from the Lord, which is called regeneration. Without this, that inclination not only continues uninterrupted, but is also increased by successive parents, and becomes a stronger proclivity to evil, and at length a proclivity to every kind of evil. It is from this that the Jews are still images of their father Judah, who took a Canaanitish woman to wife, and committed adultery with Tamar his daughter-in-law, and thus begat three branches of them. Therefore, this inherited disposition has in process of time so increased in them that they are still unable to embrace the Christian religion with a hearty faith. They are said to be unable to do so, because the interior will of their minds is adverse thereto, and this adverse will is the cause of their inability.
521. Hereditary evil, my friend, is derived solely from a man's parents, not indeed the evil which he actually commits, but the inclination to it. That this is the case every one will acknowledge who reasons from the facts of experience. Every one knows that children are born with a general resemblance to their parents in face, manners and disposition; and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren with a resemblance to grandparents and great-grandparents. In this way not only families but also nations are distinguished one from another, as Africans from Europeans, Italians 1 from Germans, Englishmen from Frenchmen, and so on. Who does not recognize a Jew by his face, eyes, speech and gestures? And if you could but perceive the sphere of life that emanates from the native disposition of every one, you would also be convinced of the likeness impressed upon disposition and mind.
[2] From this it follows that a man is not born into evils themselves but only into an inclination to them, yet with a greater or less bias to particular evils. Therefore after death no one is judged from any hereditary evil, but only from the actual evils which he himself has committed. This is evident from the following statute of the Lord:
"The father shall not be put to death for the son, neither shall the son be put to death for the father: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" Deuteronomy 24:16.
I was convinced of this in the spiritual world; for those who die in infancy, although they have an inclination and thus the will to do evils, and who yet refrain from committing them, are brought up under the care of the Lord, and are saved.
[3] This inclination and propensity to evils transmitted by parents to their children and posterity, can only be broken by a new birth from the Lord, which is called regeneration. Without this, that inclination not only remains uninterrupted, but acquires new strength as parents succeed parents, becoming more prone to evils, till at length it is a general inclination to evils of every kind. Hence it is that the Jews still resemble their father Judah. He took to wife a Canaanitish woman and from adultery with his daughter-in-law Tamar, begat three branches of them; and in the course of time their hereditary disposition has increased to such a degree that they are unable to embrace the Christian religion with sincere faith. The words 'they are unable' are used advisedly; for the interior will of their mind is opposed to Christianity, and the state of this will renders them unable to embrace it.
Footnotes:
1. [NSBSP: The Latin has 'Neapolitanae' which is rendered as 'Neapolitans' by most other translators].
521. Sed, mi amice, malum haereditarium non aliunde est quam ex Parentibus, non quidem ipsum malum, quod homo actualiter committit, sed inclinatio ad illud; quod ita sit, quisque agnoscet, modo rationem adjungat experientiis; quis non scit, quod filii nascantur in communem similitudinem suorum parentum quoad facies, ac mores et animos, et quoque nepotes et pronepotes in avorum et atavorum, et quod inde a multis internoscantur familiae, et quoque nationes, sicut Africanae ab Europaeis, Neapolitanae a Germanis, Angli a Gallis, et sic porro; et quis non cognoscit Judaeum a facie, oculis, loquelis et gestibus; et si potuissetis sentire Sphaeram vitae exundantem ex cujusvis nativa indole, potuisses similiter convinci de similitudine animorum et mentium.
[2] Ex his sequitur, quod homo non nascatur in ipsa mala, sed modo in inclinationem ad mala, sed procliviorem plus aut minus ad particularia; quare post mortem nullus judicatur ex aliquo malo haereditario, sed ex actualibus, quae ipse commisit; hoc etiam evidens est ex hoc statuto Domini, Non morietur pater propter filium, et filius non morietur propter patrem, quisque ex peccato suo morietur, Deuteronomius 24:16. Hoc mihi certum factum est in Mundo spirituali ex infantibus qui moriuntur, quod modo inclinent ad mala, ita quod velint, at usque non faciant 1 illa; educantur enim sub auspicio Domini, et salvantur.
[3] Supradicta illa inclinatio et proclivitas ad mala a parentibus traducta in liberos et in posteros, unice frangitur per novam nativitatem a Domino, quae vocatur Regeneratio; absque hac inclinatio illa non modo non interrupta manet, sed etiam a successivis parentibus accrescit, et proclivior ad mala fit, et tandem ad omne genus eorum: inde est, quod Judaei adhuc sint imagines Judae patris eorum, qui Cananitidem in uxorem duxit, et ex adulterio cum Thamare nuru sua tres eorum stirpes genuit; quare hoc haereditarium successu temporis apud illos ita adauctum est, usque ut non possint amplecti religionem Christianam ex fide cordis: dicitur, quod non possint, quia interior mentis eorum voluntas adversatur, et haec voluntas dat non posse.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: faciunt.