Afterlife: A Guided Tour of Heaven and Its Wonders - Swedenborg ...

The World of Spirits
opposite of what they seem to be outwardly. Because at
heart they deny the Divine, they play the hypocrite in
their worship. In their private thinking they scoff at the
holy rites of the church, believing that they serve only to
restrain the simple masses. This is why they are wholly cut
off from heaven. So since they are not spiritual, they are
not moral or civic people either; for even though they do
not kill, they hate everyone who gets in their way and
burn with vengefulness because of their hatred. So if they
were not constrained by civil laws and the outward
restraints exercised by their fears, they would kill. Because
this is what they crave, it follows that they are constantly
killing. Even though they do not commit adultery, still
because they believe there is nothing wrong with it they
are constantly adulterous, and actually do commit it as
much as they can and as often as they have the oppor -
tunity. Even though they do not steal, still since they do
covet other people’s assets and regard cheating and
malicious devices as legally justifiable, they are constantly
stealing in their minds. The same applies to the other
commandments of moral life—not bearing false witness
or coveting the goods of others. All who deny the Divine
are like this, all who do not have some conscience based
on religion. Their nature shows obviously in similar
people in the other life when they are let into their inner
nature after their outer nature has been stripped away.
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