10786. They added that they also become confused when any such person tells them that they ought to have faith in and to believe the things he tells them, and that in answer to him they say that they do not know what faith is or what believing is, since they perceive intuitively that something is true. For they belonged to the Lord's celestial kingdom, where intuitive perception gives everyone a knowledge of those truths which with us are called matters of faith; for they are enlightened by the Lord, in a different way from those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom. I was also allowed to see that their nature was such from the fiery source from which they received their ideas. Whenever there is talk about truths those who belong to the Lord's celestial kingdom say no more than 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'. They never reason about truths, whether they are such or not. These are the ones about whom the Lord says,
Your words shall be Yes, yes; No, no; anything beyond this is from evila. [Matt 5:37.]
This explains why those spirits said that they did not know what having faith or believing was. They consider this to be like someone saying to a companion who sees houses or trees with his own eyes that he ought to have faith or believe that they are houses or trees, when he can see clearly that that is what they are. Such is the character of those who belong to the Lord's celestial kingdom, and such was the character of those angelic spirits. We told them that there are few on our planet who possess intuitive perception, because people there learn truths when they are young but do not practise them. For a person has two powers of mind, called the understanding and the will. Some do not let truths penetrate any further than their memory and slightly beyond into their understanding, but not into their life, that is, into their will; and they are ones who, because they cannot receive any enlightenment or insight from the Lord, talk of the need for things to be believed or for people to have faith. They also reason about whether such things are true or not, having no wish indeed to perceive them with any insight or power of understanding. They talk in those ways because the truths that reside with them lack any light from heaven, and to those who see things without light from heaven falsities can appear as truths, and truths as falsities. Consequently very many on our planet have become afflicted with a blindness so great that even though a person does not practise truths, that is, lead a life in keeping with them, they nevertheless say that he can be saved by faith alone.
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