Only God is capable of distinguishing between good and evil

One happened upon a verse which had hitherto not really obtruded upon one's notice while rereading Ecclesiastes: 

Ecclesiastes 9:1 - King James Version (KJV)

<1> For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.

"No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them". Humans are not capable of the enormously-complex cost-benefit analysis of whether a given behavior is good or evil; neither do they ever assemble enough information to perform that cost-benefit analysis upon.

Only the Holy and Omniscient One, the Divine Human, can determine whether a given behavior is good or evil. Only a God could possibly do so.

That is the reason why the Serpent, who represents human pride in self-intelligence and sensory perception, says to Adam and Eve that they will "become as gods" if they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The Writings tells us that we should obey the commandments of God to the best of our ability even if we do not understand them. We know from the Hebrew Word that those who obey His commandments have a good understanding; and this is so, but of course there will remain gaps in our understanding even if we obey them. For to understand them perfectly would surely have much to do with obeying them perfectly! And neither you nor I are quite in that category!

Swedenborg was an extraordinarily intelligent man. But he recommended despite this human distinction that one should obey divine truth -- the commandments are divine truth in imperative form -- even if one does not understand it. We cannot trust any other Being in the universe so much as that!

But we can trust the Divine Human, Jesus Christ, to have given us good rules to follow; even if we do not understand all the reasons.

God has told people like me that we are not allowed to have sex with or marry each other. I do not fully understand the reasons for this, although I know that it is a slap in the face of the substructure of the universe to disobey it. But regardless of not understanding the reasons fully, I obey that commandment. I do not allow the fact that I am an intellectual to get in the way of simple obedience thereto; and can only counsel the same. 

People chafe at the commandments of God, imagining them to be the turgid rules of some fuddyduddy and fun police. Nothing could be further than the truth. It is WE who are the joy police, WE who make up turgid rules. God is the purveyor of joy and revelator of blocks on joy. 

Ezekiel 18:29 - King James Version (KJV)

<29> Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

When we make up rules about good and evil, they are based on imperfect data and imperfect capacity to perform cost-benefit analysis therewith. Yet humans will presume to tell our Creator that He does not know love from hate, good from evil, truth from falsehood.

Proverbs 19:3 - King James Version (KJV)

<3> The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

Oh, if only God did not regard that as evil! Oh, if only He knew how wrong He was! They're so nice, such loving people. Why, they're some of my favorite friends! Meanwhile, what might God in Heaven see? That such a one is reluctant to abandon a block on joy. That such a one does not see that the nice, so loving people are actually privately contemptuous and insincere. That those favorite friends are bad companions and modelers of evil behaviors.

What a fool I was for keeping the company I kept for too many years! So don't feel too alone if you have come to the same conclusion! And as to conclusion...

Ecclesiastes 12:13 - King James Version (KJV)

<13> Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. Patiently obey, and you will be given more light in proportion to your patience and obedience. And if so be He long delays instructing you in a matter dear to your heart, even this has carefully and lovingly crafted reasons behind it. Your interests are looked after as carefully as the care of an infant by the Lord, and it will be always be that way even if you make your bed in Hell.

If you must chafe at someone and be angry at someone, chafe at and be angry at yourself. For it is you who stand in the way of your arriving safe and sound in Heaven. I too get frustrated, and when I am frustrated I know: it is I who am imperfect, I who am wrong. The Omniscient and Holy One is always perfect, always right. And a human know-it-all is insufferable; but a Divine know-it-all is a relief and a fortress, a lighthouse and a lamp. Let us be patient and persevere, saying thanks and giving back with the loan of our lives.

Appendix: " The serpent, the sensual nature and inherent character of mankind, (is in itself) self-love and a conceit in its own intelligence, thus the devil and satan. Eating of the tree of knowledge, the arrogation to self of goodness and truth as being not from the Lord and thus not the Lord's, but the product of mankind and thus the property of mankind. And because goodness and truth are the fundamental Divine qualities in a person, as goodness means everything connected with love, and truth, everything connected with wisdom, therefore if a person claims them for himself as his own, he cannot but believe that he is like God. Therefore the serpent said,

In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)" ( Divine Providence 313).

"...I have now seen, heard, felt, and learned that it is a truth not to be doubted, and consequently not to be reasoned about as to whether it is so simply because I do not understand (for I do not know whether such reasonings come from spirits). But because it is so in truth, it must be believed even more than the senses because the Lord has said it" (Spiritual Experiences 2432).


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