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are told about many from convents “having delighted themselves in heinous
lasciviousness.” Their depraved character and final lot is pretty fully described
in this series, but we are still not clearly informed as to what they were involved
in.
A passage such as Last Judgment (posthumous) 109 adds a little more
light to the discussion of this sad subject. But it is in a passage such as Spiritual
Diary/Spiritual Experiences 5457, in the details there furnished, that we begin
to find a more pointed indication of the kind of things the Lord was talking
about in Conjugial Love 54.
But we have not yet followed the trail to its beginning. We have not yet
reached down to the very roots of this teaching. To take that final step we
need to go back a little further in The Spiritual Diary/Spiritual Experiences,
especially into the series 3895- 3900. This series is an obvious parallel to the
previously noted teachings , and now we are left in no doubt as to what is
involved in those impermissible or forbidden practices, even though in a series
such as this, the Lord continues to talk to us in somewhat guarded and delicate
terms.
So, do we leave a passage such as Conjugial Love 54e to stand by itself, or
do we go back to the “roots” passages to explain what is apparently involved
in those impermissible or forbidden lusts? I would suggest that in many
circumstances and in many ages it will not be necessary to go back to the
possibly less public “roots” teachings. In fact it might, in some circumstances,
be harmful and offensive to do so, especially with innocent children.
However, I am glad that somewhat raw material – those root passages
– are there to refer to when such things as are impermissible and forbidden
lusts are being evangelized and palmed off as permissible, and more than
that, are being celebrated. Then we can, and I think we must, reach down to
the roots and draw out of the so-called unpublished works what lies within
those unexplained expressions in the published works. When the need to do
this is passed, we might just quietly pass over those same expressions without
explanatory comment.
Let us now move to the second example or illustration as to how The
Spiritual Diary/Spiritual Experiences may serve to provide us with much
needed Divine guidance in certain ages and specific circumstances. Those who
have read and studied widely in the Heavenly Doctrine know there is very
little in the way of open teaching in the published works bearing on the sexual
abuse of children. Indeed, for many people, perhaps the only place where the
reader’s mind might be alerted to this very grave evil is in Conjugial Love 484,
where the Lord speaks briefly about “triple adultery” and refers us to Leviticus
18: 6-17.
As with homosexual practices, so with this subject, the Lord is very
guarded in respect to how He speaks of it. Indeed, in the text of the published
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