334 HEAVEN and HELL §550
We can therefore conclude that the Lord does not do harm to any-
one. It is like this in the world as well. It is not the king or the judge or
the law that is responsible for the punishment of the guilty, because they
are not responsible for the evil of the criminal.All the People Who Are in the Hells Are Absorbed in
Evils and Consequent Falsities Because of Their Love
for Themselves and the World
551
A
LL the people who are in the hells are devoted to evil goals and the
distortions that result. There is no one there devoted to evil goals
and also interested in true perceptions. Many evil people in the world
know about spiritual truths, the truths of the church, since they have
learned them fi rst in childhood and later from sermons and from read-
ing the Word and have gone on to take them for granted in their con-
versations. Some of them have even led others to believe that they were
Christians at heart because they had learned from these truths how to
talk with apparent affection and to behave honestly as though motivated
by a spiritual faith. As for the ones who inwardly thought the opposite,
though, and who carefully refrained from doing the evil things they were
thinking of simply because of civil laws and for the sake of their reputa-
tion and rank and profi t, they are all evil at heart, involved in what is true
and good only physically, not in spirit. So when their outer layers are
stripped off in the other life and the inner natures that constituted their
spirits are unveiled, they are wholly absorbed in evil and false concerns,
unconcerned with anything true and good. Then one can see that the
true and good values simply dwelt in their memories as things they had
learned about, and that they retrieved them from memory when they
were talking and imitated good deeds as though they were motivated by
a spiritual love and faith.