18. We can see from the fact that evil and falsity are the opposite of goodness and truth that nothing true can be joined to anything evil and nothing good can be joined to any falsity arising from evil. If anything true is put together with something evil it is no longer true; it is false because it has been distorted. If anything good is put together with some falsity arising from evil it is no longer good; it is evil because it has been polluted. A falsity that does not arise from evil, though, can be joined to goodness. 1
Footnotes:
1. In this paragraph, Swedenborg distinguishes carefully between truth as incapable of being joined to anything evil without becoming untrue, and goodness as being capable of being put together with something false without being polluted, provided that the falsity in question does not arise from evil. In other words, Swedenborg does not see the taint of incidental falsity as marring the good with which the falsity may come to be placed. A speculative example within his frame of reference would be those who love God and their neighbor, but do so without a specific knowledge of the Christian religion, and who therefore have a faulty understanding of the nature of God. The good of their love would thus occur together with the falsity of their knowledge, but would not be negated by it. A major consequence of this liberality of view is Swedenborg's inclusion of non-Christians within the scope of salvation; for in fact Swedenborg says that such people can have a good afterlife (see, for example, Last Judgment 50-51). This would contrast with the situation of nominal Christians who do not love God or their neighbor-that is, those whose truth (their Christian beliefs) cannot be joined with the evil of their failure to act with love. For an example of the latter, see Last Judgment 49, where the "goats" of Matthew 25:32-33 are identified with those who seek truth but do not do good. [SS]
