350. It is well known that a human being is by birth lower than an animal. All animals are born knowing what corresponds to the love of their lives. As soon as they drop from the womb or hatch from the egg, they can see, hear, walk, recognise their food, their mother, their friends and enemies; and not long afterwards they become aware of sex, know how to make love, and also how to bring up their offspring. It is only man who at birth has no such knowledge, having no innate knowledge at all. He has only the ability and inclination to receive matters relating to knowledge and love. If he does not get these from other people, he remains lower than an animal. See the experience related in 132-136 as proof that man is born thus ignorant, in order to prevent him attributing anything to himself, but only to others, and finally all wisdom and love of wisdom to God alone, so that he can become an image of God.
[2] It follows from this that a person who has not learned from others that the Lord came into the world, and is God, but has merely absorbed some knowledge of the religion and the laws of his own country, is not to blame if he thinks of conjugial love as no more than sexual love, and believes polygamous love to be the only conjugial love there is. The Lord guides them in their ignorance, and His Divine authority and providence keep from having guilt reckoned against them those whose religion makes them shun evils as sins, so that they may be saved. For every person is destined by birth for heaven, no one for hell. Everyone who comes into heaven is brought there by the Lord, everyone who comes into hell is brought there by himself.
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