and live as men.  And as they wondered also why this had not been disclosed to man by visions, being an essential of the faith of the church, they were told from heaven that although this might have been done, since nothing is easier when it is the Lord’s good pleasure, yet those that have confirmed themselves in the opposite falsities would not believe even if they themselves should behold it; also that there is danger in confirming any thing by visions when men are in falsities, for they would then first believe and afterwards deny, and thus would profane the truth itself, since to believe and afterwards deny is to profane; and those who profane truths are cast down into the lowest and most grievous of all the hells.{1} [4] This danger is what is meant by the Lord’s words: 

He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and should turn and I should heal them (John 12:40).

And that those that are in falsities would not believe [even if visions were given] is meant by these words: 

Abraham said to the rich man in hell, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them.  But he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one came to them from the dead they would be converted.  But Abraham said to him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe though one should rise from the dead (Luke 16:29-31).

{Footnote 1} Profanation is the mixing of good and evil and of truth and falsity in man (n. 6348).  Only those can profane truth and good, or the holy things of the Word and the church, who first acknowledge them, and still more who live according to them, and who afterwards recede from the belief and reject it, and live for themselves and the world (n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 10284, 10287).  If man after repentance of heart relapses to former evils he profanes, and his latter state is then worse than his former (n. 8394).  Those that have not acknowledged holy things, still less those that have no knowledge of them, cannot profane them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10284).  The heathen who are out of the church and do not have the Word cannot profane it (n. 1327, 1328, 2051, 2284).  On this account interior truths were not disclosed to the Jews, for if they had been disclosed and acknowledged that people would have profaned them (n. 3398, 4289, 6963).  The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because not only the good and truth they have acknowledged, but also their evil and falsity remain, and as these cling together, the life is rent asunder (n. 571, 582, 6348).  Consequently most careful provision is made by the Lord to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287).

457.  When the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits, which takes place shortly after his resuscitation, as described above, his face and his tone of voice resemble those he had in the world,