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  CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL
  by W.R. Inge
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Summary: The Fall has resulted in humanity's deafness to God's loving
utterances and blindness to their true state, due to a thick skin of
worldly love and opinion.

Topics: "Original Sin", "Spiritual Blindness"
Scripture References: Genesis 3:17, Isaiah 6:10, Matthew 13:15, John 12:40

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DESCRIPTION
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W.R. Inge delves into the concept of mankind being deaf and blind to the
loving utterances of the eternal Word since the first man listened to
the enemy. He explores how humanity's ears and eyes have been
obstructed, preventing them from understanding the truth and their inner
selves. Inge reflects on the shame of reason being blinded and the thick
skin of worldly love and opinions that cover man, making him unable to
see the light or hear God's voice, leading to spiritual deafness and
blindness.

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CONTENT
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FROM the time when the first man gave a ready ear to the words of the
enemy, mankind have been deaf, so that none of us can hear or understand
the loving utterances of the eternal Word. Something has happened to the
ears of man, which has stopped up his ears, so that he cannot hear the
loving Word; and he has also been so blinded, that he has become stupid,
and does not know himself. If he wished to speak of his own inner life,
he could not do it; he knows not where he is, nor what is his state.
(91)

How can it be that the noble reason, the inner eye, is so blinded that
it cannot see the true light?

This great shame has come about, because a thick coarse skin and a thick
fur has been drawn over him, even the love and the opinion of the
creatures, whether it be the man himself or something that belongs to
him; hence man has become blind and deaf, in whatever position he may
be, worldly or spiritual. Yes, that is his guilt, that many a thick skin
is drawn over him, as thick as an ox's forehead, and it has so covered
up his inner man, that neither God nor himself can get inside; it has
grown into him. (92)

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/wr-inge/consequences-of-the-fall/
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