new church life: jan uary / february 201 4
very beginning. We want to bless or curse the ideas and practices going on
around us according to our own thoughts and feelings about them. Yet the
Lord strictly warns us that it is not what we think that matters, but what He
teaches in His Word.”
This is emphasized in Apocalypse Revealed 571: “It is blasphemy not to
draw the doctrine of the Church from the Word, but to hatch it from one’s
own intelligence. The reason is that the Church is founded on the Word and its
character is such as its understanding of the Word.”
Mr. Simons said it is important for all of us to think about what we see as
the source of religious truth in our lives. In the General Church we say that
the Heavenly Doctrines, with the Old and New Testaments, are the Word of
God. But, he cautions, “the thoughts of church members and ministers may
often disagree with what the Word of God teaches, and so the way we go about
resolving doctrinal issues in the Church is important.”
Here is an essential principle to keep in mind as we seek guidance: “The
question is not what the people or the leadership think is right, but what the
Lord teaches when fully understood – whether we like it or not. This is the
question that we seek consensus about.”
Fully understanding what the Lord teaches is the humbling and everlasting
quest of the Church and every individual in it as we look sincerely to be guided
by His Word.
St. Augustine offered this perspective to guide our actions and our attitude:
“In doubtful questions, liberty. In essentials, unity. In all things, charity.”
(BMH)
new church virtues: humility
The virtue of humility comes to us in response to the truth that the Lord is Life
itself and we are merely recipients of life from Him. He is the Divine Human
from which our finite humanity is derived. Any goodness and wisdom we may
possess – or rather, appear to possess – are received every moment from Him.
The truth of this is something we know (or should know) from Scripture,
from doctrine, and, most deeply, from the Word as written on our hearts.
Perceiving the reality of it is the essence of humility.
Lack of humility, on the other hand, is a sign of ignorance, or lack of
understanding and acceptance, of this most fundamental reality concerning
our own human condition. It is a sign of the self ’s lack of self-awareness.
One of the many striking statements in the Writings about human nature
and how we stand in relation to the Divine is in Arcana Coelestia 1093:
The Lord is as far from cursing anyone and being angry with him as heaven is from
earth. Who can believe that the Lord, who is omniscient and omnipotent, and by
His wisdom rules the universe, and is thus infinitely above all infirmities, is angry
6