new church life : january / february 2017
from our own inclinations as something called “ post-truth ,” it is no wonder we are lost .
“ You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free ” is often quoted glibly – as though any truth or “ post-truth ” will do . What we are less likely to hear is the prerequisite that Jesus spake to His disciples : “ If you abide in My Word , then you are My disciples indeed .” Then – only then – “ You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free .” ( John 8:31-32 )
We cannot really be free – to make good and informed choices – without knowing the truth that comes only from the Lord . We do not make up that truth for ourselves – and then argue about interpretations . Real truth – not post-truth – is revealed by the Lord alone in His Word .
There are claims to truth all around us , and given the amorphous nature of so much of what passes for truth these days , it is no wonder we witness the cynical acceptance of “ post-truth ” from all of those looking in the wrong places .
Better the guidance from the Lord in Apocalypse Revealed 224 : “ Read the Word and believe in the Lord , and you will see the truths which should constitute your faith and life . Everyone whose soul desires it is capable of seeing the truths of the Word in light .”
We count on truth to make us free and wise . Wisdom is what we search for and wish for – in the way we lead our lives and in the way our nations are led . And we won ’ t find it in a post-truth world . “ You have reached wisdom when you no longer have any concern about understanding what is true and good , but are motivated by and living what is true and good ; for this is wisdom .” ( Arcana Coelestia 10225 )
( BMH ) a window into the unconscious
The Sunday morning Bryn Athyn Cathedral service includes three lessons from the Word : the Old Testament , New Testament , and the Heavenly Doctrine . When I heard the third readings on November 6 I thought : How wonderful this is ! Here we have – in five sentences – a revelation of the very essence of human psychology .
As regards temptations , this is the way it is : the hells fight against a person , and the Lord for the person ; to every falsity the hells inject , there is an answer from the Divine . The false ideas which are from the hells are injected and flow into the external or natural part of the person ; but the answer from the Divine flows into the internal or spiritual person . This latter influx , which is from the Divine , does not come to the person ’ s perception as much as the falsities do ; neither does it move the singulars of his thought , but the general direction , and in such a manner that it scarcely comes to the perception otherwise than as hope and the consequent consolation , in which there are nevertheless countless things of which the person
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