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others with contempt, and to hate them if we think they may take away our
jobs, our money, our comfort, or our sense of superiority.
At its worst, love of self twists our idea of God, so that we see God in
our own image and likeness, having the same character of selfishness and
prejudice that we have, preferring us as His chosen people, and condemning to
hell everyone who does not embrace our cultural values and doctrinal beliefs.
The teachings for the New Church often speak of the need for discernment
in the way we love other people. Years ago in the church you may have heard
the term, “discriminating charity,” but it had nothing to do with prejudice and
discrimination. What we mean by discrimination these days is judging people
by superficial characteristics, such as race, education, wealth, clothing and so
on. Such discrimination comes from selfishness, never from genuine love. To
love someone in a genuine way is to love the genuine person, and that means
discerning what a person’s true character, values and intentions are.
Jesus said, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you
shall not be condemned.” (Luke 6:37; Matthew 7:1) Some people have taken
this to mean that we should make no judgments of other people, but treat all
people as equally deserving of unconditional love, care and non-judgmental
respect. But Jesus also said: “Do not judge according to appearance, but
judge with just judgment.” (John 7:24) In this passage Jesus was condemning
discrimination and prejudice, which is judging according to the appearance.
At the same time He was saying that we need to judge people with righteous
or just judgment.
If we think about it, it’s pretty obvious that we cannot get along in life
without making serious judgments. To use an unlikely example, suppose
someone I don’t know very well asks: “Can I borrow your gun? There’s a little
job I need to take care of.” Didn’t Jesus say: “Give to him who asks you, and
from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away”? (Matthew 5:42)
Should I just give him the gun? Of course not! In a situation like this, it’s much
better to be suspicious and judgmental than to be an accessory to murder. We
are not genuinely helping either a crook or the victim by helping the crook
commit a crime.
Now suppose that instead of asking for a gun the same person asked me:
“Can you loan me $800, so I can buy a g— I mean, so I can pay my rent?”
Obviously, helping someone out without knowing his intentions may not help
him at all. We have to judge with just judgment.
Actions are spiritual if they are done with judgment based on a love for justice. That
is, as we practice goodwill we check to see whether we are acting on the basis of
justice. We use our judgment to tell.
It is possible for us to do harm through our good deeds. It is also possible for us to
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