life of charity have received remnants of good
and apparent truth,” as testified at the outset
of this article. Those people, too, are on the
path to salvation.
At the same time, however, the description
of the first two kinds of people makes clear
that the Church is to be led by them, either by
drawing doctrine from the Word themselves,
or by verifying the doctrine drawn by the first
kind of people.
The General Church has at times been
accused of being an intellectual church, and
as regards its leadership, admittedly it is so
and must be so, if its doctrine is to remain
true to the Writings from which it comes.
That does not exclude people who have not
the inclination or the time or the insight to
draw or verify doctrine themselves. They, too,
may very well be, as we said, on the path to
salvation. No one has to be in the General
Church to be saved; but the General Church
as an organization nevertheless depends on the leadership of people who are
able either to draw doctrine from the Word (including the Writings) or to
verify it.
So why join the General Church? For answers. For the answers it has
and teaches be ause of its allegiance to the Heavenly Doctrines, which we call
c
the Writings. Answers that may be intellectually satisfactory to people who
seek intellectually satisfactory answers. As a social organization, the General
Church may be no better or worse than any other Christian group. But as a
teaching body, it has answers that no one outside the New Church has.
Most churches teach charity. But how many know that charity itself is to
do the work of ones function honestly, justly and faithfully? (True Christian
Religion 422, Charity 158-172)
Most churches teach the existence of an afterlife. But how many know
what the spiritual world is or what it is like, and almost everything connected
with it?
Most churches teach monogamous marriage and fidelity in marriage. But
how many know the real nature of the marriage bond between a man and
a woman who truly love each other? And how many know that a true,
internal marriage continues in the afterlife?
Earlier Christian writers supposed there to be an inner meaning to the
Even if one has
not the time or
temperament to
seek the answers
. . . still by joining
the General Church
one lends support
to those who seek
answers, not only
for themselves, but
for the Church as a
whole.
177