Heresy

Preached on 05-28-00

HERESY

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matt. 24:8)

THERE IS, IN THE GREEK LANGUAGE, a verb meaning "to take with the hand," or "to grasp." In one of its forms, called the middle voice, this verb has another, related, meaning -- that of choosing something. This Greek verb is hairo. From it comes the noun hairesis, meaning a choice, something a person has chosen. Hence the word hairesis came to mean an opinion. In the Christian Church it came to mean specifically a self-willed opinion, held in opposition to the established truth.

The word hairesis, or heresy, as we call it in English, figures strongly in the history of the Christian Church. During its long history, one opinion after another arose, each one becoming the central tenet of some new heresy or sect. Indeed, the Christian Church has been divided an unbelievable number of times. It has been rent asunder by various factions, each one professing to have the truth, each one tending to condemn the others, often with much hatred and bitterness. As a result, some have tended to reject the whole of Christianity, with a sense of disgust.

In response to this, there has arisen a movement, amongst the various denominations of modern Christianity, which looks for ways in which they can come together once more. This is the ecumenical movement, the word "ecumenical" coming from a Greek word meaning "the whole world." The hope or dream is that from many different factions a universal church might be formed. And yet this movement seems to have little real chance of success, because there is no real conception of just what it is that led to these many divisions in the first place.

This breakdown or fragmentation of the Christian Church was prophesied by the Lord in the 24th chapter of Matthew, where He teaches His disciples about the consummation of the age, and also about His Second Coming. He begins by telling them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, . . . " (Mat 24:5-6).

As the Christian Church approached its end, there would arise, first of all, false Christs. The Lord's name, "Christ," means an anointed one, or king, and it signifies that He is the source of all truth -- truth which is to govern people's lives. Now if someone develops a falsity and stands up and says that what he teaches is to be considered the central truth of the church, he has made himself to be a false Christ -- a false source of truth (AC 3353). With more and more of these false Christs, or false doctrinal positions, arising in the Christian Church, people would come to the point where they would no longer be able to tell what was true and what was false. As a result there would then be wars and rumors of wars -- conflicts in which people disputed and argued about the truth. Following this, the Lord said, there would be earthquakes -- the church would be shaken as its very foundations suffered a fundamental change of state. And indeed it was a fundamental change -- for the very foundation of the church began to crumble, as it lost its basis in the truth. The church began to fall.

Now there were two basic elements involved in the fall of the Christian Church. First, because of the false Christs, it became increasingly difficult to see and recognize the truth. Second, there were harsh and bitter conflicts and disagreements. It was these two things. together which led to the fall of the church. If people had been able to see the truth, if they had had enlightenment, there would have been nothing to disagree about. On the other hand, if people had not been so argumentative, so willing to condemn one another, they would have tended to remain together, or, at least, separate more harmoniously, even though they had differing viewpoints. If there had not been ill will they would have not so readily called one another heretics, but would have displayed at least some tolerance toward one another.

It would be a mistake, though, to view these two elements as separate from one another. It takes two things to make a heresy, that is, two things to make one group of people reject another group as heretics. These two things are, first, a lack of enlightenment as to what the truth really is, and, second, an intolerance towards others. But these two things are closely related, in that they both have the same origin. Both stem from a lack of charity.

Few in the Christian world today would deny that a lack of charity has been at the root of the problems of the Christian Church. Yet, what is ironic, very few people have any clear conception of what charity really is. "Who at this day," the Writings ask, "knows what charity is, in the genuine sense of the term?" (HD 9). It is in fact one of the most misused terms in the world today. People tend to think of charity as meaning nothing more than kindness, tolerance and compassion. They think that if people displayed more of such virtues, then everybody would come together. There would be peace and harmony. In actual practice, though, it doesn't seem to work this way. People speak of tolerance, but when disagreements arise, hatred and bitterness all too often raise their ugly heads. Why? It is because though people may try to appear kind and friendly on the surface, all too often there is no true charity deeper within themselves. All they have is what the Writings call "civic charity or friendship" (AC 3489), which is a relatively superficial thing.

Make no mistake: true charity is kind, tolerant and compassionate. But it is also more than this. In its essence it is a desire to do what is right. It is a desire to live according to the truth, for it is truth which teaches what is right. We read that, "to know truth, to will truths, and to be affected with them for the sake of truths, that is, because they are truths, is charity" (HD106). Charity is, we are told, an internal affection, an internal affection of doing truth (ibid.). Only when people have this true charity can they have lasting kindness, tolerance and compassion. Only by endeavoring to live the truth -- shunning those evils which truth teaches to be wrong and applying the truth in a life of usefulness to others -- only then can they be blessed by the Lord with unselfish love for others. On the other hand, if people are interested only in an external expression or appearance of charity, then selfishness, hatred and contempt still lie concealed within. This is why striving after a merely external tolerance can never reunite a divided church. The internal causes of the division still remain beneath the surface.

Most of us are familiar with the teaching that if people were in charity, then the church would be one, for then "they would not even call schism schism, nor heresy heresy, but a doctrinal matter in accordance with each person's opinion; and this they would leave to each person's conscience, provided such doctrinal matter did not deny first principles, that is, the Lord, eternal life, and the Word; and provided it was not contrary to the Divine order, that is, to the precepts of the Decalogue" (AC 1834). It might at first sound from this that as long as people were tolerant, they wouldn't care too much about matters of belief, and therefore would live together in peace. But charity is not mere tolerance. Certainly it isn't a lack of concern for the truth. Charity is, as we have said, a desire to live according to the truth, and therefore in fact involves a deep concern for this truth.

Paradoxical as it might seem, the fact is, tolerance for those who have a differing view comes only when people really care about the truth, care so deeply that they want to live according to it. If people do not care enough to live what they know, then they come to care more about themselves than about what the Word actually teaches. As a result, they care more about being right than they do about what is true. Therefore they fight and argue amongst themselves, and do so bitterly, for their own pride is involved. They may appear to be fighting about the truth, but at issue is not the truth itself, but their selfish desire to have themselves be right and to have others be wrong. On the other hand, if people love the truth because they want to live according to it, disputes are far less likely. They come together to discover the meaning of what they read, not caring about who happens to be right and who happens to be wrong. Neither are they indignant if they cannot agree, realizing, as the Writings say, that "everyone receives truth so far as he is in good" (HD 9). They know that as long as someone is sincerely trying to live according to the truth, he will gradually be led to see this truth, and, in the meantime, he will not be condemned if his present opinions happen to be slightly off base. There is, then, no cause for fighting, no paramount need to condemn one another.

Few realize that charity has the power to bring people to see the truth. So often, reason is seen as the only path to truth. This just isn't so, as we can see from the way in which various sects argue between themselves. Each one argues that it has the truth -- it alone has the correct view. Furthermore, the arguments used by each denomination to support its views tend to be skillfully and forcefully presented, quoting passage upon passage from the Word. Reason and argument alone, even when passages from Scripture are used to support the argument, tend to lead to all kinds of false conclusions. What is lacking is charity. Not only does charity make it possible for people of differing views to live in peace. Charity can also help them come to agree on the essentials of truth, for it is charity, and charity alone, which can give people the ability to see the truth.

Charity is fundamental to this search for truth for the simple reason that it is only in charity that the Lord can be fully present. Someone who is in good, and who loves the truth because he wants to live what it teaches, will tend to recognize the truth of the Word -- will understand what it is talking about -- because, since he is in good, the Lord can be with him. Light from the Lord shines into his mind from heaven, light which gives him the ability to see and understand the true significance of the teachings of the Word. Light to see the truth comes only from the Lord, and the Lord can only be fully present with a person when he or she is in charity -- when there is an endeavor to live what the truth teaches.

For the same reason, when someone chooses to remain in selfishness, when he is not in charity, and does not seek to live what the Lord teaches, then he cannot really understand the truth that the Lord teaches in His Word. Indeed, he doesn't really care about the truth. He is content to seize upon one or two teachings, and then to explain everything else he finds in such a way that his own opinions seem to be supported by the teachings of Divine revelation. All of us who have ever argued with someone of another religion know how futile it can sometimes be to argue on the basis of Scripture. Each person has his own way of explaining all the passages in terms of his own beliefs. This is why, as the Writings point out, some have called the Word the book of heresies (AC 10400:2). Indeed, if someone is ingenious enough, he can use the Lord's Word to justify virtually any heresy -- any viewpoint whatsoever.

So it is that, over the centuries, those who didn't really care enough about the truth to actually live it, distorted the truth of the Word. All kinds of false doctrines were hatched in their minds. And because they did not care for the truth itself, but only for their own glory and honor, such false doctrines have, time and time again, become the rallying points for bitter and hateful dissension. The Christian Church was gradually fragmented and divided, and the teachings of the Word were clouded with uncertainty and confusion.

This is why the Lord had to come again in a new and further revelation. The truths revealed at His first advent had been falsified. He therefore came to reveal truths which would make possible the establishment of a new Christianity. In the Heavenly Doctrines the Lord reveals many new and wonderful truths. And amongst these new truths, new doctrines, there is the doctrine of charity.

This doctrine is one of the most important of all, second only to the doctrine concerning the Lord Himself. And the doctrine of charity is so very, very important because without it, true Christianity cannot be established upon the earth. Without this doctrine the people of the church will once again drift apart from one another, and at the same time drift away from any real sight of spiritual truth.

We are not here to form another division, another sect, another tiny group of people. We are here because we are entrusted with a revelation on which an entirely new Christian Church is to be founded, whose doctrines will bring men together in peace, in harmony, and in truth.

It does not follow that in the future there will, of necessity, be only one New Church organization. Variety of organizations does not divide, as long as there is not antagonism. Neither does it follow that there will never be any strife. New Church people are certainly not immune to bitterness, to hatred, and to various heresies. They may not always be in charity.

Still, though, those within the church have access to the knowledge of charity. If they do not learn it and then practice it, they of course condemn themselves. But, they know, or can know, what charity is. The Writings teach the doctrine of charity, and do so in detail. They teach the relationship between charity and truth. They teach that charity is not a vaguely warm yet ineffective feeling. Charity itself is to love, to understand and to live the Divine truth of the Lord. The Writings also teach what is really meant by the neighbor. The neighbor is what is good, and true charity involves using judgment so as to encourage the good and discourage the evil within both ourselves and others. And the Writings teach that the first of charity is to shun evils as sins. This might not be the most popular teaching in the Writings, but it is something taught time and time again. Unless we fight evils within ourselves, charity is but a facade, a hypocritical friendliness. And they teach the importance of a life of use. Charity itself consists in the faithful and sincere execution of one's office and duties. Charity is not just a feeling, but is a way of living -- something which goes forth continually into the everyday life of use.

The teachings, together with many others, constitute the doctrine of charity. And it is this doctrine, the doctrine of charity, now revealed in detail by the Lord in the Writings of the New Church, which is the very hope of the world. It is part of that New Gospel, to be preached, as the Lord says in Matthew, "in all the world for a witness to all nations" (Matt.24:14).

It is only as people come to understand this doctrine of charity that they can be freed forever from the ignorance and darkness of a former age and led by the Lord into a New Christianity, a Christianity in which there will be harmony, peace, and goodwill, and in which men and women will come to see and live the truth of the Lord.

Amen.

Lessons: Dan.7:9-14; Mt.24:3-8, 29-31; HD 9