n e w c h u r c h l i f e : m ay / j u n e 2 0 1 6
There is always a higher
standard for us than we
can see for ourselves.
There is a plan for
our lives. Each stage
can be tense, but it’s
always for the purpose
of shaping us into
better human beings.
Each stage can be tense, but it’s
always for the purpose of shaping us
into better human beings.
Why Talk About This at New Church
Day?
Perhaps the tension that is most
pervasive that we experience as
members of the New Church comes
from the difference between what we
are promised the New Church will
be, and how we experience it here and
now.
We are promised in the Old
and New Testaments, in their literal
and internal senses, as well as in the
Heavenly Doctrines, that:
• The literal apocalypse in the Book of Revelation is an analogy for the
spiritual renewal of the Lord’s Church
• The reign of the New Church shall be for ages and ages
• That the former church will be destroyed (even though people will
continue to adhere to it and worship in it)
• That the New Church will be established “in place” of the so-called old
church
• And most beautifully, that the New Church is the crown of all the
churches ever to exist
This is pretty exciting stuff! The promise is wonderful and implies a
picture of a group that is thriving, that is powerful, that is influential in the
world. After all, it is the Lord’s NEW Church, the crown of all the churches,
the replacement for what is old and corrupt! The membership of this church
should be in the billions! It should be a household name, much the way
Catholicism, Mormonism, Islam and Judaism are known far and wide – even
the way Scientology is known!
What a promise!!
Now, let’s look at where we are:
• So small
• So fringe
• So weird
• So unknown
• So “old-fashioned”
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