New Church Life Nov/Dec 2014 | Page 85

  book – a triumph of the spirit that exceeded his physical trials and resiliency. But early speculation is that the movie will disappoint because it ignores this final uplifting chapter of his life. Zamperini died this year at age 97, a man whom the most abject cruelties of war could not break, and whose soul was redeemed by his new-found faith. He deserves to be remembered for that – not just as the defiant, heroic figure who was Unbroken, but as the humbled man who found out who he really was. (BMH) what would love do? Throughout the Church this fall groups of people are getting together to consider this important question. The Word clearly teaches that we should act from love. The two great commandments are to love God and to love our neighbors. And the Heavenly Doctrine places remarkable emphasis upon the importance of charity. “All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good.” (Doctrine of Life 1) All love comes from the Lord, but in order to receive it more fully and purely, so that our actions might be truly guided by it, we must go through the process of regeneration – the first stage of which is repentance. Charity, therefore, begins with repentance, or the shunning of evils as sins against God. Repentance begins with self-examination in light of truth from the Word. “All who do good from religion avoid actual evils, but they very rarely reflect upon the interiors pertaining to the will, for they believe that they are not in evil because they are in good, and even that the good covers the evil. But, my friend, the first thing of charity is to shun evils.” (True Christian Religion 535) Note that this is speaking not just of “actual evils” or misdeeds, but evil affections lurking within us in that we wouldn’t be aware of unless we “reflect” upon our “interiors.” Outward good that “covers the evil” within is not truly good; remember how the Lord compared the hypocritical Pharisees to “whited sepulchres.” Does this mean we must become absolutely pure within before attempting to do good works? No, in fact part of the process of inner purification is to compel ourselves, if necessary, to act charitably. But let’s not make the mistake of thinking natural good deeds and service to others constitute the whole of charity. If the satisfaction we get from serving others naturally beguiles us into neglecting the spiritual work of repentance which the Lord requires of us in order to make us capable of genuine, spiritual, “full spectrum charity” (to coin a phrase), then the very service we’re performing on the natural plane becomes a disservice on the spiritual plane of life. 575