new church life: september/october 2014
of war that for so long have occupied our minds.
Notice that we’re speaking of God – the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Peace – as our Hope; not “religion.” If we say religion is the answer, many will
reply (and not without reason) that it obviously isn’t, since war and religion
have existed side by side from the begin ning. In fact, religious disputes are
often the cause of war.
Nevertheless, the truths of revelation are the means whereby God
accomplishes our salvation, and “religion” is how we respond to those truths.
The quality of the response varies, but our response (what we call “religion”) is
a key element in delivering us from the hell of war.
What is needed today is a new and better response, a new religion. And
this is what the Lord has provided for in the new revelation He has made of
Himself in His second coming – the Heavenly Doctrine upon which the New
Church is based.
This revelation is accommodated to the highest level of the natural mind,
the rational mind – the faculty that connects the spiritual and the natural in us
and makes us human, enabling us to bring the light of spiritual truth to bear
upon the problems of natural life more fully than ever before.
The Lord, working through the spiritual-natural truths of the New Church,
has greater power than ever before to regenerate us, and renew the image of
God in people of the modern age whose thought has lapsed into naturalism. In
this way, the Lord’s presence is brought more fully into the world, to transform
it, little by little, person by person; and thus restore the innocence and peace
that was lost so long ago in Eden.
The only way to solve the problem of war is to solve the problem of man:
to effect a change in the very nature of our humanity itself. This might sound
like such an ambitious plan as to be no plan at all – but daunting as it may
seem, it’s the only truly realistic hope we have.
To expect it to happen overnight is unrealistic. “Peace now” is unrealistic.
War has been a part of human life for eons, and the radical change in human
nature required to stop it can only be accomplished gradually. The Lord in
His providence works quietly from within, in countless ways we can’t see, to
change human hearts and minds. And one of the main ways providence works
is through His Word.
The greatest “peace process” ever devised is the one we find in the
Heavenly Doctrine: the process of regeneration. When we retreat to the
upper room of our mind and meditate on the Word of God, pray to the Lord,
examine ourselves, repent of our evils, learn to trust providence, and become
more loving and charitable... our little personal religious practice may seem of
small importance in the effort to bring peace to the war-weary world. In truth,
though, this is where world peace must begin.
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