How Man Receives True Faith and True Charity
Part 1
By Rev. Paul Booth
Part 1
By Rev. Paul Booth
When we think about God, there are two aspects that are foremost that best explain His attributes and qualities of Love and Wisdom. We cannot think about God without thinking about these two paramount spiritual qualities. With God they are equal; one is not greater than the other. In God they are united in a spiritual marriage 'so to speak' uniting the love of truth with the love of good. From God they proceed or flow 'as it were' to His creation, particularly to mankind. It is not possible to love truth without loving what is good. I might also say it is not possible to love falsity without loving evil. Thus, Love and Wisdom come from or proceed from God; they are conjoined as one and they proceed to man as the Holy Spirit.
This is because, basically you can say Love is Good and Wisdom is Truth and both these are infinite and eternal qualities of the Lord God who is Spirit and Truth. One of the Lord's attribute is His Essence; this is called Love or Good and the other, which is His Existere, is His Wisdom or Truth and, as said, both these flow as one from the Lord into His creation bringing life. Therefore, they are manifested in creation and creation, and particularly mankind is the recipients of His love and wisdom. In other words, we - man - have love and wisdom flowing into us and these bring us life and without the Lord's love and wisdom we would not even exist. Without the Lord's Love and His Wisdom within us we are called in the Word dead.
Therefore, a man should have within him these two qualities of goodness and truthfulness as pure as possible. Basically, man did have them when he was in the Garden of Eden before his fall. Thus, because of that fall, today, these qualities with us have been distorted and even become destroyed with some. In truth, many people are not good people and do not have or know the truth. If we are truthful to ourselves we will admit that there are times when we are not good and that we have false ideas, and do not know the truth, though at the time we think we have and believe we know the truth. We do not have the truth living within us, within our minds and hearts 'as it were'. In fact, if we have read Paul in the Epistles, he has said that if we say that we are without evil and have not falsities, that we are a liar.
God has created mankind and He wants man to be in His image and to made after His likeness. How is it that we may become made as such? We see that there is these same two aspects of good and truth and that are to become 'as if' ours. We must receive both the Lord's goodness and His truthfulness so as to be like Him and as to come into Heaven when our earthly existence ceases. First, love or good should be with us in our heart or our will and second, truth should be with us in our mind or understanding. With man, they are called his charity and his faith.
With many who are religious these two - charity and faith - seem to be divided, one is favored more than the other - faith over charity or charity over faith. Of course, there are others who have no concern whatsoever of religion or of spiritual things neither caring whether they are charitable or have they any religious faith. Some people put faith in the first place in their life and stress its importance in their worship. Others are place charity first and will to do well or good and feel that this is the most important thing in their religion. Yet, we just learned that one attribute or quality of Love or Wisdom is not greater than the other in the Lord and neither should they be in us, in fact, they should not be separated one from the other. They are not in the Lord.
However, the fact is they are in us separated because of our natural hereditary nature to love our self more than the Lord. And, we can read in the Word that the farther we turn away from the Lord the more divided and separate love and truth became and the more falsity and evil comes into us. We, mankind, has become of such characteristics. Yet, we who have religion and know that the Lord loves us and that He has provided us a way to become again conjoined with Him in His love and in His truth. This way is our regeneration and our salvation.
The way to salvation is explained to us in the Lord's Word, though there are different ways of understanding what the Word teaches as that way or the means through which man may be saved. Thus, there are different doctrines taught by the many different religions and churches. These differences have separated us and are what we, now, call 'our faith'. So, the question is often asked: 'What do we believe or what is our faith'? Therefore, let us ask ourselves this primary question: 'What is faith'?
Is it a mental presumption that a thing is so, because it is taught by the Church or by the religion that we are associated with, and also, is it true that faith needs no evidence for the understanding? Maybe you have heard the saying: 'Only believe and do not doubt'? To believe and not to have doubt is not a reason to comprehend or understand that it is so. This would be a faith in what is not known and is a blind faith and it is a faith of one person passed on to another. Thus, it is also a historical faith. It is, but, natural and is an external without an internal, that is, it has no essence within and, so, is without any good or love. And, then we are but as an empty vessel in which there is no true faith or truth acknowledged. In this case you can see genuine truth does not exist with such a man, though it is in his imagination. In place of truths are falsities, thus man's external or for truth he has falsity, and his essence or his internal or his spirit is evil. The result is that evils and falsities reign and rule the man's life and distorts it. As we said the Word calls this death, not life. Let us ask again, 'What is faith'?
Faith is the acknowledgement that a thing is so, because it is true. Thus, there is no presumption about a thing being true, for if it is not comprehended or not understood, how can a person believe? It might possibly be false and to believe what is false leads away from the truth and from the Lord when it is confirmed. You can understand now how faith is related to truth and truth to faith. Perhaps you are thinking no one can understand spiritual or theological matters, because these matters are supernatural, not natural? Admittedly, the comprehension of spiritual truths is not as clear as are natural truths. Still, there may be some perception, especially when we are affected by truths as when we have affection and a love for them.
To show this, just look at those who are called ignorant, who are obscure or dull, or what about those who are born in the church and who have heard something about the Lord, and about faith, about charity and yet, by their life we see they are immersed in falsities and in evils? Would the Lord not save them as well as those who are intelligent or who have understood truths clearer? What I am driving at is that a man's understanding is capable of being elevated into the light of Heaven where there is nothing but spiritual things, where are the truths of faith.
Heavenly light is spiritual light or spiritual understanding, whereas worldly light is natural understanding. From all this, we know those who are in or who have a spiritual affection of truth have an internal acknowledgement of it. Those who love spiritual knowledge are revealed its truths, just as those in the Garden of Eden - Adam and Eve - who desired to know, from their self, natural truths were revealed to them. There are some who see this - knowing spiritual truths - as a problem and say that our understanding must be kept in subjection to our faith. Often when they ask why is this or that so, they are told by their priest or minister that it is a mystery, and that they must believe it anyway, but more often than not they just accept what is told to them as being the truth. If we are told we must believe it and that we cannot understand it, because it is a mystery, we can ask, 'Are you God whom I am to believe, or do you think I am crazy to believe an assertion in which I do not see any truth? I'm simply told not to doubt. Cause me to see it? The question is: Do we see, that is, do we understand and comprehend what we have been told about faith - the truths, the doctrines we are taught in our church?
This is because, basically you can say Love is Good and Wisdom is Truth and both these are infinite and eternal qualities of the Lord God who is Spirit and Truth. One of the Lord's attribute is His Essence; this is called Love or Good and the other, which is His Existere, is His Wisdom or Truth and, as said, both these flow as one from the Lord into His creation bringing life. Therefore, they are manifested in creation and creation, and particularly mankind is the recipients of His love and wisdom. In other words, we - man - have love and wisdom flowing into us and these bring us life and without the Lord's love and wisdom we would not even exist. Without the Lord's Love and His Wisdom within us we are called in the Word dead.
Therefore, a man should have within him these two qualities of goodness and truthfulness as pure as possible. Basically, man did have them when he was in the Garden of Eden before his fall. Thus, because of that fall, today, these qualities with us have been distorted and even become destroyed with some. In truth, many people are not good people and do not have or know the truth. If we are truthful to ourselves we will admit that there are times when we are not good and that we have false ideas, and do not know the truth, though at the time we think we have and believe we know the truth. We do not have the truth living within us, within our minds and hearts 'as it were'. In fact, if we have read Paul in the Epistles, he has said that if we say that we are without evil and have not falsities, that we are a liar.
God has created mankind and He wants man to be in His image and to made after His likeness. How is it that we may become made as such? We see that there is these same two aspects of good and truth and that are to become 'as if' ours. We must receive both the Lord's goodness and His truthfulness so as to be like Him and as to come into Heaven when our earthly existence ceases. First, love or good should be with us in our heart or our will and second, truth should be with us in our mind or understanding. With man, they are called his charity and his faith.
With many who are religious these two - charity and faith - seem to be divided, one is favored more than the other - faith over charity or charity over faith. Of course, there are others who have no concern whatsoever of religion or of spiritual things neither caring whether they are charitable or have they any religious faith. Some people put faith in the first place in their life and stress its importance in their worship. Others are place charity first and will to do well or good and feel that this is the most important thing in their religion. Yet, we just learned that one attribute or quality of Love or Wisdom is not greater than the other in the Lord and neither should they be in us, in fact, they should not be separated one from the other. They are not in the Lord.
However, the fact is they are in us separated because of our natural hereditary nature to love our self more than the Lord. And, we can read in the Word that the farther we turn away from the Lord the more divided and separate love and truth became and the more falsity and evil comes into us. We, mankind, has become of such characteristics. Yet, we who have religion and know that the Lord loves us and that He has provided us a way to become again conjoined with Him in His love and in His truth. This way is our regeneration and our salvation.
The way to salvation is explained to us in the Lord's Word, though there are different ways of understanding what the Word teaches as that way or the means through which man may be saved. Thus, there are different doctrines taught by the many different religions and churches. These differences have separated us and are what we, now, call 'our faith'. So, the question is often asked: 'What do we believe or what is our faith'? Therefore, let us ask ourselves this primary question: 'What is faith'?
Is it a mental presumption that a thing is so, because it is taught by the Church or by the religion that we are associated with, and also, is it true that faith needs no evidence for the understanding? Maybe you have heard the saying: 'Only believe and do not doubt'? To believe and not to have doubt is not a reason to comprehend or understand that it is so. This would be a faith in what is not known and is a blind faith and it is a faith of one person passed on to another. Thus, it is also a historical faith. It is, but, natural and is an external without an internal, that is, it has no essence within and, so, is without any good or love. And, then we are but as an empty vessel in which there is no true faith or truth acknowledged. In this case you can see genuine truth does not exist with such a man, though it is in his imagination. In place of truths are falsities, thus man's external or for truth he has falsity, and his essence or his internal or his spirit is evil. The result is that evils and falsities reign and rule the man's life and distorts it. As we said the Word calls this death, not life. Let us ask again, 'What is faith'?
Faith is the acknowledgement that a thing is so, because it is true. Thus, there is no presumption about a thing being true, for if it is not comprehended or not understood, how can a person believe? It might possibly be false and to believe what is false leads away from the truth and from the Lord when it is confirmed. You can understand now how faith is related to truth and truth to faith. Perhaps you are thinking no one can understand spiritual or theological matters, because these matters are supernatural, not natural? Admittedly, the comprehension of spiritual truths is not as clear as are natural truths. Still, there may be some perception, especially when we are affected by truths as when we have affection and a love for them.
To show this, just look at those who are called ignorant, who are obscure or dull, or what about those who are born in the church and who have heard something about the Lord, and about faith, about charity and yet, by their life we see they are immersed in falsities and in evils? Would the Lord not save them as well as those who are intelligent or who have understood truths clearer? What I am driving at is that a man's understanding is capable of being elevated into the light of Heaven where there is nothing but spiritual things, where are the truths of faith.
Heavenly light is spiritual light or spiritual understanding, whereas worldly light is natural understanding. From all this, we know those who are in or who have a spiritual affection of truth have an internal acknowledgement of it. Those who love spiritual knowledge are revealed its truths, just as those in the Garden of Eden - Adam and Eve - who desired to know, from their self, natural truths were revealed to them. There are some who see this - knowing spiritual truths - as a problem and say that our understanding must be kept in subjection to our faith. Often when they ask why is this or that so, they are told by their priest or minister that it is a mystery, and that they must believe it anyway, but more often than not they just accept what is told to them as being the truth. If we are told we must believe it and that we cannot understand it, because it is a mystery, we can ask, 'Are you God whom I am to believe, or do you think I am crazy to believe an assertion in which I do not see any truth? I'm simply told not to doubt. Cause me to see it? The question is: Do we see, that is, do we understand and comprehend what we have been told about faith - the truths, the doctrines we are taught in our church?