Is Truth Without Love Still True?

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This morning I invite you to consider what actually holds truth together. Facts alone can be sharp, even weaponized. Truth alone can grow cold. But as Swedenborg writes in Secrets of Heaven 3068, “A fact devoid of truth is an empty container, as is a truth devoid of goodness. But factual knowledge that holds truth, and truth that holds goodness, is a well-filled container.” The binding agent is love. “Desire born of love is what binds them together… because love is spiritual union.” When we see others through the eyes of love, we see more accurately, more deeply. We move beyond stale facts into living understanding. From a New Church perspective, to be Christian is to be caring. That caring begins close to home and ripples outward through what Swedenborg calls degrees of the neighbor, stretching from our own hearts to the whole world. God sees us this way all the time. He cannot even frown, and we are forgiven. So we practice holding truth with love. We say the hard thing when needed. We let God handle the rest. And we learn that love is what orders our sight and aligns our lives with Him.