Sometimes the night was beautiful Sometimes the sky was so far away Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon Sometimes the day could be so hot There was so much work left to do But so much You'd already done
Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You I will seek You in the morning And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me And I will follow You all of my days
Sometimes I think of Abraham How one star he saw had been lit for me He was a stranger in this land And I am that, no less than he And on this road to righteousness Sometimes the climb can be so steep I may falter in my steps But never beyond Your reach
I do not understand how evil can still exist, once you attain a certain level.
Q: I do not understand how evil can still exist, once you attain a certain level.(example - Lucifer). If I continue through my levels of existence, can I still do bad, and won't that prevent me from going further?
A: Thank you so much for this question. I hear in your question a bit of uneasiness, that maybe you are somehow going to be stopped in your eternal journey because evil is going to always be with you. Lucifer, a high Son of God, was influenced by evil, so how can you - a mere mortal - ever be free from it?
I have copied off the following discourse in the words of Jesus for you to look over. You will notice that there are three separate areas of separation from the Father - evil, sin, and iniquity - and they are quite different from each other.
4. EVIL, SIN, AND INIQUITY p1659:8(148:4.1).1 It was the habit of Jesus two evenings each week to hold special converse with individuals who desired to talk with him, in a certain secluded and sheltered corner of the Zebedee garden. At one of these evening conversations in private Thomas asked the Master this question: "Why is it necessary for men to be born of the spirit in order to enter the kingdom? Is rebirth necessary to escape the control of the evil one? Master, what is evil?" When Jesus heard these questions, he said to Thomas: p1660:1 148:4.2 "Do not make the mistake of confusing evil with the evil one, more correctly the iniquitous one. He whom you call the evil one is the son of self-love, the high administrator who knowingly went into deliberate rebellion against the rule of my Father and his loyal Sons. But I have already vanquished these sinful rebels. Make clear in your mind these different attitudes toward the Father and his universe. Never forget these laws of relation to the Father's will:
p1660:2 148:4.3 "Evil is the unconscious or unintended transgression of the divine law, the Father's will. Evil is likewise the measure of the imperfectness of obedience to the Father's will.
p1660:3 148:4.4 "Sin is the conscious, knowing, and deliberate transgression of the divine law, the Father's will. Sin is the measure of unwillingness to be divinely led and spiritually directed.
p1660:4 148:4.5 "Iniquity is the willful, determined, and persistent transgression of the divine law, the Father's will. Iniquity is the measure of the continued rejection of the Father's loving plan of personality survival and the Sons' merciful ministry of salvation.
p1660:5 148:4.6 "By nature, before the rebirth of the spirit, mortal man is subject to inherent evil tendencies, but such natural imperfections of behavior are neither sin nor iniquity. Mortal man is just beginning his long ascent to the perfection of the Father in Paradise. To be imperfect or partial in natural endowment is not sinful. Man is indeed subject to evil, but he is in no sense the child of the evil one unless he has knowingly and deliberately chosen the paths of sin and the life of iniquity. Evil is inherent in the natural order of this world, but sin is an attitude of conscious rebellion which was brought to this world by those who fell from spiritual light into gross darkness.
p1660:7 148:4.8 "Men are, indeed, by nature evil, but not necessarily sinful. The new birth—the baptism of the spirit—is essential to deliverance from evil and necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but none of this detracts from the fact that man is the son of God. Neither does this inherent presence of potential evil mean that man is in some mysterious way estranged from the Father in heaven so that, as an alien, foreigner, or stepchild, he must in some manner seek for legal adoption by the Father. All such notions are born, first, of your misunderstanding of the Father and, second, of your ignorance of the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
p1660:8 148:4.9 "The Greeks and others have taught you that man is descending from godly perfection steadily down toward oblivion or destruction; I have come to show that man, by entrance into the kingdom, is ascending certainly and surely up to God and divine perfection. Any being who in any manner falls short of the divine and spiritual ideals of the eternal Father's will is potentially evil, but such beings are in no sense sinful, much less iniquitous.
p1661:1 148:4.10 "Thomas, have you not read about this in the Scriptures, where it is written: `You are the children of the Lord your God.' `I will be his Father and he shall be my son.' `I have chosen him to be my son—I will be his Father.' `Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one who is called by my name, for I have created them for my glory.' `You are the sons of the living God.' `They who have the spirit of God are indeed the sons of God.' While there is a material part of the human father in the natural child, there is a spiritual part of the heavenly Father in every faith son of the kingdom."
I think you can see now, that Lucifer, far from being simply evil, was supremely sinful and iniquitous. And all this arose from his own mind. Likewise, we mortals sin, too. But once we have been born of the Spirit, and we know we are sons of God, our days of real sinning are over, if we are truly sincere in our faith. Wouldn't you agree? Sin is a conscious act - a deliberate transgression against God, and one would have to be pretty insincere in their commitment to God to keep it up for very long...
If we choose to embrace sin, after having been born of the Spirit, then we alone are responsible for the consequences, and that certainly could mean a blockage in our upward and inward journey to the Father if we don't mend our ways.
In my opinion, it becomes difficult to imagine how anyone who truly knows the love of the Father could keep on committing this or that sin, if they know it is an offense against love. Righteousness demands a change. I am sure you have experienced this, as have so many of our brothers and sisters. As for myself, once I experience the realization that something I am doing is not right, I want to change that behavior, because I know it is against God's will for me, and brings only sorrow and pain.
Now that you better understand this issue a liitle bit better, I hope you feel better...nothing can prevent you from progressing eternally unless you decide otherwise, and I sense from your letter that you are a sincere person, and not likely to go that route!
Q: Who wrote the Urantia Book? How do we know what you say is true? The Bible has been re-written so many times that it becomes questionable, but how can we believe or trust the writings of The Urantia Book? Where are you getting your facts?
A: Thank you for your questions about The Urantia Book.
The authors of the Urantia Book are celestial personalities. Some are ascended mortals, some are angels, some are high Sons of God - all were mandated by The Ancients of Days to deliver the Urantia Papers to humanity. This delivery took place during the early years of the 20th century, and was completed in 1934. The final section of The Urantia Book - the Life and Teachings of Jesus - were delivered in toto a short time later, and the entire book was first published in final form in 1955 in Chicago. Many of the concepts (over 1000) in the book were already here on the planet in those days, in already published works, and the Revelators re-worded and re-worked many of these high human concepts and incorporated them into the text. So, in that sense, there was also a fair amount of worthwhile human thought involved - in a peripheral way. But the main bulk of the information in The Urantia Book is a brilliantly crafted treatise of celestial origin - completely unique.
I am not an author of the book, and I have no way to convince you that what is contained in its covers is true. The only way that one can discern the truth of The Urantia Book is by opening it up and reading it. Many people who have done just that are completely convinced of its truth, and have allowed that truth to expand their worldview, inform their spiritual lives, and improve their understanding of, and communion with, God. Others read some of it, and decide that they are not interested, or they decide to leave it alone for any number of reasons. The Truthbook.com site is dedicated to making the Urantia Book available and accessible to people on the internet. We exist for that purpose, and are not in the business of proselytising or trying to convince anyone of anything. The Urantia Book stands alone, on its own merits. Again, the only way to know of its truth is to read it for yourself and judge for yourself whether or not it is, indeed, true.
Having said that, I wish to expand a little bit on one or two things, just by way of further explanation, so you can make an informed decision about it. One of the concepts of The Urantia Book that is very attractive is the concept of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is that "good spirit" that was promised by Jesus to take his place after his ascension into heaven, and which was delivered to humanity at Pentecost. This Spirit is in every way like Jesus, except for the fact that it is a spiritual reality, not a material reality, as Jesus was in the flesh. The Spirit of Truth indwells each person and assists us to discern truth, wherever it is found. You possess this Spirit as well as anyone else, and I invite you to keep that in mind, and keep an open mind, when you approach The Urantia Book.
The Urantia Book does parallel the Bible in many respects, and explains to us why the Bible and all ancient Scripture must also be read with discernment - just because of the human element that was involved in all of that re-writing and such...and you should also read The Urantia Book with that same discernment. Jesus himself was very selective in his use of Scripture. The Urantia Book does not claim to be inerrant, or the "word of God." It is a gift of Revelation to Earth, and is meant to fill in the gaps in our understanding of earth history, of universe cosmology, of Divinity, and of the life and teachings of Jesus. I am sure you would agree that there do exist many, many gaps in our knowledge of these things. The Urantia Book answers all of these many questions in a way that is satisfying both intellectually and spiritually. Part IV - The Life and Teachings of Jesus - is one superb example of this kind of filling in the gaps, as it narrates the life of Jesus as a whole - from his birth, through his childhood, his adolescence, and into his manhood and his mission of proclaiming the good news as we have only known it from the New Testament. The difference is that in The Urantia Book, ALL the missing years and missing events are, for the first time, given to us to enjoy and as sublime inspiration for our modern times.
You can come to trust the writings of The Urantia Book, but not because I say so, because Truthbook says so, or because IT says so. Your own Spirit within will bear witness to you if you are a sincere seeker for the truth. Doubt is the human condition, and nothing bad will happen to you if you decide not to seriously read The Urantia Book. The most important thing is to keep searching for God, to stay on the road to righteousness, follow Jesus, love God, and be a good sister to others.
Thanks again for writing. I hope this reply has been helpful to you. Please feel free to subscribe to the Quote of the Day, a free service of Truthbook.com, and also please look over our site. You might find some of the Urantia Book history helpful (click on The Urantia Book in the left hand menu, and choose a topic) and also you might like to read some of the personal stories of people who feel that The Urantia Book changed their lives for the better (on the left-side menu).
My son died from cancer at the age of 21. Was it so much necessary to suffer and leave this world like that?
Q: My son died from cancer at the age of 21. Was it so much necessary to suffer and leave this world like that?
A: Your sad loss touches every caring mortal learning of it. It touches the angels too who are endowed with greater love and compassion than we are. It touches Jesus and it touches our heavenly Father. Knowing this doesn't make it easier to understand, but your sorrow is shared.
The Urantia Book says of God, "He has said of the mortal races, 'In all your afflictions I am afflicted.' He unquestionably experiences a fatherly and sympathetic understanding; he may truly suffer, but we do not comprehend the nature thereof." (3:6.6)
The Urantia Book helps to clarify the meaning of life, our purpose here, and our purpose hereafter. While we live here we're subject to physical laws and the laws of nature, and of nature The Urantia Book relates, "... nature knows nothing of fairness--" (84:5.2) This physical world is the birthplace of the soul, the vessel needed to carry personality forward into the less material, more spiritual existence we have before us. Whatever happens to us beyond the circumstances necessary for this birth is subject to the "vicissitudes of time."
In The Urantia Book, Jesus relates, regarding the Book of Job, "And who can challenge the attitude of Job in view of the counsel of his friends and the erroneous ideas of God which occupied his own mind? Do you not see that Job longed for a human God, that he hungered to commune with a divine Being who knows man's mortal estate and understands that the just must often suffer in innocence as a part of this first life of the long Paradise ascent? Wherefore has the Son of Man come forth from the Father to live such a life in the flesh that he will be able to comfort and succor all those who must henceforth be called upon to endure the afflictions of Job." (149:6.7)
Perhaps there will be some comfort in considering the following inevitabilities of material existence (3:5.5):
"The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:
1. Is courage--strength of character--desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.
2. Is altruism--service of one's fellows--desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
3. Is hope--the grandeur of trust--desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.
4. Is faith--the supreme assertion of human thought--desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.
5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.
6. Is idealism--the approaching concept of the divine--desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.
7. Is loyalty--devotion to highest duty--desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default.
8. Is unselfishness--the spirit of self-forgetfulness--desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.
9. Is pleasure--the satisfaction of happiness--desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities."
Your question was "Was it so much necessary to suffer and leave the world like that?" and the answer that comes to mind is "no," it is not necessary to suffer -- suffering is not a prerequisite to entry to the world of the spirit although often suffering endows the sufferer and those closely associated with a new and more complete understanding of and spiritual awakening to the purpose, value, and meaning of life; and "yes," it is necessary to suffer because it is part of the material human existence. Earth is not heaven and it will never be so.
Your loss is great and your suffering is real. Your son is no longer suffering and is now taking the first steps in a thrilling adventure extending into eternity. We pray that that understanding will ease the pain in your heart.
Well the moon moved past Nebraska And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills And angels danced on Jacob's stairs Yeah they danced on Jacob's stairs There is this silence in the Badlands And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled By the whisper of a prayer The whisper of a prayer And the single hawk bursts into flight And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
Chorus: I feel thunder in the sky I see the sky about to rain And I hear the prairies calling out Your name
I can feel the earth tremble Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves And the fury in the pheasant's wings And there's fury in a pheasant's wings It tells me the Lord is in His temple And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move And a love that can make the heavens ring And I've seen love make heaven ring Where the sacred rivers meet Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
Repeat chorus
From the place where morning gathers You can look sometimes forever 'til you see What time may never know What time may never know How the Lord takes by its corners this old world And shakes us forward and shakes us free To run wild with the hope To run wild with the hope The hope that this thirst will not last long That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
Repeat Chorus
And I know this thirst will not last long That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain I feel thunder in the sky I see the sky about to rain And with the prairies I am calling out Your name
Why is there so much addiction in the world? Does God give us an answer?
Q: Why is there so much addiction in the world? Does God give us an answer?
A: Since The Urantia Book offers no specific information regarding the word "addiction," I turned to an online dictionary to gain a starting point for our discussion:
The American Heritage Science Dictionary : A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, such as a drug or alcohol. In physical addiction, the body adapts to the substance being used and gradually requires increased amounts to reproduce the effects originally produced by smaller doses. See more at withdrawal. A habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity, such as gambling.
I agree with you that addiction is running rampant in our world today. It seems important to discover just why people become addicted before we can discern whether God has an answer for us.
I have a bit of experience with this subject, as I spent many years in 12-Step programs. My overwhelming addiction was to food, and at one time, I weighed nearly 250 pounds as a result. I could not stop eating. Today, I understand that my overarching need for great quantities of food was a direct result of my feeling of emptiness inside. I tried in vain to feed that emptiness with food. It did help in the short term, but of course, it was a dangerous and ineffective fix. Others feed their particular emptiness (the "hole in the soul") with alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, rage, sex, or something else that ultimately proves to be a futile, and damaging, material answer to what I believe to be a spiritual problem. That empty feeling is evidence of the mortal creature's need for awareness of their connection to God.
Jesus said: p1766:4 159:3.8 The world is filled with hungry souls who famish in the very presence of the bread of life; men die searching for the very God who lives within them. Men seek for the treasures of the kingdom with yearning hearts and weary feet when they are all within the immediate grasp of living faith. Faith is to religion what sails are to a ship; it is an addition of power, not an added burden of life. There is but one struggle for those who enter the kingdom, and that is to fight the good fight of faith. The believer has only one battle, and that is against doubt—unbelief.
In our modern world, there are countless ways in which one can divert oneself, and one's feelings of existential emptiness. But at the end of the day, no material substance can ever satisfy that hunger the way that God can - the way that religion can.
Many of our problems are a result of low self-esteem, childhood abuse issues, or just plain ingorance of the spiritual world, and the comfort and solace that can be found there. When one is in these states, one is not always able to see reason, and oftentimes, one relies heavily on one's own misdirected will to handle life's problems (the self-will run rampant). This is pretty normal, but not particularly sane - certainly not effective, if one is relying on one's limited understanding, which may be tainted by the above issues.
Unfortunately, it is only when the addict begins to understand that s/he is out of control, and begins to suffer more from the addiction than from the underlying problem, that healing can occur. This is one reason that 12-Step programs are so helpful, for the number one step is an admission of one's powerlessness over the addiction. After that, one learns to accept the possibility that there is a power greater than oneself, who can retore our sanity. And the third step is that leap of faith that says "I believe."
The Urantia Book is clear about this point - p43:4 2:7.11 Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience.
And what is true, good and beautiful? Only God, and the things of God, fit this description. And the integration of these qualities, found only in the spiritual experience of finding God, is the secret for treating, and ending, addiction. It is the secret to a happy life.
I am not here to tout the advantages of the 12-Step program - only to share with you my personal experience with it. Any mind-set which produces the spiritual experience will be effective - that mind-set that surrenders one's need to know all the answers into the hands of one's spiritual Parent. When once the addicted individual begins to recognize, and accept, the Presence of God in their own experience, unhealthy addiction of any sort can be healed. The hole in the soul is filled, self-esteem and sanity are restored, and the person can begin to rebuild their life on a solid foundation.
What did Jesus teach his disciples about setting up churches?
Q: What did Jesus teach his disciples about setting up churches?
A: In the Urantia Book, we learn that Jesus' mission on Earth was one of revelation -revelation to mankind of the loving character of God, the goodness of God, and the love and mercy of God as spiritual Father. Jesus proclaimed the good news that man is a child of God, and the resultant truth that all men are brethren.
Jesus did not incarnate in order to establish a church, and he did not counsel his disciples to establish churches. His mission was to proclaim the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of mankind, and to free mankind from the bondage of churches of authority. He himself, a child of Jewish parents, raised in the churches and synagogues of his day, later was murdered for his refusal to conform to the authority of that very belief system in which he was raised. Jesus was not wholly opposed to churches; he worked with members of churches, and honored and encouraged church members, but, as the Urantia Book so well points out:
p1098:4(100:5.1) The world is filled with lost souls, not lost in the theologic sense but lost in the directional meaning, wandering about in confusion among the isms and cults of a frustrated philosophic era. Too few have learned how to install a philosophy of living in the place of religious authority. (The symbols of socialized religion are not to be despised as channels of growth, albeit the river bed is not the river.) (Bolding of text is mine)
Jesus' message was one of spiritual liberation - liberation from set dogmas, creeds, and established tenets - into a new way of realizing and finding God, who, he taught, indwells every human mind. This new way of discovering God and recognizing Truth had nothing to do with setting up churches. Instead, it proclaimed that the Kingdom is within each of us, discoverable by each individual. There was a church established, of course, and the following quote outlines for us how this occurred:
p1865:4(170:5.14) When Jesus' immediate followers recognized their partial failure to realize his ideal of the establishment of the kingdom in the hearts of men by the spirit's domination and guidance of the individual believer, they set about to save his teaching from being wholly lost by substituting for the Master's ideal of the kingdom the gradual creation of a visible social organization, the Christian church. And when they had accomplished this program of substitution, in order to maintain consistency and to provide for the recognition of the Master's teaching regarding the fact of the kingdom, they proceeded to set the kingdom off into the future. The church, just as soon as it was well established, began to teach that the kingdom was in reality to appear at the culmination of the Christian age, at the second coming of Christ.
This Christian church and its many offshoots, while good in many respects, still maintains many of the unfavorable aspects of all established churches, in that it demands a loyalty to dogma, to rules and regulations, that have little to do with the reality of the Kingdom as Jesus taught it. Jesus taught that the Kingdom is within - right now - and that one enters its gates simply by faith that one is, in fact, a child of God. No creedal pressure was brought to bear by Jesus on any of his followers. The new gospel of Jesus proclaimed that man is a child of God, and that faith is the only price of entry into the Father's kingdom. It is this very simplicity, I believe, that is sometimes very hard to grasp by human minds.
The idea of making a church that packages "the truth" for its followers is directly opposed to the actual teachings of Jesus. A church as a social organization, or as a place where believers can share their faith is a good idea, but churches as they are now operate on the planet, largely run counter to the idea of spiritual freedom, as Jesus taught it.
Consider this quote from The Urantia Book: p1135:2(103:5.12) When a member of a social religious group has complied with the requirements of such a group, he should be encouraged to enjoy religious liberty in the full expression of his own personal interpretation of the truths of religious belief and the facts of religious experience. The security of a religious group depends on spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity. A religious group should be able to enjoy the liberty of freethinking without having to become "freethinkers." There is great hope for any church that worships the living God, validates the brotherhood of man, and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its members.
No matter how insignificant we may feel at times, this musical reminder of the fact of our sonship with God can give us an inspirational boost. Enjoy!!!
Xerpi
