Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: Only some humans have guardian angels, according to The Urantia Book. Why is that if God is not a respecter of persons?

A: I want to thank you for writing to us here at Truthbook with this very good question. We always love to hear from our visitors, and from students of The Urantia Book.

You are correct about the guardian angels. In The Urantia Book, we learn that:

(113:1.1) The teaching about guardian angels is not a myth; certain groups of human beings do actually have personal angels.

And then you wonder why, if God is no respecter of persons, all people are not gifted with personal angels. This is a good question, and we can find the answers in this same section I quoted above, called The Guardian Angels

First and foremost, we learn that:

(113:1.2) Originally, the seraphim were definitely assigned to the separate Urantia races. But since the bestowal of Michael, they are assigned in accordance with human intelligence, spirituality, and destiny.

I would suggest that you click on the link and read about the kinds of intellectual categories of human beings. You'll see that, even those people of subnormal mind are fellowshipped by angelic ministry.

The assignment of personal guardians is given according to attainment by an individual - attainment of spiritual benchmarks. These benchmarks are indicated by the "circles of human progress and spiritual development."

You can read more about these circles of human progress HERE

In this section we learn that circle attainment is a result of "successive conquest of the seven psychic circles of mortal potentiality." This indicates that such attainment is through personal initiative towards spiritual growth. Not all persons are inclined to pursue such spiritual growth, and this quote seems to indicate that those that are, and who make progress in this area, are given personal angels because they have been earned, in a sense.

From this section:

(110:6.13) "The seventh circle. This level is entered when human beings develop the powers of personal choice, individual decision, moral responsibility, and the capacity for the attainment of spiritual individuality. This signifies the united function of the seven adjutant mind-spirits under the direction of the spirit of wisdom, the encircuitment of the mortal creature in the influence of the Holy Spirit, and, on Urantia, the first functioning of the Spirit of Truth, together with the reception of a Thought Adjuster in the mortal mind. Entrance upon the seventh circle constitutes a mortal creature a truly potential citizen of the local universe.

"The third circle. The Adjuster's work is much more effective after the human ascender attains the third circle and receives a personal seraphic guardian of destiny. While there is no apparent concert of effort between the Adjuster and the seraphic guardian, nonetheless there is to be observed an unmistakable improvement in all phases of cosmic achievement and spiritual development subsequent to the assignment of the personal seraphic attendant. When the third circle is attained, the Adjuster endeavors to morontiaize the mind of man during the remainder of the mortal life span, to make the remaining circles, and achieve the final stage of the divine-human association before natural death dissolves the unique partnership."

And:

(110:6.17) "The motivation of faith makes experiential the full realization of man's sonship with God, but action, completion of decisions, is essential to the evolutionary attainment of consciousness of progressive kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being. Faith transmutes potentials to actuals in the spiritual world, but potentials become actuals in the finite realms of the Supreme only by and through the realization of choice-experience. But choosing to do the will of God joins spiritual faith to material decisions in personality action and thus supplies a divine and spiritual fulcrum for the more effective functioning of the human and material leverage of God-hunger.

It is true that "God is no respecter of persons," and this is shown by the fact that all of his children are given the same chances for spiritual advancement - all have available to them the same spiritual agencies - just as the sun and the rain fall on both the just and the unjust. But not all of God's children have the same spiritual longings or have accomplished the same spiritual achievements - action, and choice-experience. And so, this appears to be the reason for the fact that only certain individuals are given personal angels.

It would be very difficult to discern who has a personal angel and who does not, but it would seem that if we carefully read these sections which are linked above, we can help ourselves to understand what is needed to reach that point where we may at least imagine that we have such heavenly help...of course, staying close to God, dedicating our wills to do his will, and a thorough study of The Urantia Book can only help us as we pursue our spiritual quest...

I hope that this answer has been helpful to you today. Thanks again for writing. Please feel free to write back any time. And, you might enjoy taking a look at our study on Angels HERE - also, we have a lovely short video called "You'll Never Walk Alone" HERE

Labels: choice, faith, God, guardian angels, seven cosmic circles, The Urantia Book

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Friday, April 10, 2009

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture reprised

This is a very inspiring presentation. It is a reprise of a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a very learned man, both mentally and spiritually, who was facing imminent death at the time of this talk. The original talk was given to his students, and this one is a condensed version from the Oprah Show. Good lessons for life!

Labels: cancer, choice, death, family, joy, Oprah, Rany Pausch

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

How do I know if I am destined to survive...?

I am concerned about the use of the term 'surviving mortal.' How do I know if I am destined to survive, and is there any chance I will not survive between my planet of origin and the first Mansion world?

I guess there is always a chance, but it seems to me that the overwhelming feeling that one gets from reading the Revelation is that the vast majority of human beings WILL survive in eternity. And that includes you.

My understanding is that one must simply CHOOSE to survive, and then have FAITH that that survival is inevitable. Doubt is the one thing that the believer has to resist, and so Jesus always exhorted us to develop a living faith - one that leaves no room for doubt. Unless you deliberately choose otherwise, your survival is assured.

"The door of eternal life is wide open to all; "whosoever will may come"; there are no restrictions or qualifications save the faith of the one who comes."(139:12.7)

Even if you may fear that your own faith might be somewhat lacking, The Urantia Book says this:

... it is the nature of the Sons of God to give every created being a full and equal chance for salvation and survival. Jesus wanted not only the mortals of this world but the onlookers of innumerable other worlds to know that, when doubts exist as to the sincerity and wholeheartedness of a creature's devotion to the kingdom, it is the invariable practice of the Judges of men fully to receive the doubtful candidate. p1566:6 (139:12.7)

The Master looked upon men as the sons of God and foresaw a magnificent and eternal future for those who chose survival. He was not a moral skeptic; he viewed man positively, not negatively. He saw most men as weak rather than wicked, more distraught than depraved. But no matter what their status, they were all God's children and his brethren. p2093:3 (196:2.9)

I think you can rest assured that you will also be given every opportunity to survive, if that is your desire. Your faith and your own choice in this matter are the keys to eternal life.

I hope you will take a look at two of our short flash presentations regarding this issue. One is: You Can Live Forever and the other one is After You Die. Both of these presentation are beautiful condensations of Urantia Book truth regarding the surety of survival, and eternal life.

Labels: choice, death, faith, God, Jesus, survival, The Urantia Book

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Saturday, December 27, 2008

Is Our Family Pre-Determined?

Q: Are the parents you receive on Earth pre-planned according to some kind of guideplan? Some children grow up under very spiritually dry environments e.g. the son and daughter of Anthony Lavey, compared to the children of Martin Luther King, Jr.

A: As far as we know from the teachings of The Urantia Book, the only pre-planning of parents that has transpired over the million year course of human history was the selection of Jesus' earth parents -- the three most promising sets of parents were identified and Joseph and Mary were chosen from among them to provide the incarnation of the Creator Son the best opportunity for fulfilling his pre-ordained mission. Normal human beings don't have pre-ordained missions that require fulfilling.

The purpose of the mansion worlds is to provide the remedial environment for whatever is lacking in this material life. People brought up in non-spiritual environments, such as in the Satanic church, can still develop spiritualized thinking -- they still have guardian angels, the ministry of the Spirit of Truth, Thought Adjusters -- just as those raised under the best of conditions can disavow the spiritual reality of life. Environment has a strong impact but it can be overcome through choice.

At conception our personality, the potential for the person we're to become, most likely gravitates toward parents who might provide the kind of environment suitable for our development. But, through the vicissitudes of life, there's no insurance that life will unfold as might have been projected. So, in answer to this question, it would appear that basically no, parents are not pre-ordained; it's the luck of the draw and we learn to make the best of the circumstances into which we're born.

Labels: Anthony Lavey, choice, Jesus, Jr, Mansion Worlds, Martin Luther King, parenting, personality, The Urantia Book