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Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What is your viewpoint about the baptism of Jesus and His Cross? Are you with sin or without sin now? How can you solve the problem of daily and futur

Q: What is your viewpoint about the baptism of Jesus and His Cross? Are you with sin or without sin now? How can you solve the problem of daily and future sins?

A: Thank you for your letter to Truthbook.com. We are always glad to hear from truth-seekers.

You asked: What is your viewpoint about the baptism of Jesus and His Cross?

I think that Jesus death on the cross was the great tragedy of our history; that a divine Son of God - the ambassador and creator of the universe - should be brutally tortured and hung on a cross to die is a spectacle of human depravity and cruelty. Nonetheless, through that decision that Jesus made - to allow his life to play out in the most human way - we are gifted with a shining example of human willingness to follow God's will to the nth degree. He showed us throughout his life how to be a son of God - how to live the spirit-filled and spirit-led life - how to overcome sorrow, disappointment and even death through faith and through willingness to do the Father's will.

You might like to read "Lessons from the Cross" from The Urantia Book

You then asked: Are you with sin or without sin now?

We are all without sin, in the sense that we are not born sinful. We may become sinful by our own willful choices that take us away from the Father's will of truth, beauty and goodness. But that is a freewill choice; we also have the choice to walk in God's ways and do our best to live a righteous life, full of the fruits of the spirit. There is no inherent sinfulness in man, no "original sin." Jesus never taught that; instead he taught that we are faith-sons of God, and through that faith we are granted salvation. Referencing your first question: I don't believe that Jesus' death on the cross had any bearing on the question of my being with or without sin. That is a function of freewill choice; always was, and always will be.

And: How can you solve the problem of daily and future sins?

Just so we are clear, the following is a passage from The Urantia Book, and the speaker is Jesus:

"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."

Turning that around we can say that solving the problem of daily and future sin is to deliberately follow divine law, and be willing to be divinely led and spiritually directed. This becomes more and more a real possibility when we understand that we are indwelt by God himself, in the form of the Thought Adjuster - that spark of God that indwells the mind of each mortal. We can choose to listen and be directed. We can choose to spend time seeking the "still, small voice" within at times of decision, doubt or confusion. We can choose to say "It is my will to do your will," and then actually try do it

It is a responsibility that all truth-seekers, and all spiritual seekers have - to walk the talk; to really put into practice what we say we believe. It is challenging to all who are sincere of heart, and we all falter - we all fail at times - we all choose the wrong thing sometimes...but one thing that I have noticed in my years of spiritual seeking: the closer I get to God, the worse I feel when I take the wrong path, and the quicker I am to try and make amends and get right again. And I know that I am forgiven when I sincerely recognize my error and decide to change. So, as time goes on, we should be able to expect that our own experience will help us to increasingly avoid sin. It feels much better when we do the right thing!

Thank you for this question. I hope the reply has been helpful...

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Please help me understand this...

Q: Please help me understand this, Jesus said "That which you see going on about this temple is the way in which your fathers sought to symbolize the bestowal of the divine spirit upon the children of faith, and you have done well to perpetuate these symbols, even down to this day". It tells me that Jesus did not criticize their symbolising the spirit bestowal on all mankind as the gift of Father. what is the spiritual meaning therefore of their symbolising the forgiveness of sins by the sacrificing of a spotless lamb, upon which all their sins were confessed, and the blood sprinkled on them for the forgiveness of sins. Which part of Jesus' life fulfilled this ceremony of the jews?.Thank you.

A: Thank you for writing to us here at Truthbook. In the quote which you cite, Jesus is speaking to a group of believers who were with him at the Feast of Tabernacles. During the course of the harvest feast, live animal sacrifices were made and water was outpoured to symbolize the divine spirit. Just for clarity, I will quote the entire passage that you cite in your question:

At the conclusion of this early morning service Jesus continued to teach the multitude, saying: "Have you not read in the Scripture: `Behold, as the waters are poured out upon the dry ground and spread over the parched soil, so will I give the spirit of holiness to be poured out upon your children for a blessing even to your children's children'? Why will you thirst for the ministry of the spirit while you seek to water your souls with the traditions of men, poured from the broken pitchers of ceremonial service? That which you see going on about this temple is the way in which your fathers sought to symbolize the bestowal of the divine spirit upon the children of faith, and you have done well to perpetuate these symbols, even down to this day. But now has come to this generation the revelation of the Father of spirits through the bestowal of his Son, and all of this will certainly be followed by the bestowal of the spirit of the Father and the Son upon the children of men. To every one who has faith shall this bestowal of the spirit become the true teacher of the way which leads to life everlasting, to the true waters of life in the kingdom of heaven on earth and in the Father's Paradise over there."(162:6.3)

It is true that Jesus never criticized the religious practices of the sincere religionists of his day - he always respected the honest efforts of those who desired a closer walk with the Father and a deeper understanding of God.

Clearly, in the last sentences of the passage, Jesus foretells of the Spirit of Truth which was bestowed on all mankind on the day of Pentecost; this Spirit of Truth is now a fact in the inner life of all believers.

As to the second part of your question: "what is the spiritual meaning therefore of their symbolising the forgiveness of sins by the sacrificing of a spotless lamb, upon which all their sins were confessed, and the blood sprinkled on them for the forgiveness of sins:"

The people of Jesus' day were practicing their faith and religion in the best way that they knew up to that time. Their religion was evolved through centuries of civilization, and much of it was still tinged with the remnants of the primitive ideas of sacrifice as a necessary part of placating and appeasing a mysterious Deity who inspired dread and awe. The rituals of the sacrificial killing of a spotless animal satisfied this requirement of appeasement - it was the way things had been done for time out of mind, and was the religious standard for generations before Jesus arrived on the scene to proclaim a better way. For individual believers, I am sure that it may have held significant spiritual power for them, and there is no reason to think that God was displeased at the sincere devotion of an individual who believed this was the right thing to do. This belief has even persisted to our 21st century times, in the form of the atonement doctrine, which is one of the cornerstones of the Christian faith - namely, that Jesus is now the embodiment of the olden ritual of blood sacrifice - by his death, he has atoned for all of the sins of mankind, and it means a lot to the people who believe it. But, it is a belief grounded in fear - fear of a punishing god. Even in our supposed superior civilization, the "traditions of men" have presumed to keep mankind in the shackles of unnecessary ritual and belief, lest they be punished by God; but this was not the teaching of Jesus. That is a religion of men - a religion of authority...

You ask: "Which part of Jesus' life fulfilled this ceremony of the jews?"

The Christian church has put Jesus in the role of atoner, the role that once was held by a lamb or a bullock. But is this what Jesus intended? The Urantia Book - and more specifically the Life and Teachings of Jesus restated within its pages - tell us a different story - a story that belongs to ALL people, and not just to the Christian church, who claims to represent him.

Jesus revealed a loving heavenly Father - a Father who does not require sacrifice to gain his love, or for the forgiveness of sins - a Father who forgives his children even before they have need of forgiveness - a Father who does not ask that an innocent child be killed to atone for another child who has sinned. Christianity has long held that man is a sinful creature, in need of redemption, but Jesus' teachings say otherwise. Jesus says that although man may have evil tendencies, he is not inherently sinful. This was a new revelation in Jesus' times, and it is still a shocking truth to modern-day mankind, who remains persistent in believing in a God of retribution and vengeance.

There is no "original sin;" there is no inherent badness in man that has to be washed away through atonement by the taking of an innocent life. And so, Jesus' life was never meant to become a fulfillment of these kinds of ceremonies. Jesus established a new kind of religion. He stated clearly that man is a child of God, and through this shared sonship with the Father, that all people are related in the spiritual sense, and part of the larger brotherhood of mankind. He elevated man to a faith-son of God. He taught that faith is the one and only requirement for entrance into the kingdom of heaven and survival into eternal life. Most importantly, Jesus taught and LIVED a new kind of religion - the religion of personal spiritual experience - which effectively liberates the spiritual captives, and frees the souls of human beings to live lives of originality and freedom before God. No more does mankind have to live in cowering fear of God, but instead, can live in joyous co-creation with God, whose will for man is only goodness. You can read more about this religion of Jesus HERE.

The teachings of The Urantia Book reveal anew that man is indwelt by a fragment of the loving heavenly Father - that this indwelling spirit is there as a guide, and - along with the Spirit of Truth - this indwelling spirit, and the religion of Jesus, can help mankind to reach a new level of spiritual understanding and a new level of spiritual development. This understanding and development is what is sorely needed in the tumultuous times of the 21st century, and is one of the reasons that this amazing revelation has been given to us at this time.

And finally, The Urantia Book states: "One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." (196:1.3)

Through this knowledge - this amazing revelation of the Master's life - mankind can finally be delivered from the olden ideas of atonement and sacrifice into the new and progressive religion of the Spirit - the religion that Jesus himself lived while on earth.

Thank you so much for this very interesting and thoughful question...!

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Did Jesus take away the sins of the world?

Q: Did Jesus take away the sins of the world?

A: The belief that Jesus came to earth in order to "take away the sins of the world" is as old as Christianity, but it is not the gospel of Jesus.

The belief in the concept of "original sin" is also an age-old idea, but has no basis in fact.

(194:2.1) Jesus lived on earth and taught a gospel which redeemed man from the superstition that he was a child of the devil and elevated him to the dignity of a faith son of God.

Jesus taught that human nature is not inherently sinful. He taught that sin is the deliberate choosing of a path or an action that is in direct opposition to God's will. We all still have that ability to choose between good and evil, so the possibility of sin is ever-present, even since Jesus came here.

Jesus' real mission on earth was to establish the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of mankind - to proclaim the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, which are the cornerstones of this heavenly kingdom. By entering into this kingdom by faith, we are then fortified with a new purpose, and a new motivation to overcome sin through determination and personal responsibility to the ideals of the good, the true and the beautiful.

The whole idea of Jesus' purpose on earth as an atonement for the sins of mankind is set to rest once and for all in the teachings of The Urantia Book, and this is very good news for all of humanity. Please go HERE for a further exploration of the atonement doctrine.

For further study and inspiration about what really happened as a result of the Crucifixion, please see this reference regarding the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross.

And thanks for this very important question.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What does the UB say about sin? Homosexual relation?

Q: What does the UB say about sin? How can an individual know if something is a sin? Are homosexual relations a sin?

A: Here are a few Urantia Book quotes that will help you to understand what sin is, as contrasted with evil, error and iniquity:

(67:1.4) There are many ways of looking at sin, but from the universe philosophic viewpoint sin is the attitude of a personality who is knowingly resisting cosmic reality. Error might be regarded as a misconception or distortion of reality. Evil is a partial realization of, or maladjustment to, universe realities. But sin is a purposeful resistance to divine reality—a conscious choosing to oppose spiritual progress—while iniquity consists in an open and persistent defiance of recognized reality and signifies such a degree of personality disintegration as to border on cosmic insanity.

Error suggests lack of intellectual keenness; evil, deficiency of wisdom; sin, abject spiritual poverty; but iniquity is indicative of vanishing personality control.

(148:4.4) [Jesus said:] "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."

So, we can see that sin is a conscious choice to "oppose spiritual progress" and a "deliberate transgression of the divine law, the Father's will." In other words, one must know that what one is doing is a clear violation of the principles of truth, beauty and goodness, and then decide to do it anyway. This constitutes sin.

The ability to recognize sinful behavior is tied up with the development of a strong character. Here are some passages that illuminate this topic:

(140:4.8)Remember: While inherited urges cannot be fundamentally modified, emotional responses to such urges can be changed; therefore the moral nature can be modified, character can be improved. In the strong character emotional responses are integrated and co-ordinated, and thus is produced a unified personality. Deficient unification weakens the moral nature and engenders unhappiness.

(160:1.2) Human life consists in three great drives--urges, desires, and lures. Strong character, commanding personality, is only acquired by converting the natural urge of life into the social art of living, by transforming present desires into those higher longings which are capable of lasting attainment, while the commonplace lure of existence must be transferred from one's conventional and established ideas to the higher realms of unexplored ideas and undiscovered ideals.

(184:2.12) It requires a great and noble character, having started out wrong, to turn about and go right. All too often one's own mind tends to justify continuance in the path of error when once it is entered upon.

As for homosexual relations, this is an issue that The Urantia Book says nothing about. Although it does extol the value of friendship between same-sex persons, there are no guidelines in the book either for or against sexual relations in such a loving friendship, or the morality of such relations. Unlike the Bible, The Urantia Book is not specific about many of the social issues we face today, and it does not make blanket claims about specific behaviors. These "mores" are determined age to age by the prevailing sentiments of society. Having said that, I would also say that the teachings of The Urantia Book do exalt the man-woman relationship, along with marriage, children and family life, as the highest ideal of relationship. In all inter-personal relations, unselfish love - the desire to do good to others - should be the primary concern.

And regarding the sex urge, consider this quote:

(82:1.10) No human emotion or impulse, when unbridled and overindulged, can produce so much harm and sorrow as this powerful sex urge.

Ideally, spiritually-seeking people can look forward to a stage of development in which they are less bothered by matters of sexuality and physical conflict, and more towards a time when they can transcend these kinds of matters through spiritual identification. I might suggest that you take a look at The Spirit and the Flesh.
In it, we read the following, which is a very positive and encouraging passage - and a very good reason to stay on the spiritual path:

"Those God-knowing men and women who have been born of the Spirit experience no more conflict with their mortal natures than do the inhabitants of the most normal of worlds, planets which have never been tainted with sin nor touched by rebellion. Faith sons work on intellectual levels and live on spiritual planes far above the conflicts produced by unrestrained or unnatural physical desires. The normal urges of animal beings and the natural appetites and impulses of the physical nature are not in conflict with even the highest spiritual attainment except in the minds of ignorant, mistaught, or unfortunately overconscientious persons. "

I would invite you to interpret this reply and the above quotes with your highest, most spiritual thinking while deriving a personally meaningful answer to this question.

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

How liberal can we be with sexual activity?

Q: How liberal can one be with one`s sexual activity, and when does sexual activity become sinful, or even iniquitous?

A: In sexual activity, as in all other forms of human interaction, LOVE must be the rule of living, as Jesus has said. Jesus exhorted us to always do nothing to others that we would not want done to us, and more positively, to do unto others that which you desire others to do to you. In the sexual union, one would want to have mutuality of consent, and loving intentions above all. As long as there is that bond of love (ideally that of marriage or commitment), and a mutual desire, then there would certainly be room for a good bit of "liberality." What that might mean would have to be determined by the parties involved.

It seems to me that any activity, including sexual activity, becomes sinful only when it violates this rule - when it is purely selfish, or when it is harmful to another, either mentally, physically, or spiritually. And of course, if one persists in selfish or hurtful ways, then such activity would eventually meet the requirements of iniquity.

Read more about The Rule of Living

Thanks for this important question.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Why do we regard watching pornography as sinful and watching a murder action trailer as morally neutral?

I think your question is pretty subjective. I was brought up to think of pornography as sinful. Maybe you were, too. But, obviously, not everyone feels the same these days. Pornography is an industry, and is one of the largest and most profitable in the world. There's no shortage of it, but we do, as a society, seem to keep it under wraps more than we do violence, which is also pervasive - especially in entertainment. We are a violent species, just beginning to discover that we may be able to create peace. And yet we are seem to be still in love with war and killing, unfortunately, and seem to be less in love with one another.

Pornography is natural love taken to a licentious extreme, and violence is the extreme of human conflict. Neither one is desirable or uplifting, in my opinion. As for sinfulness, that may be a matter between the individual and God, although it is hard to imagine that either of these extremes would be pleasing to our loving Heavenly Father.

It may be that there is less a sense of "sinfulness" about many things in our society than there once was. There is a coarseness about much of our entertainment, and both of these extremes bleed into each other. Violence in film is but a reflection of our society, and pornography is simple license in my opinion - pornographers take advantage of weak-minded people who see no reason to control themselves. As well, pornography can be seen as a type of violence against women.

This is precisely the reason that spiritual values are so very important. An eternal spiritual perspective, and the knowledge that one is part of a Universe family and is loved dearly as an individual would fill so many needs that we have which are now satisfied only by increasing violence and more intense stimulation of the physical senses.

Thanks for this question. I hope this reply has been helpful to you.

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

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!

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Saturday, February 03, 2007

Evil, Sin and Iniquity

Q: I do not understand how evil can still exist, once you attain a certain level (example - Lucifer) so, my question is, 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. He mentions Lucifer (not by name, but you'll recognize him), and 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 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. Speaking just 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 it gives me a bad conscience. But evil - unconscious transgression - is something we all live with, to a relative degree. We just have to keep trying to overcome as best we can, by staying close to the Father, and by listening to the "still, small voice" that tells us the right thing to do.

Now that you understand this issue, 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!

Thanks so much for writing.

Sincerely,

MaryJo
Truthbook.com

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Thursday, October 26, 2006

What does the Urantia Book say about hell and judgment day?

Q: What does the Urantia Book say about hell and judgment day?


A: The Urantia Book does not teach the existence of a place called "hell." There is no place of eternal fire for the erring children of God. However, here are several quotes that illustrate the beginnings of the concept of hell, and its subsequent growth in human history:

The Death Survival Concept

p953:6 86:4.7 Early man entertained no ideas of hell or future punishment. The savage looked upon the future life as just like this one, minus all ill luck. Later on, a separate destiny for good ghosts and bad ghosts—heaven and hell—was conceived. But since many primitive races believed that man entered the next life just as he left this one, they did not relish the idea of becoming old and decrepit. The aged much preferred to be killed before becoming too infirm.

p953:7 86:4.8 Almost every group had a different idea regarding the destiny of the ghost soul. The Greeks believed that weak men must have weak souls; so they invented Hades as a fit place for the reception of such anemic souls; these unrobust specimens were also supposed to have shorter shadows. The early Andites thought their ghosts returned to the ancestral homelands. The Chinese and Egyptians once believed that soul and body remained together. Among the Egyptians this led to careful tomb construction and efforts at body preservation. Even modern peoples seek to arrest the decay of the dead. The Hebrews conceived that a phantom replica of the individual went down to Sheol; it could not return to the land of the living. They did make that important advance in the doctrine of the evolution of the soul.

The Concept Of Sin

p975:5 89:2.1 The fear of chance and the dread of bad luck literally drove man into the invention of primitive religion as supposed insurance against these calamities. From magic and ghosts, religion evolved through spirits and fetishes to taboos. Every primitive tribe had its tree of forbidden fruit, literally the apple but figuratively consisting of a thousand branches hanging heavy with all sorts of taboos. And the forbidden tree always said, "Thou shalt not."

p975:6 89:2.2 As the savage mind evolved to that point where it envisaged both good and bad spirits, and when the taboo received the solemn sanction of evolving religion, the stage was all set for the appearance of the new conception of sin. The idea of sin was universally established in the world before revealed religion ever made its entry. It was only by the concept of sin that natural death became logical to the primitive mind. Sin was the transgression of taboo, and death was the penalty of sin.

p975:7 89:2.3 Sin was ritual, not rational; an act, not a thought. And this entire concept of sin was fostered by the lingering traditions of Dilmun and the days of a little paradise on earth. The tradition of Adam and the Garden of Eden also lent substance to the dream of a onetime "golden age" of the dawn of the races. And all this confirmed the ideas later expressed in the belief that man had his origin in a special creation, that he started his career in perfection, and that transgression of the taboos—sin—brought him down to his later sorry plight.

p976:1 89:2.4 The habitual violation of a taboo became a vice; primitive law made vice a crime; religion made it a sin. Among the early tribes the violation of a taboo was a combined crime and sin. Community calamity was always regarded as punishment for tribal sin. To those who believed that prosperity and righteousness went together, the apparent prosperity of the wicked occasioned so much worry that it was necessary to invent hells for the punishment of taboo violators; the numbers of these places of future punishment have varied from one to five

p976:2 89:2.5 The idea of confession and forgiveness early appeared in primitive religion. Men would ask forgiveness at a public meeting for sins they intended to commit the following week. Confession was merely a rite of remission, also a public notification of defilement, a ritual of crying "unclean, unclean!" Then followed all the ritualistic schemes of purification. All ancient peoples practiced these meaningless ceremonies. Many apparently hygienic customs of the early tribes were largely ceremonial.

Early Egyptian Religion

p1045:2 95:2.9 When Melchizedek appeared in the flesh, the Egyptians had a religion far above that of the surrounding peoples. They believed that a disembodied soul, if properly armed with magic formulas, could evade the intervening evil spirits and make its way to the judgment hall of Osiris, where, if innocent of "murder, robbery, falsehood, adultery, theft, and selfishness," it would be admitted to the realms of bliss. If this soul were weighed in the balances and found wanting, it would be consigned to hell, to the Devouress. And this was, relatively, an advanced concept of a future life in comparison with the beliefs of many surrounding peoples.

p1045:3 95:2.10 The concept of judgment in the hereafter for the sins of one's life in the flesh on earth was carried over into Hebrew theology from Egypt. The word judgment appears only once in the entire Book of Hebrew Psalms, and that particular psalm was written by an Egyptian.

Zoroaster - The Salem Teachings In Iran.

p1050:2 95:6.6 The Jewish traditions of heaven and hell and the doctrine of devils as recorded in the Hebrew scriptures, while founded on the lingering traditions of Lucifer and Caligastia, were principally derived from the Zoroastrians during the times when the Jews were under the political and cultural dominance of the Persians. Zoroaster, like the Egyptians, taught the "day of judgment," but he connected this event with the end of the world.

p1050:3 95:6.7 Even the religion which succeeded Zoroastrianism in Persia was markedly influenced by it. When the Iranian priests sought to overthrow the teachings of Zoroaster, they resurrected the ancient worship of Mithra. And Mithraism spread throughout the Levant and Mediterranean regions, being for some time a contemporary of both Judaism and Christianity. The teachings of Zoroaster thus came successively to impress three great religions: Judaism and Christianity and, through them, Mohammedanism.

p1050:4 95:6.8 But it is a far cry from the exalted teachings and noble psalms of Zoroaster to the modern perversions of his gospel by the Parsees with their great fear of the dead, coupled with the entertainment of beliefs in sophistries which Zoroaster never stooped to countenance.

p1050:5 95:6.9 This great man was one of that unique group that sprang up in the sixth century before Christ to keep the light of Salem from being fully and finally extinguished as it so dimly burned to show man in his darkened world the path of light leading to everlasting

The idea of "judgment day," when it is thought that each one is to stand before God and be deemed worthy or unworthy for Heaven, is more real. But as the following quote illustrates, each person is seen as equal before God, and equally worthy of admission to the heavenly realms.

p1468:3 133:0.3 Said Jesus: "Though human beings differ in many ways, the one from another, before God and in the spiritual world all mortals stand on an equal footing. There are only two groups of mortals in the eyes of God: those who desire to do his will and those who do not. As the universe looks upon an inhabited world, it likewise discerns two great classes: those who know God and those who do not. Those who cannot know God are reckoned among the animals of any given realm. Mankind can appropriately be divided into many classes in accordance with differing qualifications, as they may be viewed physically, mentally, socially, vocationally, or morally, but as these different classes of mortals appear before the judgment bar of God, they stand on an equal footing; God is truly no respecter of persons."

The only thing that can keep a soul from progressing to Heaven is the final decision of that person to reject God's mercy, and his invitation to live forever. Every soul will be given an equal opportunity to accept or reject God's love. Those who do reject God, rather than going to a place of damnation, are extinquished as personality in all the universe. It is as though they never existed at all. But there is no place called hell for sinners.
Following are some quotes illustrating the importance of the spiritual life to mortals as far as survival after death is concerned:

From "God Is A Unversal Spirit:"
p25:6 1:3.6 In the universes God the Father is, in potential, the overcontroller of matter, mind, and spirit. Only by means of his far-flung personality circuit does God deal directly with the personalities of his vast creation of will creatures, but he is contactable (outside of Paradise) only in the presences of his fragmented entities, the will of God abroad in the universes. This Paradise spirit that indwells the minds of the mortals of time and there fosters the evolution of the immortal soul of the surviving creature is of the nature and divinity of the Universal Father. But the minds of such evolutionary creatures originate in the local universes and must gain divine perfection by achieving those experiential transformations of spiritual attainment which are the inevitable result of a creature's choosing to do the will of the Father in heaven.

p26:1 1:3.7 In the inner experience of man, mind is joined to matter. Such material-linked minds cannot survive mortal death. The technique of survival is embraced in those adjustments of the human will and those transformations in the mortal mind whereby such a God-conscious intellect gradually becomes spirit taught and eventually spirit led. This evolution of the human mind from matter association to spirit union results in the transmutation of the potentially spirit phases of the mortal mind into the morontia realities of the immortal soul. Mortal mind subservient to matter is destined to become increasingly material and consequently to suffer eventual personality extinction; mind yielded to spirit is destined to become increasingly spiritual and ultimately to achieve oneness with the surviving and guiding divine spirit and in this way to attain survival and eternity of personality existence.

From "The Goodness Of God:"
p41:6 2:6.8 God loves the sinner and hates the sin: such a statement is true philosophically, but God is a transcendent personality, and persons can only love and hate other persons. Sin is not a person. God loves the sinner because he is a personality reality (potentially eternal), while towards sin God strikes no personal attitude, for sin is not a spiritual reality; it is not personal; therefore does only the justice of God take cognizance of its existence. The love of God saves the sinner; the law of God destroys the sin. This attitude of the divine nature would apparently change if the sinner finally identified himself wholly with sin just as the same mortal mind may also fully identify itself with the indwelling spirit Adjuster. Such a sin-identified mortal would then become wholly unspiritual in nature (and therefore personally unreal) and would experience eventual extinction of being. Unreality, even incompleteness of creature nature, cannot exist forever in a progressingly real and increasingly spiritual universe.

p42:1 2:6.9 Facing the world of personality, God is discovered to be a loving person; facing the spiritual world, he is a personal love; in religious experience he is both. Love identifies the volitional will of God. The goodness of God rests at the bottom of the divine free-willness—the universal tendency to love, show mercy, manifest patience, and minister forgiveness.

In general, humans who are of survivor status, but who have not made the ultimate decision to survive before their death, are numbered among the "sleeping survivors." Groups of these souls slumber peacefully until a resurrectional roll call is made.
Following are some quotes having to do with what might be thought of a real "judgment day." These are rare, and wonderful events - times when many, many souls are resurrected at once, rather than having been resurrected "on the third day." You can assume that each of these souls will, once reawakened, be given the same opportunity for survival as any other soul, before or since. And the desision of the soul itself will determine the soul's being judged worthy of eternal life.

Ascending Mortals

p341:1 30:4.4 2. Sleeping Survivors. All mortals of survival status, in the custody of personal guardians of destiny, pass through the portals of natural death and, on the third period, personalize on the mansion worlds. Those accredited beings who have, for any reason, been unable to attain that level of intelligence mastery and endowment of spirituality which would entitle them to personal guardians, cannot thus immediately and directly go to the mansion worlds. Such surviving souls must rest in unconscious sleep until the judgment day of a new epoch, a new dispensation, the coming of a Son of God to call the rolls of the age and adjudicate the realm, and this is the general practice throughout all Nebadon. It was said of Christ Michael that, when he ascended on high at the conclusion of his work on earth, "He led a great multitude of captives." And these captives were the sleeping survivors from the days of Adam to the day of the Master's resurrection on Urantia.

p341:2 30:4.5 The passing of time is of no moment to sleeping mortals; they are wholly unconscious and oblivious to the length of their rest. On reassembly of personality at the end of an age, those who have slept five thousand years will react no differently than those who have rested five days. Aside from this time delay these survivors pass on through the ascension regime identically with those who avoid the longer or shorter sleep of death.

p341:3 30:4.6 These dispensational classes of world pilgrims are utilized for group morontia activities in the work of the local universes. There is a great advantage in the mobilization of such enormous groups; they are thus kept together for long periods of effective service.

And this final quote illustrates the last dispensational resurrection, made by Jesus at the time of his ascension into Heaven following his resurrection from the tomb.

The Dispensational Resurrection

p2024:3 189:3.1 A little after half past four o'clock this Sunday morning, Gabriel summoned the archangels to his side and made ready to inaugurate the general resurrection of the termination of the Adamic dispensation on Urantia. When the vast host of the seraphim and the cherubim concerned in this great event had been marshaled in proper formation, the morontia Michael appeared before Gabriel, saying: "As my Father has life in himself, so has he given it to the Son to have life in himself. Although I have not yet fully resumed the exercise of universe jurisdiction, this self-imposed limitation does not in any manner restrict the bestowal of life upon my sleeping sons; let the roll call of the planetary resurrection begin."

p2024:4 189:3.2 The circuit of the archangels then operated for the first time from Urantia. Gabriel and the archangel hosts moved to the place of the spiritual polarity of the planet; and when Gabriel gave the signal, there flashed to the first of the system mansion worlds the voice of Gabriel, saying: "By the mandate of Michael, let the dead of a Urantia dispensation rise!" Then all the survivors of the human races of Urantia who had fallen asleep since the days of Adam, and who had not already gone on to judgment, appeared in the resurrection halls of mansonia in readiness for morontia investiture. And in an instant of time the seraphim and their associates made ready to depart for the mansion worlds. Ordinarily these seraphic guardians, onetime assigned to the group custody of these surviving mortals, would have been present at the moment of their awaking in the resurrection halls of mansonia, but they were on this world itself at this time because of the necessity of Gabriel's presence here in connection with the morontia resurrection of Jesus.

p2024:5 189:3.3 Notwithstanding that countless individuals having personal seraphic guardians and those achieving the requisite attainment of spiritual personality progress had gone on to mansonia during the ages subsequent to the times of Adam and Eve, and though there had been many special and millennial resurrections of Urantia sons, this was the third of the planetary roll calls, or complete dispensational resurrections. The first occurred at the time of the arrival of the Planetary Prince, the second during the time of Adam, and this, the third, signalized the morontia resurrection, the mortal transit, of Jesus of Nazareth.

p2024:6 189:3.4 When the signal of the planetary resurrection had been received by the chief of archangels, the Personalized Adjuster of the Son of Man relinquished his authority over the celestial hosts assembled on Urantia, turning all these sons of the local universe back to the jurisdiction of their respective commanders. And when he had done this, he departed for Salvington to register with Immanuel the completion of the mortal transit of Michael. And he was immediately followed by all the celestial host not required for duty on Urantia. But Gabriel remained on Urantia with the morontia Jesus.
p2025:1 189:3.5 And this is the recital of the events of the resurrection of Jesus as viewed by those who saw them as they really occurred, free from the limitations of partial and restricted human vision.

Thanks for this question.

MaryJo
Truthbook.com

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Monday, March 27, 2006

Did Jesus die for the sins of mankind?

Q: Did Jesus die on the cross for the sins of mankind? Did God send Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins so we could go to heaven?

A: Did Jesus die for the sins of mankind? In the Frequently Asked Questions section, upper right corner of our home page - Truthbook FAQ - listed under the heading "About Jesus" you'll find answers to "Do you believe Jesus died to save us?" and "What does The Urantia Book say about Jesus being the Saviour?" which will give you a more detailed answer than this one, but basically, no, God doesn't require the shedding of innocent blood in order to win his favor or to divert fictitious divine wrath.

The concept of original sin, as well as the doctrine of blood atonement are contrary to the idea of a loving Father-God. This is completely covered in The Urantia Book within the first five papers, which reveal to us the exact nature of God, and his relationship to us mortals, his created beings. The Cross of Jesus acquires new and deeper meaning in this light, and again, this subject is well-covered in Part IV, the papers that deal with the life, teachings, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

There's also a good section in the center of our home page titled "There is Life after Death" that describes in vivid detail heaven and the life we experience once this life is over. In addition, there is a flash movie titled "After You Die," which you might find quite illuminating in light of your questions.

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