Urantia Book Commentary and Articles

This video is an amazing testament to the speed with which Urantian civilization is accelerating...but is it accelerating in the right direction? Is is truly sustainable?

p1086:6(99:1.3) Urantia society can never hope to settle down as in past ages. The social ship has steamed out of the sheltered bays of established tradition and has begun its cruise upon the high seas of evolutionary destiny; and the soul of man, as never before in the world's history, needs carefully to scrutinize its charts of morality and painstakingly to observe the compass of religious guidance. The paramount mission of religion as a social influence is to stabilize the ideals of mankind during these dangerous times of transition from one phase of civilization to another, from one level of culture to another.

p909:6(81:6.25) The greatest twentieth-century influences contributing to the furtherance of civilization and the advancement of culture are the marked increase in world travel and the unparalleled improvements in methods of communication. But the improvement in education has not kept pace with the expanding social structure; neither has the modern appreciation of ethics developed in correspondence with growth along more purely intellectual and scientific lines. And modern civilization is at a standstill in spiritual development and the safeguarding of the home institution.

p910:1(81:6.28) At first life was a struggle for existence; now, for a standard of living; next it will be for quality of thinking, the coming earthly goal of human existence.

p1772:4(160:1.3) The more complex civilization becomes, the more difficult will become the art of living. The more rapid the changes in social usage, the more complicated will become the task of character development. Every ten generations mankind must learn anew the art of living if progress is to continue. And if man becomes so ingenious that he more rapidly adds to the complexities of society, the art of living will need to be remastered in less time, perhaps every single generation. If the evolution of the art of living fails to keep pace with the technique of existence, humanity will quickly revert to the simple urge of livingâ€”the attainment of the satisfaction of present desires. Thus will humanity remain immature; society will fail in growing up to full maturity

Please see The Maintenance of Civilization

And enjoy this short presentation...!

Labels: civilization, communication, complexity, religion, The Urantia Book

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Religion and Unity: Report

Sunday, November 16, 2008
Religion and Unity: Report

Last night's interfaith panel discussion on the role of religion in promoting unity at the Boston Baha'i Center appeared to be a great success. The panel included representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Urantia Book, the United Church of Christ, and the Baha'i Faith. The representatives from the LDS church emphasized the importance of family unity as the foundation of all other kinds of unity, sharing stories about their own families and the inspiration they derive from the scriptures of their faith. The representative of the Urantia Book, which appeared to also have some relation to biblical Christianity, emphasized how the expansion of consciousness of how great God is would contribute to greater unity among religious people. Pastor Michele Bagby Allen, a long time friend and fellow Harvard Divinity School grad, argued that the example of Jesus in the Gospels as well as statements by the Apostle Paul served as evidence that Christianity can be a basis for unity among people

Labels: Baha'i, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Interfaith, Jesus, religion, The Urantia Book, United Church of Christ, unity

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Monday, September 29, 2008

God, science and other dark thoughts

Miranda Devine
September 27, 2008

This is the first of a two-page article. As you may know, John Templeton, for whom this lecture is named, was a champion and supporter of the effort to harmonize science and religion. Again, this is an article which shows how the revolutionary new discoveries in space science and physics are slowly but surely helping scientists look even further for the Truth of creation. The truth of The Urantia Book's revelations are slowly becoming known...

Please click on "external source" for the complete article.

In a lecture theatre on the second floor of the Physics Building at Sydney University on Wednesday, an American professor in jeans and sandshoes bounced around the seven blackboards, scribbling formulas, talking of quarks, gluons and multiverses, drawing chalk pictures of expanding galaxies and workshopping a few little mysteries of the universe.

What caused the Big Bang? What is dark energy? Does God exist?

Known as the "rock star of physics" for his lucid language and peppy style, Lawrence Krauss, 54, a theoretical physicist and best-selling author from Arizona State University, was briefly in town to present the Templeton Lecture at Sydney University and a small workshop for students the next day.

In the past decade a series of discoveries about the universe has prompted a revolution in scientific thinking, of which the average person is probably blissfully unaware.

Krauss is one of those scientists at the forefront of this new cosmological understanding - and of a corresponding renewed battle between science and religion. "The last 10 years have changed everything," he said in an interview after Wednesday's workshop. "Our ideas of what the universe is made of have changed â€¦ That's why physicists have gone so crazy."

For instance, we now know that the universe is flat (although we don't know if it has an edge). And we have discovered that 70 per cent of the energy of the universe is in empty space. But we don't know how that can be.

"The dominant part of the universe is dark energy - the energy associated with empty space. That implies something," he says. "Why is the universe driven by the energy of nothing?"

What's more, dark energy is "gravitationally repulsive", so it acts to push the universe apart. "The expansion of the universe is speeding up, but dark energy is constant â€¦ That is the biggest mystery in the universe."

Why is the energy density of all matter in the universe almost exactly equal to the density of dark energy today?

It is the great cosmic coincidence: we humans exist at the precise point in the life of the universe when those two numbers coincide. Physicists call it the "coincidence problem".

"The fact we happen to be close to the time when the two values are the same is absurd," says Krauss. "It's absurd. It drives me crazy."

The accepted explanation for how the universe began is the Big Bang theory, first proposed in 1927 by the Belgian mathematician and priest Georges Lemaitre, which holds that the universe expanded 13.7 billion years ago from a single dense point and has been expanding ever since. More recently came the discovery that the rate at which the universe is expanding is speeding up.

Labels: Big Bang, dark matter, God, gravity, Lawrence Krauss, Miranda Devine, physics, religion, science, space, Templeton Lecture

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Faith and Reason

Faith and Reason

My friends made a big fuss when their Mom predicted her death. Well, itâ€™s not everyday Mom says she is going to die. Their Mom did succumb to lung cancer later that day. We sat and they talked about what a great person she was and reminisced on old times long gone. But they kept coming back to Momâ€™s recent prediction. They found great meaning in this event. Much of it seems to have come from their faith in Momâ€™s organizational abilities. Planning her end was consistent with the way she lived her life. Thus in their minds the prediction was an extension of who she was and not some random expressed thought that just happened to come true.

The faith of many in God is also connected to this process of finding meaning in the seemingly random events of life. The current emotional explosion in Muslim dominated countries reflects this search for meaning through the connection of theology and random events. The Danish consulate in Lebanon was burned to the ground by a mob because of a cartoon in a Danish newspaper. There doesnâ€™t seem to be a way of rationalizing this event. There is no obvious connection between the newspaper and the government of Denmark. There is no obvious connection between a worldwide religious movement and some guy doodling on a piece of paper. And yet the protestors define the meaning of the event as being an â€œinsult to our faithâ€�. Despite the difficulty in rationalizing violence as a religious faith response, the protestors put all of the pieces together and went on the attack. The problem is that many faith responses â€“ and this one in particular â€“ appear to be functioning outside of the bounds of reason.

The Urantia Book says that religion is â€œwholly rational insight which originates in manâ€™s mind-experienceâ€� (1105.2). When the book speaks of insight it is talking about that learning which comes from the spiritual forces which are influencing us to be more Godlike. When the book speaks of rationality it is talking about the reasoning abilities inherent within the human mind. In other words â€“ true religious experience involves both spiritual guidance and human reasoning. The book says that religion is reasonable, rational and logical. It also says that even though spiritual truth is beyond reason, reason is an important part of our growing experience of Godâ€™s presence. And so, religious concepts should always be able to withstand the scrutiny of human reason. God wants us to use our minds as well as our hearts when developing the highest human concepts of our Father in Heaven.

The continuing world-wide violence in the name of religion shows that our world needs to reject religious ideas which do not stand up to reasonable examination. The search for meaning cannot be held hostage by the mixing of random events with age old traditions. Too many people are locked into belief systems which make no logical sense in our quickly advancing world culture. The ideas of The Urantia Book, which I believe are the most reasonable and logical of any and all religious concepts to date, need to be promoted to the fullest extent. It isnâ€™t enough to urge someone to read the book. The concepts within the book need to be promoted as much as the book itself. Unquestioned belief systems need to be replaced by the reasonable concepts that were given to us through revealed truth. It is these truth concepts stimulating the inherent logic of our minds in concert with the always present spiritual forces that will move the search for meaning ever higher.

God bless you,

William Whitehead

Â© 2006 All Rights Reserved

Labels: faith, God, meaning, Muslims, reason, religion, The Urantia Book, violence, William Whitehead

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Quest for Spiritual Culture: An Exploration of the Urantian Paradigm of Spirituality

Quest for Spiritual Culture:
An Exploration of the Urantian Paradigm of Spirituality

David Kantor's IC99 Plenary Address
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Contents:
Exploring the Urantian Paradigm of Spirituality
Recovering from the Lucifer Rebellion
Mortal Support of Seraphic Ministry
(For additional background, see also, "Exactly How do Seraphim Work?")

When we gather together like this, it seems appropriate that we consider the state of our planet and ask what we, as bearers of an epochal revelation, are doing about it. The Urantia Book describes a paradigm of spirituality which is fundamental to the social development of normal worlds. We're going to explore that paradigm this morning. We'll look at how the Lucifer rebellion has retarded its implementation on our world; and we'll look at how the seraphic planetary government is mobilized in support of it. The result should be a very practical understanding of how we each can support this paradigm, and thus participate cooperatively in the transformative tasks of the fifth epoch.

Religionists often view entanglement in the institutional affairs of government, economics, industry and civil culture as detracting from more important personal spiritual pursuits.

Medieval Christianity taught that the authority of the state and all the institutions of this world were an ordained punishment for the sin of Adam. Radical Calvinism took the position that true believers had been mandated by God to control sin by means of civil institutions. Conservative Islam seeks to place social and governing institutions under the control of the clergy.

And while good men and women of faith struggle valiantly throughout the world, trying to serve humanity as best they can, the fact remains that the world is desperately short of compelling visions by which a spiritual transformation of its institutions might even be contemplated.

We live today in a world where we are struggling to keep the basic human institutions of marriage and family intact. It is not surprising then, that we would find great confusion and difficulty in attempting to achieve meaningful personality integration at higher levels of social complexity.

It is helpful to think of "institutions" as co-ordinating mechanisms. In a world of active, creative personalities there need to be means for coordinating their activities so they may be mutually sustaining where possible and, hopefully, not mutually destructive. In today's world, the ways in which we affect each other's activities are changing rapidly. When the rate of change exceeds the rate at which coordinating institutions can adapt and remain effective, a threshold is crossed where social breakdown begins to appear.

As the world continues to flirt with this threshold, the magnitude of the potential difficulties seems overwhelming. Global ecological problems whose solutions will require an unprecedented level of international cooperation loom on the horizon. Fledgling institutions of world government, developed to prevent catastrophic wars between superpowers are finding themselves unable to prevent regional civil wars rooted in ethnic conflict. And throughout the developed world, the breakdown of that most basic and fundamental of all human institutions, the family, continues to accelerate.

There has been great success in building military, economic, and industrial systems, but a failure to advance systems which are inherently social and moral. We have utterly failed to match the astonishing accomplishments of our heads and hands with a comparable development of our hearts.

In Paper 92 we are told that, "Modern man is confronted with the task of making more readjustments of human values in one generation than have been made in two thousand years."

In Paper 99 the revelators describe our time as "psychologically unsettled", characterized by "the economic upheavals, moral crosscurrents, and sociologic rip tides of the cyclonic transitions of a scientific era."

The popular mentality is again filled with apocalyptic fears and expectations.

Historian Oswald Spengler, in his book "The Decline of the West" comments on our tendency to equate cultural crisis with apocalypse; to become so overwhelmed by the magnitude of change taking place that we lose the ability to rationally process it and end up projecting metaphysical meanings onto events we observe in the world around us. Spengler goes on to point out that "crisis" is the normal state of Western Civilization.

You may recall the story about Mahatma Ghandi's return to India after his first visit to England. He was asked by a reporter what he thought of Western civilization and he replied that -- he thought it would be a good idea.

Over the next half century, human society will undergo yet more profound changes. It will experience a radical demographic transformation, be challenged by unforseen effects of ecological neglect, experience fundamental shifts in the global balance of economic and political power, and cope with nearly continuous technological change. These transformations are inevitable -- the forces which compel them are already in place -- but what the outcome will be, no one knows.

It is such a complex system of inter-related factors that no one can reasonably predict its likely state at any point in the future. It is impossible to know whether the twenty-first century will usher in an era of human advancement and global integration, or a period of conflict, environmental degradation and human tragedy on a scale that overshadows anything which has previously occurred -- The planet is literally "quivering on the brink."

Broad social trends, such as rising levels of education, attempts to stabilize an emerging international economy, rapid increases in literacy world-wide, and the growing economic and social liberation of women, are examples of powerful forces with unknown potentials for transformative change. The information revolution with its ability to profoundly affect public opinion, is spreading globally far more quickly than did the industrial revolution. And it is clear that the majority of the social, economic and political effects of this revolution have yet to appear.

The underlying forces which determine all these trends however, are human processes driven by human decisions being made on a daily basis. We may not be able to predict the future, but we certainly are shaping it through the choices we make on a moment by moment basis.

The general consensus of opinion held by individuals who attempt to study these trends and their implications, is that the long-term social and ecological health of our planet will be determined by decisions made in the next 25 years or so -- during the lifetime of virtually every person in this room; each of us will participate in determining the outcome.

Czech President Vaclav Havel has commented that "Nothing short of a new spiritual vision of global dimensions will save human civilization."

Exploring the Urantian Paradigm of Spirituality

Most of us would be in agreement that The Urantia Book provides such a vision. But how do we go about applying the ideas in this book to the problems of our world? How do we get from ink and paper to an advancing civilization ruled by spiritual wisdom? While the revelators have generously provided us with a comprehensive overview of the cosmic context within which the present planetary struggle is taking place, the challenge of effectively applying this information lies before us today.

The Urantia Book describes religion as "the mighty lever which lifts civilization from chaos."

But we are also told that institutional religion "cannot afford inspiration and provide leadership in this impending world-wide social reconstruction." We are told that "Only the real religion of personal spiritual experience can function helpfully and creatively in the present crisis of civilization."

And it is this "real religion of personal spiritual experience" along with The Urantia Book's portrayal of the ideals of cosmic citizenship, which holds such great hope for transforming human institutions. With these concepts, The Urantia Book profiles a paradigm of spirituality unlike that of any existing religion or philosophy in the world today. It links personal spiritual development to meaningful personality integration resulting in the brotherhood of man.

The grand panorama of a personal cosmos is first laid out in the Foreword of The Urantia Book. The revelators make it clear to us that the future of the cosmos involves a discovery and exploration of the new realities which actualize when personalities interact with each other in creative ways.

As the revelation unfolds we are told something about the cosmic purpose of all this personality experience -- preparation for creative participation in the communities of personalities which comprise the mortal corps of the finality, communities of personalities who have experientially, over the long journey to Paradise, discovered, explored, and developed their potentials for working together creatively for the Father's purposes.

We are told about our ascent through the "psychic circles" which involves cosmic socialization and the realization of universe citizenship.

Social integration and spiritual growth are inseperable in the Urantia Book's paradigm of spirituality. In this paradigm, the locus of spirituality is in the relationships between personalities.

This revelation describes relationships between persons, from the Paradise Trinity down to those which we sustain with our family members, as the living realities within which the continuous discovery and exploration of an infinite cosmos takes place.

In Paper 103 a Melchizedek admonishes us to "Remember that in the religion of all ages the experience which is paramount is the feeling regarding moral values and social meanings, not the thinking regarding theologic dogmas or philosophic theories."

Just as information about the material world makes impressions on the conscious mind through the eyes and the ears during the process of looking and listening, so do spiritual values make their impressions on the superconscious mind during the process of reflective personality interaction.

In a loving, caring, "authentic" exchange with another personality the superconscious functions of mind are mobilized in a state of dynamic receptivity, open to the discovery of divine values which the immediate moment holds as potentials.

Imagine for a moment that you are engaged with another person in an effort to solve a problem. You're sincerely seeking the best possible outcome. As you engage in this discussion, you try to do your best thinking; you simultaneously attempt to be conscious of the moral and ethical values in the situation.

You try to phrase your communication in a caring and loving manner. The interaction is free from any effort to psychologically or emotionally manipulate the other. As you communicate you are trying to remain "conscious of consciousness" -- you've mobilized your best resources and while applying them you are still actively evaluating -- seeking to discern even higher values.

You may even attain a level of involvement where you actively seek to bring an understanding of the Father's will into the interaction -- you're sharing the inner life with God as you participate in this relationship.

This experience in which the personality engages in a choice-making dance with the meanings and values of the cosmos, is the living process by which we open ourselves up to spiritual guidance.

The Midwayers comment that, "Every time man makes a reflective moral choice he immediately experiences a new divine invasion of his soul."

This living process of relationship is where the fruits of the spirit appear. It is where we apply the higher levels of the golden rule. It is where we implement Jesus' great commandment. It is where Jesus' brotherhood of the kingdom is experientially discovered.

This is the paradigm of spirituality which the apostles failed to grasp!

And I ask today, "Do we get it?" Have we really gained any more understanding than the Apostles had regarding the profound implications of Jesus' teachings about the kingdom of heaven?

In Paper 170 the Midwayers comment that "...to his apostles Jesus always taught the kingdom as embracing man's personal experience in relation to his fellows on earth and to the Father in heaven." "The kingdom of heaven," said Jesus, "is a spiritual relationship between God and man."

Given this paradigm of spirituality, and the Apostle's difficulty in grasping it, appreciate the remembrance supper.

This sacrament which Jesus initiated has the potential for invoking a social context in which it is possible to experientially discover that which he was unsuccessful in communicating to his followers.

The remembrance supper is an intimate social activity. Through the employment of this sacrament we are encouraged to attempt to become conscious of our personal relationship with the Father as well as our relationships with our fellows, and to merge these into an experiential wholeness catalyzed by a shared appreciation of the Master's life.

Said the Master on the occassion of that first remembrance, "Every soul who attains the realization of this united nature of God and man shall live forever. And this bread of life which I give to all who will receive is my own living and combined nature. The Father in the Son and the Son one with the Father--that is my life-giving revelation to the world and my saving gift to all nations."

In the context of the remembrance supper our souls can experientially feel the spiritual state of personality integration which The Urantia Book indicates needs to be actualized as a cultural reality on a broad scale.

A Melchizedek refers to the remembrance supper as "... the practice of the presence of God which eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man."

The Midwayers comment that by establishing this sacrament, "the Master sought to set man's reborn soul free upon the joyous wings of a new and living spiritual liberty."

This "religion of personal spiritual experience," the Urantian paradigm of spirituality, is creative participation in a progressive culture of integrated mortal-divine personality association. It contains an ideal of daily living in which every single encounter with another person is an opportunity to participate directly in the spiritual transformation of the world.

Recovering from the Lucifer Rebellion

Once we begin to appreciate the critical importance of the relationship between mortal personality and the personality of the universal Father, we can more fully appreciate how the Lucifer rebellion has affected human institutions.

Item number one in the Lucifer manifesto was a denial of the reality of the universal Father. And even today, tens of thousands of years later, there is still confusion in the world regarding whether or not this essential relationship with the Father is real, or merely a conceptual illusion.

The long-term repercussions of failing to establish a spiritual basis for social evolution may be seen when we compare the state of our institutions with those described for a normal world in a post-Adamic epoch. Failure to establish a relationship with the Father significantly reduces an individual's chances of perceiving and implementing values which transcend self-interests. And it is from such an impoverished set of values that many of our world's institutions derive their character.

Recovery from the Lucifer rebellion requires elevation of the values by which the people of our world conduct their affairs. On the level of planetary institutions and culture, the realization of full recovery is limited only by individual free-will decision making processes which choose and actualize values within the cultural milieu on a moment-by-moment basis. It's the ultimate democracy and we cast a vote each time we make a choice of values which affect a human interaction.

The trial of Timothy McVey for the Oklahoma City bombing may have settled his legal status, but the task of repairing the damage he did - emotionally, psychologically, socially, spiritually - will continue to challenge the affected individuals and community for many years to come. And so it is likely to be with the recovery from the Lucifer rebellion.

We can get an idea of how the universe authorities are dealing with this situation by observing the focus of the last three epochal revelations. Each of them has represented an attempt to re-establish a spiritual foundation on the planet from which cosmic citizenship might develop.

Machiventa Melchizedek dealt with the very basic dynamics of the relationship with God - its faith-grasp by the mortal mind.

Jesus continued the process with a revelation of the nature of the Father's personality and his love for each individual. Each of these revelations aimed at restoring the integrity of this underlying relationship between the individual and God. Jesus, with his teachings about the kingdom, also laid the groundwork for a fuller appreciation of the interpersonal nature of reality.

The Urantia Book furthers this process with its revelation that this emerging network of spiritualizing personality relationships is a vital part of the living cosmos.

The primary task of the fifth epoch seems clearly laid out before us -- fostering the development in our world of a cosmic foundation of spiritualized personality relationships. This is the essential infrastructure which must be in place before a meaningful spiritual culture can evolve.

Upon such a foundation, men and women will more easily discover those higher values of universe socialization and cosmic citizenship by which our institutions might truly be transformed.

Mortal Support of Seraphic Ministry

There are indications in the book that the number of seraphim devoted to this task is enormous. I suspect that almost everyone in this room, at one time or another, has felt a deep desire to assist our unseen friends in some small way in their task of planetary enlightenment, to support the plans they no doubt have implemented relative to this revelation.

In attempting to get a useful idea of what cooperation with the revelators and their seraphic associates involves, we can study the way in which seraphic involvement in human affairs is described in The Urantia Book. With that knowledge it should be relatively easy for us to recognize what we need to do to support and reinforce their efforts. If we could accomplish this and foster the growth of a readership in which each individual is actively seeking cooperative engagement with the program being implemented by the planetary government, we might be able to do a great deal in terms of helping "apply spiritual pressure from above" to the problems of our day.

So how do the seraphim work?

They are "mind stimulators," continually seeking to promote circle-making decisions in the mortal mind. They "operate from the outside inward, working through the social, ethical and moral environment of human beings." This network of spiritualizing interpersonal relationships is real. It forms a morontia environment in which the seraphim are able to minister to participating minds and souls.

In Paper 196 we're reminded that, "The human mind does not create real values; human experience does not yield universe insight. Concerning insight, the recognition of moral values and the discernment of spiritual meanings, all that the human mind can do is to discover, recognize, interpret, and choose."

It is the Seraphim who make spiritual values "visible" to the superconscious, as it functions in the social, ethical and moral environment of interpersonal communion.

In The Urantia Book we are encouraged to pray for values; we are told such praying indicates that religion "has evolved to that level where the human mind recognizes the reality of beneficent powers or beings who are able to enhance social values and to augment moral ideals..."

From the ministry of the Mighty Primary Supernaphim who facilitate the relationships between the diverse residents of Paradise, to the Primary Seconaphim who facilitate relationships between the Ancients of Days, the Trinity and the Creator Sons, on down to the Home Seraphim who function within the relationships between your family members, the ministry of the Infinite Spirit is continuously fostering the value-potentials inherent in personality associations.

These relationships -- our first living connections with the infinite cosmos -- are fragile, tenuous affairs which flicker back and forth from reality to unreality in accordance with the quality of values being implemented in any given interaction. This is the arena in which the seraphim labor to reinforce the faintest flickers of faith, to strengthen newly emerging souls and immediately begin integrating them with the culture of the spiritual cosmos.

At a conference like this we can actually feel this process taking place -- we feel spiritually invigorated and challenged to be our best in our friendships. New meanings and values appear in our relationships with each other on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Consider for a moment some of the angelic orders which serve in this personal universe:

The Interpreters of Cosmic Citizenship

The Union of Souls

The Spirits of Brotherhood

The Ethical Sensitizers

The Social Architects

The Heart of Counsel

The Satisfaction of Service

The Quickeners of Morality

-- the list goes on and on. Just contemplating these names gives us a glimpse into the personal nature of the spiritual cosmos. This entire ministry of the angelic orders is focused on the spiritual enhancement of relationships between personalities.

The Master Seraphim of Planetary Supervision foster the development of human institutions by making higher values available to the mortals who participate in the work of those institutions. These seraphim minister within social groups -- the angels of the churches, the angels of the races, the angels of progress, the home seraphim. The angels of enlightenment are occupied, not only with the mental and moral training of individuals, but of small groups -- families, groups, schools, communities -- virtually any association of mortals persisting over some period of time seems to provide a context for seraphic ministry.

How do we support their work? Six quick action-points:

1. First and foremost is our personal relationship with the Father. The secret of Jesus' unparalleled religious life was his consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship--unbroken communion with God. God needs to become an integral part of all our processes.

2. We support seraphic efforts by cultivating a sensitivity to the divine values they attempt to bring to our attention.

3. We support their work by courageously choosing those values to shape our relationships with others -- "by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions."

4. We support seraphic services when we reinforce the higher value-choices we recognize being made by our fellows -- stabilizing and affirming existing values where appropriate; recognizing and reinforcing religious living in others.

5. We lay the groundwork for enhanced seraphic action when we provide spiritually useful information. Get The Urantia Book spread around the planet. Remember the parable of the sower. Jesus said that this parable was a hint as to what messengers of the kingdom might expect in their ministry from generation to generation as time passed. Don't assume that we'll always have the remarkable global transportation and communication infrastructure which we enjoy today. Maximize all available opportunities and resources for the spread of the revelation. Don't wait for things to happen -- make them happen.

6. Be involved; participate creatively in human associations. Rededicate yourself to service in your marriage and your family, your work community and your study group. The cultural icon of the monastic saint living in contemplative bliss aloof from the cares of less enlightened folk is no longer useful. Mother Theresa, Dag Hammersjold, Vaclav Havel, countless men and women with high ideals, working in the inner city, in classrooms, in churches, struggling to revitalize our institutions -- these are the new icons of the applied spirituality of the fifth epoch. The benign virus of love is not going to invade the sentimental emotion stream of humanity unless we're out there helping to make the personality connections necessary for its transmission.

By dedicating ourselves to such a program, by choosing the highest values we can recognize in any given situation, we can serve as conduits through which the higher values of the spiritual world may be passed to the mortal world and incorporated into planetary institutions.

"True religion," a Melchizedek tells us, "is the devotion of the self to the service of meaningful and supreme values."

This vision is ennobling. Your family, the local school board on which you serve, your kid's soccer team, the youth group at your church, the working group at your office -- When you realize that these are all arenas in which the seraphim are laboring to achieve a spiritual transformation, the most commonplace tasks of daily life take on cosmic significance and become worthy of our best efforts. This is how the religion of personal spiritual experience can become "the mighty lever which lifts civilization from chaos."

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to ask you to take a deep breath, and take a moment to look around you. Impress upon your mind the image of this beautiful room and the hundreds of readers sitting around you. Recall the moments of worship, insight and love which you have experienced here -- impress these realities into your memory.

And as you serve in the years to come, when you run into difficulty or feel overwhelmed by circumstances, reflect back on this moment, a time in which you sat in assembly with a gathering of universe conscious citizens of Urantia. In your times of challenge, rest assured that many of these individuals are valiantly serving the Father's purposes in their own corners of the world, in their own sets of challenging circumstances.

Look ahead as well, to a reunion on the mansion worlds, where we can reminisce about the Urantia adventure, deepen our friendships, and perhaps be launched on the universe career in the company of cherished friends from the mortal adventure.

And as you leave here today, and see your fellows streaming out of the doors of this auditorium, appreciate the fact that they are on their way to Africa, Asia, the Pacific; to Europe, to North and South America, carrying a heightened understanding of the kingdom of heaven to be planted in the families and human associations of our world.

May God richly bless each and every one of you with unlimited opportunities to participate uin the spiritual transformation of our world.

Labels: David Kantor, Lucifer Rebellion, religion, Seraphic ministry, spirituality, The Urantia Book, Urantian

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Urantia Book has a Message for You...

Sue Tennant
Couchiching Urantia Society of Ontario's Annual Conference Sunday June 10th, 1990

The Urantia Book is a great book about religion (among other things) - but it is not and should never be misunderstood to be a religion in itself.

I think religion, at least organized religion, should be thought of as a cultural thing, even a manmade affair - something that is continually evolving as a result of what a group of people believe about a higher reality and how they try to connect with it. Religion is important because it's so much a part of our culture and values and it has inspired some of our best human thoughts and actions. But regrettably, it has also imprisoned the human mind and oppressed the human spirit. Religion is notorious for its complexity, confusion and inconsistency. Fortunately, the Urantia Book is not a product of any cultural religious tradition on this planet - it is rather a neutral and entirely objective commentary about life that inspires a sense of unity and clarity amidst such religious diversity.

The reason I mention this is, as far as the Urantia book is concerned, it makes absolutely no difference what religious culture you have been raised in or are what you now leaning towards. You will find that the Urantia Book will ultimately support your individual faith in whatever religious setting you feel most comfortable. Whether you are a Jew, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Buddhist, B'Hai, Muslim or Hindu or whatever, this book will offer you a tremendous gift quite apart from any religious tradition. I think this gift that the Urantia Book offers, is as important as anything you'll receive in your entire life.

What is this fantastic gift? It is an eternal and everlasting gift of a profound personal status not only in this world, but in the vast universe and the unlimited cosmos, science is just beginning to fathom. It is an uplifting and challenging gift that will make you feel very special, very proud and very fortunate to be born on this particular planet at this particular time in history. It is a gift that will give you a sense of personal dignity that will simply amaze you - because it has the power to transcend any serious negative hold your environment might have had on you. It is the extraordinary gift of healthy self-esteem, deep rooted self-respect, the dawning comprehension of who you really are -your one true identity. You are a son or a daughter of the Universal Father God himself and you will be humbled by the astounding realization of what tremendous value and relevance you have as a human being in this universe.

If you dare to acknowledge this wondrous relationship with the Universal Father, you will eventually recognize that what is true for you, is also true for every other human being whether they realize it or not And so all other human beings, regardless of their obvious differences from you, are entitled to transcendent respect Self-respect and respect for others is the foundation of tolerance, and tolerance coupled with unselfish service approaches love. Love is the absolute law of our universe to which we are all inextricably bound.

You have an extraordinary career ahead of you! You will soon discover that for you, there are no limits in time or space, that can separate you from the good spiritual things God has to offer you. Not only does God give his life to you by living in your mind, he teaches and guides you and blesses you with infinite patience and mercy. He desires to live in and through you to create good. And what does this really mean? It's means something so wonderful, we can barely fathom it. It means our purpose in life is nothing less than to co-create with God himself and we do this by thoughtful prayer and faith-action.

"In liaison with God, nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible!" For you, the creative possibilities will be endless. Expect to succeed in this life, regardless of appearances. Expect to do good, regardless of appearances. Expect to change this world for the better, regardless of appearances. Have faith in yourself and the Creator, because together, you are in charge. And, eventually you will see, if not in this life than in the next, the supreme and spectacular result of your trusting faith-adventures with God! Never be afraid. God is always with you.

This to me, is the great message of the Urantia Book and I'm pleased to have had a chance to share it with you.

Labels: God, message, religion, Sue Tennant, The Urantia Book

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Second Mile: The Challenge, The Message, The Way

By Dorothy J. Elder

The Challenge

What unifies us today is our awareness that the dawn of a new and enlightened spiritual era on Urantia is here, and we have enlisted as pilgrims of its progress. Just as the light of dawn disseminates across the horizon on a world of space, so must the dawn of a new spiritual era be disseminated across the horizon until it encompasses the whole of humankind.

Evolution and revelation are partners in this process. Revelation is evolutionary, and its mission is to sort and censor the successive religions of evolution. But if it is to exalt and upstep religion then these upsteppings of revelation must not be too far removed from the thought and reactions of the age in which they are presented. Thus must and does revelation always keep in touch with evolution. Always must the religion of revelation be limited by manâ€™s capacity of receptivity. (1007)

Herein lies the paradox:

The nature and content of this sweeping Fifth Epochal Revelation seems to contradict the statement on page 1007 regarding the progression of revelational upstepping.

The key word here is sweeping. The question is not why did we receive the revelation, buy why such an extraordinary one? It is clear to all of us why we received it. On our historically beleaguered and quarantined planet, science is rapidly advancing, evolutionary religion is stalled, and manâ€™s attempt at coordinating these two domains into a logical philosophy has failed. Revelation is needed to illuminate evolutionary religion and to aid man in constructing a new and logical philosophy whereby he can arrive at an understanding of his sure and settled place in the universe.

But why is The Urantia Book so revealing in its extent of universal truth? Why is it "out of step" in its upstepping? I believe that modern Agondonter man has been given a unique challenge, and itâ€™s not what youâ€™re thinking - live The Urantia Book teachings in our lives, disseminate the book - itâ€™s much more than that.

Letâ€™s go back for a moment to the Bestowal Commission. Remember what Immanuel said to Michael in the final words of the bestowal charge:

"Your great mission is to reveal God to man, and "....exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by God-knowing humans during the short career of mortal existence; and make a new and illuminating interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of his planetary life to all superhuman intelligences of all Nebadon, and for all time."(1328)

On the morning of April 7, AD 30, two thousand years ago, as he stood before Pilate, Jesus did just that.

He raised us all up in the eyes of his universe. He demonstrated that man on a backward planet could champion all his vicissitudes. He validated for eternity the Fatherâ€™s ascension plan. He exhibited once and for all, that faith-children of the realms are undauntable. His life exemplified that all of humanityâ€™s transcendent possibilities are attainable when man goes in partnership with God. Two thousand years later, The Urantia Book is our wake-up call to that partnership.

And, it is Jesusâ€™ illumination of manâ€™s maximum human potential that beckons us to our task.
We are now in partnership with God in a unique and unprecedented plan for the spiritual and social reconstruction of the planet. Itâ€™s the biggest deal ever made, and we need a universe perspective to understand our partnership role.

Look at the missions of the divine sons on an average plant. The great social achievement of the Planetary Prince Age is the emergence of family life. Next, the culminating development of the following era, the Adamic Age, is universal interest in true philosophy, and the crowning achievement of this age is Social Brotherhood. Then, with brotherhood flourishing, the Magisterial Avonal Sons arrive to begin their work of spiritual uplift. Anywhere from 25 to 50 thousand years they work to bring the planet to its highest ethical standard and to a fullness of a great spiritual awakening. And when the planet is ripe for spiritualization, a Bestowal Son arrives to demonstrate "the new and living way." (Paper 52)

The established plan is always social brotherhood first; and then comes the spiritualization of humanity. On our world the plan fell into disarray and modern man is now floundering in his predicament of intellectual progress hindered by spiritual stagnation. So in our case, we are going to have to do it the other way around. On Urantia it is the upstepping of the spiritualization of humanity which will lead us to the next required evolutionary goal which is universal social brotherhood.

Thatâ€™s the purpose of our task.

The challenge, from on high, is that this tremendous task has been given to Agondonters.
Can we, the early receivers of the Urantia Revelation, collectively in the next century and progressively during the next millennium, harness our potential and successfully broadcast the new teachings for the advancement of all evolutionary religions and for the spiritual and cultural enlightenment of all mankind? Will we be the men and women who will presage the eventual flowering of a new and universal philosophy on earth? That is not to say we are to become philosophers. Our role is to be the teachers of expanded truth. "Religion needs new teachers who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings."

The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity.(597)

"Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustments, moral quickening and spiritual enlightenment. And if Christianity continues to neglect its mission, then the spiritual renaissance will await the coming of these new teachers of Jesusâ€™ religion. And these souls will quickly supply the leadership and inspiration for the social, moral, economic and political reorganization of the world."(2082)

Weâ€™re also told that this new and oncoming social order will not settle down for a millennium, and that these progressing changes in the upstepping of social relations can result in lasting brotherhood only by the ministry of religion. (1086)

In the drama which is about to unfold, the cast of characters does not include superhuman personalities. Thousands of lead parts have been handed out, freely given to any outstretched hand. And, with confidence from unseen directors, we have been given blank scripts.

Dissemination plans were not part of the revelation. Itâ€™s up to us to chart a wise course.

Let us start out with the understanding that in the modern era we must be the evangels of new and advanced spiritual truth which will pave the way to the universal acceptance of the golden rule. Regarding the future, we canâ€™t revive primitive Christianity, but we can baptize the world with a new revelation of Jesusâ€™ life and illuminate mankind with the spiritual truths of his gospel.

We are told that it is not the first mile of compulsion, duty or convention that will transform man and his world, but rather the second mile of free service and liberty-loving devotion that betokens the Jesusonian reaching forth to grasp his brother in love and guide him toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence.

The Message

In delivering his Epochal Sermon, Jesus concluded by stating: "I declare to you that I have come to proclaim spiritual liberty, teach eternal truth and foster living faith." On that day he inaugurated the final, spiritual phase of his gospel: Divine Sonship, Spiritual Liberty, Eternal Salvation.

Teachers of expanded truth, with leadership and inspiration, are called to carry forward the restatement of this triune message of Jesus with new meaning and power.

In preparation, we would do well to review Immanuelâ€™s Bestowal charge to Michael:(1328.5)

"Function largely as a teacher; first, give attention to the liberation and inspiration of manâ€™s spiritual nature; next, illuminate the human intellect; heal the souls of men, emancipate their minds from age old fears; set rebellion segregated man spiritually free."

These particular words of counsel should be taken to heart by the teachers of advancing spiritual truth. We are to so conduct ourselves that the effect we have will be to illuminate, liberate, and inspire all those we come in contact with.

The Way

"...with leadership and inspiration..."(2082)

We know that when religious groups form, that act of formalizing often destroys the very values for the promotion of which the group was organized. This can be significantly minimized if the religionist remains socially fragrant. A group of socially fragrant religionists working together can illuminate their objectives so long as their leadership is motivated by unselfish and loving social service.

Teachers/leaders need to consider the words of advice on page 1089: "Transition Difficulties." It points out that, for man, the difficulty is in forsaking the religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love. For the world, the difficulty lies in the confusion which presently exists as Urantia struggles with its many contending philosophies of religion.

The prerequisite for going forward is to start out with wise leadership, consisting of inspired and socially fragrant religionists, who understand that the way forward requires character in the face of difficulty.

These words of Jesus, issued to his apostles, must be our charge:

"Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you live among men, the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you." (2043)

"Go preach this salvation of sonship with God; remember that salvation is a free gift and those who have willingly received this gift will immediately show forth the fruits of the spirit in their loving service to their fellows.(2054)

With the foregoing in place, the way is truly simple:

Know the Message: Teach the new spiritual brotherhood of Jesus:

Divine Sonship
Spiritual Liberty
Eternal Salvation

Know the Goal: Planetary Social Brotherhood

Do it with spiritual fragrance, as we pass by; show forth the fruits of the spirit
Do it with inspired leadership

Armed with the message and nourished by the fruits of the spirit for the way ahead, let us take up the challenge and go forward as true soldiers of the circles towards the goal of a spiritually inspired, socially transformed human society where man loves his brother and calls a loving God his Father.

Labels: challenge, Dorothy Elder, evolution, God, humanity, Jesus, partnership, religion, Revelation, spiritual era, teachers, The Urantia Book

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Freedom And Religion

http://www.austinproject.net/truefreedom.html

Labels: Austin project, freedom, God, Mitch Austin, religion, Thought Adjuster

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Monday, June 11, 2007

The Inner Conversation: Unbroken Communion With God

Author: Marvin Gawryn,
Boulder, Colorado

The Urantia Book asserts that the heart of religion is a living relationship with God. Such communion must not be limited to religious services or peak experiences. It should be habitual, an ongoing moment-to-moment process of inner sharing. One of the revelation's most startling pronouncements is that such Father-child communion can be constant. Continuous communion is attainable. Indeed, it is a methodological key without equal, a "secret" of great spiritual leverage.

"The secret of his [Jesus'] unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship â€”unbroken communion with Godâ€”. . ." (*2089:1)

"... the divine bestowals may flow to the hearts and souls of those who thus remember to maintain unbroken communion with their Maker through sincere prayer and true worship." (*2066:1)

The method is remarkably straightforward. While it takes persistent effort to form the habit, it involves simply an ongoing conversation, an internal dialogue with the Father. In every situation we can "talk" continuously, inwardly, with the very best listener. And we in turn can listen â€” pause to be attentive to the Father's constant communication to us, his nourishing love and wise guidance. When we are conversing with God, it is easy to remember that he is actually present.

One of the most effective proponents of the spiritual value of habitual inner conversation was Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk living in France in the late 1600's. A little volume of his thoughts, The Practice of the Presence of God, has become a devotional classic. The book's preface comments, "No conceited scholar was Brother Lawrence; theological and doctrinal debates bored him, if he noticed them at all. His one desire was for communion with God."

Brother Lawrence suggested "that we might accustom ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize God intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him at every moment." He was adamant about the remarkable power of the method. "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it. Were I a preacher, I should, above all other things preach the practice of the presence of God; and were I a director, I should advise all the world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy, too."

Brother Lawrence was quite correct in placing such singular emphasis on this practice of "conversing" with God. The Urantia Book indicates that the doing of the Father's will is synonymous with such inner communion.

"The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God. . ." (*1221:3)

The more we fellowship with the Father, the more our lives can reflect his will. We grow God-like through such constant inner contact.

"Sooner or later we all become aware that all creature growth is proportional to Father identification." (*1174:8)

Perhaps we can best accomplish Father identification â€” doing God's will â€” through the communion of inner sharing. Unbroken communion is a habit. It takes persistent effort at first to develop it, but eventually it becomes automatic and relatively effortless.

Brother Lawrence observes, "In order to form a habit of conversing with God continually, and referring all we do to Him, we must first apply to Him with some diligence; but after a little care we should find His love inwardly excites us to it without any difficulty . . . We should not wonder if, in the beginning, we often failed in our endeavors, but at last we should gain a habit, which will naturally produce its acts in us, without our care, and to our exceeding great delight . . . Thus, by rising after my falls, and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I am come to a state wherein it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom myself to it."

This is good news. While we may have to work at developing an inner conversation with the Father, eventually it flows effortlessly, affording us great joy and comfort in the press of life.

Rodan observes, "These practices are difficult and time-consuming at first, but when they become habitual, they are at once restful and timesaving. The more complex society becomes, and the more the lures of civilization multiply, the more urgent will become the necessity for God-knowing individuals to form such protective habitual practices designed to conserve and augment their spiritual energies." (*1777:4)

Perhaps Rodan and Brother Lawrence would agree that living in constant communion with God is the paramount spiritual habit. While it can be habitual, inner conversation with God is varied, creative, and ever-experimental. If mortals can communicate in a thousand and one ways, then the shadings of inner dialogue possible between God and man must be well-nigh infinite. Prayer, worship, thanksgiving, reflection, adoration, inspiration, guidance, contemplation, support, and clarification are but a few of the communication paths which wind their way through the vast inner regions of companionshipwith God.

Brother Lawrence describes the options with such sweetness. "God requires no great matters of us: a little remembrance of Him from time to time; a little adoration; sometimes to pray for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, and sometimes to return Him thanks for the favors He has given you, and still gives you, in the midst of your troubles, and to console yourself with Him the oftenest you can. Lift up your heart to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company; the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware of ... Accustom yourself, then, by degrees thus to worship Him, to beg His grace, to offer Him your heart from time to time in the midst of your business, even every moment, if you can."

The most important step in developing the habit of unbroken communion is to begin, and begin often. Start expressing yourself inwardly at every opportunity. You will forget repeatedly; but each time you recollect, plunge in again. Speak simply, as a child. Ask questions and listen inwardly for response. Share the events of your life with the Father, from the large and pressing questions and challenging relationships, to the small happenings of the day. Pause; allow him to show you his view of them.When you are alone, it is often helpful, at first, to talk out loud to God; it aids in developing the mental focus necessary for effective inner dialogue. Practice maintaining the inner conversation while in the midst of outer activities, and even during conversations with others. Life activities and relationships take on a new shine, a value lustre, when you share them inwardly in unfolding friendship with the Father.

The URANTIA Book is clear in stressing the priority of developing our inner relationship with God. "I cannot but observe that so many of you spend so much time and thought on mere trifles of living, while you almost wholly overlook the more essential realities of everlasting import, those very accomplishments which are concerned with the development of a more harmonious working agreement between you and your Adjusters. The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster. . ." (*1206:3)"

The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind." (*2097:2)

Brother Lawrence, in his humble, human way, utters the same call. "Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on God, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone.You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why, then, must God be neglected? Do not, then, forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this the glorious employment of a child of God. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it."

Labels: Brother Lawrence, communication, God, inner life, Marvyn Gawryn, religion, Rodan, The Urantia Book

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Friday, February 09, 2007

The Twenty Most-Asked Questions

The Twenty Most-Asked Questions

by Duane Faw and Mo Siegel

The Questions

1. Why is there suffering in the world?
2. Will there ever be a cure for all diseases?
3. Why is there evil in the world?
4. Will there ever be lasting world peace?
5. Will man ever love his fellow men?
6. When will the world end?
7. What does the future hold for me & my family?
8. Is there life after death?
9. What is Heaven like?
10. How can I be a better person?
11. Who am I?
12. Why Am I Here?
13. Is there a Deity? Who, or What, is God?
14. Can I communicate with God?
15. Why does the Universe exist as it is?
16. What is Religion?
17. Do Science and Philosophy conflict with Religion?
18. What is the proper role of Organized Religion?
19. What is true Justice? Is it attainable?
20. Are There Extra-Terrestrial Beings? What are They?

Introduction to Some Answers

All thinking persons ask similar basic questions about themselves: who they are, where they came from, why they are here, why they have difficulties and problems, and where they are going ? Whatever answers they receive reflect the religion and cosmology of the day, and raise new questions about who or what is God, how they relate to God, and how they relate to the universe. The most-asked questions fall into three major clusters.

The first cluster contains questions having to do with Deity and the cosmos. They seek to know of first causes, divine purposes, and ultimate destinies. They inquire as to the reality of Deity, the nature of God, the purpose of creation, and the role and function of mankind in the universe. They delve into the proper relationships between mankind and God, and mankind and the universe. They explore mankind's future in the cosmos. We may call these "Questions about Deity, Mankind and the Cosmos."

The second cluster has to do with the individual self and relationships with others. Once one grasps the idea of "self" and "other," one becomes self-conscious. This raises many questions about identity: who I am, why I am here, and the purpose of my life. Also about proper relationships with my family, society and Deity. And about the future of one's self and one's family, what happens when I die, etc. We may call these "Questions about Self."

The third cluster has to do with the general human condition, and reflects a desire to know why unpleasant things happen to them and others. These questions probe the source, nature and function of all forms of evil: sin, injury, disease, poverty, injustice, war, death, etc. They seek ways to prevent these things from occurring, to avoid them when they occur, and to remedy (suppress or cure) them after they occur. We may call these "Questions about Evil and its Consequences."

Some questions overlap two or more clusters; however, the best way to consider any specific question is to explore the common threads which hold the cluster together and then add that which is necessary 'co answer the particular question.

Religion, science and philosophy have contributed useful answers to many specific questions over the years; but seldom are they universal or final. As more and more becomes known about the universe, about ourselves, and even about God, these answers change or become less satisfactory.

Whether or not The URANTIA Book* is a new and epochal revelation, it certainly provides new and useful paradigms against which philosophers and theologians alike can project new answers to old questions. It adds to the richness of answers provided through the Bible. This paper proposes "answers" to the world's most-asked questions in accordance with the teachings of The URANTIA Book and the Bible.

I. CLUSTER ONE: QUESTIONS ABOUT DEITY, MANKIND AND THE COSMOS

A. IS THERE SUCH THING AS DEITY? IF SO, WHAT IS IT?

Man has long believed in a power higher than himself. This power is personalized as God. But personalization, itself, is a limitation. It omits the non-personal, pre-personal, sub-personal, super-personal, post-personal, etc. It is useful to find a word more all-inclusive than "God" to call this higher power. Such a word is "Deity." Deity is both all-inclusive and flexible: it contracts or expands to encompass the entire spectrum of quantities, qualities and values which one may ascribe to the "higher powers." People can agree that Deity exists without agreeing as to its characteristics.

Deity is used here in its broadest sense. Deity includes all those characteristics, both personal and impersonal, attributed to a higher power, regardless of name. Further definition is unnecessary.

The cosmos is "the universe considered as a harmonious and orderly system." Divinity is that unifying and co-ordinating quality which is characteristic of Deity which converts the universe into the cosmos. Divinity is seen as perfection, as completeness, as unity and as harmony between the creator and the created. Mankind glimpses divinity as justice, power and sovereignty, as love, mercy and ministry, and as truth, beauty and goodness. That which has the qualities of divinity is said to be divine. Deity is the source of all that is divine.

Deity is not a synonym for God. "God," as used here, focuses upon the Personal aspects of Deity, and upon the ability of mankind to relate to Deity in any fashion. See Part I.B. below.

1. DO SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY CONFLICT WITH RELIGION?
SCIENCE AND DEITY

Science is systematized knowledge derived from observation, study and experimentation. It is concerned with facts provable by systematic observation under established principles. By its nature it is limited to the material realm, and has no disciplines for the spiritual or supernatural realms.

Deity can be postulated by science both as an a Priori force and a first cause, but cannot be confirmed by science because the phenomenon cannot be quantified, qualified, reproduced, duplicated, measured or otherwise proved by scientific methodology. Deity is not a mathematical equation, a chemical formula or a physical law. Science is concerned only with matter, energy and life, and is limited by time and space. Science may trace the universe back to the "big bang" (the beginning of time), but it has no method of determining its cause, where the "banged" matter came from, how the laws governing the behavior of matter in time and space were devised, or why the whole thing happened in the first place. Even scientists recognize that there are realities beyond the province of science. For example, science understands much about the brain, an electro-chemical organism, but it cannot explain mind. It understands paint and color, but not art.

Many scientists accept a theory that Deity exists as a master planner, a first cause, and an over controller;; but they cannot prove it. It remains for philosophy and religion to prove the actuality of any truth or reality beyond the physical universe as revealed, or to be revealed, by the observations and laws of science; to confirm or deny the existence of Deity.

2. PHILOSOPHY AND DEITY

Philosophy is the love of wisdom: it seeks knowledge about all things from all sources. Unlike science it includes disciplines for theology, metaphysics, etc. It can reach conclusions sustained by logic without formal scientific proof.
The philosopher looks to both reason and information to support his conclusions. Many philosophers postulate, out of pure reason, that there must have been a reality before the beginning of time and space; that there must have been a first cause of everything material; and that nothing could exist--even time and space themselves--without some primal act of mindful creating. This produces a concept of Deity.

When the philosopher ponders the sheer orderliness and harmony of the universe as revealed by science, he reasons that superlative qualities of mind and vast quantities of power were necessary to create such a harmonious entity, and he attributes these to Deity. The unique characteristics and circumstances of the cosmos lead many philosophers to conclude that the material universe, with mankind in it, must have been mindfully created for a specific cosmic purpose. Logic, alone, does not reveal the function and objectives of creation; but mankind is seen as a significant clue to the puzzle, and Deity as its source.
Philosophy recognizes realities outside the province of science. The fact that science has not confirmed a proposition does not deter philosophy from recognizing its accuracy. Philosophers consider input from religion, and find some proposals of religionists as to the function and objectives of creation to be supported by logic. Even without the testimony of religionists, it is highly probable that most philosophers would conclude that there must be some form of Deity.

3. RELIGION AND DEITY -- WHAT IS RELIGION?

"Religion is the revelation to man of his divine and eternal destiny...a purely personal and spiritual experience..." (2075:333/4), "the relation of man to God." (1421:6-7) As used here, religion means the general subject of man's relationship to God. A religion is a social organization of people holding similar ideas about their relationship with God. (See Part I.E) A religionist is one who believes that there is a God and that he or she enjoys a personal relationship with God.

The religionist looks to his own personal experiences to verify the existence of Deity: personal contacts with the supernatural which are as real to him as experiences with the natural. He has "felt" a reality that defies all scientific explanation. He knows of realities which science cannot confirm, quantify or qualify; for example: love, beauty, mercy, justice. His experiences are therefore seen as revelations of something greater than his material environment. Millions of religionists, over many centuries, claim to have come into intimate, intelligent, loving and meaningful contact with a power higher than self, and to have experienced modes, forms and degrees of revelation which they attribute to a source and power other than natural: to Deity. Unless they all are mistaken or lying, there is a reality we may call Deity. See also Part I.B,, below.

On the other side of the ledger, the content often differs from one revelation to another. Recorded traditions of each religion reflect truths revealed to its leaders, yet each record contains some things which differ in content from all others. Assuming that Deity must be consistent and revelation perfect, these apparent conflicts are cited as reasons to discount the existence of Deity. This makes about as much sense as saying that because one day is revealed as being sunny in California and as being rainy in Chicago, the day did not exist.

This argument that revelation must be consistent overlooks the limitations on revelation. Excessive revelation would destroy free will. Most religious experiences are a one-on-one confirmation only that the individual has come into personal contact with Deity. There are more ways than one to contact Deity. It is a mistake to assume that, because a person has found Deity under one set of circumstances, one has found the exclusive path. Revelation is always incomplete and partial, as God seldom reveals more than is needed or more than the human mind can absorb. Instead of magnifying the differences let us focus on the commonalties: in every instance, these countless personal experiences can be seen as successful efforts of Deity to confirm to mankind its existence.

At times, revelation is intended for many. These, too, suffer from human misunderstanding and misapplication. For example, the revelation of God to man by Jesus Christ was so advanced and extensive that it may be called "epochal." The full import of that revelation has not yet been fully understood or absorbed. All of these revelations point the religionist to the conclusion that some sort of Deity exists.

It is sometimes proposed that science and religion conflict with each other, but this is not really possible. Both disciplines were made by the same Creator as part of the same cosmos, therefore they must harmonize together. At times some science appears to conflict with some theology to some people. When a scientific fact is supported by ample evidence, it is the differing theological belief which is suspect. Science offers no evidence that Deity does NOT exist.
What is Deity like? Both logic and revelation provide a long list of characteristics of a superlative nature attributable to Deity. They are classic. You are welcome to provide a list of your own.

B: WHO, OR WHAT, IS GOD? DOES GOD REALLY EXIST?

It is assumed that everyone knows who, or what, is God. God is GOD and, like the President of the United States, needs no further introduction. This assumption is incorrect, and leads to much confusion. "God" is a characteristic, a description, a title, and not a common name. There is only one commonly-accepted President at a time; but there is no common acceptance of who, or what, God "is."

Relatively few people have the same mental image of God. They see different names for God, different characteristics of God, and different "do's" and "don'ts" of what God desires of them. For example, note the differences in the identity of God. Some say there is one God and his name is Allah; others say there is one God and His name is E1, or Father; others say there is one God of three persons, or a sevenfold God; some see Jesus as God, or as the Son of God, or a great prophet; etc. Every different religion and sect sees God in a separate light.

In order to avoid seeing God as a theological prescription written by one religion or sect, let us look at God as a generic term. In this manner we can get the full benefit from discussing God without concern about names, doctrine, etc. There is a simple, generic definition of God with which everyone agrees: "God" is Deity personified.

As used here, "God" is a person, and means "that part of Deity with which one may have a personal relationship." "God" does not refer to any particular manifestation of Deity, such as Yahweh, Allah, Krishna, Jesus, Father, etc. You may feel free to substitute any name of God as you see fit. It is only by freeing ourselves from any hassle over the correct name or attributes of God that we can proceed with an unemotional treatment of many meaningful issues.
Now, viewing God as a personification of Deity, does God really exist? This is another way of saying: is there really a component of Deity with which men and women can have a personal relationship?

Since we have defined God as a component (all or part) of Deity, if there is no Deity, there is no God. In Part I.A, above, we said that there is, in truth and reality, such a thing as Deity. Those who disagree and hold that there is no Deity are called "atheists." If the atheists are correct, there is no Deity, therefore nothing with which to have a personal relationship; and, ipso facto, no God.

Logically, it is possible for there to be Deity, yet Deity could either (1) have no personal component with which to relate, or (2) have a personal component so remote and aloof that mortal man cannot have a "personal relationship" with it. Those taking either of these views are called "agnostics." Agnostics concede that Deity may exist, but hold that mankind can never have a personal relationship with it. If they are correct, there may be Deity, but no God.

It is the testimony of religionists which provides the most persuasive (and only unequivocal) evidence that there exists a personal component of Deity to which mankind can, and does, relate: a God. They claim to have actually experienced a personal relationship with God. This cannot be true unless Deity (1) contains a personal component, and (2) mankind is able to have a personal-relationship with it. Revelation comes from no other source than personal contact with Deity. See Part I.A.3, above. Unless all who testify to a personal experience with God are either mistaken or lying, there IS a God.

Yes, God exists, for Deity exists, and men and women can have a personal relationship with at least a part of Deity. But why take someone else's word for it. If you have had a personal relationship with God, then you already know that God exists. And if you have not, why not now? Every person can enjoy the comfort and joy of experiencing this warm personal relationship if they only try.

C. WHY DID GOD CREATE THE UNIVERSE AS IT IS?

This same question has haunted mankind as far back as records go. It began as "why did God create me?" As horizons expanded, it continued as "why did God create the world?" And with growing cosmic consciousness, it becomes "why did God create the universe?" Is the universe a cosmic firecracker? Is man a pathetic cosmic doodle?

Without pretending to know the mind of God, it is inconceivable that the material universe was created without purpose, that the earth supports life by sheer accident, or that mankind is the acme of material creation by mere chance. Unless we postulate a rather bungling Deity, we must reason that it was intended to create a massive universe, it was planned to place in this small segment thereof a life-bearing planet (earth), and it was designed that the development of life forms thereon terminate in the highest-known order of physical existence: homo sapiens. It may very well be that the entire universe was crested to produce and sustain such creatures. (See Part II B, below.) But why? To what end? Few sensible answers have been proposed.

Only during this 20th century has mankind developed a cosmology and a vocabulary sufficient to fashion acceptable answers to many "whys" about creation. Prior to this, the most sensible answer was in the Catechism: "Q: Why was I made?"--"A: To worship God."

In the 1930s, the URANTIA Papers revealed a reason for the existence of creation which makes great sense: that through the medium of a material time-space universe, Deity is doing things of eternal spiritual value to itself. Although these achievements are stated in anthropomorphic terms so men can understand them, the ideas are profound, exciting and revealing. They give new meaning to life, and go far to explain teachings of Jesus Christ preserved fragmentarily in the Bible.

1. The Grand Objectives of Creation.

Deity pre-dates time and space; it was neither created nor developed, it was "eventuated," it always was: perfect, complete and replete. Before time and space there were certain anthropomorphic qualities of which Deity was deprived. Among these were: (1) voluntary obedience and esteem (there was no free will below Deity level), (2) creature experience, particularly in overcoming evil (all creatures were eventuated in perfection), and (3) growth (Deity was complete and replete). Yet in a broader sense, attributes of Deity must allow for the possibility of obtaining these qualities, or else Deity would be subject to limitations. This appears paradoxical, yet really is not.

All beings living in such an environment, having been eventuated in perfection, lacked certain qualities obtainable only through the experience of undergoing a perfecting process. If Deity desired to add to this perfect environment beings having such qualities, it certainly had the potential to do so. It could originate beings somewhere else in imperfection and devise a strenuous perfecting process by which they could become perfected and then approach Deity.

It is proposed that Deity "desired" to obtain each of the three qualities mentioned above, and to populate its dwelling place with perfected beings. Consequently it conceived and designed a plan to achieve these ends. To implement this plan, Deity created time and space, the universe, and you and me.

a. To Obtain Voluntary Obedience and Esteem.

In a perfect environment, all creatures respond perfectly to the will of Deity; every element acts and reacts exactly as pre-ordained. If God desires to be sought, esteemed, obeyed, loved and worshiped, he can create beings who do these things perfectly, with no say or choice in the matter. In such a case, God is, in effect, loving and worshiping himself by surrogates of his own creation. He is not experiencing obedience and esteem generated voluntarily, that is, by creatures exercising their own free will who seek, obey, and esteem Him solely as a result of their own desire and initiative, born of a recognition of God's intrinsic goodness, loveliness and holiness.

If God desires to be sought, obeyed, and esteemed, by subordinate creatures voluntarily, on their own initiative, solely in response to observed attractive values rather than from automatic response, such creatures must have absolute freedom to respond to God as they will. They must have the option and power to ignore, disobey and hate Him, and must operate in an environment in which all options can be freely exercised without any coercion. This situation cannot exist in a perfect environment, one without the possibility of evil.

For God to receive voluntary obedience and esteem, He must provide a potentially imperfect environment in which both disobedience to the will of God (evil) and obedience to the will of God (good) are equally possible, and populate it with potentially imperfect beings who can exercise their "free will" to choose and do either good or evil.

Deity has created such an environment and such beings. You and I live in an imperfect environment in which choices between good and evil are constantly before us; and we are imperfect beings with the free will to do either. We have the ability to recognize or ignore the qualities and values of Deity (truth, love, justice, beauty, mercy, power, goodness, service, sovereignty, etc.) and the power to respond to them as we will: to pursue them, and seek to love and worship their source; or to ignore or reject both the values and their source. We are not coerced in our choice. See also discussion of this point in Part II.B.1, below.

The fact that our imperfect universe contains free-will creatures such as mankind gives strong logical support to the revelation that Deity does, in fact, desire voluntary obedience and esteem.

b. To Obtain Creature Experience.

Beings which are wholly eventuated have no creature experience because they are not creatures (they were not created) and,-existing in a perfect environment, they are greatly limited in experiences. They cannot experience, therefore Deity cannot experience through them, the exhilaration of victory in the mighty struggle between good and evil, for there is no evil. Nor the altruistic satisfaction of subjugating self-interests to the interests of others, for there is no temptation to favor self, and no free will. If Deity desires creature experience it must come from creatures who undergo experiences which Deity may share. The broadest range of experiences would come from creatures possessing absolute free will to choose between good and evil, between self interest and any greater interests of others, living in an environment in which evil and selfishness tempt them.

The URANTIA Book develops the fascinating truth that the Father desires to gain such creature experience. Paper 108 on Thought Adjusters says that God, prior to the adventure of time and space, was wholly existential and "infinitely inclusive of all things except evil and creature experience." (1185:16) In order for the Father to gain creature experience, His spirit (revealed to us as the Thought Adjuster) comes down to participate with us in "every bona fide experience of the ascending career.." (1185:20) By this process--by sharing our life's experiences--the potential of the infinite and existential God to obtain finite experience becomes an actuality.

The fact that the Father desires creature experience is further supported by a discussion of the Father's Eternal Perfection in Paper 2 on The Nature of God. Here it is pointed out that, although perfect, the Universal Father "actually participates in the experience with immaturity and imperfection in the evolving career of every mortal being of the entire universe." (36:30-32) Although potential evil is not a part of the divine nature, "mortal experience with evil and all man's relations thereto are most certainly a part of God's ever-expanding self-realization in the children of time..." (36:34-35)

The fact that you and I now live in an environment in which we face tremendous temptation to do evil and strong urges to accommodate self at the expense of others, is consistent with the revelation that Deity desires to gain creature experience through imperfect human beings.

The "desire" for creature experience is further developed in Parts II.B.2 and III.A.1.a, below.

c. To Obtain Spirit Growth.

Insofar as we know, an "eventuated" Deity, with no subsequent addition or development, does not grow. Growth requires addition or development. If Deity could not grow, this would be a limitation on Deity. Since Deity is not limited, it must have the power to grow. We usually see such growth as involving creative fiat or creative development and evolution.

It is a major theme of The URANTIA Book-that Deity is growing. Papers 115 through 118 discuss this growth. God is spirit (John 4:24; 139:26) and, for Deity to grow, there must be true increase in spirit. Spirit growth entails creating or enlarging that which is spirit by some means other than processing preexistent spirit material. The Biblical injunction to "be ye perfect" takes on a new meaning when considered in the light of spirit growth.

We suppose that God can create spirit either by fiat or by other procedures. Deity does not obtain growth by fiat, alone. One possible alternate procedure is to develop a creature who, in liaison with God, can co-create an embryonic spirit unit, and nurture and develop it into full spirithood. This would require making a being with power to co-operate with God in the original production of something of spirit value, and the will to co-ordinate with God in the process of perfecting it.

It appears that Deity has prepared such creatures, including you and me. The divine plan (discussed below) includes many things designed to achieve spirit growth through human co-operation and co-creation with Deity. The growth portion of the divine plan works this way. While in the flesh, mankind can contribute to spirit growth only by living faith. (1097:27-28) Mankind, has been given the power to work in liaison with God to give birth to his own soul, an embryonic spirit unit. Revelation confirms that the evolving soul, co-created by man, is of spirit potential and value. But it is by faith, alone, that we accept and act upon the word that our mind, soul and identity, in coordination with God, have the potential to become pure and perfect spirit, thereby adding to the totality and reality of Deity. As we, through faith, convert this potentiality into actuality, we actually become a living soul of spiritual value. This soul lives on for further development into pure spirit; ! thus the spirit component of Deity becomes larger as we grow spiritually. (1279:11-29)

Spirit growth is discussed in Part II.B.3, below. It is further addressed in Part III.A.1.b., below, in terms of developing perfected (as distinguished from perfect) beings to populate the cosmos. As such, we expect to be given tasks of great importance in the further expansion of the Kingdom of God. (See 131:28-32; 263:10-11)

d. To Evolve Perfected Beings.

Revelation indicates that that Deity desires to populate eternity with two types of beings: (1) perfect beings, and (2) perfected beings, created less-than-perfect but becoming perfect by some process. Perfect beings are either eventuated or created by fiat: spiritual, immortal, and completely responsive to the will of God. By contrast, perfected beings originate as physical (not spiritual), mortal (not eternal), free-willed (not God-directed) creatures, and must initiate and sustain their own "evolutionary" progression by virtue of their own wills rather than by fiat of God. Otherwise, the procedure is nothing more than an alternate method of creating perfect beings by fiat.

If we heed such revelation, the fact that you and I are physical, mortal and free-willed makes us candidates for the perfecting process. This is covered in more detail in Part III.A.1.b, below.

2. The Divine Plan for Creating.

Let us turn our mind's eye back to before the beginning of time and visualize the momentous decision to create free-will creatures in an imperfect environment. Let us postulate that Deity desired to attain the four grand objectives mentioned in Part I.C.1, above, and more. To do so, Deity devised an absolutely brilliant plan, sufficiently comprehensive to accomplish every end and purpose it desired. We can call this the Divine Plan for Creating. We are not privy to this plan, but from time to time we glimpse parts of it by observing what is going on and by revelation. What we learn is very stimulating.

Views of modern philosophy and theology concerning the method of creating are generally developed against a paradigm in which preexistent Deity created, by fiat, time, space and everything in them, and left them to run on or run down. This approach is terribly wrong. It visualizes a static or decaying universe, not a growing and dynamic one. And by focusing on the earth, it sees things as being out of Divine control.

It is more productive to use revelation, tradition and logic in an effort to reconstruct some of the controlling elements of the Divine Plan for Creating. I propose that it was founded upon, among other things, the following elements.

a. The Principle of Delegation.

Although Deity is omnipotent, it is not omnificent; therefore the plan entrusts most of the work to subordinate creatures, both celestial and human. In practice, Deity creates, develops and evolves as much as possible through subordinate creatures specially developed for the tasks they are to perform. Subordinate creatures are used not only as artists and artisans, but also as co-creators.

The practice of creating, developing and evolving things by means of subordinate creatures has one intended side effect of giving some creatures experience capable of being shared and absorbed by Deity. In a proper environment, it provides experience in dealing with evil. At least one class of creatures can be given free will to choose between good and evil, with the resultant opportunity to obey and esteem God voluntarily, solely because of the attractiveness of God and the values they see in doing so; not from robotic control or innate coercion to do so. And insofar as the process results in new spirit values, it results in the growth of Deity.

b. Balance between Fiat Creation and Evolution.

The plan employs both creation and evolution; with creation used only when necessary, and evolution used as much as possible.

Creation by Fiat: to truly create is to make something out of nothing. Fiat creating is done only as a last resort, when there exists no other way to achieve the objective. Fiat creating is reserved for Deity.

Creation by Developing and Evolving: to develop something out of something else, to evolve something desirable out of something undesirable, to work out something better from something good, and, ultimately, to achieve perfection in everything. Deity seems to accomplish as many things as possible by developing and evolving them. This technique is followed by subordinate creatures, including mankind.

In the beginning, Deity created time, space and basic matter, insofar as we know, by fiat. But since then, that which has occurred in time and space has been accomplished, largely, by and through countless subordinate beings exercising delegated authority, who control, process and develop basic matter until it "evolves" into the universe, as we know it, and all that dwells therein. The process is dynamic: continuing and growing.

c. Achieving Potentials.

The plan incorporates, as a fundamental technique, the converting of potentialities into actualities. (1261:15-16; 1263:18-19) As applied to us, Deity brings into existence our potentialities, and each of us is to convert his or her potentialities into actualities.

This technique both limits and challenges. Each creature is limited to his potentialities, and is challenged to attain them. But once one's potential is reached, new potentials are often provided for further growth and service. To obey and esteem God is a human potential offering ever-expanding plateaus as we advance toward Paradise. To experience victory over evil opens greater potentials for good. Insofar as we successfully actualize our spiritual potentialities, we become cocreators with God of something of spirit value, (1279:11-15) And as a result, Deity grows through us. (1265:28-31)

d. Reciprocal Reward.

Every time we humans contribute anything to Deity, Deity contributes something of greater value to us. The more we obey and esteem God, the more He rewards and loves us. For every experience of victory over evil which we provide to God, we receive high recompense in the growth of our soul. And as we add spirit values to Deity, we actually become the very spirit we co-create with Deity.
* * * * * * * *

Let us examine the cosmos (as we see it) to determine how well the divine plan for creating (as we understand it) provides a vehicle through which mankind can satisfy the above noted desires of Deity, the purpose of creation. Visualize the universe as being circular, with Deity in Heaven at the center, and men and women on earth on the outermost periphery. Deity is perfect. We believe that nothing imperfect can exist in its presence, and the farther from Deity, the greater the possibility for imperfection. If so, the place in the universe where the most imperfect conditions could exist is on its outer periphery, where earth is located. Yet even that is not necessarily so bad. Deity does not cause evil; it only provides an environment in which evil is possible. No place in which evil is possible is perfect. A universe with the above characteristics provides the ideal location in which to implement the plan.

Earth is located in an environment in which imperfection, evil, is possible. It is populated with human beings who have absolute free will to do good or evil. They have a mind to discern between the two. They are material, mortal and finite. This provides the ideal creature to execute the "creature" portion of the plan.

This situation provides the ideal circumstances described in Part I.C, above, under which each of the proposed desires of Deity could be best satisfied. This did not occur by accident.

D. ARE THERE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL BEINGS? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEY?

In order implement the Divine Plan for Creating, Deity created time, space, and the material universes. And, over the millennia since then, Deity has populated the universes with countless billions of beings of all sorts. The earth contains only a very small fraction of a percent of all such beings.

The vast majority of these are spirit and semi-spirit beings, wholly invisible to us. The universe is literally teeming with angels, of which earth has its fair share. In addition there are other orders of spirit beings other than angels in large numbers on this planet. Lucifer, Satan, Melchizedek, Adam and Eve, and Jesus are all extra-terrestrial beings who have visited earth.

We are told that, within the local planetary "system" there are over 600 planets which hold material beings comparable to mankind in the sense that they are material, upright-walking bipeds, sexually reproductive and have free will. The physical characteristics of these beings, together with the vast distances involved, make it highly improbable that any such beings ever visited this planet.

There is nothing in The URANTIA Book which tends to explain the phenomenon of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) reported in various parts of the world. They do not resemble Transport Seraphim.

E. WHAT IS THE PROPER ROLE OF ORGANIZED RELIGION?

Jesus came to earth to save people from bad religious organizations, not bad political organizations. He died in the attempt.

Organized religions result from socialization of persons with common religious experiences. They hold no ecclesiastical authority; yet God supports collective action in His behalf. (Matthew 18:20) They represent collective religious action.
Organized religions have been mixed blessings. They have preserved certain coals of spiritual truth which flame up from time to time, and even now may be rekindled; they have collected and saved writings, music and art reflecting the highest thoughts of mankind; they have maintained a popular awareness that there is a God to be reckoned with; and they have sheltered many saints who otherwise may have been destroyed. Yet, on the other hand, they have been fraught with hypocrisy and corruption; claimed status and authority which they did not possess, and used it to enslave millions; they have prostituted the banner of God before political and business causes; they have engaged in internecine warfare over minutiae of doctrine; they have repeatedly persecuted the saints; and--most important--they have stood in the way of individual spiritual progress by millions of truth-seekers.

There is no practical way by which the true worship of God can be expanded without some social organization behind it. Man is a social animal, and needs the company of others on all of life's journeys. Groups can always accomplish things which individuals cannot: maintain places and opportunities for group worship, provide literature and training; provide ministries and missions, etc. And, most important, they can create and support communities and environments in which the worship of God is encouraged.

It is great error for organized religion to become involved in politics. This is the evil which led to downfall of the Jewish kingdom and later, to the dark ages. God is a God of persons, not of causes. God loves each person on both sides of every controversy with equal fervor. For organized religion to become involved on either side is an unholy alliance. It stifles new-born faith and persecutes true believers.

To prepare for its proper role, organized religion should unburden itself of all ancient armor and armaments, all excess baggage, and come forth with the true soul-saving gospel of Jesus: that God is our Father, and we are his children; and that all men and women must learn to live as one spiritual family. In seeking Him to esteem Him, people also find themselves and feel good about it. And they become concerned about their neighbors.

Religion can, and should, create social communities of those with common religious experiences; to confirm the reality of their experiences, to reinforce their feelings of value, to encourage their continued efforts, to minister to the needs of the community, and to avoid feelings of isolation. Even religionists need social approval. And weaker and more timid souls need the shelter of some institution for early development.

Instead of destroying present religious organizations and forming new ones, we should focus upon the highest truths in each, thereby transforming them. We should build upon the foundations already laid. Existing religions have some good practices, talents and assets in place. All they need is proper direction. Religionists are better advised to work within responsive religious organizations to make them more fruitful rather than to abandon them and work alone.

II. CLUSTER TWO: QUESTIONS ABOUT SELF

A. WHO AM I?

Who am I? Conventional answers focus upon characteristics of a physical and social nature. Most people know their name, race, creed, ethnic group, nationality, occupation, family role, personality traits, social status, etc. They ARE all of these. Yet, knowing this, they continue to ask "Who am I?" There is something beyond their vital statistics and social data which people desire to know. It is as if they sense that they are part of something greater than their niche in the physical environment, and long to find out what it is.

There is not a biography in "Who's Who in America" which has a soul satisfying answer to this haunting question. All leave unanswered the identity of the biographer from a theological point of view, and leave unsatisfied the craving to know who we are in the universe or cosmos.

To discover who we are from a theological, universal or cosmic view, we must begin by exploring our characteristics which have theological, universal or cosmic significance. These should point toward who we really are.

As members of the human race, the highest order of animal life on earth, we share those characteristics held in common by human beings. If humans have any common characteristics of theological, universal or cosmic significance, then they also apply to you and me.

1. A Personality.

All who read this have one thing in common: each is a person. Persons have characteristics not shared by non-persons. These characteristics give us significant clues as to who we are.

Self-consciousness. Only persons can know that they exist as separate and distinct entities; can conceive of "I." This characteristic makes persons self-conscious: I am "I," every other person is "you," and every non-person is "it." Self-consciousness is absolutely essential to moral choosing.

Uniqueness, Individuality. No two persons are alike; each occupies a separate body and has different experiences. Each reacts differently to similar stimuli. "I" am unlike, to some extent, every other creature in the universe; and this makes "me" an individual: truly unique. (1225:37-1226:3) An understanding of this characteristic is essential to an assessment of human value. No one else can substitute for, or replace, a truly unique person.

Interpersonal Relations. Only persons have interpersonal relations.

Relationships between persons and non-persons are not interpersonal. Animals and inanimate objects, not being persons, cannot interrelate "personally" with us. God is a "person," and this characteristic allows persons to have a personal relationship with God.

Wisdom. Of all material beings, only persons are endowed with minds capable of distinguishing between good and evil. Not all persons have this capability at all times; however no physical creature other than a person has wisdom. This characteristic is essential to the ability to make a free-will choice between good and evil.

Worship. Persons are the only material creatures who have a tendency to (a "spirit of") worship. Only persons can perceive that there is reality beyond the material, sense that it is "personal" in nature, sincerely esteem it for its values, and crave to develop a closer personal relationship with it. This characteristic is essential to our love and worship of God.

The above characteristics form the basis of personality. Each creature endowed with these characteristics has a separate and distinct personality, and is a personality. Personality is the key to individuality. No two personalities are the same.

Science cannot explain where personality comes from. There is nothing in the laws of genetics or the theories of evolution to indicate that personality has a scientific basis. The URANTIA Book says personality is a gift of the Father (79:9-11 1225:18-19 1226:14-15); that it is personality which gives mankind the prerogatives of self-determination, self-evolution, and self-identification with Deity. (1301:12-14) Why do we have this gift? We have explored this in Part I.C, above.

I am the totality of that unique personality who conceives of itself as "I"; there is no other such creature in the universe. I will always be that personality. The personality who I know as "I" is constant and changeless. I am self-conscious: I know the difference between good and evil, and can choose to do either; I can foresee the social consequences of my acts. The cosmic status of my personality is affected by these choices.

2. Man. the Highest Animal. Material man is seen as the highest order of animal life, the acme of creation. He has been given dominion over all the earth. (Genesis 1:26-28) Where did man come from? What does this power signify?
Logically, man could have arrived on earth by one or more of four means: (1) evolved here by natural processes as a result of a colossal series of incidents, accidents, and coincidences; (2) created here as man by fiat of God; (3) created here by mindful use of principles of evolution and mutation; or (4) transported here from another place.

Pure science has no better answer than that man sprang from method (1), a colossal series of incidents, accidents and coincidences. The odds favoring production of mankind in such a manner are so infinitesimally small that most sensible people reject it as a viable theory. It is said that, under the laws of probability, if enough apes were set before enough word processors and given enough time, one of them would produce a photo-ready copy of The Encyclopedia Britannica. It is one thing to speculate, statistically, that the entire work can be reproduced in that manner, and quite another to propose that it was actually written in that manner. Those believing that the universe, with mankind in it, was actually produced by mindless, directionless phenomena of chance accept something far more implausible than that The Encyclopedia Britannica was accidentally written by an ape.

Fundamentalist Christian theology holds that man came to earth by way number (2), fiat creation by God. Whether or not this is a fact, it contains the essential truth that man appeared on earth as a creative act of Deity, which is theologically significant.

The URANTIA Book teaches that the basic human stock was placed on this planet by way number (3): creation by mindful use of evolution and mutation. (667:33-39) It was planned to up step the human race by interbreeding with material stock brought to earth by way number (4): transportation from another place (Adam & Eve, 583:8-10),however, relatively little benefit accrued from this effort because of the Adamic default. (736:30-35)

For all practical purposes, it is immaterial whether mankind arrived on earth as a result of way (2), (3) or (4), or by any combination thereof; the point is that man appeared--not by accident--but as a result of creation by Deity. Why would Deity create (by any means) "man in His own image" and give him "dominion over" all other physical creation? This is a significant question. Its answers give further clues as to who we are.

Let us postulate that the physical universe of galaxies, suns, planets, moons, etc., was created (by whatever means) to provide a physical environment within which to bring into existence various forms of life designed to support, and to culminate in, "beings" with the qualities of mankind. If so, the development of life forms not only would advance toward the desired end of producing mankind, but also would support him when he came into being. This is exactly what happened on earth; we can only speculate whether it happened elsewhere. If no higher form of physical creature appears, we can reason that the creative process was designed to culminate in, and support, mankind.

I am the capstone of physical creation. I, and those like me, have dominion over all the earth. But why? How does this help Deity? This is explored in Part I.C, above.

3. Free Will and Mandatory Choices.

Man is said to exercise free will; and so he does. But only to the extent that he can perceive options and understand their consequences. Wisdom is essential to free will. Civilized society does not hold its members criminally accountable for their misdeeds unless the culprit knew, or should have known, that the act was wrong. This is the basis for excusing the insane from criminal responsibility. Deity has at least as high a standard.

Out of all material creation, only man is aware of the qualities of his relationship with others, has the ability to foresee the consequences of his conduct in terms of impact on others. Only man is able to know the difference between good and evil. See definition of Evil in Part III.A, below. Therefore, only man has the ability to do evil.

There is another reason why man is the only material creature able to do evil: man, alone is able to overcome his animal nature. Animal behavior is governed by genetics and environment only; but man is able to overcome these by another behavior-regulating force: wisdom, and the free will to use it.

Lower animals always respond to a situation in accordance with their nature and training. A hungry tiger finding a lost child in the jungle acts in accordance with its nature, with no thought of any consequences. A starving man finding the child is instantly aware that a moral choice, if not a spiritual one, is involved. The tiger is absolved of moral blame if it eats the child; the man is not. Why this difference? The two reasons are: (1) because only the man could know it was wrong, if not evil, and (2) only the man had control over his own conduct: free will. These differences are of major theological significance.
The fact that man recognizes the difference between good and evil in any situation places upon him the inescapable burden to choose between the two. The more sensitive he becomes, the more differences he observes, and the more choices he must make. Most people constantly face such choices.

Choices between good and evil usually take the form of choices between self interests and (1) societal interests or (2) spiritual interests. Societal interests involve "right vs. wrong," sociological terms pertaining to morality. Spiritual interests involve "good vs. evil," theological terms pertaining to spirituality. This is an important difference. That which seems right may be evil. (Proverbs 14:12) Knowledge of good and evil is not the same as knowledge of right and wrong.

It is said that God provides no rewards or punishments; only consequences. God provides "consequences" only for free-will choices. He judges by the "heart:" the intent to do that known to be either good or evil. Good done accidentally or under duress has no spiritual value to the do-gooder. Evil done through ignorance or accident has no spiritual consequences upon the evildoer; but the choice of evil over good is sin, and the wages of sin is spiritual death.

Why did Deity enable mankind to ignore its animal nature? This quality of free will is given to man in order that he may perform important service to Deity, service which would be impossible without it. In Part I.C, above, four "desires" of Deity are proposed which are attainable through creatures with (1) the ability to ascertain the will of God and (2) the absolute power to obey or disobey it as they choose.

I AM an animal liberated from my animal nature and given both the wisdom to recognize the nature and con sequences of my acts and the free will to act as I choose. I therefore face constant choices of both a moral and spiritual nature. I have the power to ascertain the will of God if I seek to do so. I can increasingly gain knowledge of good and evil. (Compare Genesis 2:9,17; 825:39-40) Most knowledge comes from the Indwelling Spirit within me. (1457:40-43) Much comes from revelation, and some is portrayed in holy books. These provide the knowledge which makes me accountable for my subsequent acts.

The three human characteristics mentioned above do much to reveal who we are from a theological and cosmic point of view.

* * * * * * * *

Who am I? I AM a unique personality (by gift of God) having the ability to discern between good and evil, and the power to choose between the two. I AM a super-animal, in charge of a portion of God's material manifestation of Himself as physical creation. I AM a source of voluntary love and worship of God through faith. I AM a source of experience for Deity, itself. I AM a source of spirit growth of Deity. I AM potentially a Perfected being in the presence of the Father. And much, much more. I accomplish these functions by faithfully living out the physical "me" described in the first paragraph of Part II.A, above, and by faithfully developing my spiritual potential.

B. WHY AM I HERE?

Unless creation was mindless and frivolous, it must have something to do with implementing a grand design, a divine plan--to accomplish something which God either needs to have or desires to bring about. If so, then "I," as the acme of physical creation, must have a significant role in an important plan of God! This is a thrilling concept.

Mankind is the keystone figure in the Divine Plan for Creating. See Part I.C.2, above. He has a far greater role in cosmic development than is generally known.
Prevailing Western theology sees mankind as having been created by fiat in perfection, and as "falling" from that lofty status. The goal of most religions is a salvage operation, to keep people spiritually alive until they physically die, in the hope that God will mercifully restore them to their original status of perfection instead of justly punishing them for their sins. God is variously pictured as being angry with, and regretful over man; and as devising emergency plans to effect a cosmic rescue of his wayward children. The word "salvation" is not without significance. This traditional paradigm has prevailed in spite of numerous lofty, even brilliant, truths contained in most holy books. And it completely overlooks the reasons why man exists.

Man exists as a key element in a Divine Plan of Deity. His role and function are to assist Deity in satisfying several "desires" indicated above in Part I.C. These desires are for voluntary obedience and esteem, for creature experience, for true growth, and to evolve perfected beings. We human beings are deliberately designed and carefully tailored to fulfill each of these desires. And we are doing so.

1. To Provide Voluntary Obedience and Esteem.

Deity's "desire" for voluntary obedience and esteem is addressed in Part I.C.1.a, above.

Every normal human being exercises a free will to respond to Deity in any manner he chooses. There is no spiritual coercion. One can seek or avoid, obey or disobey, attend or ignore, hold in awe or contempt, love or hate, etc.: whatever attitude one holds toward God is one's personal choice. Whenever God is sought, esteemed, obeyed, loved or worshipped by a human, the act is voluntary. It results from the creature's seeing intrinsic values in Deity and desiring to identify with them. This constitutes the voluntary love and esteem otherwise not available to God.

Both logic and revelation indicate that you and I are here to provide important service to, and for, God by voluntarily seeking, finding, obeying, loving and worshipping him. In this endeavor, each of us is of equal value to God, and receives equal treatment from God.

2. To Provide Creature Experience with Evil.

Deity's "Desire" for creature experience is developed in Parts I.C.1.b, above, and III.A.1.a, below.

There is absolutely no doubt that humans undergo experiences with evil, some quite traumatic. Both the Old Testament and Jesus taught that God is with us throughout all of these trials, but the true significance of this teaching has only recently been revealed. Through the Indwelling Spirit of the Father, God actually shares our experiences; thereby gaining "creature experience." (29:21-32; 1185:1624) As we triumph over evil, God actually experiences the overcoming of evil through us. When we overcome evil with good, new spiritual values appear, and Deity experiences growth. These spiritual values become our immortal soul, and stay with us as we undergo the perfecting process to become Divine. Even when we fail and do evil, Deity has experiential knowledge of the phenomenon.

"I" am of importance to Deity as a vehicle through which God can (and does) gain experience: creature experience. No one else can provide these exact same experiences; and if I fail, they are lost to God forever.

3. To Provide Growth to Deity.

Deity's "desire" for growth was developed in Part I.C.1.c, above.
It is a mistake to view mankind as being created "a living soul" (Genesis 2:7) rather than as being a co-creator of his own soul. Man once believed that he was created by fiat. (838:30-31) We now learn that he was evolved out of pre-existent mater. (560:17-40) Even life, itself, was "initiated." (667:40-45) Man is made flesh, and given the power to become spirit. (343:3-9) It is in the first step toward becoming spirit that man is "born again," (1130:43-48) and thus actively participates in the creation of his own soul. (1478:24-44) During this spiritualizing process man contributes to totality of reality: to the growth of Deity.

Man has long been seen as a co-creator with God of physical progeny; but the more important creation of his soul--an embryonic spirit--is overlooked. Just as a caterpillar must weave its own cocoon if it aspires to become a butterfly; so must man develop his own soul if he aspires to become a spirit. This is why Jesus said "you must be born again, born of spirit." If man were "created spirit," spirit would already exist, and man could not give it "birth." Jesus made it plain that man was deeply involved in bringing about this "new birth" through the proper exercise of free will. (1602:40-46)

It is the supreme goal of this lifetime to be born of the spirit, to develop the human soul, and to survive as a spirit-potential being. Only the successful progress to other spheres (heaven) to become wholly spirit. Mankind, in the flesh, is but converted preexistent matter, (Genesis 2:7; 3:19) and adds nothing to Deity. Physical life adds nothing to Deity. Upon death, life terminates, and matter returns to older forms. Only that which is spirit is real and eternal. When a person, in conjunction with God, creates anything of spirit value, it adds to the totality of Deity (God the Supreme): it is spirit growth.

If this is correct, "I" am here to provide "spirit growth" to Deity both in the flesh and as I become more spiritual. "I" have the potential to become a perfected spirit-being with a residence on Paradise and an opportunity for important future service to God.

4. To Provide Perfected Beings.

Deity's "desire" to evolve perfected beings was discussed in Parts I.C.1.d, above, and III.A.1.b, below.

Of all the desires of Deity, this one is the most rewarding to us to fulfill. The Divine Plan for Creating contains an element of "reciprocal reward" by which Deity bestows on any faithful creature more than it receives from that creature. (Part I.C.2.d, above.) Reciprocal love from the Father is greater than any obedience and esteem we show Him. The experiences we share with Deity are ours as well as His. The growth we provide to Deity is our own growth. This "desire" is that we complete our growth by becoming perfect and standing in the presence of the Father in Paradise. The very "beings" which Deity desires to "become perfected" are YOU and ME. This is the ultimate consequence of faithful service, the best thing that could happen to us.

God has repeatedly told men and women to become perfect. (Genesis 17:1; Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 18:13; Matthew 5:48; 21:30-31 + 12 other places) This is our goal and our destiny. The entire scheme of ascension to God is a perfecting process.

Only as perfected beings can you and I realize our potential to be full faith-sons and faith-daughters of our Heavenly Father. It is heart-warming to know that God desires us to dwell in His presence, and even become a part of total Deity.
I AM a potential faith-son or faith-daughter of Our Father. I can become a full faith-child by being a faith-ful child.

* * * * * * * *
Why am I here? To be "me," a unique personality. To seek and do the will of God; to grow to love and worship Him. To overcome evil with good. And by so doing, to contribute to the love, experience and growth of God. And ultimately, to stand in the presence of God a perfected being.

Both "I" and my missions are of profound significance and eternal importance. "My" role is to satisfy various desires of Deity. I was made for this Divine purpose. There are momentous consequences from my conduct on earth. No one can succeed but me. And no one else can fail. If I fulfill my purpose I will attain my destiny and inherit eternal life; if not, I will pass away forever.

C. WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF ME? HOW CAN I BE A BETTER PERSON?

Man has not been left uninformed of what God requires of him. To the contrary, all great religions contain truths about God's desires of men. Unfortunately, they also contain much misinformation. Along with its burdensome "laws," the Old testament contains the brilliant rhetorical question of Micah: "what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) We may be more specific in three areas.

1. To seek and find God.

The one basic, and absolutely essential, requirement is to relate personally to God! It is not what one knows, but Who one knows, that "saves" one. Being good for goodness' sake rather than for God's sake achieves none of the objectives of Deity in creating mankind, and has no spiritual value. It elevates self-values over God-values, and constructively ignores God's existence. Spiritually, it results in being good for nothing.

The path to God is not the same for everyone. All do not start in the same place; but the focal point, the end of the journey, is always God. For most, the "way" is a process involving three functions: (1) to seek to know the will of God, (2) to attempt to do the will of God, and (3) to strive for a close personal relationship with God. These are most effective when done with enthusiasm by one who sees the beauty of God and eternal values in serving Him. Salvation depends more upon what one attempts than upon what one achieves. Sincere effort always results in success. We are taught that if we seek, we shall find. The process of God-seeking and God-finding always results, to some degree, in satisfying one or more needs of Deity.

2. To Overcome Evil with Good.

The most effective technique by which to do the will of God was voiced by Paul: "overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) Jesus both taught and practiced this technique. The "other cheek" and "second mile" instructions are in point. Man cannot create by fiat; and the next two most significant methods of creation are by making something out of something else and by making something desirable out of something undesirable. The overcoming of evil with good does both. Man thus creates something of spiritual value, and becomes a cocreator with God. By faithfully practicing this technique, men and women can fulfill real needs of Deity and thereby live up to the purpose for which they were created.

Few people understand the full significance of the divine process of overcoming evil with good. Let us look at how it works in three different situations.

One's own Actions. When one chooses, and does, good instead of evil, good overcomes evil by preventing or replacing it. When one uses good to correct an evil already done, it may lessen or nullify the effects of the evil on the victim, and it always results in a positive good. In either instance the heart of the evildoer is good, and good has overcome evil.

Evil done to A Third Party by Another. When one does good to the victim of another's evil, it may reduce or eliminate the adverse effects of the evil, and it always produces a positive value for the person doing the good. The evil remains in the heart of the evildoer.

Evil done to you by another. Evil received from another may be overcome in two ways. First, return good for evil to influence the evil one to regret his evil. This was understood by Paul in Romans 12:20 where he wrote of heaping "coals of fire" upon the evildoer's head. Second, return good without regard for its influence upon the evildoer. If you return evil for evil, two evils exist. If you return nothing, there is still one evil. If you return good for evil, there is one good and one evil, and numerically they cancel out. If you return a greater good than the original evil, you have truly "overcome" the original evil, for quantitatively there is more good in the world than evil as a result of the exchange.

Here is a cosmic secret: when good is returned for evil, good always overcomes evil. Evil has no spiritual value; good does. Evil is cosmically unreal, and will cease to exist. Good is eternally real. Every person who returns good for evil has created a reality of spiritual value; it will live on as part of the soul. Even a little good in return for a great evil leaves something of value where nothing existed before. This is one principal process by which one builds his immortal soul.

3. To Love both God and Man -- Will man ever love his fellow man?

God requires us to love. At the human level, love is the desire to do good for others. One can be niggardly or generous with love of another; can limit love to one or a few, or can lavish it on many. There is no limit to the supply. God has so much of this quality that He is said to be love. God, as a person, can be loved as any other person.

Love does not occur as an applied philosophy nor an act of will. Love occurs from recognition of values, from understanding motives and sentiments. (1098:28-29) To truly love someone, whether God or man, you must really know them. The Divine injunction to love is equally a command to know and understand. Man will never love his fellow man unless and until he knows him better. This will take centuries.

Jesus said the two great commandments are both to love: love God, and love your fellow man; and that on these hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40) One who truly loves God will seek, obey and esteem Him. One who truly loves his fellow man will attempt to overcome all forms of evil with good. It is easier to love one's fellow man when one sees (and loves) God as his/her Father and views all neighbors as children of God. All men and women then become one's spiritual brothers and sisters in the family of God.

4. Other Requirements.

God has already come to you. He now desires that you come to Him. The path to God is an ages-long journey. One does not "arrive" in this lifetime; earthly victory is only a beginning. Progress evolutionary rather than instantaneous: take one step at a time. The adventure begins with a sincere decision to seek and find God. This is made upon faith, and nurtured by growing faith as we continue God-ward. Once begun, the journey requires fidelity and Perseverance. You must not turn back. The password is progress. You will know you are on the right path when there appear spirit fruits upon which to feast.
In this lifetime enjoy the experience of being human. Be the best human you can be. Whatever you undertake, do it well and with good cheer. Live life to the fullest, not as a passive mystic or colorless ascetic, but as an active participant in all life's routine affairs. Fulfill the double-responsibility of duty to God and duty to man at the same time, by the same acts. And be sincere. This produces spirit fruit, and makes you a "better person" in the eyes of both God and man.

D. CAN I COMMUNICATE WITH GOD?

It is inconceivable that Deity would place men and women on earth and leave them with no communications: no way to ascertain good and evil; no way to determine what God desires of them or has in store for them; and no way to express to their Creator the sincere thoughts of their minds, the deep longings of their hearts, or the joy of worship.

Communication is a two-way street; it is both incoming and outgoing. Incoming communications are largely sensed as thoughts or feelings; outgoing, are largely articulated as words, silently or aloud.

God continuously attempts to communicate with every human mind capable of moral choosing. Because of man's free will, He does not speak so strongly as to coerce. Since man must seek God, He does not speak so loudly as to impose. God does not compel anyone to listen. But always, as men and women face choices between good and evil, He displays the values of each alternative. God is not mute. Man's ability to receive communications from God depends more upon man's willingness to listen than upon God's ability to speak.

There seems to exist within the mind of man a fragment of Deity which examines every concept as it arises, and classifies it as true or false, beautiful or ugly, good or evil. There seems to follow a call, a request--not a command, to choose the true over the false, the beautiful over the ugly, and the good over the evil. It is as if a still, small voice whispers into one's spiritual ears the eternal values involved in every moral choice which one must make, and sometimes says "this is the way."

The voice is weak when one appears to benefit more from choosing the false, ugly or evil than by choosing the true, beautiful and good. It fades into oblivion as one repeatedly chooses the false, ugly or evil. But it seems to grow louder and clearer as one responds to it by choosing the true, beautiful and good. Hearing God gets easier as one becomes more spiritual.

This is the principal method by which God communicates to every normal human mind. For most of us, it is enough. Yet, at times, God has communicated more articulately and forcefully. The Bible recounts that, in the days of Abraham, God sent a celestial being (Melchizedek) to communicate with humans, including Abraham. The Bible also tells of angels and prophets as messengers of God, and of communications by vivid dreams. But the supreme method by which God has communicated with man is through Jesus of Nazareth, God incarnate, who spoke to mankind face to face. Jesus revealed, for the first time, that men and women can become faith sons and daughters of God.

How does man speak to God? We are taught that God knows our every thought and hears our every prayer. If so, all deliberate thoughts or prayers addressed to Deity are known instantaneously. But by whom? The Bible speaks of at least three "persons" in Deity. Are prayers heard by the correct "person?"

The dissemination of prayers is much like radio broadcasts. Think of prayers as being broadcast on a "prayer circuit" in which each "person" of Deity has a receiving station. Each station receives, records and acts upon only those messages which pertain to its Deity Personality. Thus, a prayer of pure praise goes to God the Father, a petition for intercession on earth goes Jesus as Creator-Son; etc. I doubt if the Deities are misled when a message is misaddressed.

But it is enough to know that God hears, and answers, all sincere prayers prayed in the spirit.

E. HOW SHOULD I RELATE TO MY FAMILY, CLAN, RACE & NATION?

Mankind relates to: (1) God, (2) his environment, and (3) his fellow man. The most important relationship is with God; this overrides all others. This is always a personal relationship, whether or not one realizes it. It is governed by one's attitude and intent toward God.

Paradoxically, our response to God is reflected more by our relationships with our environment and our fellows than by our relationship directly with God. God is spirit, and we are matter. We live in a material world, and whatever we do occurs in a material environment. There are few and limited ways in which material man can demonstrate or express his attitude toward a spiritual God other than through conduct toward his material environment, including--most significantly-his fellow man.

Deity intended it this way. The material universe, with the earth and all it's people, was created by Deity for a reason. God has a special interest in its care and nurture: it is His, and it is good. We are God's surrogate caretakers and our brother's keepers. We are here for that purpose, among others. Therefore, those things which God desires us to do are almost entirely directed toward caring for, and improving, our material environment; most particularly, toward improving our relationship with each other.

It is not by coincidence that the tenets of every great religion contain much about man's relationship to his fellow man. Of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21), four have to do with man's relationship with God and six have to do with man's relationship with man. Of the "two great commandments" in the New Testament (Matthew 23:37-40), one relates to God, and the other to "neighbor." It is therefore fair to say that God desires our love for Him to be demonstrated by our conduct toward our fellows.

Man is a social animal. It is not good for man to be alone. As the human race develops, it faces an ever-enlarging, ever complex, set of social circumstances to which it must adjust. The family, tribe, clan, state, race, nation, multi-national federation and ultimate world government, are but expanding social situations through which men and women are to develop spiritually by a process called "civilization." Civilization reflects the degree of human subjugation of individual self-aggrandizement to higher values found in the needs of society, a development of spiritual dimensions. Secular history is the story of how mankind has met these challenges; it also provides a barometer of spiritual development.

1. Family.

According to the Bible, the very first instruction given to man and woman by God was "be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth.." (Genesis 1:28) The basic values of civilization are developed and nurtured in the family. The blind trust of the child, the loving care of the parents, fraternal and filial love, the fidelity of parents to one another, the mutual support of the extended family, and the unifying influence of the patriarch and matriarch: these virtues form the foundation for all future progress in social development. The rise and fall of civilization has closely followed the rise and fall of the family.

Family virtues have spiritual value. The fifth commandment directs family obedience. When Jesus came to reveal God to man, it was the ideal family that he used to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven: God is a loving Father, and our greatest contribution to the Father is to bring about the brotherhood of man, the social consolidation of His scattered and diverse material children.

How should I relate to my family? Bring the highest value into the position you occupy. As a child, trust and obey your parents, give and accept love. As a youth, assume your share of the obligations and love your brothers and sisters. As a parent, love, nurture and guide your children, and train them to assume their full role as adults, even if the training should require discipline. When children become of age, parents must let go, trust, and respond to special needs. As a wife or husband, love, be faithful toward, and cooperate with your spouse. And as grandparents (and beyond), hold the extended family together as a larger unit, mutually supportive of all other parts.

2. Clan and Tribe.

Individuals get along easier with people who are "like" them than those who are "unlike" them. Blood ties result in biological and social similarities which facilitate fraternization beyond the immediate family. This led to the development of the clan and tribe. But in modern Western society, the clan and tribe have little significance. Mobility and urbanization have diluted and displaced areas of clan autonomy, and almost eliminated tribal influence and authority.

The clan and tribe represent two stages of social advancement beyond the family. They have been replaced by local culture groups and larger communities of similar interests, or by local neighborhoods and larger city or county units, etc. Gangs, societies, tongs, etc., are social innovations replacing clans in some environments.

The social value of clans and tribes, and of their replacements, is that they influence people to socialize, to get along together, in groups larger than the family. They develop wider interpersonal commitment, broader internal loyalties and stimulate cooperative external competition. They are a necessary stage in social development.

Social dangers of clans and tribes, and of their equivalents, are that clan loyalties may inhibit broader social development, and competition may take destructive paths leading to various forms of mob action and intergroup warfare.

The wise individual uses clans, tribes, societies, teams, gangs, clubs, etc., as a means of developing self-commitment and group loyalties, of getting along with larger numbers of people, and of adjusting self-interests to the needs of wider groups. Yet, one does not stop there. The most practical way to develop an effective social structure beyond the clan and tribe is work through the group to influence it to become an integral part of a larger structure. But if any group refuses to grow into a larger society structure, abandon it and develop new relationships and commitments with the larger group representing the region, state or nation.

3 Race

Race focuses upon certain common physical characteristics. Although race originated through families, clans and tribes, it is no longer a social organization, as such. Yet race is a strong social force. The common characteristics shared by peoples of any race tend to bring them together. People of other races are seen as being "different," and this tends to set the races apart.

Belonging to any particular race, however, provides no spiritual advantage or disadvantage; all persons are equal in the sight of God. There is no race of "chosen people:" all are called; and those who respond--of all races--are equally "chosen."

Deity developed races in-order to give individuals the valuable experience of learning to socialize with people markedly different from themselves. Successful social integration in the past would have resulted in blended races containing the finer qualities of each strain. However, racial socialization has not developed as planned, and much important work needs to be done in this area.
One's relationship with people of different races should begin by ignoring obvious but irrelevant differences and observing the more significant commonalties. This calls for eliminating all personal racial prejudice and accepting every person upon the basis of his or her true social and moral development. Race should become irrelevant: neither an advantage nor a disadvantage to inter-personal relations.

Due to prejudice and mistrust, socialization among the races is unlikely to progress very far unless and until it is recognized that men and women of all races are equally-loved children of the same Heavenly Father. When the world sees all people as sisters and brothers--and treats each one accordingly--it will have attained one spiritual goal of the Creator in making the different races.

4. Nationality.

Nationality holds together the largest social organizations of lasting quality now on the face of the earth. Nations are far greater social organizations than families and clans, but still far smaller than the ultimate social achievement: a single world government. Nations come and go, grow and recede. Leagues, federations, and treaty organizations appear and disappear. All of these represent valiant efforts of mankind to get along in ever-enlarging groups until everyone can get along together.

Nationality is a unity based upon common interests within a particular geographical area. Some day man will learn that common interests know no geographic boundaries.

We are taught that nationality is the greatest cause of war; and if wars are to end, all people must yield their sovereignty to a single world government. (1489:24-30) Yet, this development must await its time: until the people of the world are ready for it. (804:40-44) Otherwise, it would actually precipitate war: a revolution.

Nations exercise power in accordance with the morals of those who govern them; both for good and for evil. Some permit their citizens more freedom and opportunity to follow the will of God than do others. Since the plan of salvation, the means by which mankind moves beyond the material toward the spiritual, calls for uncoerced personal choice of good over evil, nations which obstruct and inhibit such choice pose a problem of spiritual dimension. And attempts to extend their hegemony or sovereignty over non-consenting peoples pose further problems.

It is socially suicidal and spiritually debilitating to impose upon any nation a government contrary to the general will of its people. The maintaining of government by force always inhibits the development of social and spiritual values by the people governed. No truly self governing nation should become so divided or so weak as to allow this to happen.

On the other hand, continuously-escalating military forces are not desirable. They create as many tensions as they relieve. They make possible a greater catastrophe than they are designed to prevent. And they suggest that there is a military solution to a problem which is social and spiritual.

All citizens of a truly self-governing nation should support their national government in its effort to govern wisely. When a decision has been made by proper means, it should be accepted.

The nation may represent the best opportunity for individuals to participate in widespread social activities on a cooperative basis in
our day; yet one should not be selfish or exclusive about the matter. Mankind should look for ever-expanding horizons beyond which to expand the circle of truly self-governing peoples until the entire world is under one government, and nations are no more.

F. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR ME AND MY FAMILY -- WHEN WILL THE WORLD END?

The world is quivering on the brink of a bright new age. The URANTIA Book was given in 1929-1935, a hundred years before its time, "to prepare leaders." It takes little math to project that the "time" of the book is the second quadrant of the 21st century. The world is ripe for the visitation of a Magisterial Son (227:18-19) or Trinity Teacher Son (231:34-41), and it may occur at that time. The trial of Lucifer and his arch-rebels is under way. (611:23-25) Upon its completion and execution of judgment we can expect a return of the spiritual circuits and a lifting of the Norlatiadek quarantine. (529:11-15)

After the Lucifer rebellion, the Caligastia betrayal, the Adamic default and the untimely murder of Jesus Christ, it is difficult to see how anything worse could happen to our planet. Yet it is now physically possible for man to completely destroy all human life in a matter of days. I do not believe this will happen. The Most Highs, who rule in the kingdoms of men, have an observer on this planet, a Vorondadek Son, who has the power to seize the planetary government in times of grave planetary crisis (1253:20-45). I have faith in both the wisdom and the strength of our planetary government (augmented), and do not believe we would have been given a book "timed" for after 2025 if there would be no one around to read it at that time.

Barring cataclysmic accident, this planet is destined to be settled in Light and Life, a form of planetary "salvation." As such it would not undergo natural planetary decay. (621:20-23) There is no natural "end of the world" before the end of time. If a physical catastrophe should doom this planet, there is an emergency plan by which the evolving human race can be saved. (582:20-31)
Science is still outstripping religion, and philosophy suffers as a result of it. This situation will continue until the world discovers and follows the soul-saving teachings of Jesus (from The URANTIA Book or elsewhere), or receives a celestial visit from a high Son, or the spiritual circuits are reopened, or any combination thereof.

Our families probably will not observe much spiritual progress for the next three or four decades; but the foundation is being laid for the exciting events which will occur thereafter.

G. WHAT HAPPENS TO ME WHEN I DIE? IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? IS THERE A HEAVEN OR HELL?

Death is cessation of life. That which has never lived cannot die. When life ceases in any organism, the physical structure remains to undergo natural decomposition, but the organism--as such--ceases to exist. That which ceases to exist is no more: it will never be again.

Animals and plants are material living organisms. They have once to live and once to die. Their seed may produce new life, but it is a new and different organism. Mankind is an animal, a material living organism. As such, mankind has but one material "life" to live, and that is terminated by death. (Hebrews 9:27)

But mankind is more than an animal. Each person thinks of self as something other than mere animal self, as having qualities and characteristics not shared by any lower animal. Both logic and revelation say that this portends a viability, a form of life, beyond and above the physical. This non-material substance is said to be spiritual in nature and is referred to as the soul. The spiritual soul is seen as a separate entity from the material body, not necessarily terminated by physical death. This view is generally correct.

1. Survival: Eternal Life.

"Eternal life" and "immortality" mean nothing more than "life which will not be terminated by death." That which dies does not enjoy eternal life. Material man is mortal. The word "mortal" means that he dies. The same life cannot be both mortal and eternal. Therefore, the concept of "eternal life" is inappropriate for man's physical body: it can only apply to the life of his developing "soul."
Jesus taught, and demonstrated, that there was some form of life beyond material death, and promised that those who obeyed his Father's commandments would not die, but have eternal life. This is the "life" which began with the "new birth" mentioned by Jesus to Nicodemus, a spiritual form of life. (John 3:1-7)

Our human identity need not die with the flesh; our personality will survive with our spiritual soul IF we cooperate with Deity and bring about this "new birth." The human mind is the womb of the embryonic soul. Following the "new birth", we contain a spark of immortality. The body then becomes the temporary dwelling place of the developing soul. The loss of this temporary abode does not result in death of the soul or the destruction of that which is spirit: when the body dies, they survive. That which is truly spirit is immortal; has eternal life.

Unfortunately, many people live their entire lifetime without the "new birth," without creating a soul or contributing to spirit. In such a case, there is nothing to survive. Confirmation of this circumstance by a "just" God represents the "judgment," after which occurs the equivalent of the second death, identity extinction.

Human beings have two deaths about which to be concerned: (1) physical death, and (2) spiritual death. Physical death terminates material life which began at birth (or earlier), and spiritual death terminates spiritual life which began with the new birth. This "second death" is referred to three times in The Book of Revelation. It has far more significance than physical death.

The second death, like the first, results in cessation of life: in this case, spirit life. Thereafter, since there is no living body and no living spirit, there is no life to contain identity, the deceased person is "as if he had never been." (See 1229:39-1230:5) Even after resurrection a person may choose not to advance, in which case there occurs the second death. (1218:45-1219:3)

2. Resurrection.

For those who believe in reincarnation, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there is no such thing; the good news is that there is something better: resurrection. Reincarnation is defined as a return to a material body of flesh. All flesh is mortal. Resurrection, on the other hand means something quite different.

Upon physical death, all surviving non-material elements return to their components, and reside in the hands of faithful, loving celestial caretakers until they are reconstituted as the "personality" of the deceased at a different place in a more appropriate body. (1234:341235:7) Any spiritualized factors of mind, memory and creature personality are held by the Thought Adjuster; the evolving soul, containing creature mind-matrix and potentials of identity, is held by the Guardian Seraphim; there they remain until they are placed in a specially prepared "body" in the resurrection halls of the first Mansion world and re-constituted as the same personality who died on earth. This is the resurrection. (See 533:3-11)

Those who believe in karma, and who are disappointed that there is no reincarnation to experience karma, will be happy to learn that we take up our life upon resurrection about where we left it on death. (532:39-40) There are, however, several differences. We will have a new body. (2029:1317) And purely animalistic and wholly material mental associations will be left behind. (533:5-7) But our personality, and everything worth while in our memory, will be resurrected. (535:6-11) This is also true following numerous "translation sleeps" which occur thereafter. But we always go forward, never backward. In the early stages, failure to progress results in the "second death."

3. WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

Shortly before His death, Jesus said: "In my Father's universe are many dwelling places (mansions),...I go to prepare a place for you...I will... receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:23) These "many Mansions" represent the places to which resurrected individuals go. The first of these has been referred to as "heaven," but it is not our ultimate celestial abode. (174:32-34) If we mean by "heaven" a better place to which we go after we die, there are countless of them. "Heaven" probably refers to the central universe of Havona. The ultimate "heaven" is the Isle of Paradise, the dwelling place of God.

The various "heavens" through which we pass on the way to paradise are beautiful, exciting and inspiring. They contain the superlative of art, music, literature, horticulture, and animal life. They are made of materials unknown to us. But in the end, they are all training spheres; for the universe is one vast school.

There is no such place as "hell" as it is popularly depicted: a place of eternal torment. It would take a cruel God to impose such a disproportionate punishment upon creatures who merely exercised their God-given powers. Furthermore, to experience a hell of eternal torment, the evil person being punished would need to exist, to have eternal life. The wages of sin is death, cessation of existence. Evil is a cosmic unreality, and always ceases to exist. It is enough punishment to lose an eternal life of growth and service leading to the Father in Paradise.

After physical death, all resurrected personalities begin a thrilling time-space journey to attain perfection and live as pure spirit with the Father in Paradise. They evolve gradually from the material to the spiritual, from the mortal to the immortal, from the imperfect into the perfect, and from the finite to the infinite. In the process they pass through heaven after heaven, but no hell. This is the destiny for which we were born. It can be yours if you are willing to pay the price of admission: steadfast faith, and good works bearing spirit fruit.

III. EVIL CLUSTER

A. WHY IS THERE EVIL IN THE WORLD?

Gadiah, a young Philistine interpreter, felt that the existence of evil in the world alongside the good was unjust. Gadiah asked Jesus: "How can God, if he is infinitely good, permit us to suffer the sorrows of evil; after all, who creates evil?" (1429:3-5) This question, in one form or another, has been asked by every generation.

Gadiah made the same false assumption commonly held since the dawn of history: that God creates evil. God did not, has not, and does not create evil! God is infinitely good. God is love. God does not, and cannot, "will" that evil befall anyone. Anything which God may "will" is "good" by definition.

Since God did not create evil, what is evil? How did it get here?

Definition of Terms. Before we proceed further, it is important to understand clearly the terms used here. They are defined as used in The URANTIA Book, particularly as used by Jesus.

Good: The doing of that which is in accordance with the will of God. Anything which God "wills" is good.

Evil: The doing of that which is NOT in accordance with the will of God. Anything which is NOT in accordance with God's will is evil, including all forms and degrees of evil: error, sin and iniquity.

Mere evil: Inadvertent or unintentional evil, not sin or iniquity. Anything is mere evil if it (1) is not in accordance with the will of God and (2) is done as a result of ignorance, mistake, etc., where God's will is not known and not knowingly transgressed. "Evil," in some contexts means mere evil.

Error: Mere evil which results from error. (See: mere evil)

Sin: The conscious, knowing or deliberate doing of that which is contrary to the will of God, or--upon knowing that the will of God may be involved--acting in complete disregard of any will of the Father in the matter. Anything which is consciously or deliberately done knowing it is, or may be, evil (as defined above) is sin.

Iniquity: The deliberate, continuing, willful, persistent or rebellious doing of that which is contrary to the will of God. Anything done in open, willful, repeated, persistent or rebellious defiance of the will of God is iniquity.

Possibility of Evil: A situation in which an intelligent creature exercising free will has a choice between good and evil: to do either that which is or is not the will of the Father. The possibility of evil, when in accordance with the will of God, is not evil, but good. It has the potential to become evil, but only when an intelligent "will creature" acts to bring it into existence contrary to the will of God.

NOTICE: Although "good," "evil," "error," "sin," and "iniquity" have been defined in terms of doing, the result--that which is done may also be properly called by the same term. For example: if one does evil, that which results is evil.
In Zebedee's garden Thomas asked questions similar to that of Gadiah. Jesus replied that Thomas' misconceptions were born of his misunderstanding of the Father and of his ignorance of the origin, nature and destiny of man. (1660:45-47) This suggests that we may know what is evil and why evil is in the world (1) by gaining better understanding of the Father and (2) by knowing more about the origin, nature and destiny of man.

1. How a Better Understanding of the Father helps us to Understand the Function of Evil.

The URANTIA Book supports at least two concepts about the Father which may explain why Deity created a physical universe in which there is the possibility of evil. Please note the significant difference between "creating evil" and "creating the possibility of evil."

a. Creature Experience.

The first concept is that the Father desires evil. to gain creature experience. This is developed in Parts I.C.1.b and II.B.2, above.

If the Father gains experience through his creatures, such gains are greatly limited if all such creatures are perfect and only do that which God programs them to do. He cannot experience voluntary obedience or esteem from such creatures, nor the exhilaration of victory in the mighty struggle between right and wrong. Creature experience, to be replete, must include making free-will choices to seek God or to ignore Him, to do God's will or one's own will: in short, to choose between good and evil. Creatures could exercise no such choice without the possibility of evil in their created environment. Thus, the possibility of evil is essential to the acquisition by the Father of a full spectrum of creature experiences.

b. Perfected Beings.

The second concept is that the Father desires to develop perfected beings, as distinguished from always-perfect beings, to share His dwelling place. This is developed in Parts I.C.1.d and II.B.4, above.

In order for any such perfecting process to be the most effective, it must include, as a very minimum, (1) the creation of less-thanperfect beings: physical, mortal and free willed; (2) the preparation of an environment which is less-than-perfect in which the possibility of evil exists; and (3) the perfection of a plan by which physical beings can become spiritual, mortal beings can become immortal, and free willed beings can become God-willed: put on the mind of God. The success of the entire plan hinges upon the complete freedom of each perfecting being to choose between good and evil, and to act accordingly. In order to act upon choice, one must have a choice. This is why the environment must include the possibility of evil: so evil can be chosen.
If these two concepts are correct, then the possibility of evil is brought into existence by Deity to help satisfy the above-mentioned two "desires" resulting from the very "nature" of the Father.

2. How a Better Understanding of the Origin, Nature and Destiny of Man helps us to Understand the Function of Evil.

Man is a material being of animal origin with the potential to become a spiritual being of Divine destiny. Man is mortal with the opportunity to attain immortality. Man's free will is ego-oriented with the possibility to become God-oriented, even God-like. Without being coerced, man must discover both himself and God, and must choose between the two. By choosing God, imperfect man can become perfect, and stand in the very presence of the Father. Or by choosing self, man can live and die as an animal on the planet of his birth. This choice belongs to every normal-minded individual.

Each person has been created for the very purpose of seeking and finding God, of embarking upon an ages-long journey toward perfection in the presence of God. Only misguided self-love can hinder this destiny. God has devised a plan and laid out a map, but no one is forced to follow it. Mankind has been given the matchless gift of free will: each person can say yes or no to anybody, including God. Man may opt to seek and follow God's plan, or follow a path of his own. Each person's ultimate fate is in his or her own hands. This summarizes man's origin, nature and destiny.

The destiny of man, to become perfected as a result of his own decisions instead of by Deity compulsion, would be unattainable without the possibility of wrong decisions: evil. See Part III.A.1.b, above. To be "perfected," man requires a less-than-perfect beginning: both a native ability to choose and to do that which is imperfect (evil), and an environment in which imperfection (evil) is permitted. Each of these demands the existence of the possibility of evil.

...The only evolutionary world without error (the possibility of unwise judgment) would be a world without free intelligence...evolving man must be fallible if he is to be free. 52:4-7

When man is given the free will to create or destroy, the potential exists for him to destroy. If man chooses destructively, he brings into existence various forms of evil, sin and iniquity. See 220:44-48

Note, only the possibility of evil is necessary to moral choosing, not its actuality. (1458:44-45) Man must be free to choose "evil" as well as "good." God does not will that any creature choose--or do-evil! The plan of perfecting salvation would work perfectly if every choice of every intelligent creature in the universe were for "good."

3. The Actualizing of Evil.

We know now that God does not create evil, but rather only the possibility of evil. Where does evil come from? Who converts the possibility into actuality?
The simple but profound answer is that evil is "really nonexistent until such a time as an intelligent creature wills..(its) existence by mischoosing the way of life." (1429:18-19) Thus, all evil comes from imperfect intelligent creatures who "create" it by acting contrary to the will of God--by making evil their choice. Evil choices are made from ignorance, immaturity, inexperience, mistake (error), unwise judgment and other deviations from perfect obedience to the Father's will. The knowing, deliberate, willful choice of evil is sin. The repeated, prolonged and habitual choice of evil is iniquity.

Only truth exists until an intelligent personality creates untruth, only fact exists until one creates falsehood, only beauty exists until one creates ugliness, only goodness exists until one creates badness, etc. All evil comes into existence through imperfect intelligent personalities; and always comes contrary to the will of God.

4. The Consequences of Evil.

Evil has dual consequences. The personal or internal consequences have to do with the development of the soul, and concern only God and the evil-doer. But the external consequences impinge adversely upon every person within the effective range of the evil.

Sin is never purely local in its effects. The administrative sectors of the universe are organismal; the plight of one personality must to a certain extent be shared by all. 761:911

Evil and sin visit their consequences in material and social realms and may sometimes even retard spiritual progress...Sin enormously retards intellectual development, moral growth, social progress, and mass spiritual attainment... 761:20-28

We live on a planet which has suffered more than its share of evil. Urantia is a decimal (experimental life) planet, and experiments resulted in the inadvertent development of parasitic bacteria which cause many distressful diseases. (736:22-29) This error would have been corrected by the immune systems of races blended with offspring of the Material Son and Daughter, but this was prevented by the Adamic default. (736:29-35) The Caligastia betrayal during the Lucifer rebellion led to the loss of 300,000 years' progress by the Planetary Prince and his staff.(761:4-8) During the last 200,000 years Urantia has been "under the spiritual ban of Norlatiadek" (578:26-28) and most system circuits have been cut off, (755:34-36) greatly hindering spiritual progress.

Because of the relative dearth of spiritual development, the natives of this planet have created more than their share of evil: disharmony, self-gratification, social strife, poverty, famine, pestilence, and war. But not one evil impulse or act was brought about by God.

5. Why does God Allow Evil to Continue?

Granted that God does not "create" evil; He certainly allows it to continue. Why? How does actual evil help to implement a Divine Plan?

a. To Preserve Free Will.

God allows the possibility of evil to continue for the same reason that it was permitted to begin with: it is essential to spiritual development and progress! God cannot prevent the choice (creation) of evil by his creatures without removing their ability to choose evil, without destroying free will. Such action would defeat the principal purpose of time-space creation.

This liberty to choose for oneself is an endowment of the Supreme Rulers, and they will not permit any being or group of beings to deprive a single personality in the whole universe of this divinely bestowed liberty... (615:22-25)

b. To Provide Opportunities for Greater Good.

There is another important reason why God permits evil to run its course: He has devised a plan whereby evil actually works for good in the overall scheme of things. "..(A)ll things (including evil) work together for good to them that love God..." Romans 8:28 (616:38-41) The formula is rather simple: good > evil.

Good (that which is in accordance with the will of God) is always a greater power than evil and can overcome evil. The greater the evil, the greater the good which overcomes it. Spiritual victory over large evil has more value than one over small evil. Those who win great victories over evil prepare themselves for higher service than would have been possible otherwise.

Each choice of good over evil prevents the non-chosen evil from existing, and thus "overcomes" evil. But once evil has been chosen and done, it cannot be undone, it can only be overcome. Good does not erase or cancel out evil; rather, it overcomes existing evil in two ways: (1) it limits the ill effects of evil by building a shield or a barrier against it; and (2) it creates positive new values which outweigh the negative values of the evil. The second of these is more important on earth. For example, the terrible toll of evil from the Lucifer Rebellion cannot be recouped, but it can be limited by way (1). And vast amounts of good have flowed from way (2) via those who have overcome its ill effects with good. We are told that the total good which has come from the Lucifer rebellion is far greater than the sum of the evil created by it. (619:34-36)

6. Our Blessings from Evil.

Rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, we should be thankful. Because of our plight, we enjoy the unique blessing of having been visited by a Creator Son on a bestowal mission. We can become Agondonters: evolutionary will creatures who believe without seeing, persevere when isolated, and triumph over insuperable difficulties even when alone. (579:2-4) See John 20:29. This gives us an opportunity for a destiny of higher service than would be possible otherwise. (579:11-14).

Once we have been truly reborn--born of the spirit--we can live our lives in the flesh viewing every evil as an opportunity rather than as a hindrance. Trouble will invigorate us; disappointment will spur us on; difficulties will challenge us; and obstacles will stimulate us. (1438:22-25) See also 291:21-26.

B. WHY IS THERE SUFFERING IN THE WORLD?

Thomas (1605:2-5), Nathaniel (1661:21-24) and John (1662:34-36) each asked Jesus, in effect, why the loving Father permits so many of his apparently innocent children to suffer from so many diseases and other afflictions. The following is essentially the response given by Jesus to these three apostles.

To Thomas, Jesus gave the most significant and profound response. After chiding Thomas for not listening with the "ear of the spirit," He pointed out that God's kingdom is spiritual, and said that he was teaching the apostles as spiritual children about spiritual matters. Their problem was that they took his words too literally, and thus were unable to separate the spiritual realities of the kingdom from literal social problems of the day. He urged them to listen for the spiritual message instead of the literal physical meaning. (1605:6-25) The evil which produces suffering originates in spiritual deficiency, and ultimately dies; the good which overcomes the evil causing suffering originates in spiritual sufficiency, and ultimately lives.

1. What is Suffering?

Suffering is the unpleasant feeling one gets when things go wrong, the personalized repercussion of evil. Suffering is not evil Per se. It is an inevitable physical consequence of evil. It sounds the alarm that evil has occurred. Suffering and evil are not equivalent. Alleviating suffering does not necessarily overcome the evil which caused it, nor does overcoming evil alleviate the suffering it caused. While evil remains in the world, there will be suffering. (See Part III.A)

2. Where Suffering Comes From.

Just as God did not create evil, He did not create suffering. Yet God did create the possibility of evil, which includes the possibility of suffering. Suffering, like evil, always enters the world through the evil, sin and iniquity, of a lower intelligent creature, and never by fiat of God.

Jesus and The URANTIA Book teach of four broad sources of suffering.

First, much suffering springs from devastating evil which came into existence through errors and sins of Jesus' own trusted Sons involved in administering the earth. (1632: 2S-27) Unexpected developments in the experiments of Life Carriers resulted in parasitic bacteria injurious to humans (736:25-29); sinful adventures of certain rebellious traitors (Lucifer, etc.) disturbed the natural order of progression on earth (1661:26-27); and the shameful default of Adam and Eve denied to humanity the genetic uplifting so beneficial to physical and spiritual development (851:32-33). These factors impacted adversely upon the conditions of man's temporal existence (1649:39-40) and made disease more prevalent (736: 25-35). It will be many ages before the losses caused by the errors and sins of lower celestial beings are attenuated and the world restored to normalcy. (1661:20-30)

Second, humans suffer from errors of their forebears. (1649: 28) We are reared in an environment greatly modified from its natural state by our ancestors. Some of this is good, some is bad. Modern industry provides many useful products, but also causes pollutants and toxins which impact upon health. Our moral and spiritual environments have been created largely by our forebears and their associates. Many now suffer from moral deficiencies as well as spiritual deficiencies in their environment.

Third, humans suffer from the evil of their contemporaries. Man is created a social animal. Each person is a part of numerous social units. Each individual in each unit enjoys the benefits and suffers the penalties flowing from relationships with others in the unit, and from the unit's relationships with other units. When a star player on a sports team has a bad day, the entire team suffers; when the team has a bad day, the star suffers. The individual and the unit move as a whole: the conduct of one affects all; the conduct of all impacts upon each one. We suffer from the evil of others within our community, church, school, state, etc. (138:41-49)

And Fourth, humans suffer the natural consequences of their own evil. They bring down upon themselves unnecessary afflictions by refusing to follow the divine will (1661:34-35), by wrong living (1649:26-27). Individuals reap what they sow. (Galatians 6:7) They should not blame God for the natural consequences of their own choices, nor complain about experiences which are common to life as it is lived on earth. (1661:42-45)

Whether one suffers from evil which is self-imposed, other-inflicted or environmentally-induced, it must be faced in some manner. It will be shown later that the best way to overcome evil is with good.

3. Where Suffering does NOT Come From.

For all too long men have looked upon God as a source of suffering. "The Father does not purposely afflict his children" (1661:33-34) or use affliction "as an arbitrary punishment for wrongdoing." (1661:40) Although all forms of affliction are potential in the possibility of evil, they become real only as a result of actual evil.

Nor does suffering, temporal adversity or lack of material wealth indicate a lack of divine favor. God is no respecter of persons, he loves the sick and well, the sad and happy, the rich and poor alike. (1662:45-47) These deprivations actually offer greater opportunities for spiritual development.

It is similarly wrong to attribute our afflictions to Satan or "the devil." True, the occasions upon which we suffer have been increased and the degree of suffering has been exacerbated by the Lucifer rebellion and Caligastia betrayal in which Satan took part. This is a general condition shared by the entire human race. These evil ones have no power to inflict individual suffering upon any person. (610:11-32)

Likewise, it is erroneous to attribute the origin of suffering to a "fallen" Adam and Eve. It is true that humanity suffers from loss of the biological and spiritual up stepping that would have occurred had Adam and Eve fulfilled their mission, but it is not true that their "fall" was the origin of evil and suffering in the world. (846:6-10)

4. How Suffering Fits into the Will of God.

Jesus said that John did not understand the "meaning of adversity or the mission of suffering" (1662:38-39) "It is the Father's will that mortal man should work persistently and consistently toward the betterment of his estate on earth." (1661:457-47) Primitive man is motivated to improve his condition only when suffering. In this sense, pain and suffering are essential to initiate mankind's progressive evolution. (951:15-19) On a spiritual level, the story of Job teaches that in great adversity man finds his greatest revelation and comprehension of God. (The Book of Job) (1662:38-1664:35)

Suffering, illness and disease play a significant role in the spiritual development of evolutionary man. In primitive man, the fear of the unknown and the dread of the unseen formed a scaffold of superstition around a void of ignorance on which later concepts of God can be built. As revelation constructs higher understandings of Deity in this void, the scaffolding is no longer needed, and may be removed. Superstition evolves into faith. Ignorance of causes evolves into a recognition of the true Cause.

There is no spiritual value in suppressing or relieving one's own suffering by physical means, alone. But to overcome the effects of suffering by creating a greater spiritual good is soul-building. This is the true office of suffering. See Part II.C.2, above. "When the suffering servant obtains a vision of God, there follows a soul peace which passes all understanding." (1663:13-14) See Philippians 4:7.

Physical man is created at the very bottom of the evolutionary ladder of will creatures. Both physically and spiritually, he must climb rung by rung, through an evolutionary process, to the very top of the ladder. Each individual has the opportunity to make this journey personally: through this life, through the mansion worlds, and beyond. But as the human race, the journey is made through evolution and revelation toward planetary settlement in relative perfection (Light and Life). Man's physical experiences are only the backdrop of the stage upon which spiritual decisions are made, both individually and collectively. Individual decisions lead to perfection in Paradise; collective decisions lead the planet both physically and spiritually to Light and Life.

Suffering, including illness, facilitates growth: in the individual, toward perfection; and in the planet, toward light and life.

In spite of the truth that God never deliberately inflicts pain or suffering upon his children, in fact Deity did create an environment in which His children may suffer. Suffering is an essential element in the plan to bring about good from evil after it exists. Under such circumstances it is not inaccurate to think of God as being somehow responsible for suffering. Jesus did not discourage this view. He quoted the following scriptures: "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loves he corrects, even as the father corrects the son in whom he takes delight." (Pv 3:11-12) "There is correction in suffering." (Jb 5:17-18) "Affliction does not spring forth from the dust." (Jb 5:6) "The Lord does not afflict willingly." (Lam 3:33) "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now do I keep the law." (Ps 119:67) "Affliction was good for me that I might thereby learn the divine statutes." (Ps 119:71)

The Father uses suffering caused by others to demonstrate His deep concern for men and women. He comforts them. Jesus cited scriptures to demonstrate this point. "I know your sorrows." (Ex 3:27) "The eternal God is your refuge, while underneath are the everlasting arms." (De 33:27) "The Lord is also a refuge for the oppressed, a haven of rest in times of trouble." (Ps 9:9) "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of affliction; the Lord will not forget the sick." (Ps 41:3) "As a father shows compassion for his children, so is the Lord compassionate to those who fear him. He knows your body; he remembers that you are dust." (Ps 103:13-14) "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Ps 147:3) "He is the hope of the poor, the strength of the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, and a shadow from the devastating heat." (Is 25:4) "He gives power to the faint, and to them who have no might he increases strength." (Is 40: 29) "A bruised reed shall he not break, ! and the smoking flax he will not quench."(Is 42:3) "When you pass through the waters of affliction, I will be with you, and when the rivers of adversity overflow you, I will not forsake you." (Is 43:2) "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to comfort all who mourn." (Is 61: 1-2) See 1662:12-31

C. WILL THERE EVER BE A CURE FOR ALL ILLNESS AND DISEASE?

Primitive man considered that healthy life was normal, that all diseases-and death itself--were due to activities of evil spirits. (989: 24-25) In more recent times a belief has prevailed that sickness is a punishment for one's own sins, or for sins of one's ancestors or associates, (990:15-18) and is indicative of divine wrath. (990:22) But as medicine has increasingly uncovered secrets of the cause, treatment, and cure of diseases, the more enlightened view is that all diseases stem from natural causes, having nothing to do with divine disfavor. (990:24-34; 1831:1-3))

We on earth are not alone. Evolutionary mortals on all normal worlds struggle with microscopic foes in their early development. But earth has more disease than is normal for a world inhabited for almost a million years by will-creatures. (564:34-36; 707:42-43) This results from the development of renegade bacteria during experiments of the Life Carriers (732:1-9; 736:25-29) together with a later failure to develop resistance to such bacteria through the biological upstepping of races by the offspring of Adam and Eve. (736:29-35; 851:27-33))

1. Why do Illness and Disease Exist?

Illness and disease result from evil, (see Part III.A, above) and cause suffering. (see Part III.B, above) They exist for the same purpose that evil exists. They cannot be eliminated without first overcoming the evil which is their root cause.

Even in this enlightened day and age, the onset of illness or disease is a major catalyst for individuals to turn to God. Some turn to God for aid and comfort while ill, and some for Divine assistance in overcoming the problem. Others are reminded of the uncertainty and frailty of life, and begin to think of the end. That which threatens to destroy a life may save a soul. This exemplifies how the Divine Plan produces good from evil.

2. When will Illness and Disease Abate or End?

As noted above, illness and disease are unlikely to end so long as evil remains in the world. Modern medicine is heavily oriented toward alleviating the discomfort and effects of illness. Great strides are being made toward extending the life of those who are ill or diseased. It is beginning to make headway toward preventing or curing many dread diseases, and can make even more progress (735:9-24). But it is far from preventing or curing all diseases. For reasons indicted below, we should not expect a major reduction in illness and disease until our planet begins its settlement in Light and Life.

Unfortunately, several factors hinder progress toward the development of a disease-free world. The laws of genetics are immutable, and form the physical cornerstone of evolution. At the present time mankind loses about as much progress as it makes by ignoring eugenics. Throughout the ages struggle and disease have destroyed weaker stocks and allowed only stronger stocks to survive and procreate. Even so, physical progress was slow. Civilization is reducing the purging effects of struggle, and modern medicine is preserving weak and disease prone human stocks to procreate, thereby creating a larger population of weaker and disease-prone individuals to suffer such diseases. The future of humanity depends, in part, upon the quality of genetic factors which dominate its populations. (585:25-28; 592:19-40; 899:19-22)

Ironically, the techniques used by modern medicine to increase the number of disease-prone individuals inadvertently followed the laws of genetics to create heartier breeds of diseases to attack them. Just as pesticides, by killing off weaker bugs, have created strains of superbugs (resistant to pesticides), so have antibiotics and other drugs created strains of super-germs and super-viruses resistant to conventional methods of destruction.

Industry, which provides food, shelter, clothing, transportation, etc., to preserve the weak and increase the quality of life for everyone, also adds toxins to the environment, which--in turn--cause more diseases, some of which are new.
The future portends some progress in retarding or curing many diseases in our lifetime. Some new diseases will appear. And we will certainly learn more about how to live longer with diseases.

D. WILL THERE BE AN END TO INJUSTICE, INJURIES AND WAR?

Like illness and disease (Part III.C.1, above), injustice, injuries and war are results of evil (Part III.A, above). But unlike illness and disease--injustice, injuries and war are mostly man-made.

1. WHAT IS JUSTICE? IS IT ATTAINABLE? JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE:

Justice is a man-made concept. It has to do with the appropriateness of the relationship between cause and effect. It is premised upon the belief that all persons are equal, and should be treated equally: no person should receive special favors (rewards), or suffer in any manner (punishments), without appropriate cause. Further, that all rewards and punishments be commensurate with the cause.

It postulates that all human conditions and circumstances are governed by law; that is, by rules stated in terms of "cause" (that which should or should rot be done) and "effect" (appropriate reward or punishment for doing or not doing that which is required). When an effect is inappropriate to antecedent cause because it does not follow the law or is not commensurate with the cause, we say it is "unjust." Thus it is unjust for an innocent person to be punished, for a guilty person to be unpunished, or for a punishment to be inappropriately lenient or severe.

A sense of "justice" is a high and civilizing ideal. (1302:41-46) It is the basis for all civil government (1462:9) Yet, the concept always calls for some sort of judgment, a weighing of cause versus effect, which in turn requires a full knowledge of the cause, a full understanding of the effect, and an impartial evaluation of both.

The spiritual counterpart of justice is righteousness. God's laws of cause and effect are "right." God always acts within his own laws, therefore God is "righteous." (36:39) Those who refer to God's laws by man's standards see them as being "just," and therefore see God as being "just." But by any standard, God cannot be unjust.

Man cannot violate a law of God; he can only demonstrate it. The prescribed effect always follows the cause. With God, there are no rewards nor punishments: there are only consequences.

Some conditions of mankind are of celestial origin in the sense that man has not been placed in a perfect environment. Although this may result in unpleasantness, it is never unjust. In the divine plan of "perfecting" free-will creatures by evolution through matter, time and space, the quality of free will is given at man's beginning. The species is then given artificial stimulation and hedged about with limitations and restraints in order that it may gain experiential wisdom and coordinated growth. (1301:31-1302:28) This is why primitive man suffers discomfort, hunger and fear as motivating factors toward physical and spiritual development. As man evolves, he must develop higher forms of stimulation as he increasingly learns to overcome natural limitations and restraints. At this point societal restraints become necessary to protect him and his fellow man from each other. This is the civilizing process. The highest civilizing tendencies come from concepts of justice and ideal! s of brotherhood. (1302: 40-46)

It is a mistake to equate justice with equality. There is a Divine reason why people are spread over a spectrum of races, economic and social conditions, physical and mental capacities, talents, etc. Mankind has not reached the stage where he can develop without some natural motivations, limitations and restraints. Diverse racial, physical, social, economic, political, and spiritual conditions are essential to man's continued evolutionary progress. All of man's ills cannot be blamed on political misadaptation, social injustice, industrial competition, etc. (956:41-957:5) These are symptoms as well as causes.

God is no respecter of persons (1468:26-34; Acts 10:34; Romans 2: 11); He treats all alike. In God's eyes all individuals are equal, yet in physical form and circumstances no two are alike. No two face the same problems or follow the same spiritual path. There is an important reason why the divine plan calls for such diversity. If God is to gain experience from individual victories, it is much better to experience the overcoming of countless different problems than the overcoming the same problem countless times.

When a caring person looks at a situation in which another has a problem because of geography, race, economics, politics, sex, servitude, mental capacity, etc., without knowing it's antecedent causes, he or she may see it as an injustice when it is really a natural consequence of the orderly outworking of the divine plan. Yet it is precisely because one looks upon the situation as an injustice that one is motivated to do something about it. Such "caring" is of spiritual value: that which is done to improve the situation advances persons toward Paradise and humanity toward Light and Life. (956:41957:15)

Not all which man calls "injustice" stems from natural causes. Much injustice is man-made. God uses man-made injustice to produce high spiritual values in the same manner in which he uses stressful natural conditions: persons and nations grow spiritually by overcoming them.

Man's greatest opportunity for temporal and spiritual progress lies in his enlightened efforts to eliminate injustice. (956:47-957:5) This effort can be mightily assisted by a wider belief in universal brotherhood under the Fatherhood of God.

2. Injuries and Accidents.

Injuries come from two sources: (1) from accidents of time, the natural vicissitudes of normal living (1767:1-3), and (2) from inadvertent or deliberate acts of persons. Accidents and injuries are a result of evil, and never a mark of divine disfavor (1830:17-30), however, some celestial beings have the power to prevent human accidents under certain circumstances. (1361:39-43)
The frequency of accidents of time will slowly subside as mankind creates a safer environment; injuries from willful or negligent acts will recede only as men and women assume the necessary responsibility to prevent them. (957:4-5) Due to an increasing population, expanding industrialization, and greater mechanization of transportation, the outlook is not bright for greatly reducing accidental injuries in the immediate future.

3. War -- Will there ever be lasting peace?

War is a social disease, but natural to evolving man. The animalistic reaction to irritation and misunderstanding is to fight. War is group hostility. (783:19-30) In its early development war represented competition for scarce assets: food, women, slaves and territory. It became an instrument of group self-aggrandizement: for vanity, revenge and even recreation. Many wars were fought over religion. (784:11-31)

In spite of their horror and devastation, early wars had some redeeming evolutionary values. They promoted organization and efficiency by developing social orders requiring discipline, cooperation, and leadership, which ultimately developed into states. They developed personal characteristics such as commitment, fortitude, courage and self-sacrifice. They had a therapeutic effect by purging inferior human strains, thereby assisting in the evolutionary up stepping of the human race. And they promoted travel, cultural intercourse, and racial blending. (785:26786:32)

In modern times, with the development of many large nations armed with more lethal weapons, significant changes have occurred. War has become more a disease of national sovereignty and ideology than an exchange of personal hostilities in petty local contests. War involves greater numbers of humans than ever before. It kills off the fittest as distinguished from the unfit, and thus causes retrogression in the evolutionary process. For the first time in history, nations possess the weaponry to devastate the entire planet many times over and to inflict catastrophic damage to human evolutionary progress. Small wars still occur, but mainly among surrogates of the larger nations which seek to avoid all-out war by this form of localization.

The current threat of nuclear war presents the greatest crisis on this planet since the Lucifer rebellion, and a nuclear holocaust could be even worse than the rebellion in terms of loss of will-creatures originating on Urantia
The only antidote for war is to develop a moral climate that will not permit it to occur. At the practical level mankind must find and employ peaceful substitutes for all those things which war has heretofore provided: dispute resolution, sharing of assets, group cooperation, development of initiative and leadership, and venting of group frustrations. (786:29-49) At a higher level, all peoples of the earth must subjugate their parochial interest in national sovereignty to a higher global interest in all humanity. (1490:19-1491:31) World peace can come only as a result of world law, and world law can come only through world government of a democratic nature reflecting the sovereignty of all mankind. (1491:15-18) This political and social development is not likely to occur unless and until men and women, on a vast scale, recognize all other men and women as their peers. Such recognition can be greatly facilitated by a world religion in which all men and women are seen as brother! s and sisters because they are children of a common Father, even God. (1490:27)

The political sovereignty of representative mankind government will bring lasting-peace on earth, and the spiritual brotherhood of man will forever insure good will among all men. And there is no other way whereby peace on earth and good will among all people may be realized. (1491:32-35)

A Service ofThe Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: death, disease, Duane Faw, evil, extraterrestrials, God, heaven, justice, love, Mo Siegel, peace, philosophy, religion, science, suffering, the future

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Friday, January 26, 2007

The Urantia Book and the Coming Transformation of Civilization

by Stan Hartman

The most important event of the twentieth century is the most important event of the past twenty centuries and most of the world still knows nothing about it.

For those unfamiliar with the huge, strange text that appeared on earth sixty-five years ago, what I have to say here may seem like science-fiction, but it is not. The truth, it turns out, is stranger even than science fiction. We've grown used to the discoveries of science being strange, but this truth, though in part scientific, goes much deeper than science, even into the incredible core of the human mind itself, the center of which is directly connected with the core of the universe. With that statement, I know I've already lost some readers, but I intend to begin here as openly as possible, to save the time of those who will find this story too much to believe. The appearance of The Urantia Book, though it's still largely unknown, will mark this century throughout all future generations, eclipsing even the splitting of the atom. The knowledge this book has brought us is destined to make nuclear power seem trivial, and rather than breeding the dread that atomic energy has bred, will illuminate the deepest, most ancient human ignorance, and make fear an anachronism.

This is the story of a book unlike any ever written, promoted for the most part by word of mouth for the past decades, quietly circulating throughout the world and changing the lives of those who understand what it means for more than forty years now, though it and the phenomenon that gave rise to it began even earlier, in the second decade of the century. The crisis I'll describe that's unfolding around it presently is both tragic and transforming, challenging the best in human nature to once again stand up against its shadows, command them to get behind, and move on into the incredible light ahead.

Those enslaved by tradition will find the book a threat unlike any they have ever faced, though it comes not to destroy but to reveal and clarify, to paraphrase a message from many centuries ago whose significance it illuminates as it has never been illuminated. Likewise, those caught up in the distractions and aimless frivolities of a materialistic culture will find the text, if not a threat, an irrelevant fantasy, too complex and weighty to be amusing.

For the generations to come, though, and for many living now whose life experience has prepared them to recognize it for exactly what it says it is, The Urantia Book marks a turning point in world history that there is no turning back from. Its true students will always seek to serve rather than battle the forces of fear and ignorance that are even now trying to invalidate and destroy the book, though sometimes their deep service may not be recognized as such and may hardly be what the bookâ€™s enemies want. For those who don't know what I'm speaking of, let me expand a little on the story I've been alluding to and have barely begun to tell, though even before I can I need to say more about what the book is.

Only very recently, in historical terms, has the consciousness of most of humankind evolved to the point where it is willing and even eager to embrace the idea that we are not alone in the universe. There are many religions, and the religion some make of science, that resist such an idea, but the mass of humanity has shown itself in the last decades to be prepared for and excited by the possibility of meeting beings from beyond the planet. True scientists, who refuse to confuse what they know with what they surmise, and who have willingly or unwillingly been placed in positions of leadership in the march of human thought, have asserted for many years now that we must not be alone, though they have found no way to understand how the vast distances they assume must separate us from other intelligent worlds can be traversed in a reasonable time by material beings.

Philosophers, however, whose study and expertise are not limited to material facts but also embrace values and meanings, have long understood that we ourselves are more than material beings. And psychologists open-minded enough to realize that the mind can't be explained by brain physiology alone have added to the philosopher's palette the new colors of intuition, insight, and so-called paranormal abilities, which seem to be attributes of mind itself, some of them evident in animals even more than in humans. All of this investigation has led to a revolution in human thinking, making it at times so open to new ideas that it's in danger of falling into delusion and fanaticism, against which scientific thinkers struggle to maintain order and some more fearful religionists become hysterically reactionary. For many centuries before our era, religion was a tyranny in human thought, finally crumbling before the successes and eventually new tyranny of the pseudo-scientific religion of scientism, which asserts that all relevant phenomena can be explained rationally and eventually measured and controlled. It's against this betrayal of the true scientific method, which would never make such claims, that the present uncentered and ungrounded openness of much human thinking has reacted.

In the midst of this century's growing turmoil of ideas, opinions, rigidifying fundamentalisms, wild speculations, actual breakthroughs, catastrophic wars, technology addiction, information explosion, raping of natural resources, ridicule of traditions, and general collapse of order, The Urantia Papers appeared in the following way to a prominent student of Freud who was famous for his work in exposing fraudulent or deluded psychic phenomena.

Here is Dr. William S. Sadler, writing in 1929, in the appendix to his work, The Mind at Mischief, before the text of The Urantia Papers itself began to arrive, and before he understood the true significance of what was happening:

"I have promised not to publish this case during the lifetime of the individual. I hope sometime to secure a modification of that promise and to be able to report this case more fully because of its interesting features. I was brought in contact with it, in the summer of 1911, and I have had it under my observation more or less ever since, having been present at probably 250 of the night sessions, many of which have been attended by a stenographer who made voluminous notes.

"A thorough study of this case has convinced me that it is not one of ordinary trance. While the sleep seems to be quite of a natural order, it is very profound, and so far we have never been able to awaken the subject when in this state; but the body is never rigid, and the heart action is never modified, tho respiration is sometimes markedly interfered with. This man is utterly unconscious, wholly oblivious to what takes place, and, unless told about it subsequently, never knows that he has been used as a sort of clearing house for the coming and going of alleged extra-planetary personalities. In fact, he is more or less indifferent to the whole proceeding, and shows a surprising lack of interest in these affairs as they occur from time to time.

"In no way are these night visitations like the sÃ©ances associated with spiritualism. At no time during the period of eighteen years' observation has there been a communication from any source that claimed to be the spirit of a deceased human being. The communications which have been written, or which we have had the opportunity to hear spoken, are made by a vast order of alleged beings who claim to come from other planets to visit this world, to stop here as student visitors for study and observation when they are en route from one universe to another or from one planet to another. These communications further arise in alleged spiritual beings who purport to have been assigned to this planet for duties of various sorts.

"Eighteen years of study and careful investigation have failed to reveal the psychic origin of these messages. I find myself at the present time just where I was when I started. Psychoanalysis, hypnotism, intensive comparison, fail to show that the written or spoken messages of this individual have origin in his own mind. Much of the material secured through this subject is quite contrary to his habits of thought, to the way in which he has been taught, and to his entire philosophy. In fact, of much that we have secured, we have failed to find anything of its nature in existence. Its philosophic content is quite new, and we are unable to find where very much of it has ever found human expression.

"Much as I would like to report details of this case, I am not in a position to do so at present. I can only say that I have found in these years of observation that all the information imparted through this source has proved to be consistent within itself. While there is considerable difference in the quality of the communications, this seems to be reasonably explained by a difference in state of development and order of the personalities making the communications. Its philosophy is consistent . . . . In fact, the case is so unusual and extraordinary that it establishes itself immediately, as far as my experience goes, in a class by itself, one which has thus far resisted all my efforts to prove it to be of auto-psychic origin. Our investigations are being continued and, as I have intimated, I hope some time in the near future to secure permission for the more complete reporting of the phenomena connected with this interesting case."

Instead, even this appendix was removed from later editions, as a veil of secrecy was drawn down over the proceedings until the one hundred and ninety-six papers that were delivered and recorded in 1934 and 1935 were compiled into the text called The Urantia Book and published in 1955. By then, Sadler had realized, skeptic though he was almost by profession, that the information was what it said it was, and he was as humbled and amazed as everyone else by what it meant.

The information the book presents is transforming the consciousness of all those who are open to it, many of whom feel that they were waiting for it to come to them but didn't know it until it did, as if something inside them had prepared them for its appearance in their lives. Public figures who are familiar with it - and there are many - usually make no public acknowledgment of it, perhaps because those who understand it know that it's the most important book in human history, leaving them uncertain at first about how to present that fact to others without sounding fanatical or seeming to undercut others' beliefs. They know the book marks the beginning of a new epoch unlike any that has come before it, an age which will focus not merely on itself or even on this world alone, but on our planet's place in the universe and the universal destiny of each individual.

It is a book which both diminishes and infinitely enlarges humanity's view of its own importance, promoting a deeper humility but at the same time a deeper dignity, and challenging many of the assumptions of both traditional religion and science. It has vital things to teach more than simply those now living, as parts of it are meant for the minds of generations yet to come, who will be better prepared to understand. It gives people on this world a view of human nature, history, and destiny which has never been presented before, perhaps because human consciousness has only recently evolved to the point where it can be expected to deal with what the book presents without losing its balance, falling into either slavish devotion and fetishism, or fear that would seek to destroy the book and all who openly value it. In fact, both extremes are still very possible and even in evidence already on this world. For the most part, though, those who find the book are freed by it in a way they had never imagined they could be freed, and overwhelmed with gratitude for that freedom, if also somewhat confused by the responsibility they know is inherent in it.

It is a book which reveals to us our true home, where our minds and hearts know they really belong. It opens our eyes to a love, security, and infinite adventure which we can't help feeling we were designed to live, if we recognize the book's greater-than-human integrity, consistency, and authority, which is never condescending, if sometimes uncompromisingly truthful. There is humor in it as well as the most profound gravity. One of its most insistent statements is that all the universe is mobilized to help humanity overcome its fears, both collectively and individually. Though it describes us as the lowest form of creature who can be given will and recognize the existence of God, it also clearly emphasizes that there is no apparent limit to our destiny.

It simply rings true, to those who approach it without fear, and its message of hope, forgiveness, love, and the universality of family - how the family of humanity is not limited to this world alone, and the family of personality is not limited even by space and time - will transform human civilization here as it has never been transformed, and inspire it to become what it was designed from its very beginnings to become, before the tragedy happened that sent us spinning off on our own without apparent guidance.

It shows us that we are not really alone and never have been, as individuals and as a species of self-conscious personalities trying to understand their place in reality. It shows us that the ageless yearnings and sufferings of humanity, infinitely far from being futile, have a value beyond imagination.

It is a book which is literally from beyond this world, as the true origins of life here are as well, as scientists have only recently begun to suspect. It is a message that we are one inhabited world in a teeming, peopled universe. Though we are on the edge - at the wilderness frontier, in a way - of the expanding civilization among the stars, the story it presents of our history is one of unending, invisible watchcare by those who have been with us from the beginning, guiding our evolution, though limited by our own decisions, toward the dynamic peace and perfection, both individual and cultural, that all inhabited worlds aspire to and one day attain, no matter what tragedies of ignorance and barbarism they endure.

With respect to such tragedies and the suffering they bring, the book also makes clear that there is a darker aspect of our relationship with the larger universe civilization that has watched us and invisibly cared for us, a tragedy beyond our world which we had no part in instigating but had to suffer the consequences of, as all members of a family suffer when one of its members goes astray. It is a tragedy which is only now coming to an end, it may be, and the end of which is being prepared for on this world by the book itself. This crime on the part of those who were supposed to teach and guide us has kept us in relative spiritual darkness for two hundred thousand years, though not all the darkness of this world can be blamed on it, and the suffering it has caused has given those who keep their faith despite it a strength that is far more valuable than the tragedy itself was destructive.

All those with open minds must know there is life beyond this world, but the abundance of that life, and its good will, have never been revealed to humanity at large until this book revealed it. Reading it, it is certainly not unreasonable to hope that one of its purposes is to prepare the way for even more direct communication, in the not-far-distant future, with our family, both human and transhuman, beyond this planet. Such communication has in reality been taking place far longer than our current ideas of history acknowledge there has been a human civilization, from as much as five hundred millennia ago, and the traces of that communication can be found in many sacred texts and other writings from the remotest antiquity. Clues to even more evidence of this are presented throughout the book, as are scientific facts and cosmology which humanity is incapable of discovering on its own, though the authors were not permitted to reveal all that we can discover on our own in the future and deprive us of the adventure and joy of such discoveries.

There may be a question in the minds of many, reading here, especially when aware of the fact that the book has been in existence for over sixty years, as to why its arrival has not been proclaimed from the rooftops. Why do we not see discussions of its implications on the evening news?

The answer to that involves in part the nature of the book itself, but also another tragedy of fear and duplicity that has already occurred in connection with its appearance.

The first great tragedy on this world, that I referred to above, involved a betrayal of trust on the part of some of the transhuman caretakers of the very beginnings of civilization. The present tragedy, though, is one of a betrayal of trust on the part of those all-too-human caretakers of the book itself.

In the beginning, those to whom the book was entrusted were naturally very concerned with its safety, for more reasons than are obvious, that can't be enumerated here. They went to great lengths to protect it and to keep the text inviolate. Fortunately, they also took what has proven to be the most protective action of all, publishing thousands of copies of it and distributing them.

If this were all they had done, they would have done well, but it was not. Failing to study the book itself deeply enough and read its warnings, the desire to protect it slowly evolved in the minds of these people into a desire to possess and control it, and they became a menace to its safety and the spread of its message to the world. They lied to obtain a copyright on it, stopped distributing it, and threatened those who challenged their policies. They appointed themselves its guardians for life, chose as some of their leaders men who are unbalanced if not psychopathic, and sought to destroy all organizations of its readers and believers who were not controlled by them. This is a drama unfolding on this world even at the present time, and one of the reasons why the book is not more prominent than it is, though the nature of the text itself can of course be threatening to many before they truly understand it.

These supposed caretakers of the book obtained and keep a fraudulent copyright on it, by going so far as to say that their predecessors were its authors (predecessors who would be aghast at such an assertion), and have been successful so far in convincing the courts of their claims because the unfortunate personality at their head has abundant resources to spend on legal stratagems, and because the courts have refused to take the real nature of the book seriously.

All in all, it has resulted in a pitiful spectacle, but one the like of which is unfortunately not rare on our planet and points to how barely ready for such a gift we are.

As with all such crises, though, it also presents an opportunity to those who refuse to be ruled by fear. Without an atmosphere of fear, all evil is impotent. To those who truly know and understand the book's teachings, the group that claims to own it now has made itself irrelevant, ridiculous, and unworthy of serious consideration. They deserve help, but not the kind they imagine. There are those, of course, who need some kind of human authority to guide them, who will, out of genuine but naive trust, or laziness, or fear, unthinkingly follow those who want to control them.

Most serious students of the text, though, who rely on the book itself for their guidance rather than their own inner fears or ignorant ambitions, know they have a responsibility to what they have been given, a responsibility to create a worthy foundation for the book's revelations to the world. This foundation is not so much a social and organizational matter, though that can be part of it, but a spiritual one, a challenge to live as the book shows in its final section that all of us can live, aware of a destiny much greater than ever imagined in recorded history. It is in essence the challenge to realize - to make literally real - the kind of human family all our evolution has been designed to achieve. It is a responsibility to create relationships that acknowledge and devote themselves to the kinship all of us share, not only with our human brothers and sisters on this world, but with all the personalities throughout the inhabited cosmos who care for us despite our childish barbarism and the distortions of our culture that have resulted from our isolation and ignorance. We have a responsibility to this greater family as well, those who gave us the gift of the book and now watch us to see what we will do with it.

The history of our world is in a way like Lord of the Flies. We have been left to our own resources on our little island long enough, and though the book is not the first appearance to us of adult authority, it is the latest and most important for our time, as is obvious to all who open it with openness. It doesn't seek to supplant all other systems of human thought or to disparage the evolutionary beliefs and truths we have struggled so hard to attain and maintain. It states very clearly that, though it is a revelation, it is not inspired. Its purpose is to awaken us to what we can't know except with help from beyond the reach of our understanding and imagination, and to help us integrate that new information with the uniquely human perspective we have evolved in such relative isolation.

It points us to our own inner depths as individuals at least as much as to outer, cosmic vistas. In the end, such inner and outer depths are connected, and work together to help us toward an indescribable destiny in this world and beyond, the awareness of which will transform our planet as surely as it transforms the individual minds that share such awareness.

In its depiction of our history and destiny, The Urantia Book focuses mostly on the ancient past and far-distant future, but it also says of our present time that we are "quivering on the brink" of one of our "most amazing and enthralling epochs."

Perhaps if people from all the nations of the world would unite enough to organize into a democratic world government that represented all humanity, we could authorize such a government to broadcast to the universe watching us a few small, sincere words, such as "Thank you. Forgive us. Please help us." - or some other first prayer of collective humanity. Perhaps because this request came as the duly-elected voice of all mankind, we would receive an answer that was not only invisible but also visible. Perhaps we would be freed from the quarantine that has isolated us for so long, and find ourselves connected, in ways our science has so far not dreamed of, with neighbors in space who may not be as distant as many believe.

Until we unite as one world under God, perhaps this will not happen. Is it so strange, though, or naive, to believe it can? In the light of The Urantia Book, it most certainly will happen, one day. If enough people sincerely desire it, what can prevent us from making that day our own?

Labels: destiny, Dr Willam Sadler, extraterrestrials, family, God, history, humanity, Mind at Mischief, religion, responsibility, Stan Hartman, the universe, The Urantia Book, tradition, tragedy, truth

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The Urantia Book: An Evaluation

The Urantia Book: An Evaluation
Jim Mills
1970

Introduction:

Ever since man first became conscious of himself, and of his environment, he has asked questions about both. Regardless of how the questions are worded, in general they can be reduced to a few simple queries. These are: "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?" "What is the meaning of it all?", and, "What am I?"

The answers to these questions have not been easy to obtain. Man, therefore, developed a technique of postulating answers to his questions, and then attempted to develop the means of testing these postulates under reproducible conditions consistent with his knowledge of his environment. Thus was the scientific method for the study of physical phenomena born and its success has changed the face of civilization.

No such success has accrued to the efforts of man in the areas of meanings (Philosophy) and values (Religion), for no valid method has ever been developed to test the postulates of philosophy and religion with the efficiencies available to science at the physical level of existence. The truth of meanings and values is something that must still be "felt" by the individual as a near-emotional experience. Consequently, individual judgment, with all its personal uniqueness and variety, is still a major testing procedure for new postulates in Philosophy and Religion.

However, history has taught us that many men and women who we have called "prophets" have periodically appeared with new and advanced postulates that have gained such acceptance that new religions have resulted therefrom which have had tremendous influence on the development of civilization. In this group we find Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha) in India; Lao-Tse and Confucius in China; Ikhnaton in Egypt; Zoroaster in Persia, all of whom mysteriously appeared about 2,500 years ago, almost as though by design; to be followed later by Jesus of Nazareth and Mohammed in Arabia. Scores of others, perhaps less well known, have appeared on the stage and have had their influence on the world.

The teachings of these "prophets" we have called "revelations", because each advanced a new concept of man in relation to ultimate reality â€“ they "revealed" new truths to man about himself and his relations to his environment, and in some degree, to his Creator. They have all had a strong impact because they provided contemporary answers to the questions asked above.

But no revelation, short of finding and recognizing ultimate reality, God, The Uncaused Cause, can be final. Revelation is time periodic, partial, and limited to the conceptual boundaries of manâ€™s intellectual universe of knowledge. As manâ€™s intellectual frontiers have expanded, and when the need for new revelations caused by this has grown to a point of great tensions, another revelation has always appeared.

Today our understanding of cosmology is growing with the use of the 200-inch telescope, and the radio-telescopes and receivers, aimed at space. Data already collected may not be analyzed and interpreted for many years. Men have actually walked on the Moon. Probes have gone to the planets Mars and Venus to record and return data, even photographs.

Slowly it is dawning upon us that even the physical size of the universe may be beyond our present capabilities to comprehend. So far we have been able to detect very little about physical universe organization beyond our present ideas about galaxies. We ask the questions: How are the starry heavens organized? Is there a pattern in cosmology such as we find in terrestrial nature? What is manâ€™s relation to all of this? Does he have a future out there? Are our ideas about the origin, age, and development of the universe valid? Are we being misled by our ability to observe only a small portion instead of the total phenomenon? And finally, again, why am I here? These questions contribute to a mounting tension.

In 1955, without fanfare or publicity, without preaching or promotion, there appeared in the city of Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., a 2097 page book called The Urantia Book. Its name derives from the fact that within it our planet is called Urantia. Those who have read it seriously and in detail, and repeatedly, are generally convinced that it is the "revelation" for which contemporary society has so long been crying.

What makes this book a revelation? The true answer can only be found in reading it â€“ then studying it. However, some reasons are and can be given. Simply, because it presents a cosmology which is consistent with, and an extension of our present knowledge of cosmology. For example, it foretold Calcium 19 as being present in the sun. It was discovered there in 1964. (Time Magazine, May 29th, 1964, p. 80.) It presents a clear, understandable story about the nature and destiny of man. It teaches the religion of Jesus instead of a religion about Jesus. It recognizes the truths to be found in all religions. It recognizes evolutionary religion as separate from revelation. It stresses the importance of the individual regardless of origin and tells something about our supernal destinies. It differentiates between fact, meaning, and value: science, philosophy, and religion, and then unites them in a true integration.

The Urantia Book is divided into four parts.

Part One: Thirty-one papers. These depict the nature of deity and the reality of Paradise; discuss the cosmology of the Superuniverses, and portray some of their inhabitants by origin and function. They also discuss the organization and workings of the Central and Superuniverses.

Part Two: Twenty-five papers. These discuss the local Universe, an administrative subdivision, in terms of organization and administration complete with the personalities in authority. These papers also tell much about the career of the human personality after it terminates its stay on this planet, Urantia, by the death and dissolution of its physical carrying mechanism. They depict our first steps on new worlds and the tremendous program provided for our personal development which will sometime permit us to recognize God when we have, by our own efforts, aided by ever-present celestial help, grown and developed to that point where we have the conceptual capacity to see and recognize God. The challenge is immense and the help equal to it.

Part Three: Sixty-three papers. The history of our own planet, Urantia, from its origin in a sun (ours) thrown out by the now extinct Andronover nebula about 6,000,000,000 years ago to the present. Its geologic and life evolution (after implantation) is traced as well as the evolution of races, civilizations, customs, philosophies and religions. Many new insights found in hitherto unavailable sources are revealed. We learn much, previously forgotten and lost, about our own history and evolution. New and higher religious insights make their appearance.

Part Four: Seventy-seven papers. These record the life and teachings of that superb being known to us as Jesus of Nazareth. From hitherto unavailable sources, his pre-Urantian life is unfolded and the details of his own early existence here are told year by year. We learn details of his family life, his religious growth, the death of his father, Joseph, and much detail which was apparently withheld from his apostles. What actually happened when the so-called "miracles" were performed?

Presented in detail are the teachings of Jesus which even in the attenuated and compromised form know as Christianity have been the driving force behind Western Civilization. Reaffirmed is his great love for the individual, yet uncompromised is the high ideal of attainment he sets for everyone. Also presented is the real philosophy and religion of Jesus, and we learn how much evolutionary religion has diluted it and modified it in order to force it into the mold of passing contemporary doctrine and dogma. As presented, the religion of Jesus, and we learn how much evolutionary religion has diluted it and modified it in order to force it into the mold of passing contemporary doctrine and dogma. As presented, the religion of Jesus is dynamic, inspiring, uplifting, totally contemporary because it is timeless and worthy of lifelong study.

The writer once asked the late Sir Hubert Wilkins, who was a Urantia Book devotee even prior to publication, "What is your test of the validity of this work?" Sir Hubertâ€™s answer was a succinct classic. He said: "Its utter consistency with itself."

The writer has gained an outlook upon life and a personal philosophy solely from the study of this book that he has found in no other sources. Simply expressed, it is this. The Urantia Book has given me so many clues to the truths and realities that are to be found from the observation of life on this planet, that I desire to remain here to experience life and gain knowledge through the experience of living this life as long as my physical mechanism can be kept in working order. Knowledge distilled with experience produces wisdom, a commodity we all need. However, when my course is finally run, the day I die will be the most interesting day of my life.

J. C. Mills

Labels: cosmology, God, individual judgment, Jesus, Jim Mills, philosophy, prophets, religion, Revelation, scientific method, The Urantia Book

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Saturday, January 28, 2006

The Future Of The Fifth Epochal Revelation

Meredith J. Sprunger

In October of 1955 The Urantia Book was published with great enthusiasm. The newly organized Urantia Brotherhood visualized organizing thousands of study groups and gradually chartering well grounded societies. The specific nature of these societies was ambiguous. Most of the founding members regarded the Urantia Brotherhood as a religious or quasi-religious organization. Dr. Sadler clearly saw societies developing as bona fide religious groups. The leaders of the Forum who developed the Brotherhood Constitution did not take the time to structure it directly from the teachings of The Urantia Book but used and adapted the ready-made constitution of the Presbyterian Church for this purpose. Under Sadler's leadership, the Brotherhood Constitution provided a key place for ordained teachers. Following the publication of the book, Dr. Sadler started a school to train and ordain teachers. On numerous occasions Dr. Sadler and I discussed the nature of this new religious organization and its future development.

As the Brotherhood grew, a quite different view soon surfaced. The majority of the early members of the Urantia Brotherhood had a pronounced anti-church and anti-institutional bias. There was a marked uneasiness regarding the use of prayer and group singing at Brotherhood meetings. To guard against moving in the direction of a religious institution, we removed the term "ordained teacher" from the constitution. It was made clear that we were not interested in starting a new religion. If anyone identified us as a cult, we were irritated and defensive. We defined ourselves as "an educational-social organization with a religious purpose."

We were enthusiastic about introducing religious, educational, and political leaders to The Urantia Book Illusions of grandeur about initiating a spiritual renaissance on our planet invigorated Urantia Conferences.

Gradually, evolutionary reality began to change the picture. Religious and political leaders were not impressed. The book was succinctly dismissed as a contemporary Gnostic document or politely ignored.

Internal disillusionment have compounded the evolutionary picture. The licensing agreement controversy, the Clayton incident, the Foundation-Brotherhood schism, the proliferation of lawsuits, and the wide-spread interest in channeling have sobered our naive idealism. Most of us now realize that the Fifth Epochal Revelation has been launched on the troubled and turbulent seas of evolutionary struggle.

In recent years, spiritual seeking has emerged on an unprecedented scale, accompanied by a disenchantment with contemporary religious institutions. There has been an increasing longing in the Urantia movement for a "religious community" which goes beyond the usual study group, one that furnishes a sense of "spiritual family" and communion, along with worship and a community identity. There is a growing sense of need for spiritual nourishment from birth to death. Study groups and societies, which are primarily intellectual-social groups, can't fulfill all of the functions of traditional religious institutions, although they may serve as preliminary steps toward such religious organizations.

I believe the single most important activity in the Urantia movement at this time is to focus on the development of resources which may help actualize new religious institutions. Hopefully, such institutions will serve as vehicles through which the Fifth Epochal Revelation can be carried out into the world. We need dedicated students of The Urantia Book researching "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation."

I'm confident that sooner or later such new religious institutions will evolve in the Urantia movement. There have been several aborted attempts to do this already. When this does happen, there is a danger that these religious institutions may be extemporized, without adequate time and consideration to formulate organizations that best reflect the truth-insights of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. A wiser approach is for competent teams of interested people to evolve a body of resources before the pressure of necessity fashions religious organizations without such help.

There is a great need for institutions to serve on the growing edge of spiritual development in our world--religious institutions which will appeal to the highest spiritual aspirations of humankind. This was a concern of Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who, in a conversation with Robert Greenleaf shortly before his death, asked, "Why do so many of the great religions which have their origins in the mystery [of spiritual power] come ultimately to be social service agencies, or in their religious life to be preoccupied with form and concerned more with the container than the content?" To which Greenleaf replied, "In the face of these conditions, one simply builds anew. We are called to listen to the prophetic voices who have the-rebuilding message for these times so that we can support and encourage them." (Servant Leadership, P. 255)

We must evolve religious institutions which will bring spiritual nourishment to hungry souls, within which we can achieve personal-spiritual significance and a level of service and worship heretofore not possible by individuals working singly, in study groups, or in outmoded religious institutions. With the Father's guidance, they will become social-religious vehicles carrying the Fifth Epochal Revelation throughout the world. This, I believe, is the most important challenge of our times!

Principles Inherent in the Development of Religious Institutions

There are a number of principles inherent in the development of new religious institutions which we should keep in mind, such as:

1. The idealist in many of us who have been inspired by the Urantia Book has a vision of the Fifth Epochal Revelation upstepping all of the religions of the world and uniting humankind in a common spiritual fellowship. We are turned off by the parochialism and rigidity of contemporary religious institutions and feel that the last thing we need is another religious institution. But the lessons of history and the teachings of the Urantia Book tell us the most effective social agents of spiritual change are new religious institutions embodying larger spiritual truths. The Supreme works from the grass roots up, not from the top down. This approach is not as romantic as our idealistic vision, but it is the only realistic process that builds the foundation for social and spiritual growth in the culture.

2. New religious institutions are not "designed"--they evolve. The authors of the Urantia Book remind us, "Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions" (P. 1097). We should establish this "conditional" type of research. There will be many types of new religious organizations stemming from the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Research teams need to prepare materials for possible use by such new religious organizations. Numerous people have asked me for such help in the last ten years; they may or may not find this research helpful. The assumption is that resources compiled over a period of time by mature students of The Urantia Book will provide helpful insights and wisdom which might not otherwise be available.

3. We should be aware of the larger spiritual context in which a religious institution functions. The brother/sisterhood of all people, the kinship of all humanity, takes place in the realm of the Supreme. A genuine spiritual fellowship, which is the basis of a religious institution, has its inception in soul consciousness. The soul bears the imprint of its divine-human creation and originates a second or ancillary mind consciousness. As we grow in the Supreme, our personal identity is increasingly transferred from the material mind to soul consciousness. More and more, we operate out of our "soul-mind." This fellowship of souls is the foundation of a bona fide religious institution. But human beings are much more than disembodied souls. We have unique material bodies and material based minds. We integrate our lives with dissimilar personalities and function in diverse social groups. A sound and serviceable religious institution, therefore, must have the spiritual depth and theological-social flexibility to serve a wide variety of human beings. Its polity needs to embody the highest experiential wisdom.

4. Personally, I do not think the Fellowship should be organically or officially connected to this research or any religious institutions stemming from it. Many students of The Urantia Book are still uncomfortable with institutional religious activities. The Fellowship has a place in coordinating all types and levels of activity associated with The Urantia Book. It might encourage or even facilitate these religious activities without being organically involved with them. Hopefully, the Fellowship can establish cooperative relationships with many diverse organizations while remaining organizationally independent from them.

5. Ideally, there should be a number of teams doing different types of research. Even if they should engage in similar studies, the diversity of materials will enrich the resource pool available to all.

A New Religious Institution

Even though I have always assumed the most important channel for carrying the Fifth Epochal Revelation to our world was new religious institutions, in my own personal ministry I have sought to follow the example of Jesus, who first went to the dominant religious institution of his society. I have sought to introduce the most progressive segment of mainline Christianity to The Urantia Book We have organized a modest Clergy Network and publish The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. But it is clear that the majority of even the most progressive religious leaders of our time are afraid to risk their reputation and livelihood by seriously examining and evaluating the teachings of The Urantia Book.

While we are not abandoning or giving up on mainline Christian clergy, thirty-five years of experience has taught me that anything purporting to be new revelation is not within the boundaries of current theological-institutional respectability. In the main, Christian clergy will require a longer time frame to discover the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Since the power structures of the Christian clergy have treated The Urantia Book with deliberate and benign indifference, it is now time to initiate the next step in creating the social-institutional foundations for the outreach of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. It is time to promote research in discovering "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation "

In addition to eventually leavening the most progressive elements of the current world religions, I believe the future of the Fifth Epochal Revelation lies in two basic directions:

1. New religious institutions need to be initiated that will establish congregations and churches with a formal trained clergy similar to the churches and synagogues of Western Civilization.

2. New religious organizations need to be intentionally evolved whose teachings and structure are not centered around a professionally trained clergy and formal liturgical rites. These groups might have a structure similar to the Bahai religion. Such organizations are needed because many people identify with a more informal religious expression not dominated by clergy and formal worship services.

The key to initiating these new religious institutions or organizations is leadership. To develop the more formal religious institutions, we need research teams with input from people who have professional religious training as well as laypersons with extensive experience. Laying the foundations for the development of the more informal religious organizations needs leadership from teams dedicated to establishing a viable religious lay movement.

A Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation

The authors of The Urantia Book recognize that every epochal revelation stimulates the creation of new religious institutions and declare that "the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism." In various places, such as on pages 966 and 1092, they suggest the basic qualities essential to these new religious congregations.

Underlying these key spiritual qualities is the primary purpose of all religions: to provide a personal and social context in which their members may apprehend the presence of God and express their faith and devotion to the divine reality in their lives. To accomplish this basic objective, a religious organization must enunciate certain faith affirmations and structure ways of expressing these faith convictions.

The history of religion demonstrates that when strong spiritual ideals and aspirations inspire people, and where there are insufficient intellectual and social structural foundations to guide the in the expression of these spiritual aspirations, all kinds of irrational beliefs and actions are likely to appear; such as: visions of angels, channeling, speaking in tongues, attempting miracles, and doomsday predictions.

Such emotional and psychic phenomena almost always occur in an unstructured social-spiritual atmosphere. The most effective way to establish rational order, stability, and spiritual identity, along with creative service, and outreach, is to evolve an appropriately structured socio-religious expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.

The central objective of people interested in initiating such a new religious organization should be to create a polity with maximum flexibility, one that would function with small groups or large congregations, utilize lay leadership and/or ordained ministry, have cross cultural adaptability, and broad theological inclusiveness. Robert Greenleaf, in his book Servant Leadership, has a vision of such an institution "as a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship" (P. 237).

Research Purpose

There are many appropriate areas of research for those interested in building resources to use in initiating new religious organizations. These materials should not be seen as definitive, but serve as stimuli for creative thinking whereby these groups may be helped to make their own carefully considered decisions.

The organization of dedicated research teams to search for "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation" will, hopefully, prepare the soil for the advent of grass roots religious institutions which will become the channels of spiritual power, bringing the Fifth Epochal Revelation to our troubled and spiritually hungry world--Christ Michael's gift and saving guidance to our confused planet.

Study groups and Urantia Societies are simply not adequate to meet the religious needs of most individuals. They are self-contained and limited communities which have the potential of being forerunners to the religious institutions which are necessary to enculturate human society. The future of the Fifth Epochal Revelation rests upon the spiritual and evangelical dynamics of new religious institutions which will carry it to the four comers of our world. I believe the birth of such religious institutions is a necessary step in fulfilling the mission of the Urantia movement.

Labels: evolution, Forum, institutions, leadership, Meredith Sprunger, religion, research teams, The Urantia Book, Urantia Brotherhood

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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The Urantia Book â€“ A Personal View

The Urantia Book, the fifth epochal revelation and a restatement of the life of Jesus, the fourth epochal revelation, is an extensive, profound and complex work. Its complexity challenges any earnest student to find his understanding of the true message of the revelation and then determine his personal approach thereto. This is my view:

The Urantia Book, the 50th anniversary of whose first printing we are celebrating today, is a revelation of truth; but this statement needs to be qualified with another statement of what it is not. Even if a revelation of truth, The Urantia Book is not a revelation of absolute truth. [N]o revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete. [1008:2]. Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." [242:3]. He did not say that the holy books of this or that religion are the truth, or that The Urantia Book or any creeds and dogmas are the truth. Existence and reality are only partially in time and space. We are time-bound and space-conditioned beings. This means that we are incapable of fathoming existence in its entirety and immensity. Consequently, any revelation of what existence is has to be only partial and laden with paradoxes.

This 50-year-old book is a revelation of truth. Jesus said: â€œYou shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.â€� [1594:0; 1796:4] (1112:6). Freedom is joyous; it is imbued with joy and delight. This book then is a joyful and delightful work, a book about the joy of life; the joy of existence. It is a book about the joy of learning answers to the question, what the purpose of life is; questions about our origin and the reasons for our existence; the joy of finding God and ultimately becoming like him. The joy of learning the liberating truths that God is great, that he is not a petty, old and wily man whose fatherly heart in all its austere coldness and hardness was so untouched by the misfortunes and sorrows of his creatures that his tender mercies were not forthcoming until he saw his blameless Son bleeding and dying upon the cross of Calvary [60:5]. The joy of the realisation that the Universal Father is not a narrow-minded, cruel and punishing god decreeing arbitrary rules and laws and then making damaging entries in his books about those who fail to live up to his rules, and then, in due time pushing me and other sinners into an everlastingly burning hell.

This revelation is the story of existence. Existence is God, the I AM. â€œIn Him we live and move and have our being." [35:4, 29:6] (139:1, 1155:4, 1283:1). The I AM â€“ God â€“ is personal, and much more than that. He is the Original, he is the Absolute, he is the Ultimate, he is the Supreme, he is God the Sevenfold, he is the Thought Adjuster. He is both existential and experiential. The Original, the I AM, has diversified existence, his existence. He has caused the myriads of divine and celestial beings to be; has caused time and space to be; he has caused supertime and transcended space to be; he has caused the diversification of existence into absolute, absonite and finite; into material, mindal and spiritual; into imperfect, perfecting and perfect. Finally, he has caused the human being to be and created a universe path for his mortal creatures to follow, so to find him and become like him: â€œBe you perfect, even as I am perfect.â€� [21:3, 22:3, 86:1, 290:2, 295:1, 449:2, 637:1] (86:2, 297:1, 348:3, 411:1, 1574:8)

His is a nature of absolute truth, perfect beauty, eternal goodness and everlasting love. It is his will that all of his mortal beings have a free will, and that nobody is forced to be or to do anything against his will. It is Godâ€™s will that mortals make a free-will choice to do his will and accept the ministry extended to them by myriads of celestial beings and become like him and continue to exist eternally; that no one would choose to become non-existent. It is his will that all human beings view him as their Heavenly Father and that they relate to their fellow mortals as children of this same Father, as their brothers and sisters; and that they treat their fellow men with the same love as the Father bestows upon them. We are to understand that it is a joy to do the Fatherâ€™s will, to become, by faith, a faith-son of the Father and to join the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Urantia Book reveals the nature of true and genuine religion. And it is a matter of rejoicing to realise that true religion is always personal; genuine religion is a grateful and worshipful personal relationship with the Father. True religion is free from creeds, dogma, doctrines, traditions, rituals and standardisation. Instead its fruits are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance [381:7]. It is a joy to do the Fatherâ€™s will. It is not an obligation. Jesus said: â€œwhen the Father's will is your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the Father's will becomes truly your will, then are you in very truth in the kingdom ... When God's will is your law, you are noble slave subjects; but when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father's will becomes your will, and you are elevated to the high position of the free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom." [1589:0].

It is a matter of much reassurance, relief and joy to learn that evil in the world is only relative, is not God-created, is a transient feature in our imperfect, but perfecting, existence. What, instead, is true is progress and growth. Can you not advance in your concept of God's dealing with man to that level where you recognize that the watchword of the universe is progress? [Divine Counsellor 54:5]. What is true is goodness and love, the desire to do good to others [648:4]. Jesus was not anxiously bothered by the evil in the world [1594:5]. But it is comforting to learn that at a moment of anxiety over the evil in the world, [w]hen the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable [1096:4].

We who so believe and are united in our desire to love the Father, to do the Fatherâ€™s will, to be the faith-sons of God, to love and to serve our brothers and sisters have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world [381:7].

SEPPO KANERVA
16 October 2005

Labels: God, Jesus, progress, religion, Revelation, Seppo Kanerva, spiritual growth, The Urantia Book, truth

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Monday, October 17, 2005

The Tale of Two Families

During the short human history of this Revelation, the first generations of readers have been understandably occupied with finding God personally and building a new spiritual brotherhood. As our reader community matures, itâ€™s only natural that our attentions expand from the wonders of personal growth to the spiritual upbringing of future generations of God loving people. Your posts about parenting makes me feel reassured knowing my wife and I are among many Urantia Book readers attempting the daunting task of raising good children and hoping the revelation becomes the guiding text of their lives.

Life would have been much easier if our children had arrived with a manual titled "how to raise this child to become a God conscious and loving person". Fortunately we were blessed with revelatory standards that clearly articulate our unseen friendâ€™s high expectations about the value of raising a good family. The revelators elevate the importance of being a good parent when they state:

A. â€œThe family is man's greatest purely human achievementâ€�;
B. â€œWhile religious, social, and educational institutions are all essential to the survival of cultural civilization, the family is the master civilizer.â€�;
C. â€œAlmost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family.â€�;
D. â€œThe family is the fundamental unit of fraternity in which parents and children learn those lessons of patience, altruism, tolerance, and forbearance which are so essential to the realization of brotherhood among all men.â€�; and
E. â€œThe family is the channel through which the river of culture and knowledge flows from one generation to another.â€�.

So I am telling you my tale of two families in hopes of stimulating conversation and sharing of personal experiences that will make us better parents and grand parents. I'm the father of 5 children and grandpa of 4. My childrenâ€™s ages range from 34 to 14. The kids came in two groups; the first three are now 30, 32, and 34. The last two are 14 and 16. To keep the record straight, all five of the kids are productive, kind, and very good people. But I have strong regrets about how I religiously trained the first three children and think things have gone much better with the last two.

With the first three kids, we consciously decided that we should not impose our religion on them. As I see it now, I completely misunderstood some of the Urantia Bookâ€™s guiding principles in raising children. The first misunderstanding came in applying this quote, â€œGive every developing child a chance to grow his own religious experience; do not force a ready-made adult experience upon himâ€�. Somehow I took that to mean we should not actively teach the kids from The Urantia Book. We talked about its teachings especially if they asked, we read on holidays, but the first three kids did not have formal Urantia Book weekly religious education. With the last two kids, we started them in a kid Urantia Book study group at age 5. Both of these kids have now read hundreds of pages of the book. We didnâ€™t impose an adult experience upon them because my wife built a study group around their level of understanding and their needs. As I look back, my conduct with my older kids could be interpreted as â€œI donâ€™t care enough about your religious education to spend the time with you, on your level, to share these vital teachings.â€� Net, net, the younger two are both very religious children, having read much of the book, resulting in a deep appreciation of the revelation and other religions. The older three are much less active and interested in religion. A footnote: My wife is the hero of this story. She teaches the kids class every week. While the adults bask in intellectual and spiritual discussions at the adult group, Jen has spent years entertaining kids with spiritually illustrative arts and craft projects to dramatize or spice up their evening while reading from the Urantia Book.

In the hands off experiment, I occasionally prayed with the older kids but it was not a constant and vital part of our lives. With the younger two, we pray together almost every night. As they have gotten older I donâ€™t force prayers upon them but ask if they want to say prayers tonight. Even at 14 and 16, they almost always say yes. This prayer time is not an adult ready-made experience because each one of us says our prayers out loud and in our own way. Luke loves to pray for the needy and sick, Kate prays for immediate family members and friends.

Next I stumbled at practicing this teaching; â€œChildren are permanently impressed only by the loyalties of their adult associates; precept or even example is not lastingly influential.â€� Our practice of that quote intertwined with the first mistake. Because we had taken a hands-off approach to teaching the Urantia Book and religion, we assumed our kids would naturally come to the book because of our loyalties. And I have heard from some parents that this actually occurred with their kids. This didnâ€™t happen in our case and didnâ€™t happen to most of my friends who took the hands-off approach. Even though my first three kids knew readers, occasionally went to conferences, and understood my deep love and loyalty to the Urantia Book, they really donâ€™t know much about the teachings. To them, it was â€œdadâ€™s thingâ€�, not their living experience or educational training. Over time this might change but for now, only one of the first three kids has any interest in being a reader/believer. With the second two, both are readers and believers. The first three kids would have been much better off seeing our loyally as well as actively participating in kids study group. This is not to say that if you donâ€™t read the Urantia Book you canâ€™t know God. But given the choice of having read the book or not, kids are much better off having read some or all of the revelation.

Moving on, the first time around I totally misunderstood the following two passages. â€œThe extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-coordinated life.â€� and â€œThe measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness.â€� With my first set of kids I thought my â€œrighteous life and love saturated conductâ€� would draw the kids directly to the Revelation. Problem was that lots of my conduct wasnâ€™t saturated with love. Scolding them for keeping filthy rooms didnâ€™t translate to them as a love saturated calling. As to being â€œtruth seekersâ€�, that characteristic generally first appears in the late teens, not as a child. Unless a child is a religious prodigy, without religious education, children arenâ€™t naturally religious truth seekers. Religion is something children learn from their parentâ€™s loyalty, early education, experience, from like minded peers, and by mom and dad investing ample time for an active and disciplined religious life within the family. And if the kids donâ€™t get that type of training at an early age, the lures of computers, cell phones, instant messages, sports, dating, work, pizza, school and a hundred other distractions may keep the kids from finding God until later in life or worse, not at all. The revelation gives us a sobering understanding of the permanent impact parents have upon their children, â€œA human beingâ€™s entire afterlife is enormously influenced by what happens during the first few years of existence.â€�

With our second set of kids, religion is a big part of their lives. Luke goes to study group and is actively involved with the First Presbyterian kids program. Kate, age 16, asked to be taken out of public school and sent to a Catholic High School. She said she wanted religion in the class room. She loves her religion classes at school and the Urantia Book has dramatically expanded her ability to see the best in Christianity. My wife constantly frames many of their social complexities with the question â€œWhat would Jesus doâ€�. With Jesus of the Urantia Book in mind, they are working their way through sticky social issues but with the extra tools provided by the Revelation.

What have I learned through all this? I would like to think this conversation has been about altruism and benevolence but thereâ€™s survival of the individual and of the community in the learning. The message of salvation explained in the Urantia Book needs future generations to read and believe in it. You and I are the ones to make sure that happens. â€œBut the security of civilization itself still rests on the growing willingness of one generation to invest in the welfare of the next and future generations.â€�

On a personal and practical basis, you and I want, more than anything else, for our own children to find God, feel his love, love him in return, and live forever. If not this outcome as parents, than why else have we lived? After all, it's every parentâ€™s prayer and responsibility to help their children cross over the great bridge and enter the clearing on the other side.

Mo Siegel
Sept. 30th, 2005

Labels: children, family, God, loyalty, Mo Siegel, parenting, praying, reading, religion