634 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
634 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 3 The Attributes Of God
|
||
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
|
||
|
||
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
|
||
Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
|
||
Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
|
||
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
|
||
Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
|
||
Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
|
||
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
|
||
Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
|
||
Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
|
||
Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
|
||
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
|
||
Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
|
||
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
|
||
The Corps Of The Finality
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Paper 3 The Attributes Of God
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Introduction
|
||
|
||
GOD is everywhere present; the Universal Father rules the circle of eternity.
|
||
But he rules in the local universes in the persons of his Paradise Creator
|
||
Sons, even as he bestows life through these Sons. "God has given us eternal
|
||
life, and this life is in his Sons." These Creator Sons of God are the personal
|
||
expression of himself in the sectors of time and to the children of the
|
||
whirling planets of the evolving universes of space.
|
||
|
||
The highly personalized Sons of God are clearly discernible by the lower orders
|
||
of created intelligences, and so do they compensate for the invisibility of the
|
||
infinite and therefore less discernible Father. The Paradise Creator Sons of
|
||
the Universal Father are a revelation of an otherwise invisible being,
|
||
invisible because of the absoluteness and infinity inherent in the circle of
|
||
eternity and in the personalities of the Paradise Deities.
|
||
|
||
Creatorship is hardly an attribute of God; it is rather the aggregate of his
|
||
acting nature. And this universal function of creatorship is eternally
|
||
manifested as it is conditioned and controlled by all the co-ordinated
|
||
attributes of the infinite and divine reality of the First Source and Center.
|
||
We sincerely doubt whether any one characteristic of the divine nature can be
|
||
regarded as being antecedent to the others, but if such were the case, then the
|
||
creatorship nature of Deity would take precedence over all other natures,
|
||
activities, and attributes. And the creatorship of Deity culminates in the
|
||
universal truth of the Fatherhood of God.
|
||
|
||
1. GOD'S EVERYWHERENESS
|
||
|
||
The ability of the Universal Father to be everywhere present, and at the same
|
||
time, constitutes his omnipresence. God alone can be in two places, in
|
||
numberless places, at the same time. God is simultaneously present "in heaven
|
||
above and on the earth beneath"; as the Psalmist exclaimed: "Whither shall I go
|
||
from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your presence?"
|
||
|
||
"`I am a God at hand as well as afar off,' says the Lord. `Do not I fill heaven
|
||
and earth?'" The Universal Father is all the time present in all parts and in
|
||
all hearts of his far-flung creation. He is "the fullness of him who fills all
|
||
and in all," and "who works all in all," and further, the concept of his
|
||
personality is such that "the heaven (universe) and heaven of heavens (universe
|
||
of universes) cannot contain him." It is literally true that God is all and in
|
||
all. But even that is not all of God. The Infinite can be finally revealed only
|
||
in infinity; the cause can never be fully comprehended by an analysis of
|
||
effects; the living God is immeasurably greater than the sum total of creation
|
||
that has come into being as a result of the creative acts of his unfettered
|
||
free will. God is revealed throughout
|
||
|
||
top of page - 45
|
||
|
||
the cosmos, but the cosmos can never contain or encompass the entirety of the
|
||
infinity of God.
|
||
|
||
The Father's presence unceasingly patrols the master universe. "His going forth
|
||
is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit to the ends of it; and there is
|
||
nothing hidden from the light thereof."
|
||
|
||
The creature not only exists in God, but God also lives in the creature. "We
|
||
know we dwell in him because he lives in us; he has given us his spirit. This
|
||
gift from the Paradise Father is man's inseparable companion." "He is the
|
||
ever-present and all-pervading God." "The spirit of the everlasting Father is
|
||
concealed in the mind of every mortal child." "Man goes forth searching for a
|
||
friend while that very friend lives within his own heart." "The true God is not
|
||
afar off; he is a part of us; his spirit speaks from within us." "The Father
|
||
lives in the child. God is always with us. He is the guiding spirit of eternal
|
||
destiny."
|
||
|
||
Truly of the human race has it been said, "You are of God" because "he who
|
||
dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him." Even in wrongdoing you torment
|
||
the indwelling gift of God, for the Thought Adjuster must needs go through the
|
||
consequences of evil thinking with the human mind of its incarceration.
|
||
|
||
The omnipresence of God is in reality a part of his infinite nature; space
|
||
constitutes no barrier to Deity. God is, in perfection and without limitation,
|
||
discernibly present only on Paradise and in the central universe. He is not
|
||
thus observably present in the creations encircling Havona, for God has limited
|
||
his direct and actual presence in recognition of the sovereignty and the divine
|
||
prerogatives of the co-ordinate creators and rulers of the universes of time
|
||
and space. Hence must the concept of the divine presence allow for a wide range
|
||
of both mode and channel of manifestation embracing the presence circuits of
|
||
the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and the Isle of Paradise. Nor is it
|
||
always possible to distinguish between the presence of the Universal Father and
|
||
the actions of his eternal co-ordinates and agencies, so perfectly do they
|
||
fulfill all the infinite requirements of his unchanging purpose. But not so
|
||
with the personality circuit and the Adjusters; here God acts uniquely,
|
||
directly, and exclusively.
|
||
|
||
The Universal Controller is potentially present in the gravity circuits of the
|
||
Isle of Paradise in all parts of the universe at all times and in the same
|
||
degree, in accordance with the mass, in response to the physical demands for
|
||
this presence, and because of the inherent nature of all creation which causes
|
||
all things to adhere and consist in him. Likewise is the First Source and
|
||
Center potentially present in the Unqualified Absolute, the repository of the
|
||
uncreated universes of the eternal future. God thus potentially pervades the
|
||
physical universes of the past, present, and future. He is the primordial
|
||
foundation of the coherence of the so-called material creation. This
|
||
nonspiritual Deity potential becomes actual here and there throughout the level
|
||
of physical existences by the inexplicable intrusion of some one of his
|
||
exclusive agencies upon the stage of universe action.
|
||
|
||
The mind presence of God is correlated with the absolute mind of the Conjoint
|
||
Actor, the Infinite Spirit, but in the finite creations it is better discerned
|
||
in the everywhere functioning of the cosmic mind of the Paradise Master
|
||
Spirits. Just as the First Source and Center is potentially present in the mind
|
||
circuits of the Conjoint Actor, so is he potentially present in the tensions of
|
||
the Universal Absolute. But mind of the human order is a bestowal of the
|
||
Daughters of the Conjoint Actor, the Divine Ministers of the evolving
|
||
universes.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 46
|
||
|
||
The everywhere-present spirit of the Universal Father is co-ordinated with the
|
||
function of the universal spirit presence of the Eternal Son and the
|
||
everlasting divine potential of the Deity Absolute. But neither the spiritual
|
||
activity of the Eternal Son and his Paradise Sons nor the mind bestowals of the
|
||
Infinite Spirit seem to exclude the direct action of the Thought Adjusters, the
|
||
indwelling fragments of God, in the hearts of his creature children.
|
||
|
||
Concerning God's presence in a planet, system, constellation, or a universe,
|
||
the degree of such presence in any creational unit is a measure of the degree
|
||
of the evolving presence of the Supreme Being: It is determined by the en masse
|
||
recognition of God and loyalty to him on the part of the vast universe
|
||
organization, running down to the systems and planets themselves. Therefore it
|
||
is sometimes with the hope of conserving and safeguarding these phases of God's
|
||
precious presence that, when some planets (or even systems) have plunged far
|
||
into spiritual darkness, they are in a certain sense quarantined, or partially
|
||
isolated from intercourse with the larger units of creation. And all this, as
|
||
it operates on Urantia, is a spiritually defensive reaction of the majority of
|
||
the worlds to save themselves, as far as possible, from suffering the isolating
|
||
consequences of the alienating acts of a headstrong, wicked, and rebellious
|
||
minority.
|
||
|
||
While the Father parentally encircuits all his sons--all personalities--his
|
||
influence in them is limited by the remoteness of their origin from the Second
|
||
and the Third Persons of Deity and augmented as their destiny attainment nears
|
||
such levels. The fact of God's presence in creature minds is determined by
|
||
whether or not they are indwelt by Father fragments, such as the Mystery
|
||
Monitors, but his effective presence is determined by the degree of
|
||
co-operation accorded these indwelling Adjusters by the minds of their sojourn.
|
||
|
||
The fluctuations of the Father's presence are not due to the changeableness of
|
||
God. The Father does not retire in seclusion because he has been slighted; his
|
||
affections are not alienated because of the creature's wrongdoing. Rather,
|
||
having been endowed with the power of choice (concerning himself), his
|
||
children, in the exercise of that choice, directly determine the degree and
|
||
limitations of the Father's divine influence in their own hearts and souls. The
|
||
Father has freely bestowed himself upon us without limit and without favor. He
|
||
is no respecter of persons, planets, systems, or universes. In the sectors of
|
||
time he confers differential honor only on the Paradise personalities of God
|
||
the Sevenfold, the co-ordinate creators of the finite universes.
|
||
|
||
2. GOD'S INFINITE POWER
|
||
|
||
All the universes know that "the Lord God omnipotent reigns." The affairs of
|
||
this world and other worlds are divinely supervised. "He does according to his
|
||
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." It is
|
||
eternally true, "there is no power but of God."
|
||
|
||
Within the bounds of that which is consistent with the divine nature, it is
|
||
literally true that "with God all things are possible." The long-drawn-out
|
||
evolutionary processes of peoples, planets, and universes are under the perfect
|
||
control of the universe creators and administrators and unfold in accordance
|
||
with the eternal purpose of the Universal Father, proceeding in harmony and
|
||
order and in keeping with the all-wise plan of God. There is only one lawgiver.
|
||
He upholds the worlds in space and swings the universes around the endless
|
||
circle of the eternal circuit.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 47
|
||
|
||
Of all the divine attributes, his omnipotence, especially as it prevails in the
|
||
material universe, is the best understood. Viewed as an unspiritual phenomenon,
|
||
God is energy. This declaration of physical fact is predicated on the
|
||
incomprehensible truth that the First Source and Center is the primal cause of
|
||
the universal physical phenomena of all space. From this divine activity all
|
||
physical energy and other material manifestations are derived. Light, that is,
|
||
light without heat, is another of the nonspiritual manifestations of the
|
||
Deities. And there is still another form of nonspiritual energy which is
|
||
virtually unknown on Urantia; it is as yet unrecognized.
|
||
|
||
God controls all power; he has made "a way for the lightning"; he has ordained
|
||
the circuits of all energy. He has decreed the time and manner of the
|
||
manifestation of all forms of energy-matter. And all these things are held
|
||
forever in his everlasting grasp--in the gravitational control centering on
|
||
nether Paradise. The light and energy of the eternal God thus swing on forever
|
||
around his majestic circuit, the endless but orderly procession of the starry
|
||
hosts composing the universe of universes. All creation circles eternally
|
||
around the Paradise-Personality center of all things and beings.
|
||
|
||
The omnipotence of the Father pertains to the everywhere dominance of the
|
||
absolute level, whereon the three energies, material, mindal, and spiritual,
|
||
are indistinguishable in close proximity to him--the Source of all things.
|
||
Creature mind, being neither Paradise monota nor Paradise spirit, is not
|
||
directly responsive to the Universal Father. God adjusts with the mind of
|
||
imperfection--with Urantia mortals through the Thought Adjusters.
|
||
|
||
The Universal Father is not a transient force, a shifting power, or a
|
||
fluctuating energy. The power and wisdom of the Father are wholly adequate to
|
||
cope with any and all universe exigencies. As the emergencies of human
|
||
experience arise, he has foreseen them all, and therefore he does not react to
|
||
the affairs of the universe in a detached way but rather in accordance with the
|
||
dictates of eternal wisdom and in consonance with the mandates of infinite
|
||
judgment. Regardless of appearances, the power of God is not functioning in the
|
||
universe as a blind force.
|
||
|
||
Situations do arise in which it appears that emergency rulings have been made,
|
||
that natural laws have been suspended, that misadaptations have been
|
||
recognized, and that an effort is being made to rectify the situation; but such
|
||
is not the case. Such concepts of God have their origin in the limited range of
|
||
your viewpoint, in the finiteness of your comprehension, and in the
|
||
circumscribed scope of your survey; such misunderstanding of God is due to the
|
||
profound ignorance you enjoy regarding the existence of the higher laws of the
|
||
realm, the magnitude of the Father's character, the infinity of his attributes,
|
||
and the fact of his free-willness.
|
||
|
||
The planetary creatures of God's spirit indwelling, scattered hither and yon
|
||
throughout the universes of space, are so nearly infinite in number and order,
|
||
their intellects are so diverse, their minds are so limited and sometimes so
|
||
gross, their vision is so curtailed and localized, that it is almost impossible
|
||
to formulate generalizations of law adequately expressive of the Father's
|
||
infinite attributes and at the same time to any degree comprehensible to these
|
||
created intelligences. Therefore, to you the creature, many of the acts of the
|
||
all-powerful Creator seem to be arbitrary, detached, and not infrequently
|
||
heartless and cruel. But again I assure you that this is not true. God's doings
|
||
are all purposeful, intelligent, wise, kind, and eternally considerate of the
|
||
best good, not always of an individual
|
||
|
||
top of page - 48
|
||
|
||
being, an individual race, an individual planet, or even an individual
|
||
universe; but they are for the welfare and best good of all concerned, from the
|
||
lowest to the highest. In the epochs of time the welfare of the part may
|
||
sometimes appear to differ from the welfare of the whole; in the circle of
|
||
eternity such apparent differences are nonexistent.
|
||
|
||
We are all a part of the family of God, and we must therefore sometimes share
|
||
in the family discipline. Many of the acts of God which so disturb and confuse
|
||
us are the result of the decisions and final rulings of all-wisdom, empowering
|
||
the Conjoint Actor to execute the choosing of the infallible will of the
|
||
infinite mind, to enforce the decisions of the personality of perfection, whose
|
||
survey, vision, and solicitude embrace the highest and eternal welfare of all
|
||
his vast and far-flung creation.
|
||
|
||
Thus it is that your detached, sectional, finite, gross, and highly
|
||
materialistic viewpoint and the limitations inherent in the nature of your
|
||
being constitute such a handicap that you are unable to see, comprehend, or
|
||
know the wisdom and kindness of many of the divine acts which to you seem
|
||
fraught with such crushing cruelty, and which seem to be characterized by such
|
||
utter indifference to the comfort and welfare, to the planetary happiness and
|
||
personal prosperity, of your fellow creatures. It is because of the limits of
|
||
human vision, it is because of your circumscribed understanding and finite
|
||
comprehension, that you misunderstand the motives, and pervert the purposes, of
|
||
God. But many things occur on the evolutionary worlds which are not the
|
||
personal doings of the Universal Father.
|
||
|
||
The divine omnipotence is perfectly co-ordinated with the other attributes of
|
||
the personality of God. The power of God is, ordinarily, only limited in its
|
||
universe spiritual manifestation by three conditions or situations:
|
||
|
||
1. By the nature of God, especially by his infinite love, by truth, beauty, and
|
||
goodness.
|
||
|
||
2. By the will of God, by his mercy ministry and fatherly relationship with the
|
||
personalities of the universe.
|
||
|
||
3. By the law of God, by the righteousness and justice of the eternal Paradise
|
||
Trinity.
|
||
|
||
God is unlimited in power, divine in nature, final in will, infinite in
|
||
attributes, eternal in wisdom, and absolute in reality. But all these
|
||
characteristics of the Universal Father are unified in Deity and universally
|
||
expressed in the Paradise Trinity and in the divine Sons of the Trinity.
|
||
Otherwise, outside of Paradise and the central universe of Havona, everything
|
||
pertaining to God is limited by the evolutionary presence of the Supreme,
|
||
conditioned by the eventuating presence of the Ultimate, and co-ordinated by
|
||
the three existential Absolutes--Deity, Universal, and Unqualified. And God's
|
||
presence is thus limited because such is the will of God.
|
||
|
||
3. GOD'S UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE
|
||
|
||
"God knows all things." The divine mind is conscious of, and conversant with,
|
||
the thought of all creation. His knowledge of events is universal and perfect.
|
||
The divine entities going out from him are a part of him; he who "balances the
|
||
clouds" is also "perfect in knowledge." "The eyes of the Lord are in every
|
||
place." Said your great teacher of the insignificant sparrow, "One of them
|
||
shall not fall
|
||
|
||
top of page - 49
|
||
|
||
to the ground without my Father's knowledge," and also, "The very hairs of your
|
||
head are numbered." "He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by
|
||
their names."
|
||
|
||
The Universal Father is the only personality in all the universe who does
|
||
actually know the number of the stars and planets of space. All the worlds of
|
||
every universe are constantly within the consciousness of God. He also says: "I
|
||
have surely seen the affliction of my people, I have heard their cry, and I
|
||
know their sorrows." For "the Lord looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons
|
||
of men; from the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of
|
||
the earth." Every creature child may truly say: "He knows the way I take, and
|
||
when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." "God knows our downsittings
|
||
and our uprisings; he understands our thoughts afar off and is acquainted with
|
||
all our ways." "All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we
|
||
have to do." And it should be a real comfort to every human being to understand
|
||
that "he knows your frame; he remembers that you are dust." Jesus, speaking of
|
||
the living God, said, "Your Father knows what you have need of even before you
|
||
ask him."
|
||
|
||
God is possessed of unlimited power to know all things; his consciousness is
|
||
universal. His personal circuit encompasses all personalities, and his
|
||
knowledge of even the lowly creatures is supplemented indirectly through the
|
||
descending series of divine Sons and directly through the indwelling Thought
|
||
Adjusters. And furthermore, the Infinite Spirit is all the time everywhere
|
||
present.
|
||
|
||
We are not wholly certain as to whether or not God chooses to foreknow events
|
||
of sin. But even if God should foreknow the freewill acts of his children, such
|
||
foreknowledge does not in the least abrogate their freedom. One thing is
|
||
certain: God is never subjected to surprise.
|
||
|
||
Omnipotence does not imply the power to do the nondoable, the ungodlike act.
|
||
Neither does omniscience imply the knowing of the unknowable. But such
|
||
statements can hardly be made comprehensible to the finite mind. The creature
|
||
can hardly understand the range and limitations of the will of the Creator.
|
||
|
||
4. GOD'S LIMITLESSNESS
|
||
|
||
The successive bestowal of himself upon the universes as they are brought into
|
||
being in no wise lessens the potential of power or the store of wisdom as they
|
||
continue to reside and repose in the central personality of Deity. In potential
|
||
of force, wisdom, and love, the Father has never lessened aught of his
|
||
possession nor become divested of any attribute of his glorious personality as
|
||
the result of the unstinted bestowal of himself upon the Paradise Sons, upon
|
||
his subordinate creations, and upon the manifold creatures thereof.
|
||
|
||
The creation of every new universe calls for a new adjustment of gravity; but
|
||
even if creation should continue indefinitely, eternally, even to infinity, so
|
||
that eventually the material creation would exist without limitations, still
|
||
the power of control and co-ordination reposing in the Isle of Paradise would
|
||
be found equal to, and adequate for, the mastery, control, and co-ordination of
|
||
such an infinite universe. And subsequent to this bestowal of limitless force
|
||
and power upon a boundless universe, the Infinite would still be surcharged
|
||
with the same degree of force and energy; the Unqualified Absolute would still
|
||
be undiminished; God would still possess the same infinite potential, just as
|
||
if force,
|
||
|
||
top of page - 50
|
||
|
||
energy, and power had never been poured forth for the endowment of universe
|
||
upon universe.
|
||
|
||
And so with wisdom: The fact that mind is so freely distributed to the thinking
|
||
of the realms in no wise impoverishes the central source of divine wisdom. As
|
||
the universes multiply, and beings of the realms increase in number to the
|
||
limits of comprehension, if mind continues without end to be bestowed upon
|
||
these beings of high and low estate, still will God's central personality
|
||
continue to embrace the same eternal, infinite, and all-wise mind.
|
||
|
||
The fact that he sends forth spirit messengers from himself to indwell the men
|
||
and women of your world and other worlds in no wise lessens his ability to
|
||
function as a divine and all-powerful spirit personality; and there is
|
||
absolutely no limit to the extent or number of such spirit Monitors which he
|
||
can and may send out. This giving of himself to his creatures creates a
|
||
boundless, almost inconceivable future possibility of progressive and
|
||
successive existences for these divinely endowed mortals. And this prodigal
|
||
distribution of himself as these ministering spirit entities in no manner
|
||
diminishes the wisdom and perfection of truth and knowledge which repose in the
|
||
person of the all-wise, all-knowing, and all-powerful Father.
|
||
|
||
To the mortals of time there is a future, but God inhabits eternity. Even
|
||
though I hail from near the very abiding place of Deity, I cannot presume to
|
||
speak with perfection of understanding concerning the infinity of many of the
|
||
divine attributes. Infinity of mind alone can fully comprehend infinity of
|
||
existence and eternity of action.
|
||
|
||
Mortal man cannot possibly know the infinitude of the heavenly Father. Finite
|
||
mind cannot think through such an absolute truth or fact. But this same finite
|
||
human being can actually feel--literally experience--the full and undiminished
|
||
impact of such an infinite Father's LOVE. Such a love can be truly experienced,
|
||
albeit while quality of experience is unlimited, quantity of such an experience
|
||
is strictly limited by the human capacity for spiritual receptivity and by the
|
||
associated capacity to love the Father in return.
|
||
|
||
Finite appreciation of infinite qualities far transcends the logically limited
|
||
capacities of the creature because of the fact that mortal man is made in the
|
||
image of God--there lives within him a fragment of infinity. Therefore man's
|
||
nearest and dearest approach to God is by and through love, for God is love.
|
||
And all of such a unique relationship is an actual experience in cosmic
|
||
sociology, the Creator-creature relationship--the Father-child affection.
|
||
|
||
5. THE FATHER'S SUPREME RULE
|
||
|
||
In his contact with the post-Havona creations, the Universal Father does not
|
||
exercise his infinite power and final authority by direct transmittal but
|
||
rather through his Sons and their subordinate personalities. And God does all
|
||
this of his own free will. Any and all powers delegated, if occasion should
|
||
arise, if it should become the choice of the divine mind, could be exercised
|
||
direct; but, as a rule, such action only takes place as a result of the failure
|
||
of the delegated personality to fulfill the divine trust. At such times and in
|
||
the face of such default and within the limits of the reservation of divine
|
||
power and potential, the Father does act independently and in accordance with
|
||
the mandates of his own choice; and that choice is always one of unfailing
|
||
perfection and infinite wisdom.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 51
|
||
|
||
The Father rules through his Sons; on down through the universe organization
|
||
there is an unbroken chain of rulers ending with the Planetary Princes, who
|
||
direct the destinies of the evolutionary spheres of the Father's vast domains.
|
||
It is no mere poetic expression that exclaims: "The earth is the Lord's and the
|
||
fullness thereof." "He removes kings and sets up kings." "The Most Highs rule
|
||
in the kingdoms of men."
|
||
|
||
In the affairs of men's hearts the Universal Father may not always have his
|
||
way; but in the conduct and destiny of a planet the divine plan prevails; the
|
||
eternal purpose of wisdom and love triumphs.
|
||
|
||
Said Jesus: "My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one is
|
||
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." As you glimpse the manifold
|
||
workings and view the staggering immensity of God's well-nigh limitless
|
||
creation, you may falter in your concept of his primacy, but you should not
|
||
fail to accept him as securely and everlastingly enthroned at the Paradise
|
||
center of all things and as the beneficent Father of all intelligent beings.
|
||
There is but "one God and Father of all, who is above all and in all," "and he
|
||
is before all things, and in him all things consist."
|
||
|
||
The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any
|
||
manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All
|
||
evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the
|
||
following:
|
||
|
||
1. Is courage--strength of character--desirable? Then must man be reared in an
|
||
environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to
|
||
disappointments.
|
||
|
||
2. Is altruism--service of one's fellows--desirable? Then must life experience
|
||
provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
|
||
|
||
3. Is hope--the grandeur of trust--desirable? Then human existence must
|
||
constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.
|
||
|
||
4. Is faith--the supreme assertion of human thought--desirable? Then must the
|
||
mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows
|
||
less than it can believe.
|
||
|
||
5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable?
|
||
Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always
|
||
possible.
|
||
|
||
6. Is idealism--the approaching concept of the divine--desirable? Then must man
|
||
struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings
|
||
stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.
|
||
|
||
7. Is loyalty--devotion to highest duty--desirable? Then must man carry on amid
|
||
the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty
|
||
consists in the implied danger of default.
|
||
|
||
8. Is unselfishness--the spirit of self-forgetfulness--desirable? Then must
|
||
mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable
|
||
self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine
|
||
life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never lay saving hold on
|
||
righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the
|
||
good by contrast.
|
||
|
||
9. Is pleasure--the satisfaction of happiness--desirable? Then must man live in
|
||
a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are
|
||
ever-present experiential possibilities.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 52
|
||
|
||
Throughout the universe, every unit is regarded as a part of the whole.
|
||
Survival of the part is dependent on co-operation with the plan and purpose of
|
||
the whole, the wholehearted desire and perfect willingness to do the Father's
|
||
divine will. The only evolutionary world without error (the possibility of
|
||
unwise judgment) would be a world without free intelligence. In the Havona
|
||
universe there are a billion perfect worlds with their perfect inhabitants, but
|
||
evolving man must be fallible if he is to be free. Free and inexperienced
|
||
intelligence cannot possibly at first be uniformly wise. The possibility of
|
||
mistaken judgment (evil) becomes sin only when the human will consciously
|
||
endorses and knowingly embraces a deliberate immoral judgment.
|
||
|
||
The full appreciation of truth, beauty, and goodness is inherent in the
|
||
perfection of the divine universe. The inhabitants of the Havona worlds do not
|
||
require the potential of relative value levels as a choice stimulus; such
|
||
perfect beings are able to identify and choose the good in the absence of all
|
||
contrastive and thought-compelling moral situations. But all such perfect
|
||
beings are, in moral nature and spiritual status, what they are by virtue of
|
||
the fact of existence. They have experientially earned advancement only within
|
||
their inherent status. Mortal man earns even his status as an ascension
|
||
candidate by his own faith and hope. Everything divine which the human mind
|
||
grasps and the human soul acquires is an experiential attainment; it is a
|
||
reality of personal experience and is therefore a unique possession in contrast
|
||
to the inherent goodness and righteousness of the inerrant personalities of
|
||
Havona.
|
||
|
||
The creatures of Havona are naturally brave, but they are not courageous in the
|
||
human sense. They are innately kind and considerate, but hardly altruistic in
|
||
the human way. They are expectant of a pleasant future, but not hopeful in the
|
||
exquisite manner of the trusting mortal of the uncertain evolutionary spheres.
|
||
They have faith in the stability of the universe, but they are utter strangers
|
||
to that saving faith whereby mortal man climbs from the status of an animal up
|
||
to the portals of Paradise. They love the truth, but they know nothing of its
|
||
soul-saving qualities. They are idealists, but they were born that way; they
|
||
are wholly ignorant of the ecstasy of becoming such by exhilarating choice.
|
||
They are loyal, but they have never experienced the thrill of wholehearted and
|
||
intelligent devotion to duty in the face of temptation to default. They are
|
||
unselfish, but they never gained such levels of experience by the magnificent
|
||
conquest of a belligerent self. They enjoy pleasure, but they do not comprehend
|
||
the sweetness of the pleasure escape from the pain potential.
|
||
|
||
6. THE FATHER'S PRIMACY
|
||
|
||
With divine selflessness, consummate generosity, the Universal Father
|
||
relinquishes authority and delegates power, but he is still primal; his hand is
|
||
on the mighty lever of the circumstances of the universal realms; he has
|
||
reserved all final decisions and unerringly wields the all-powerful veto
|
||
scepter of his eternal purpose with unchallengeable authority over the welfare
|
||
and destiny of the outstretched, whirling, and ever-circling creation.
|
||
|
||
The sovereignty of God is unlimited; it is the fundamental fact of all
|
||
creation. The universe was not inevitable. The universe is not an accident,
|
||
neither is it self-existent. The universe is a work of creation and is
|
||
therefore wholly subject to the will of the Creator. The will of God is divine
|
||
truth, living love; there-
|
||
|
||
top of page - 53
|
||
|
||
fore are the perfecting creations of the evolutionary universes characterized
|
||
by goodness--nearness to divinity; by potential evil--remoteness from divinity.
|
||
|
||
All religious philosophy, sooner or later, arrives at the concept of unified
|
||
universe rule, of one God. Universe causes cannot be lower than universe
|
||
effects. The source of the streams of universe life and of the cosmic mind must
|
||
be above the levels of their manifestation. The human mind cannot be
|
||
consistently explained in terms of the lower orders of existence. Man's mind
|
||
can be truly comprehended only by recognizing the reality of higher orders of
|
||
thought and purposive will. Man as a moral being is inexplicable unless the
|
||
reality of the Universal Father is acknowledged.
|
||
|
||
The mechanistic philosopher professes to reject the idea of a universal and
|
||
sovereign will, the very sovereign will whose activity in the elaboration of
|
||
universe laws he so deeply reverences. What unintended homage the mechanist
|
||
pays the law-Creator when he conceives such laws to be self-acting and
|
||
self-explanatory!
|
||
|
||
It is a great blunder to humanize God, except in the concept of the indwelling
|
||
Thought Adjuster, but even that is not so stupid as completely to mechanize the
|
||
idea of the First Great Source and Center.
|
||
|
||
Does the Paradise Father suffer? I do not know. The Creator Sons most certainly
|
||
can and sometimes do, even as do mortals. The Eternal Son and the Infinite
|
||
Spirit suffer in a modified sense. I think the Universal Father does, but I
|
||
cannot understand how; perhaps through the personality circuit or through the
|
||
individuality of the Thought Adjusters and other bestowals of his eternal
|
||
nature. He has said of the mortal races, "In all your afflictions I am
|
||
afflicted." He unquestionably experiences a fatherly and sympathetic
|
||
understanding; he may truly suffer, but I do not comprehend the nature thereof.
|
||
|
||
The infinite and eternal Ruler of the universe of universes is power, form,
|
||
energy, process, pattern, principle, presence, and idealized reality. But he is
|
||
more; he is personal; he exercises a sovereign will, experiences
|
||
self-consciousness of divinity, executes the mandates of a creative mind,
|
||
pursues the satisfaction of the realization of an eternal purpose, and
|
||
manifests a Father's love and affection for his universe children. And all
|
||
these more personal traits of the Father can be better understood by observing
|
||
them as they were revealed in the bestowal life of Michael, your Creator Son,
|
||
while he was incarnated on Urantia.
|
||
|
||
God the Father loves men; God the Son serves men; God the Spirit inspires the
|
||
children of the universe to the ever-ascending adventure of finding God the
|
||
Father by the ways ordained by God the Sons through the ministry of the grace
|
||
of God the Spirit.
|
||
|
||
[Being the Divine Counselor assigned to the presentation of the revelation of
|
||
the Universal Father, I have continued with this statement of the attributes of
|
||
Deity.]
|
||
|
||
top of page - 54
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
|
||
Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
|
||
Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
|
||
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
|
||
Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
|
||
Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
|
||
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
|
||
Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
|
||
Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
|
||
Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
|
||
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
|
||
Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
|
||
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
|
||
The Corps Of The Finality
|
||
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ŀ
|
||
<EFBFBD> // <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> The Nature Of <20> God's Relation <20> Urantia Book <20> Search <20> SiteMap! <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> G... <20> ... <20> PA... <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
//
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ŀ
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> SPIRITWEB ORG (info@spiritweb.org), <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> http://www.spiritweb.org <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> Webmaster <webmaster@spiritweb.org> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> ONLINE SINCE 1993. MAINTAINED IN SWITZERLAND. <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> DISTRIBUTED TO CALIFORNIA, SPAIN, ITALY, SOUTH AFRICA, <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> AUSTRALIA <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|