592 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
592 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 155 Fleeing Through Northern Galilee
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SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
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of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
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Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
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Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
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Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
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Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
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The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
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Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
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The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
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In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
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Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
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Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
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Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
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Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
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Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
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Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
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Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
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Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
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Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
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To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem ...
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Paper 155 Fleeing Through Northern Galilee
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Introduction
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SOON after landing near Kheresa on this eventful Sunday, Jesus and the
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twenty-four went a little way to the north, where they spent the night in a
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beautiful park south of Bethsaida-Julias. They were familiar with this camping
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place, having stopped there in days gone by. Before retiring for the night, the
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Master called his followers around him and discussed with them the plans for
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their projected tour through Batanea and northern Galilee to the Phoenician
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coast.
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1. WHY DO THE HEATHEN RAGE?
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Said Jesus: "You should all recall how the Psalmist spoke of these times,
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saying, `Why do the heathen rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the
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earth set themselves, and the rulers of the people take counsel together,
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against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break the bonds of
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mercy asunder and let us cast away the cords of love.'
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"Today you see this fulfilled before your eyes. But you shall not see the
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remainder of the Psalmist's prophecy fulfilled, for he entertained erroneous
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ideas about the Son of Man and his mission on earth. My kingdom is founded on
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love, proclaimed in mercy, and established by unselfish service. My Father does
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not sit in heaven laughing in derision at the heathen. He is not wrathful in
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his great displeasure. True is the promise that the Son shall have these
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so-called heathen (in reality his ignorant and untaught brethren) for an
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inheritance. And I will receive these gentiles with open arms of mercy and
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affection. All this loving-kindness shall be shown the so-called heathen,
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notwithstanding the unfortunate declaration of the record which intimates that
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the triumphant Son `shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces
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like a potter's vessel.' The Psalmist exhorted you to `serve the Lord with
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fear'--I bid you enter into the exalted privileges of divine sonship by faith;
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he commands you to rejoice with trembling; I bid you rejoice with assurance. He
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says, `Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish when his wrath is
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kindled.' But you who have lived with me well know that anger and wrath are not
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a part of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men. But
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the Psalmist did glimpse the true light when, in finishing this exhortation, he
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said: `Blessed are they who put their trust in this Son.'"
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Jesus continued to teach the twenty-four, saying: "The heathen are not without
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excuse when they rage at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they
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are able to concentrate their energies enthusiastically. Their goal is near and
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more or less visible; wherefore do they strive with valiant and effective
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execution. You who have professed entrance into the kingdom of heaven are
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altogether too vacillating and indefinite in your teaching conduct. The heathen
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top of page - 1726
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strike directly for their objectives; you are guilty of too much chronic
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yearning. If you desire to enter the kingdom, why do you not take it by
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spiritual assault even as the heathen take a city they lay siege to? You are
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hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an
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attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping
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for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they know not the truth. Why
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do you languish in futile yearning? Because you obey not the truth. Cease your
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useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the
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establishment of the kingdom.
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"In all that you do, become not one-sided and overspecialized. The Pharisees
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who seek our destruction verily think they are doing God's service. They have
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become so narrowed by tradition that they are blinded by prejudice and hardened
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by fear. Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the
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Jews have a religion without science. And when men become thus misled into
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accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of
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salvation is to become truth-co-ordinated--converted.
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"Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination,
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learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness,
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your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so
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acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the
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measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you
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have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your
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failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life."
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And many other things the Master taught his apostles and the evangelists before
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they bade him good night and sought rest upon their pillows.
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2. THE EVANGELISTS IN CHORAZIN
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On Monday morning, May 23, Jesus directed Peter to go over to Chorazin with the
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twelve evangelists while he, with the eleven, departed for Caesarea-Philippi,
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going by way of the Jordan to the Damascus-Capernaum road, thence northeast to
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the junction with the road to Caesarea-Philippi, and then on into that city,
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where they tarried and taught for two weeks. They arrived during the afternoon
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of Tuesday, May 24.
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Peter and the evangelists sojourned in Chorazin for two weeks, preaching the
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gospel of the kingdom to a small but earnest company of believers. But they
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were not able to win many new converts. No city of all Galilee yielded so few
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souls for the kingdom as Chorazin. In accordance with Peter's instructions the
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twelve evangelists had less to say about healing--things physical--while they
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preached and taught with increased vigor the spiritual truths of the heavenly
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kingdom. These two weeks at Chorazin constituted a veritable baptism of
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adversity for the twelve evangelists in that it was the most difficult and
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unproductive period in their careers up to this time. Being thus deprived of
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the satisfaction of winning souls for the kingdom, each of them the more
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earnestly and honestly took stock of his own soul and its progress in the
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spiritual paths of the new life.
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When it appeared that no more people were minded to seek entrance into the
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kingdom, Peter, on Tuesday, June 7, called his associates together and departed
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for Caesarea-Philippi to join Jesus and the apostles. They arrived about
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noontime on Wednesday and spent the entire evening in rehearsing their
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experiences among the unbelievers of Chorazin. During the discussions of this
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top of page - 1727
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evening Jesus made further reference to the parable of the sower and taught
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them much about the meaning of the apparent failure of life undertakings.
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3. AT CAESAREA-PHILIPPI
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Although Jesus did no public work during this two weeks' sojourn near
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Caesarea-Philippi, the apostles held numerous quiet evening meetings in the
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city, and many of the believers came out to the camp to talk with the Master.
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Very few were added to the group of believers as a result of this visit. Jesus
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talked with the apostles each day, and they more clearly discerned that a new
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phase of the work of preaching the kingdom of heaven was now beginning. They
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were commencing to comprehend that the "kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink
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but the realization of the spiritual joy of the acceptance of divine sonship."
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The sojourn at Caesarea-Philippi was a real test to the eleven apostles; it was
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a difficult two weeks for them to live through. They were well-nigh depressed,
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and they missed the periodic stimulation of Peter's enthusiastic personality.
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In these times it was truly a great and testing adventure to believe in Jesus
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and go forth to follow after him. Though they made few converts during these
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two weeks, they did learn much that was highly profitable from their daily
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conferences with the Master.
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The apostles learned that the Jews were spiritually stagnant and dying because
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they had crystallized truth into a creed; that when truth becomes formulated as
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a boundary line of self-righteous exclusiveness instead of serving as signposts
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of spiritual guidance and progress, such teachings lose their creative and
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life-giving power and ultimately become merely preservative and fossilizing.
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Increasingly they learned from Jesus to look upon human personalities in terms
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of their possibilities in time and in eternity. They learned that many souls
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can best be led to love the unseen God by being first taught to love their
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brethren whom they can see. And it was in this connection that new meaning
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became attached to the Master's pronouncement concerning unselfish service for
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one's fellows: "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you
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did it to me."
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One of the great lessons of this sojourn at Caesarea had to do with the origin
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of religious traditions, with the grave danger of allowing a sense of
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sacredness to become attached to nonsacred things, common ideas, or everyday
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events. From one conference they emerged with the teaching that true religion
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was man's heartfelt loyalty to his highest and truest convictions.
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Jesus warned his believers that, if their religious longings were only
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material, increasing knowledge of nature would, by progressive displacement of
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the supposed supernatural origin of things, ultimately deprive them of their
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faith in God. But that, if their religion were spiritual, never could the
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progress of physical science disturb their faith in eternal realities and
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divine values.
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They learned that, when religion is wholly spiritual in motive, it makes all
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life more worth while, filling it with high purposes, dignifying it with
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transcendent values, inspiring it with superb motives, all the while comforting
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the human soul with a sublime and sustaining hope. True religion is designed to
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lessen the strain of existence; it releases faith and courage for daily living
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and unselfish serving. Faith promotes spiritual vitality and righteous
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fruitfulness.
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Jesus repeatedly taught his apostles that no civilization could long survive
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the loss of the best in its religion. And he never grew weary of pointing out
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to the
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top of page - 1728
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twelve the great danger of accepting religious symbols and ceremonies in the
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place of religious experience. His whole earth life was consistently devoted to
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the mission of thawing out the frozen forms of religion into the liquid
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liberties of enlightened sonship.
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4. ON THE WAY TO PHOENICIA
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On Thursday morning, June 9, after receiving word regarding the progress of the
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kingdom brought by the messengers of David from Bethsaida, this group of
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twenty-five teachers of truth left Caesarea-Philippi to begin their journey to
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the Phoenician coast. They passed around the marsh country, by way of Luz, to
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the point of junction with the Magdala-Mount Lebanon trail road, thence to the
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crossing with the road leading to Sidon, arriving there Friday afternoon.
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While pausing for lunch under the shadow of an overhanging ledge of rock, near
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Luz, Jesus delivered one of the most remarkable addresses which his apostles
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ever listened to throughout all their years of association with him. No sooner
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had they seated themselves to break bread than Simon Peter asked Jesus:
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"Master, since the Father in heaven knows all things, and since his spirit is
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our support in the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth, why is it
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that we flee from the threats of our enemies? Why do we refuse to confront the
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foes of truth?" But before Jesus had begun to answer Peter's question, Thomas
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broke in, asking: "Master, I should really like to know just what is wrong with
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the religion of our enemies at Jerusalem. What is the real difference between
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their religion and ours? Why is it we are at such diversity of belief when we
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all profess to serve the same God?" And when Thomas had finished, Jesus said:
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"While I would not ignore Peter's question, knowing full well how easy it would
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be to misunderstand my reasons for avoiding an open clash with the rulers of
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the Jews at just this time, still it will prove more helpful to all of you if I
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choose rather to answer Thomas's question. And that I will proceed to do when
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you have finished your lunch."
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5. THE DISCOURSE ON TRUE RELIGION
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This memorable discourse on religion, summarized and restated in modern
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phraseology, gave expression to the following truths:
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While the religions of the world have a double origin--natural and
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revelatory--at any one time and among any one people there are to be found
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three distinct forms of religious devotion. And these three manifestations of
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the religious urge are:
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1. Primitive religion. The seminatural and instinctive urge to fear mysterious
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energies and worship superior forces, chiefly a religion of the physical
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nature, the religion of fear.
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2. The religion of civilization. The advancing religious concepts and practices
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of the civilizing races--the religion of the mind--the intellectual theology of
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the authority of established religious tradition.
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3. True religion--the religion of revelation. The revelation of supernatural
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values, a partial insight into eternal realities, a glimpse of the goodness and
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beauty of the infinite character of the Father in heaven--the religion of the
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spirit as demonstrated in human experience.
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top of page - 1729
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The religion of the physical senses and the superstitious fears of natural man,
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the Master refused to belittle, though he deplored the fact that so much of
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this primitive form of worship should persist in the religious forms of the
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more intelligent races of mankind. Jesus made it clear that the great
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difference between the religion of the mind and the religion of the spirit is
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that, while the former is upheld by ecclesiastical authority, the latter is
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wholly based on human experience.
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And then the Master, in his hour of teaching, went on to make clear these
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truths:
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Until the races become highly intelligent and more fully civilized, there will
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persist many of those childlike and superstitious ceremonies which are so
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characteristic of the evolutionary religious practices of primitive and
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backward peoples. Until the human race progresses to the level of a higher and
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more general recognition of the realities of spiritual experience, large
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numbers of men and women will continue to show a personal preference for those
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religions of authority which require only intellectual assent, in contrast to
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the religion of the spirit, which entails active participation of mind and soul
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in the faith adventure of grappling with the rigorous realities of progressive
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human experience.
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The acceptance of the traditional religions of authority presents the easy way
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out for man's urge to seek satisfaction for the longings of his spiritual
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nature. The settled, crystallized, and established religions of authority
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afford a ready refuge to which the distracted and distraught soul of man may
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flee when harassed by fear and tormented by uncertainty. Such a religion
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requires of its devotees, as the price to be paid for its satisfactions and
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assurances, only a passive and purely intellectual assent.
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And for a long time there will live on earth those timid, fearful, and hesitant
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individuals who will prefer thus to secure their religious consolations, even
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though, in so casting their lot with the religions of authority, they
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compromise the sovereignty of personality, debase the dignity of self-respect,
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and utterly surrender the right to participate in that most thrilling and
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inspiring of all possible human experiences: the personal quest for truth, the
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exhilaration of facing the perils of intellectual discovery, the determination
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to explore the realities of personal religious experience, the supreme
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satisfaction of experiencing the personal triumph of the actual realization of
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the victory of spiritual faith over intellectual doubt as it is honestly won in
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the supreme adventure of all human existence--man seeking God, for himself and
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as himself, and finding him.
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The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith,
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determination, love, loyalty, and progress. The religion of the mind--the
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theology of authority--requires little or none of these exertions from its
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formal believers. Tradition is a safe refuge and an easy path for those fearful
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and halfhearted souls who instinctively shun the spirit struggles and mental
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uncertainties associated with those faith voyages of daring adventure out upon
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the high seas of unexplored truth in search for the farther shores of spiritual
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realities as they may be discovered by the progressive human mind and
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experienced by the evolving human soul.
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And Jesus went on to say: "At Jerusalem the religious leaders have formulated
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the various doctrines of their traditional teachers and the prophets of other
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days into an established system of intellectual beliefs, a religion of
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authority.
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top of page - 1730
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The appeal of all such religions is largely to the mind. And now are we about
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to enter upon a deadly conflict with such a religion since we will so shortly
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begin the bold proclamation of a new religion--a religion which is not a
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religion in the present-day meaning of that word, a religion that makes its
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chief appeal to the divine spirit of my Father which resides in the mind of
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man; a religion which shall derive its authority from the fruits of its
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acceptance that will so certainly appear in the personal experience of all who
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really and truly become believers in the truths of this higher spiritual
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communion."
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Pointing out each of the twenty-four and calling them by name, Jesus said: "And
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now, which one of you would prefer to take this easy path of conformity to an
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established and fossilized religion, as defended by the Pharisees at Jerusalem,
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rather than to suffer the difficulties and persecutions attendant upon the
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mission of proclaiming a better way of salvation to men while you realize the
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satisfaction of discovering for yourselves the beauties of the realities of a
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living and personal experience in the eternal truths and supreme grandeurs of
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the kingdom of heaven? Are you fearful, soft, and ease-seeking? Are you afraid
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to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are
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you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the
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easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of
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traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into
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that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the
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religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?"
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All twenty-four of his hearers rose to their feet, intending to signify their
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united and loyal response to this, one of the few emotional appeals which Jesus
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ever made to them, but he raised his hand and stopped them, saying: "Go now
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apart by yourselves, each man alone with the Father, and there find the
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unemotional answer to my question, and having found such a true and sincere
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attitude of soul, speak that answer freely and boldly to my Father and your
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Father, whose infinite life of love is the very spirit of the religion we
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proclaim."
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The evangelists and apostles went apart by themselves for a short time. Their
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spirits were uplifted, their minds were inspired, and their emotions mightily
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stirred by what Jesus had said. But when Andrew called them together, the
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Master said only: "Let us resume our journey. We go into Phoenicia to tarry for
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a season, and all of you should pray the Father to transform your emotions of
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mind and body into the higher loyalties of mind and the more satisfying
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experiences of the spirit."
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As they journeyed on down the road, the twenty-four were silent, but presently
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they began to talk one with another, and by three o'clock that afternoon they
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could not go farther; they came to a halt, and Peter, going up to Jesus, said:
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"Master, you have spoken to us the words of life and truth. We would hear more;
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we beseech you to speak to us further concerning these matters."
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6. THE SECOND DISCOURSE ON RELIGION
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And so, while they paused in the shade of the hillside, Jesus continued to
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teach them regarding the religion of the spirit, in substance saying:
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You have come out from among those of your fellows who choose to remain
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satisfied with a religion of mind, who crave security and prefer conformity.
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You have elected to exchange your feelings of authoritative certainty for the
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assur-
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top of page - 1731
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ances of the spirit of adventurous and progressive faith. You have dared to
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protest against the grueling bondage of institutional religion and to reject
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the authority of the traditions of record which are now regarded as the word of
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God. Our Father did indeed speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and
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Hosea, but he did not cease to minister words of truth to the world when these
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prophets of old made an end of their utterances. My Father is no respecter of
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races or generations in that the word of truth is vouchsafed one age and
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withheld from another. Commit not the folly of calling that divine which is
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wholly human, and fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through
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the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.
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I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have
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called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into
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the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for
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yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make--the
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supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself,
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and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you
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pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of
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knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith
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inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience; and thereby will
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you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true
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religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal
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endowment.
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Your religion shall change from the mere intellectual belief in traditional
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authority to the actual experience of that living faith which is able to grasp
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the reality of God and all that relates to the divine spirit of the Father. The
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religion of the mind ties you hopelessly to the past; the religion of the
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spirit consists in progressive revelation and ever beckons you on toward higher
|
||
and holier achievements in spiritual ideals and eternal realities.
|
||
|
||
While the religion of authority may impart a present feeling of settled
|
||
security, you pay for such a transient satisfaction the price of the loss of
|
||
your spiritual freedom and religious liberty. My Father does not require of you
|
||
as the price of entering the kingdom of heaven that you should force yourself
|
||
to subscribe to a belief in things which are spiritually repugnant, unholy, and
|
||
untruthful. It is not required of you that your own sense of mercy, justice,
|
||
and truth should be outraged by submission to an outworn system of religious
|
||
forms and ceremonies. The religion of the spirit leaves you forever free to
|
||
follow the truth wherever the leadings of the spirit may take you. And who can
|
||
judge--perhaps this spirit may have something to impart to this generation
|
||
which other generations have refused to hear?
|
||
|
||
Shame on those false religious teachers who would drag hungry souls back into
|
||
the dim and distant past and there leave them! And so are these unfortunate
|
||
persons doomed to become frightened by every new discovery, while they are
|
||
discomfited by every new revelation of truth. The prophet who said, "He will be
|
||
kept in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on God," was not a mere intellectual
|
||
believer in authoritative theology. This truth-knowing human had discovered
|
||
God; he was not merely talking about God.
|
||
|
||
I admonish you to give up the practice of always quoting the prophets of old
|
||
and praising the heroes of Israel, and instead aspire to become living prophets
|
||
of the Most High and spiritual heroes of the coming kingdom. To honor the
|
||
God-knowing leaders of the past may indeed be worth while, but why, in
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1732
|
||
|
||
so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme experience of human existence:
|
||
finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls?
|
||
|
||
Every race of mankind has its own mental outlook upon human existence;
|
||
therefore must the religion of the mind ever run true to these various racial
|
||
viewpoints. Never can the religions of authority come to unification. Human
|
||
unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the
|
||
superendowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but all
|
||
mankind is indwelt by the same divine and eternal spirit. The hope of human
|
||
brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of
|
||
authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and
|
||
ennobling religion of the spirit--the religion of personal spiritual
|
||
experience.
|
||
|
||
The religions of authority can only divide men and set them in conscientious
|
||
array against each other; the religion of the spirit will progressively draw
|
||
men together and cause them to become understandingly sympathetic with one
|
||
another. The religions of authority require of men uniformity in belief, but
|
||
this is impossible of realization in the present state of the world. The
|
||
religion of the spirit requires only unity of experience--uniformity of
|
||
destiny--making full allowance for diversity of belief. The religion of the
|
||
spirit requires only uniformity of insight, not uniformity of viewpoint and
|
||
outlook. The religion of the spirit does not demand uniformity of intellectual
|
||
views, only unity of spirit feeling. The religions of authority crystallize
|
||
into lifeless creeds; the religion of the spirit grows into the increasing joy
|
||
and liberty of ennobling deeds of loving service and merciful ministration.
|
||
|
||
But watch, lest any of you look with disdain upon the children of Abraham
|
||
because they have fallen on these evil days of traditional barrenness. Our
|
||
forefathers gave themselves up to the persistent and passionate search for God,
|
||
and they found him as no other whole race of men have ever known him since the
|
||
times of Adam, who knew much of this as he was himself a Son of God. My Father
|
||
has not failed to mark the long and untiring struggle of Israel, ever since the
|
||
days of Moses, to find God and to know God. For weary generations the Jews have
|
||
not ceased to toil, sweat, groan, travail, and endure the sufferings and
|
||
experience the sorrows of a misunderstood and despised people, all in order
|
||
that they might come a little nearer the discovery of the truth about God. And,
|
||
notwithstanding all the failures and falterings of Israel, our fathers
|
||
progressively, from Moses to the times of Amos and Hosea, did reveal
|
||
increasingly to the whole world an ever clearer and more truthful picture of
|
||
the eternal God. And so was the way prepared for the still greater revelation
|
||
of the Father which you have been called to share.
|
||
|
||
Never forget there is only one adventure which is more satisfying and thrilling
|
||
than the attempt to discover the will of the living God, and that is the
|
||
supreme experience of honestly trying to do that divine will. And fail not to
|
||
remember that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. Some
|
||
callings are not holy and others secular. All things are sacred in the lives of
|
||
those who are spirit led; that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love,
|
||
dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness--justice. The spirit which my
|
||
Father and I shall send into the world is not only the Spirit of Truth but also
|
||
the spirit of idealistic beauty.
|
||
|
||
You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden
|
||
records of theologic authority. Those who are born of the spirit of God shall
|
||
henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1733
|
||
|
||
origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal
|
||
is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theory
|
||
of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is
|
||
just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can
|
||
best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is
|
||
not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the
|
||
spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one.
|
||
It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you
|
||
should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God.
|
||
|
||
When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to
|
||
discover him in other men's souls and eventually in all the creatures and
|
||
creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear
|
||
as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give
|
||
little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities?
|
||
While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the
|
||
gateway thereto.
|
||
|
||
But do not make the mistake of trying to prove to other men that you have found
|
||
God; you cannot consciously produce such valid proof, albeit there are two
|
||
positive and powerful demonstrations of the fact that you are God-knowing, and
|
||
they are:
|
||
|
||
1. The fruits of the spirit of God showing forth in your daily routine life.
|
||
|
||
2. The fact that your entire life plan furnishes positive proof that you have
|
||
unreservedly risked everything you are and have on the adventure of survival
|
||
after death in the pursuit of the hope of finding the God of eternity, whose
|
||
presence you have foretasted in time.
|
||
|
||
Now, mistake not, my Father will ever respond to the faintest flicker of faith.
|
||
He takes note of the physical and superstitious emotions of the primitive man.
|
||
And with those honest but fearful souls whose faith is so weak that it amounts
|
||
to little more than an intellectual conformity to a passive attitude of assent
|
||
to religions of authority, the Father is ever alert to honor and foster even
|
||
all such feeble attempts to reach out for him. But you who have been called out
|
||
of darkness into the light are expected to believe with a whole heart; your
|
||
faith shall dominate the combined attitudes of body, mind, and spirit.
|
||
|
||
You are my apostles, and to you religion shall not become a theologic shelter
|
||
to which you may flee in fear of facing the rugged realities of spiritual
|
||
progress and idealistic adventure; but rather shall your religion become the
|
||
fact of real experience which testifies that God has found you, idealized,
|
||
ennobled, and spiritualized you, and that you have enlisted in the eternal
|
||
adventure of finding the God who has thus found and sonshipped you.
|
||
|
||
And when Jesus had finished speaking, he beckoned to Andrew and, pointing to
|
||
the west toward Phoenicia, said: "Let us be on our way."
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1734
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
|
||
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
|
||
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
|
||
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
|
||
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
|
||
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
|
||
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
|
||
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
|
||
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
|
||
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
|
||
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
|
||
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
|
||
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
|
||
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
|
||
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
|
||
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
|
||
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
|
||
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
|
||
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
|
||
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem Tuesday Morning In The
|
||
Temple The Last Temple Discourse Tuesday Evening On Mount Olivet Wednesday, The
|
||
Rest Day Last Day At The Camp The Last Supper The Farewell Discourse Final
|
||
Admonitions And Warnings In Gethsemane The Betrayal And Arrest Of Jesus Before
|
||
The Sanhedrin Court The Trial Before Pilate Just Before The Crucifixion The
|
||
Crucifixion The Time Of The Tomb The Resurrection Morontia Appearances Of Jesus
|
||
Appearances To The Apostles And Other Leaders Appearances In Galilee Final
|
||
Appearances And Ascension Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth After Pentecost The
|
||
Faith Of Jesus
|
||
|
||
<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
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//
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||
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