The Adolescent Years

Let us know what Jesus'his adolescent years were.

Dynamic Truth and The Spirit of Truth

 

Dynamic Truth and The Spirit of Truth

180:5.1 (1949.3)The new helper that Jesus promised to send into the hearts of believers, promised to pour out on all flesh, is the Spirit of Truth. This divine gift is not the letter or law of truth, nor will it function as the form or expression of truth. The new teacher is the conviction of truth, the awareness and certainty of true meanings at real spirit levels. This new teacher is the spirit of living, growing truth, truth that expands and unfolds, and can adapt.

180:5.2 (1949.4)Divine truth is a living reality that is spiritually apprehended. Truth exists only at high spiritual levels of awareness of divinity and realization of communion with God. You can know truth and you can live by truth; you can experience the growth of truth in your soul and the freedom brought about by the illumination of consciousness through truth, but you cannot capture truth in formulas, codes, creeds or rational human patterns of behavior. When you try to formulate divine truth humanly, it promptly dies. Salvaging, bringing captured truth to safety after it has already died, can at best only result in the realization of a peculiar form of rationalized, glorified wisdom. Static truth is dead truth, and only dead truth can be adhered to as a theory. Living truth is dynamic and can only lead an experiential existence in human consciousness.

180:5.3 (1949.5)Intelligence develops from a material form of existence illuminated by the presence of cosmic consciousness. Wisdom includes the awareness of knowledge elevated to new levels of meaning and activated by the presence of the universe-gift of the assistant spirit of wisdom. Truth is a spiritual reality value experienced only by spirit-endowed beings who function at supra-material levels of awareness of the universe, and who, when they realize truth, also allow its spirit of activation to live and reign in their souls.

180:5.4 (1949.6)The true child of insight into the universe searches for the living Spirit of Truth in every wise utterance. The God-knowing individual constantly elevates wisdom to the living truth-levels of divine ability; the soul that makes no progress spiritually is constantly pulling down living truth to the dead levels of wisdom and to the realm of no more than exalted knowledge.

180:5.5 (1949.7)When the Golden Rule is stripped of the superhuman insight of the Spirit of Truth, it becomes nothing but a rule for high ethical behavior. When the golden rule is taken literally, it can become an instrument by which one seriously offends one's fellow men. Without a spiritual view of the Golden Rule of Wisdom, you might reason that since you yourself desire that everyone express to you openly and honestly what he thinks, you should therefore now also express all your thoughts openly and honestly to your fellow men. Such an unspiritual conception of the golden rule could result in untold misfortune and sorrow.

180:5.6 (1950.1)Some people see and interpret the Golden Rule as a purely intellectual affirmation of the brotherhood of man. Others experience this expression of the kinship of men as an emotional satisfaction of the tender feelings of the human personality. Yet another mortal recognizes this same golden rule as the standard by which all social relations should be measured, the norm for social behavior. Still others regard it as the positive command of a great teacher of ethics, who has expressed in this statement the highest conception of moral obligation in regard to all fraternal relations. In the lives of these moral people, the Golden Rule becomes the wise center and circumference of their entire philosophy.

180:5.7 (1950.2)In the kingdom of the brotherhood of truth-loving, God-knowing believers, this golden rule acquires living properties of spiritual realization at the higher levels of interpretation, through which the mortal sons of God come to understand that this command of the Master requires them to deal with their fellow men in such a way that the latter will receive the highest possible good as a result of the believer's contact with them. This is the essence of true religion: that you love your neighbor as yourself.

180:5.8 (1950.3)But the highest realization and most correct interpretation of the golden rule consists in the mind's realization of the truth of the enduring, living reality of such divine utterance. The true cosmic meaning of this rule with respect to universal relations is revealed only in its spiritual realization, in the interpretation of this code by the spirit of the Son to the spirit of the Father dwelling in the soul of mortal man. And when mortals thus guided by the spirit realize the true meaning of this golden rule, they become abundantly filled with the certainty that they are citizens in a friendly universe, and their ideals of spiritual reality are satisfied only when they love their fellow men as Jesus loved us all, and this is the reality of the realization of the love of God.

180:5.9 (1950.4)The same conception of the living flexibility and cosmic adaptability of divine truth to the individual needs and capacity of each son of God must be grasped before you can ever adequately understand the Master's teaching and practice of not resisting evil. The Master's teaching is fundamentally a spiritual statement. Even the material implications of his philosophy cannot be fruitfully considered apart from its spiritual correlations. The spirit of the Master's command consists in not resisting all selfish reactions to the universe, coupled with the bold and progressive attainment of righteous levels of true spirit-values: divine beauty, infinite goodness and eternal truth - knowing God and becoming more and more like him.

180:5.10 (1950.5)Love, selflessness, must undergo constant and living new adjustments of its interpretation of relationships, according to the directions of the Spirit of Truth. Love must thereby acquire the ever-changing and ever-widening conceptions of the highest cosmic good for the person being loved. And then love goes on and adopts the same attitude toward all other persons who could possibly be affected by the growing, living love relationship of a spirit-led mortal to other citizens of the universe. And this entire living adjustment of love must be brought about in light of both the environment of present evil, and the eternal goal of the perfection of divine destiny.

180:5.11 (1950.6)And so we must clearly recognize that neither the Golden Rule, nor the teachings of nonviolence, can ever be correctly understood if conceived as dogma or precept. They can only be understood by living them, by realizing their meaning and intent in the living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, which guides the loving contact between one human being and another.

180:5.12 (1951.1)Now all this clearly indicates the difference between the old and the new religion. The old religion taught self-sacrifice; the new religion teaches only self-forgetfulness, increased self-actualization in the coupling of social service and understanding of the universe. The old religion was driven by the consciousness of fear; the new gospel of the kingdom is governed by truthfulness, the spirit of eternal, universal truth. And no piety or allegiance to any faith, no matter how great, can compensate for the absence in the life experience of believers in the kingdom of the spontaneous, generous and sincerely meant kindness that characterizes the spirit-born sons of the living God. Neither tradition, nor a ceremonial system of formal worship of God, can make up for the lack of genuine compassion for one's fellow man.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

Triple Guidance

 

Triple Guidance

194:2.1 (2060.6)Jesus lived on earth and taught a gospel that delivered man from the superstition that he was a child of the devil and elevated him to the dignity of a son of faith of God. The message of Jesus, as he preached and lived it in his time, was an effective means of solving man's spiritual difficulties at the time he expressed it. And now that he has personally left the world, he sends in his place his Spirit of Truth which is intended to dwell in man and, for each new generation, to re-transmit this message of Jesus, so that each new group of mortals appearing on earth will have a new, contemporary version of the gospel, just such personal enlightenment and group guidance, which will prove effective in solving man's ever new, and varied spiritual difficulties.

194:2.2 (2060.7)The first mission of this spirit is, of course, to promote and individualize truth, for the understanding of truth is, after all, the highest form of human freedom. Next, it is the purpose of this spirit to nullify the believer's sense of orphanhood. Since Jesus has been among men, all believers would experience a sense of abandonment if the Spirit of Truth had not come to dwell in the hearts of men.

194:2.3 (2061.1)This bestowal of the Spirit of the Son effectively prepared the consciousness of all normal human beings for the subsequent universe-giving of the Spirit of the Father (the Richter) to all humanity. In a sense, this Spirit of Truth is the spirit of the Universal Father and the Creator-Son both.

194:2.4 (2061.2)Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually aware of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates an awareness of itself, only an awareness of Michael, the Son. From the beginning, Jesus taught that the spirit would not speak of itself. Therefore, proof of your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth cannot be found in your awareness of this spirit, but rather in your experience of a stronger union with Michael.

194:2.5 (2061.3)The spirit also came to help people remember and understand the Master's words, and likewise to shed light on and reinterpret his life on earth.

194:2.6 (2061.4)Then the Spirit of Truth came to assist the believer in bearing witness to the realities of Jesus' teaching and of life as he led it in the flesh, and as he now leads it anew and from the front in the individual believer of each passing generation of the spirit-filled sons of God.

194:2.7 (2061.5)Thus it appears that the Spirit of Truth truly comes to lead all believers into all truth, into the ever-expanding knowledge of the experience of the living, growing spiritual awareness of the reality of eternal, ascending sonship with God.

194:2.8 (2061.6)Jesus led a life that is a revelation of man subject to the will of the Father, not an example that any human being should seek to literally emulate. This life in the flesh, together with his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, soon became a new gospel about the ransom price thus paid to buy man free from the clutches of the evil one - from the condemnation of an offended God. But even though the gospel was seriously distorted, the fact remains that this new message about Jesus also carried with it many fundamental truths and teachings of his earlier gospel of the kingdom. And sooner or later these hidden truths of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man will emerge and effectively transform the civilization of all mankind.

194:2.9 (2061.7)However, these errors of the intellect in no way prevented the believer's great progress in growth in spirit. In less than a month after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, the apostles made more individual spiritual progress than during the nearly four years of their personal, loving association with the Master. Nor did this substitution of the fact of Jesus' resurrection for the saving gospel truth of sonship with God constitute an obstacle to the rapid spread of their teaching: on the contrary, this overshadowing of Jesus' message by the new teachings about his person and resurrection, seemed to greatly facilitate the preaching of the good news.

194:2.10 (2061.8)The expression “baptism by the Spirit,” which became so widely in use at that time, meant no more than the conscious acceptance of this gift of the Spirit of Truth and the personal recognition of this new spiritual power as an amplification of all the spiritual influences previously experienced by God-denying souls.

194:2.11 (2061.9)Since the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, man has been exposed to the teaching and guidance of a threefold mind-gift: the mind of the Father, the Mind-giver; the mind of the Son, the Spirit of Truth; the mind of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

194:2.12 (2062.1)To some extent humanity is exposed to the dual influence of the sevenfold appeal of the spirit-influences of the universe. The early evolutionary races of mortals are exposed to the growing contact with the seven assistant consciousness spirits of the Mother-Spirit of the local universe. As man reaches the higher steps of intelligence and spiritual vision, eventually the seven higher spirit influences come to hover above him and dwell within him. And these seven spirits of the advancing worlds are:

194:2.13 (2062.2)1. the bestowed mind of the Universal Father - the Mind Guides;

194:2.14 (2062.3)2. the spirit-presence of the Eternal Son - the spiritual gravity of the universe of universes and the sure channel for all spirit-community;

194:2.15 (2062.4)3. the spirit-representation of the Infinite Spirit - the universal spirit-consciousness of all creation, the spiritual source of the intellectual kinship of all progressive intellectual beings;

194:2.16 (2062.5)4. the spirit of the Universal Father and Creator-Son - the Spirit of Truth, commonly regarded as the spirit of the Universal-Son;

194:2.17 (2062.6)5. the spirit of the Infinite Spirit and the Mother-Spirit of the Universe - the Holy Spirit, commonly regarded as the spirit of the Universe-Spirit;

194:2.18 (2062.7)6. the consciousness spirit of the Mother Spirit of the Universe - the seven assistant consciousness spirits of the local universe;

194:2.19 (2062.8)7. the spirit of the Father, the Sons, and the Spirits - the new-name spirit of the ascending mortals of the realms, after the fusion of the spirit-born soul of the mortal with the Thought Giver from Paradise, and after subsequent divinity and glorification of the status of the Paradise Corps of Perfection has been achieved.

194:2.20 (2062.9)And so the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth to the world and its peoples has brought the final spirit-gift intended to aid in the ascending search for God.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

Space and Motion

 

Space and motion

12:4.1 (133.3)All units of cosmic energy are in primary rotation, are engaged in the execution of their mission as they spin along the universal orbit. The universes in space and their constituent systems and worlds are all rotating spheres moving forward along the endless circuits of the space levels of the master universe. There is absolutely nothing stationary in the entire master universe except the very center of Havona, the eternal Island of Paradise, the center of gravity.

12:4.2 (133.4)The Unqualified Absolute is functionally limited to space, yet we are not sure how this Absolute relates to motion. Is motion inherent in it? We do not know. We do know that movement is not inherent in space; even the movements of space are not inherent in it. However, we are not so sure about the relation of the Unqualified to movement. Who, or what, is really responsible for the gigantic activities of the force-energy transmutations currently going on beyond the limits of the present seven superuniverses? With regard to the origin of motion, we hold the following opinions:

12:4.3 (133.5)1. we believe that the Venerable Acting Spirit initiates movement in space;

12:4.4 (133.6)2. if the Enabling Spirit causes the movements of space, we cannot prove it;

12:4.5 (133.7)3. the Universal Absolute does not give the very first impetus to movement, but settles and controls all the tensions created by movement.

12:4.6 (133.8)In outer-space the force organizers are apparently responsible for producing the gigantic universe wheels which are now in stellar evolution, yet that they can function in this way must have been made possible by a modification in the space presence of the Unqualified Absolute.

12:4.7 (133.9)From the human point of view, space is nothing - negative; it exists only in relation to something positive and non-spatial. Space, however, is real. It contains and determines movement. It even moves. Space movements can be broadly classified as follows:

12:4.8 (133.10)1. primary motion - the breathing of space, the motion of space itself;

12:4.9 (133.11)2. secondary motion - the rotations in alternating directions of successive levels of space;

12:4.10 (133.12)3. relative movements - relative in the sense that they are not evaluated with Paradise as the ground point. Primary and secondary movements are absolute; they are movement with respect to Paradise which is immobile;

12:4.11 (133.13)4. Compensatory or correlative motion intended to coordinate all other motions.

12:4.12 (134.1)Although the present relation of your sun to the planets connected with it shows many relative and absolute motions in space, it gives many astronomical observers the impression that you are relatively stationary in space, and that the surrounding star clusters and streams are flying outward at velocities which, according to your calculations, are increasing as they advance further into space. Yet this is not the case. You cannot see that the physical creations throughout penetrated space are now expanding outward uniformly. Your own local creation (Nebadon) participates in this movement of universal expansion outward. All seven superuniverses participate in the two billion year cycles of breathing space, together with the regions of outer space of the master universe.

12:4.13 (134.2)When the universes expand and contract, the material masses in the penetrated space alternately move against the attraction of the gravitational force of Paradise, or go along with it. The labor performed to move the material energy-mass of creation is space labor, but not labor of force-energy.

12:4.14 (134.3)Although your spectroscopic estimates of astronomical velocities are fairly reliable when applied to the star regions belonging to your superuniverse and the superuniverses associated with it, such calculations are entirely unreliable with respect to the regions of outer space. Spectral lines shift from normal to violet by an approaching star; similarly, these lines shift to red by a moving star. Through the intervention of many influences, it appears that the speed at which the outer universes are moving away increases by more than one hundred and sixty kilometers per second for each million light-years by which the distance increases. When you will have perfected more powerful telescopes, according to this method of calculation, it will appear that these distant galaxies are moving away from this part of the universe at the incredible speed of more than forty-eight thousand kilometers per second. But such an apparent speed of removal is not real; it is the result of numerous factors that are incorrect, including angles of observation and other time-spatial distortions.

12:4.15 (134.4)The greatest of all these distortions, however, occurs because the vast universes of outer-space, in the adjacent regions adjacent to the domains of the seven superuniverses, seem to rotate around in a direction opposite to that of the great universe. That is, these tens of thousands of nebulae, as well as the suns and worlds accompanying them, are now rotating clockwise around the central creation. The seven superuniverses orbit Paradise counterclockwise. The second outer universe of galaxies, like the seven superuniverses, appears to be rotating counterclockwise around Paradise. And astronomical observers at Uversa believe they are detecting indications of orbiting motions in a third belt of distant outer space, which are beginning to show signs of moving clockwise.

12:4.16 (134.5)It is likely that these alternating directions of the universes' successive space processes have something to do with the gravitational technique of the Universal Absolute within the master universe, a technique that consists of a coordination of forces and an equalization of space tensions. Both motion and space are complements of, or counterbalances to, gravity.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

Living Truth

 Living Truth

176:3.7 (1917.3)Truth is alive; the Spirit of Truth is ever leading the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service. Truth has not been given to you to solidify it into fixed, secure and honored forms. Your revelation of truth must so deepen through the passing of your personal experience that new beauty and actual spiritual gains will reveal themselves to all who see your spiritual fruits, and as a result come to glorify the Father who is in heaven. Only the faithful servants who thus grow in the knowledge of truth, and thereby develop the capacity for divine appreciation of spiritual realities, can ever hope to “enter fully into the joy of their Lord. What a sad sight successive generations of those who claim to be followers of Jesus provide when, in regard to their stewardship of divine truth, they say, “Behold, Master, here is the truth you entrusted to us a hundred or a thousand years ago. We have lost nothing of it; we have faithfully upheld all that thou hast given us; we have not allowed changes to be made in what thou hast taught us; here is the truth thou hast given us.' But such a plea for spiritual inertia will not justify the steward of the truth that has produced no fruit before the Master. In accordance with the truth given into your hands, the Master of truth will hold you accountable. 176:3.8 (1918.1)In the next world, you will be asked to account for your gifts and your stewardship in this world. Whether your innate talents are few or many, you will face the fact of a just and merciful reckoning. When the gifts have been used only for the pursuit of selfish ends and no attention has been paid to the higher duty of bringing forth a greater harvest of fruits of the spirit, as revealed in an ever-expanding service of man and worship of God, then such selfish stewards must accept the consequences of their deliberate choice.

176:3.9 (1918.2)And how much did not this unfaithful servant with the one talent act like all selfish men, in that he knows his idleness directly to his lord. How strongly is man not inclined, when faced with failure through his own fault, to cast the blame on others, often on those who least deserve it!

176:3.10 (1918.3)That evening, as they went to rest, Jesus still said, “Freely you have received, therefore you must also freely distribute of the truth of heaven, and in giving this truth will multiply and will shine ever more brightly the light of saving grace, just as you are working with it.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

Spiritual Fellowship

 

Spiritual fellowship

103:4.1 (1133.1)The characteristic difference between a social gathering and a religious gathering is that the religious gathering, unlike the secular, is permeated by an atmosphere of community. In this way, the association of people creates a sense of brotherhood with the divine, and this constitutes the beginning of group worship of God. Participating in a common meal was the first form of social community, and therefore early religions prescribed that a portion of the ceremonial offering be eaten by those who participated in the ceremony. Even in Christianity, this mode of community is adhered to in the Lord's Supper. The atmosphere of communion provides a refreshing, comforting period of truce in the conflict between the selfish ego and the altruistic impulse of the indwelling spirit-Mentor. And this is the prelude to true worship of God - the practicing of the presence of God that culminates in the emergence of the brotherhood of men.

103:4.2 (1133.2)When primitive man felt that his fellowship with God was interrupted, he resorted to making a sacrifice of one kind or another in order to bring about a reconciliation, to restore the friendly relationship. The hunger and thirst for righteousness leads to the discovery of truth, and truth multiplies ideals, and this creates new problems for the individual religious man, for our ideals tend to grow according to a geometrical series, while our ability to live by them only increases according to an arithmetical series.

103:4.3 (1133.3)Guilt (not being aware of sin) comes from interrupting spiritual communion either from a lowering of one's moral ideals. One can only be delivered from such a difficult situation by the realization that the highest moral ideals one has are not necessarily synonymous with the will of God. Man cannot expect to live according to his highest ideals, but he can remain faithful to his goal of finding God and becoming more and more like him.

103:4.4 (1133.4)Jesus wiped out all the ceremonies of sacrifice and atonement. He destroyed the basis of all this imaginary guilt and sense of isolation in the universe by the firm statement that man is a child of God: he placed the relationship between the creature and the Creator on a child-father basis. God becomes a loving Father to his mortal sons and daughters. All ceremonies that are not a legitimate part of this close family relationship are abolished forever.

103:4.5 (1133.5)God the Father deals with man, his child, not on the basis of his actual virtue or dignity, but according to the motives he recognizes in the child-the intent and purpose of the creature. The relationship is that of intercourse between father and child and is driven by divine love.

A Consideration of The Urantia Book

True God's Religion

 True God's Religion

99:4.3 (1089.11)True religion is a meaningful way of living dynamically face to face with the ordinary realities of everyday life. But if religion is to stimulate the development of individual character and promote the integration of personality, it must not be standardized. If it is to stimulate the evaluation of experience, and serve to make truths appealing, it must not be stereotyped. If religion is to promote supreme loyalties, it should not be formalized.

99:4.4 (1089.12)Whatever upheavals may accompany the social and economic growth of civilization, religion is real and useful if it cultivates in the individual man the experience in which the sovereignty of truth, beauty and goodness prevails, for this is the true spiritual understanding of the supreme reality. And through love and worship of God this acquires meaning as friendship with men and sonship with God.

99:4.5 (1090.1)After all, it is more by what a person believes, than by what a person knows, that his behavior is determined and his personal achievements are controlled. Purely factual knowledge has very little influence on the average person unless that knowledge is emotionally activated. But the activation emanating from religion is supra-emotional, unifying the entire human experience at transcendental levels by contacting, and releasing, spiritual energies into the mortal's life.

99:4.6 (1090.2)In the twentieth century with its psychological uncertainty, in the economic upheavals, moral crosscurrents and sociological torrents of the transitions in a scientific epoch that come upon man like whirlwinds, many thousands of men and women have become humanly disrupted; they are anxious, restless, fearful, uncertain and confused; as never before in world history they need the consolation and stabilization that healthy religion provides. In the face of unparalleled achievements in science and technical development, there is spiritual stagnation and philosophical chaos.

99:4.7 (1090.3)When religion becomes more and more a private matter - a personal experience - there is no danger in this, provided it does not lose its motivation for selfless, loving social service. Religion has suffered from many secondary influences: the sudden mixing of cultures, the intermingling of faiths, the reduction of church authority, changes in family life, all in addition to urbanization and mechanization.

99:4.8 (1090.4)The greatest spiritual danger for man consists in partial progress, the predicament of unfinished growth: the abandonment of the evolutionary religions of fear, without immediate grasp of the revelatory religion of love. Modern science, specially psychology, has weakened only those religions that rely to a very large extent on fear, superstition and emotion.

99:4.9 (1090.5)Transitions are always accompanied by confusion, and there will not be much peace and tranquility in the world of religion until the great struggle between the three warring religious philosophies is over:

99:4.10 (1090.6)1. the spiritualistic belief (in a providential Deity) of many religions;

99:4.11 (1090.7)2. the humanistic and idealistic belief in many philosophies;

99:4.12 (1090.8)3. the mechanistic and naturalistic beliefs in many branches of science.

99:4.13 (1090.9)These three partial ways of approaching the reality of the cosmos must ultimately be harmonized with each other through the revelatory presentation of religion, philosophy and cosmology, which describes the triune existence of spirit, consciousness and energy that emanates from Paradise Trinity, and achieves time-space union within the Godhead of the Supreme.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

The Two Crucial Years

Urantia P3 Problems of The Lucifer Rebellion

The Garden of Eden

Jesus at Jerusalem

The Life and Teachings of Jesus The Birth and Infancy of Jesus

Revealed Religion

 Revealed Religion

2:6.2 (40.6)Religion implies that the upper world which is of spiritual nature bears knowledge of, and responds to, the fundamental needs of the world of men. Evolutionary religion may become ethical, but only revealed religion becomes truly and spiritually moral. The ancient conception of God as a deity governed by a kingly morality was raised by Jesus to a higher plane, to the warm, stirring level of the intimate family morality in the parent-child relationship, which in the experience of mortals transcends all in tenderness and beauty.

2:6.3 (41.1)The “richness of the goodness of God brings the erring man to repentance. 'Every good gift and every perfect gift descends from above, from the Father of lights.' 'God is good; he is the eternal refuge of the souls of men.' 'The Lord our God is merciful and gracious. He is longsuffering and great in kindness and truth.' 'Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.' 'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He is the God of salvation.' 'He heals the brokenhearted and binds up the wounds of the soul. He is the almighty benefactor of men.' 2:6.4 (41.2)Although the depiction of God as a king-judge was conducive to a high moral standard and produced a people who as a group had reverence for the law, this concept left the individual believer in sad uncertainty regarding his state in time and eternity. The later Hebrew prophets proclaimed that God was a Father to Israel; Jesus revealed God as the Father of every man. The entire God concept of mortal man is transcendentally illuminated by the life of Jesus. Selflessness is inherent in parental love. God does not love like a father, but as a father. He is the Paradise Father of every personality in the universe.

2:6.5 (41.3)Justice implies that God is the origin of the moral law of the universe. Truth shows God as giver of revelation, as teacher. But love gives and yearns for affection, seeks the understanding intercourse as it exists between parent and child. Justice may be divine thinking, but love is the institution of a father. The false assumption that the justice of God was incompatible with the selfless love of the heavenly Father presupposed the lack of unity in the nature of Deity, and led directly to the development of the doctrine of atonement, a doctrine that is a philosophical attack on both the unity of God and His free will.

2:6.6 (41.4)The loving heavenly Father whose spirit dwells with his children on earth is not a divided personality - one who is righteous and one who is merciful - nor is a mediator needed to obtain the Father's favor or forgiveness. Divine justice is not overpowered by strict retributive justice: God as Father transcends God as Judge.

2:6.7 (41.5)God is never wrathful, vengeful, or angry. It is true, however, that his love is often curbed by wisdom, while justice makes his rejected mercy conditional. His love of justice must well show itself as an equal dislike of sin. The Father is not an inwardly contradictory personality: the divine unity is perfect. In Paradise Trinity there is absolute unity, despite the eternal identities of God's equals.

2:6.8 (41.6)God loves the sinner and detests sin; this statement is true in a philosophical sense, but God is a transcendent personality and persons can only love and detest other persons. Sin is not a person. God loves the sinner because he is a personality reality (potentially eternal), while God does not take a personal stance toward sin, because sin is not a spiritual reality: it is not personal, therefore only God's justice takes cognizance of its existence. The love of God saves the sinner, the law of God destroys sin. This attitude of the divine nature would seemingly change if the sinner were to identify himself finitely with sin, just as that same mortal consciousness can also identify itself completely with the indwelling spirit-Richter. Such a mortal identified with sin would then become entirely unspiritual in nature (and therefore unreal as a person) and would ultimately suffer the destruction of his existence. In a universe that is steadily becoming more real and increasingly spiritual, the unreality and even incompleteness of a creature's nature cannot exist forever.

2:6.9 (42.1)When God turns his countenance to the world of personality, he reveals himself as a li eficient person; when he turns to the spiritual world, he is a personal love. In religious experience, he is both. The volitional will of God is identified by love. The goodness of God underlies the divine volitional will - the universal tendency to love, to be merciful, to show patience and to forgive.

A Thought for Consideration from the Urantia book