Paper 1. The Universal Father
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PAPER 1
THE UNIVERSAL FATHER
By William S Sadler, MD
- The Father’s Name
- The Reality of God
- God Is a Universal Spirit
- The Mystery of God
- Personality of the Universal Father
- Personality in the Universe
- Spiritual Value of the Personality Concept
INTRODUCTION
I. REFERENCE: (21.1) 1:0.1 - “The Universal Father is...”
COMMENT
1. The Urantia Book starts out with a positive assumption—”The Universal Father is the God of all creation.” No arguments are presented to prove the reality of God. Jesus pursued this same method—he seemed to take it for granted that people believed in God.
2. The threefold function of Gods: A. Creator. B. Controller. C. Upholder.
3. The next step is a direct appeal to the authority of a sacred book—the Old Testament. Here appears a composite quotation apparently derived from five Old Testament passages.
A. 2 Kings 19:15. “Thou art the God, thou alone.”
B. Deut 4:35. “The Lord is God, there is no other besides him.”
C. Neh 9:6. “Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens...and thou preservest all of them.”
D. Ps 33:6. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.”
E. Ps 104:2. “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who has stretched out the heavens like a tent.”
(All of these ideas are found in Isaiah. See Isa 37:15,16; 40:22,26.)
4. Note: The authors of The Urantia Book seem to have their own versions of the world’s sacred books. Scriptural quotations in The Urantia Book many times differ from all of our versions of the Bible. This fact is enough to invalidate the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Bible.
5. Note the highly condensed and telescopic character of The Urantia Book—five texts in one.
6. In the opening paragraph of this Urantia Revelation appears this recognition of the teachings of a sacred book. This is a clear declaration that this is not a new religion. These Old Testament writers are called prophets—the highest designation of a religious teacher.
7. The Urantia Book presents a modernization of language—abandonment of the solemn style.
II. REFERENCE: (21.2) 1:0.2 - “The myriads of planetary systems...”
COMMENT
1. Urantia is not the only inhabited world in the universe, and there are multiple types of intelligent creatures who can love God and be loved by God.
2. The introduction of “universe of universes” refers to the superuniverse.
3. The quotation is from Isa 45:18. “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens...who formed the earth and made it...he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited.”
III. REFERENCE: (21.3) 1:0.3 - “The enlightened worlds...”
COMMENT
1. Enlightened worlds—worlds free from rebellion—all worship God.
2. In the third paragraph of The Urantia Book is introduced the vast plan and purpose of the Paradise Deities—the perfection plan of mortal ascension to Paradise.
3. The highest mortal ambition is to know God, find him, and become more and more like him.
4. The quotation is found in Matt 5:48. “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Compare this text with Luke 6:36. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” And with 1 Peter 1:16. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (See also Lev 11:44.)
5. Note the introduction of the following ideas:
A. Man’s free will.
B. Cosmic evolution.
C. Fascination of the eternal struggle.
D. A transcendent goal.
E. Man’s organic evolutionary nature.
6. We comprehend the divine nature and recognize the Father. We do not fully comprehend the Father.
7. God’s mandate is supreme. Man’s ambition is supreme. These things take place on the finite—experiential—level, not on the infinite.
8. To find God implies search, effort, adventure, and time.
IV. REFERENCE: (22.1) 1:0.4 - “This magnificent and universal injunction...”
COMMENT
1. Divinity is a quality of many levels. Even man can attain such perfection on the supreme level. Such a goal should be: A. Our first duty. B. Our highest ambition.
2. This perfection of divinity is man’s final and certain destiny. This perfection pertains to finite levels of supremacy.
V. REFERENCE: (21.2) 1:0.5 - “Urantia mortals...”
COMMENT
1. Mortal perfection in the Corps of the Finality consists in:
A. Perfection of self-realization, integration, and unification of personality.
B. Mind attainment—intellectual maturity on finite levels.
C. Divinity of will—eternal choices have been made.
D. Motivation is settled and secure.
E. God-consciousness is complete, even if knowledge of God is not.
2. This perfection does not embrace:
A. Universal knowledge of the cosmos—things material.
B. Unlimited development of mind—absonite intellectual grasp.
C. Finality of spiritual experience.
D. Completed association with one’s fused Adjuster.
E. The attainment of God the Ultimate.
V. REFERENCE: (22.3) 1:0.6 - “This is the true meaning...”
COMMENT
The true meaning of the perfection achievement:
1. It is the supreme mortal urge.
2. It beckons man “onward and inward”—true conception of the cosmos.
3. It is a long and fascinating struggle.
4. The goal: Higher and higher levels of—
A. Spiritual values.
B. True universe meanings.
I. REFERENCE: (22.4) 1:1.1 - “Of all the names...”
COMMENT
1. First Source and Universe Center—adequately descriptive of Creator, Controller, and Upholder.
2. First Father—then our Father.
3. Here at the outset is portrayed Jesus’ gospel—the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men.
4. How we regard God depends on personal relationship.
II. REFERENCE: (22.5) 1:1.2 - “The Universal Father...”
COMMENT
1. The Father never imposes: A. Arbitrary recognition. B. Formal worship. C. Slavish service.
2. We should, in our own hearts, recognize, love, and worship him.
(Note: All this inhibits state religions and all authoritarian churches.)
3. God refuses to coerce or compel spiritual free will.
A. Human will is sovereign only on the spiritual level.
B. Question—Is nonspiritual will free?
C. Discussion of determinism. (Interrelations of heredity, environment, and education.)
4. “Dedication” is our only true gift.
5. “In God, man lives, moves, and has his being.” This is from Paul’s sermon on Mars’ hill, at Athens. Acts 17:22-34. This is the first New Testament citation to appear in The Urantia Book.
6. Reality of true worship consists in this dedication of human will to the doing of the Father’s will.
7. Note definition of God—love-dominated—utterly controlled by LOVE.
8. God is a person—he experiences “satisfactions.” He hungers for love and is satisfied by worship.
9. The will acts—choosing, deciding.
10. Worship may embrace many qualities, but its reality is a dedicated will.
III. REFERENCE: (22.6) 1:1.3 - “When you have once become...”
COMMENT
1. In order to find a proper name for God, you must:
A. Become God-conscious.
B. Discover the majestic Creator.
C. Realize the indwelling divine presence.
D. So yield that the Adjuster becomes a controller.
E. Experience the enlightenment of revelation—personal and epochal.
F. Benefit by bestowal of the Paradise Sons.
2. In worship—the important thing is not the words employed, but the genuine personal relationship.
IV. REFERENCE: (23.1) 1:1.4 - “Near the center...”
COMMENT
1. Remoteness from Paradise influences the name whereby universe personalities designate God.
2. It is proper to employ many and varied names to express differing concepts of Deity.
V. REFERENCE: (23.2) 1:1.5 - “On those worlds where...”
COMMENT
1. On bestowal worlds God’s name should portray personal relationships, tender affection, and fatherly devotion.
2. The far-flung meaning of Father: Earthly Father, System Sovereign, Most Highs, Creator Sons, Ancients of Days, Supreme Being, Paradise Father.
3. As we personally know God and love him, it becomes “our Father.”
VI. REFERENCE: (23.3) 1:1.6 - “On a planet of sex creatures...”
COMMENT
1. On a sex planet “Father” is an expressive and appropriate word for God.
2. “Father value” is determined by the character of parenthood on the planet.
3. The important thing is not God’s name, but: Do you know him? Do you aspire to be like him?
4. The prophets called him the “everlasting God—who inhabits eternity.”
Gen 21:33. “Abraham...called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.”
Isa 57:15. “Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.”
1. Yahweh was in use before the times of Moses.
2. There was an evolutionary growth in the concept of Deity from Abraham’s days to the later prophets—like Isaiah. There is a great difference between God as depicted in the book of Judges and the God portrayed in the gospel of John.
3. Jesus talks about different concepts of God—see (1598.2) 142:3.1 in The Urantia Book.
A. Yahweh - God of the Sinai clans.
B. El Elyon (the Most High) - God of Abraham and Melchizedek.
C. El Shaddai - Egyptian Deity.
D. Elohim - “God of the Paradise Trinity. The Creator in Genesis.
E. The Supreme Yahweh - God of latter-day Israel.
4. God’s name as revealed in the incarnation of Michael. See (1965.3) 182:1.9
“I am the bread of life. ”I am the living water. ”I am the light of the world. ”I am the desire of all ages. ”I am the open door to eternal salvation. ”I am the reality of endless life. ”I am the good shepherd. ”I am the pathway to infinite perfection. ”I am the resurrection and the life. ”I am the secret of eternal survival. ”I am the way, the truth, and the life. ”I am the infinite Father of my finite children. ”I am the true vine; you are the branches. ”I am the hope of all who know the living truth. ”I am the living bridge from one world to another. ”I am the living link between time and eternity.”
I. REFERENCE: (23.4) 1:2.1 - “God is primal reality...”
COMMENT
1. As a reality God is primal in the spirit world, truth in mind spheres, and overshadows all in the material world. He is personality to created intelligences, and to the universe is the First Source and Center.
2. But God is neither manlike nor machinelike.
3. The First Father is:
A. Universal spirit.
B. Eternal truth.
C. Infinite reality.
D. Absolute personality.
II. REFERENCE: (23.5) 1:2.2- “The eternal God is...”
COMMENT
1. The eternal God is more than: reality idealized, the universe personalized, supreme desire of man, mortal quest objectified, mere concept, power-potential of righteousness, synonym for nature, natural law personified, man’s concept of supreme values, psychological focalization of spiritual meanings, the noblest work of man.
2. God may be any or all of these concepts in the minds of men, but he is more—he is: A. A transcendent reality, B. A saving person, C. A loving Father to all who enjoy spiritual peace and crave survival.
III. REFERENCE: (24.1) 1:2.3 - “The actuality of the existence...”
COMMENT
Actuality of God is demonstrated in human experience by the indwelling Adjuster as disclosed by three experiential phenomena:
1. Intellectual capacity for knowing God—God-consciousness.
2. The spiritual urge to find God—God-seeking.
3. The personality craving to be like God.
Note: The presence of the Adjuster is disclosed by experience—not by theology.
IV. REFERENCE: (24.5) 1:2.7 - “The existence of God...”
COMMENT
1. Knowing God is wholly a matter of personal religious experience.
2. The concept of a personal God is wholly compatible with:
A. Logic—science.
B. Philosophy.
C. Theology.
V. REFERENCE: (24.6) 1:2.8 - “Those who know God...”
COMMENT
1. We know God because we have experienced the fact of his presence.
2. The existence of God is demonstrated only in the human experience of God-consciousness.
3. The Adjuster doing all this is God’s free gift to man.
VI. REFERENCE: (24.7) 1:2.9 - “In theory you may think...”
COMMENT
1. In theory you may think of God as a Creator:
A. He is the personal creator of Paradise and the perfect central creation.
B. The universes of time and space are created by his Creator Sons.
2. The Universal Father is not the creator of our universe—Nebadon. His Son Michael created it.
Note: First mention of Michael.
MICHAEL
A. Mentioned ten times in Old Testament as a name of some person, group, or family.
B. Mentioned five times in the Bible as a superhuman being.
(1) Dan 10:13. “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.” (Marginal reading Authorized Version—”the first chief prince.”)
(2) Dan 10:21. “But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.”
(3) Dan 12:1. “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people...At that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book.”
Then follows a description of a special resurrection: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” (Dan 12:2)
(4) Jude 1-9. “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”
(5) Rev 12:7: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought.”
C. The name Michael signifies: “Who is like God.”
In the rabbinic writings Michael is frequently mentioned in connection with the history of Moses. The devil claimed the body of Moses because of the murder of the Egyptian. (See Ex 2:11-13.)
3. Although the Father does not personally create the evolutionary worlds, he does:
A. Control many of their universal relationships.
B. Have a hand in certain of their energy, mind, and spirit manifestations.
4. God created the Paradise universe and, with the Eternal Son, created all other universe Creators. This is the introduction of the dual origin of the Creator Sons.
VII. REFERENCE: (24.8) 1:2.10 - “As a physical controller...”
COMMENT
1. As a physical controller, God functions through the “patterns” of Paradise and by means of the “absolute gravity” of Paradise.
2. Otherwise God functions:
A. As mind—in the Deity of the Infinite Spirit.
B. As spirit—in the person of the Eternal Son.
3. None of the interrelations of the Father with his co-ordinates precludes his direct action on all levels of creation.
4. By means of his fragmentized spirit the Father maintains intimate contact with his creature children.
I. REFERENCE: (25.1) 1:3.1 - “‘God is spirit.’”
COMMENT
1. John 4:24. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
This was spoken to Nalda, the Samaritan women at Jacob’s well near Sychar. (1613.4) 143:5.6
2. God is:
A. Universal spiritual presence.
B. Infinite spiritual reality.
C. Sovereign—eternal God and immortal.
See 1 Tim 1:17. “To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”
3. While we are the offspring of God, there is great danger of misunderstanding what is meant by being created in the “image of God.”
A. Paul preaching on Mars’ hill—after saying “in him we live and move and have our being”—added:
“As even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man.” Acts 17:28,29.
(This is the first quotation from non-Biblical sources.)
B. Created in his image.
Gen 1:26. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” Question: Whom was God talking to? The Old Testament starts out with a proclamation of the Trinity.
Gen 9:6. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.”
Col 3:10. “And have put on its new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of the creator.”
C. Mystery Monitors. First introduction of this term. They are also called: Thought Adjuster. Thought Controller. Thought Changer. Divine Presence. Pilot Light. Better Self. Fragment of God. Prisoner of Hope. Delegated Spirit of human indwelling.
D. Personality—gift of the Father—is also a part of the “image of God.”
4. Spirit beings are real, even though they have not flesh and blood.
II. REFERENCE: (25.2) 1:3.2 - “Said the seer of old...”
COMMENT
1. Job 9:11. “Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.”
Note: The book of Job is Babylonian, one of the oldest parts of the Old Testament. See Jesus’ marvelous discussion of Job (1662.3) 148:6.1
2. We may observe the works of God, but we may not visualize the divine presence. The Thought Adjusters are invisible.
III. REFERENCE: (25.3) 1:3.3 - “The Universal Father...”
COMMENT
1. The Father is not invisible because he is hiding, but because our materialistic handicaps and limited spiritual endowments prevent our seeing him. See Ex 33:20. “‘You cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live.’”
2. Man cannot approach the spiritual luminosity of the Father’s presence. See 1 Tim 6:16. He “alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see.”
3. But it is not necessary to see God with the eyes of the flesh in order to discern him by the faith-vision of the spiritualized mind.
IV. REFERENCE: (25.4) 1:3.4 - “The spirit nature...”
COMMENT
1. The Father and the Son are equal in spirit nature.
2. The Father and the Son share their spirit nature with the Conjoint Actor.
Note: First mention of Conjoint Actor.
3. God’s spirit is:
A. In and of himself—absolute.
B. In the Son—unqualified.
C. In the Spirit—universal.
D. In and by all of them—infinite.
V. REFERENCE: (25.5) 1:3.5 - “God is a universal spirit...”
COMMENT
1. God is a universal spirit-person.
2.Absonite intervenes between finite and infinite just as morontia functions between the material and the spiritual.
3. Only the levels of infinity are absolute; only on absolute levels is there finality of oneness between matter, mind, and spirit.
VI. REFERENCE: (25.6) 1:3.6 - “In the universes...”
COMMENT
1. God the Father is, in potential, the overcontroller of energy, mind, and spirit.
2. Outside of Paradise, God is contactable only by means of his fragmented entities—”the will of God abroad in the universes.”
Note: Plural fragmented entities. They are the will of God. In man, will is inseparable from personality.
3. WILL here means way, plans, method, purpose—not decision and choice. Illustration:
A. It is my will to teach this class—DECISION.
B. It is also my will that you be diligent students—my wish, hope, PLAN.
4. Only by means of these Father fragments does God deal directly with the personalities of evolutionary mortals.
Note: If God’s presence were personal it would transcend and therefore negate the creature personality. God respects and holds inviolate every personality in his circuit.
5. The indwelling spirit fosters the evolution of the surviving soul. The immortal soul has both material and spirit parents.
6. The material minds of evolutionary creatures attain divinity by choosing to do the will of the Father in heaven.
A. Perfection is achieved by experience—”experiential transformations.”
B. Transformations produce inevitable spiritual attainment—as a result of our choosing to do the will of God.
VII. REFERENCE: (26.1) 1:3.7 - “In the inner experience...”
COMMENT
1. The human mind can only survive as a result of those transformations of being spirit taught—and eventually spirit led.
2. The evolution of human mind from material to spirit levels is attended by the creation of the immortal soul—a morontia reality.
Note: First mention of morontia.
3. If mind becomes subservient to matter—it must suffer extinction.
Question: In event of extinction, what becomes of mind and personality? Survival in the Supreme—but not as a separate personality.
4. Spirit-dominated mind becomes identified with the divine spirit and attains eternity of existence.
DISCUSSION OF MORONTIA
1. For full consideration of morontia, see Paper 48, “The Morontia Life,” (541.1) 48:0.1
2. “Morontia is a term designating a vast level intervening between the material and the spiritual. It may designate personal or impersonal realities, living or nonliving energies. The warp of morontia is spiritual; its woof is physical.” (9.2) 0:5.12
3. The mortal part of man which survives is called the “morontia soul.”
4. Surviving mortals are resurrected as first-stage morontians.
5. From first-stage morontia to first-stage spirit you successively have 570 changes in morontia bodies.
6. The morontia career continues throughout our ascension of the local universe.
7. Morontians enjoy the ministry of both the reversion directors and the celestial artisans.”
8. Mota is the advanced philosophy of the morontia life.
VIII. REFERENCE: (26.2) 1:3.8 - “I come forth...”
COMMENT
1. The author of this paper is a Divine Counselor—a Trinity-origin being. He asserts that he personally knows the Universal Father and testifies to the spirit nature and loving attributes of the Paradise Father.
2. God’s attributes are best revealed in the Eternal Son—and the Paradise “grandsons.”
3. These quotations are from:
A. 1 John 4:8. “For God is love.”
B. John 4:24. “God is spirit.” (See also 2 Cor 3:17. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”)
(Discuss pantheism. God is personal as well as spirit. A personal spirit—a spirit personality.)
I. REFERENCE: (26.3) 1:4.1 - “The infinity of the perfection...”
COMMENT
1. The infinity of God’s perfection makes him an eternal mystery.
2. The phenomenon of the indwelling Adjuster is:
A. The greatest of all mysteries.
B. A universal mystery.
C. The mystery of mysteries.
II. REFERENCE: (26.4) 1:4.2 - “The physical bodies...”
COMMENT
1. The physical bodies of mortals are the temples of God. This is 1 Cor 3:16. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (See also 1 Cor 6:19.)
Again: 2 Cor 6:16. “For we are the temple of the living God.”
Paul is quoting from the Old Testament—Ex 29:45. “And I will dwell among the people of Israel, and will be their God.”
Lev 26:11. “And I will make my abode among you.”
2. Observations on these quotations:
A. Paul alters the text so as to impart new meanings. He changes “dwell among you” to read “dwell in you.”
B. This constitutes re-interpretation. In this way doctrine is modified by editorializing translation.
C. The Urantia Book does this same thing. Paul supplies New Testament precedent for such a practice.
Note: John Calvin objected to this Biblical editorializing.
3. Even though the Creator Sons come close to us—”draw all men to themselves”—God is nearer us in the presence of the Adjusters.
4. This statement of Jesus is found in John 12:32. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” In the next verse John says: “He said this to show by what death he was to die.” The Urantia Book would differ with John.
5. “Stand at the door and knock.” This is Rev 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
III. REFERENCE: (26.5) 1:4.3 - “When you are through...”
COMMENT
1. When we finish our “shakedown” trip on Urantia—our body returns to the dust and the Adjuster returns to God.
This is an Old Testament quotation. Eccl 12:7. “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
2. This is a direct identification of the Thought Adjuster with the spirit nature of man.
3. The Adjusters are on loan for the time being—but it is intended that they become “one with us.”
IV. REFERENCE: (26.6) 1:4.4 - “We are constantly confronted...”
COMMENT
1. We are ever confronted with this mystery of God.
2. We are nonplused by the endless unfolding of this truth of: infinite
V. REFERENCE: (26.7) 1:4.5 - “The divine mystery...”
COMMENT
1. Note the differences between the levels of the finite and the infinite.
2. Mortal capacity of spiritual receptivity is indicated by one’s ability to grasp the qualities of truth, beauty, and goodness.
3. Truth, beauty, and goodness is not a Biblical concept. It is the sum and substance of later Greek philosophic idealism.
4. This is its first recognition by The Urantia Book, and the second quotation of Greek teachings.
DISCUSSION OF TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND GOODNESS
1. Truth, beauty, and goodness are man’s comprehension of divinity. (26.7) 1:4.5
2. We may discern beauty in the physical world, truth in the intellectual values, but goodness is found only in the spiritual world of religious experience. (40.5) 2:6.1
3. “Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience.” (43.4) 2:7.11
4. “The Hebrews based their religion on goodness; the Greeks on beauty; both religions sought truth. Jesus revealed a God of love, and love is all-embracing of truth, beauty, and goodness.” (67.4) 5:4.6
5. Every God-knowing creature possesses the potential of unlimited self-expression of unified self-realization by achievement of God-likeness —experiential blending in experience of eternal truth, universal beauty, and divine goodness. (507.5) 44:7.4
6. See a whole section on truth, beauty, and goodness. (646.2) 56:10.1
7. God answers prayer by giving man:
A. Increased revelation of truth.
B. Enhanced appreciation of beauty.
C. Augmented concept of goodness. (1002.3) 91:8.11
8. It is the mission of socialized religion to magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness. (1092.2) 99:6.2
9. Spirituality enhances the ability to:
A. Discover beauty in things.
B. Recognize truth in meanings.
C. Discover goodness in values. (1096.1) 100:2.4
10. We believe truth, admire beauty, and reverence goodness—but we do not worship them. (1114.5) 101:8.1
11. The Father-life is predicated on truth, sensitive to beauty, and dominated by goodness. (1175.1) 106:9.12
12. We should base human life on the highest consciousness of truth, beauty, and goodness, and co-ordinate these divine qualities by wisdom, worship, and faith. (1206.4) 110:3.6
13. The morontia soul, permeated by truth, beauty, and goodness is indestructible. (1219.6) 111:3.7
14. The Supreme Being is:
A. Beauty of physical harmony.
B. Truth of intellectual meaning.
C. Goodness of spiritual value. (1278.5) 117:1.1
15. Love divested of truth, beauty, and goodness is:
A. A sentiment.
B. A philosophic distortion.
C. A psychic illusion.
D. A spiritual deception. (2096.5) 196:3.29
VI. REFERENCE: (27.1) 1:4.6 - “To every spirit being...”
COMMENT
1. God gives everything possible of himself to every creature in the universe of universes.
2. God is no respecter of persons. See Acts 10:34. “And Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.’” This was Peter’s opening statement to Cornelius, who had sent to Joppa for him.
See also: Deut 10:17. Job 34:19. Rom 2:11. Gal 2:6. 1 Pet 1:17.
3. The divine presence with any child of the universe is limited only by the creature’s capacity of spiritual receptivity.
VII. REFERENCE: (27.2) 1:4.7 - “As a reality...”
COMMENT
1. As a reality in human spiritual experience, God is not a mystery.
2. But when the material mind attempts to comprehend spiritual realities, mystery appears.
3. The philosophic miracle of recognizing the Infinite by the finite is only achieved by the faith-grasp of the God-knowing mortal.
5. PERSONALITY OF THE UNIVERSAL FATHER
I. REFERENCE: (27.3) 1:5.1 - “Do not permit...”
COMMENT
1. This text is Ps 94:9. “He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?”
See also Prov 20:12. “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.”
2. God is a personality—notwithstanding that his infinity places him beyond our comprehension.
II. REFERENCE: (27.4) 1:5.2 - “God is much more...”
COMMENT
1. God is more than personality—even more than a superpersonality.
2. Our concept of infinite personality is limited to our finite idea and ideal of personality.
3. While we know that God must be much more than our concept of personality, we equally know that he cannot be anything less than an eternal and infinite personality.
III. REFERENCE: (27.5) 1:5.3 - “God is not hiding...”
COMMENT
1. God is not hiding from any of his creatures.
2. God is unapproachable because he “dwells in a light which no material creature can approach.” This is 1 Tim 6:16. “Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see.”
3. The immensity and grandeur of the divine personality is beyond the grasp of the evolutionary mortal mind.
4. God encompasses the material universe. This first part of the quotation is Isa 40:12. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?”
The second part comes from Isa 40:22. “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.”
5. “Lift up your eyes.” This is Isa 40:26. “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.”
6. In a measure, God’s visible creation enables us to understand something of his invisible nature. See Rom 1:20. “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
7. But it is even better understood through the revelation and ministrations of his Sons.
IV. REFERENCE: (28.1) 1:5.4 - “Even though material mortals...”
COMMENT
1. By faith we should recognize the love of God which provides for our eternal spiritual progression.
This is the nearest to John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” etc. (This passage is not in the Urantia Book.)
2. He “delights in his children.” This quotation is not found in the Bible. May be derived from either Prov 8:31. “And delighting in the sons of men,” or Isa 62:4. “You shall be called My delight.”
3. Question: May not this quotation be from the Apocrypha? No. It has been checked.
Note: Quotation marks seem to be used in the book only when quoting from the sacred books of the great world religions.
4. Why do they never quote from the Apocrypha—since they do not recognize verbal inspiration?
5. The writers of The Urantia Book try always to associate the old with the new.
6. Jesus always said: “I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill.” (See Matt 5:17.)
V. REFERENCE: (28.2) 1:5.5 - “In the local creations...”
COMMENT
1. God the Father is residential only on Paradise.
2. Out in time and space, we mortals see God best in the person of the Creator Sons—more especially when they are on bestowal missions.
3. Said Jesus: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” See John 14:9.
VI. REFERENCE: (28.3) 1:5.6 - “The natures of...”
COMMENT
1. While the Paradise Creator Sons do not encompass all of the absoluteness of the First Source and Center, the Universal Father is in every way divinely present in these Creator Sons.
2. The Father and his Sons are one.
3. These Michael Sons are the pattern for all local universe personalities.
4. The Bright and Morning Star. See Job 38:7. “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (See Rev 2:28; 22:16.)
5. The Urantia Book makes use of Biblical names, such as angels, Ancients of Days, etc. Note the multiple Sons of God.
6. Discussion of progressive evolution.
A. Darwin law. Variations and natural selection. Darwinism tells how species survive—not how they originate.
B. DeVriesian mutations. This theory explains the origin of species.
C. The Urantia Book validates the theory of DeVries—the sudden appearance of new species.
7. Discuss creative vs. accidental evolution. Evolution is supervised, purposive, and progressive.
VII. REFERENCE: (28.4) 1:5.7 - “Without God...”
COMMENT
God is personality. Little wonder that man cannot define or comprehend personality.
VIII. REFERENCE: (28.5) 1:5.8 - “Notwithstanding that God is...”
COMMENT
1. God is: Eternal Power. Transcendent Ideal. Glorious Spirit. Majestic Presence. And infinitely more.
2. Nonetheless, he is truly and everlastingly:
A. A perfect Creator personality.
B. A person who can know and be known.
C. One who can love and be loved.
D. One who can befriend us.
3. The source of the following quotations has not been located: “know and be known” and “love and be loved.”
4. The friend of God is not in quotes, but must refer to Abraham—see James 2:23. “Abraham...was called the friend of God.”
IX. REFERENCE: (28.6) 1:5.9 - “As we see...”
COMMENT
1. In spite of all these amazing manifestations of God—it remains that he is a true person.
2. God probably maintains personal connections through the personality circuit and in case of evolutionary mortals through the Thought Adjusters.
X. REFERENCE: (28.7) 1:5.10 - “The idea of...”
COMMENT
The personality of God and the unity of Deity are the ministry of revelation and the earmarks of religious maturity.
XI.REFERENCE: (29.1) 1:5.11 - “Primitive religion had...”
COMMENT
1. Primitive religion had many gods fashioned in the image of man.
2. Revelation validates the personality of God which is:
A. Merely possible in the scientific postulate of a first cause.
B. Only provisionally suggested in the philosophic idea of Universal Unity.
3. In the spiritual world personality is identical with reality and the unity of God.
4. To deny the personality of the First Source and Center leaves one only the choice of two philosophic dilemmas:
A. Materialism.
B. Pantheism.
5. Materialism. The theory that matter is the only ultimate reality. The brain is the reality of the psychic process.
Atomism. The universe is wholly material.
Many materialists prefer to call themselves naturalists. This is the theory that nature is the totality of spatial-temporal objects—the
Mechanists believe that physics and chemistry can account for all of the cosmos.
6. Pantheism. The doctrine that the universe as a whole is God. God is but the combined forces and laws of the cosmos. Extreme mysticism—” the divine one is the only true reality.”
7. Varied meanings:
A. Pantheism—All is God.
B. Theopantism—God is all.
C. Cosmotheism (Monism)—Ascription of divinity to the cosmos.
D. Acosmism—Denial of the existence of a universe apart from God.
XII. REFERENCE: (29.2) 1:5.12 - “In the contemplation...”
COMMENT
1. It is not necessary for personality to have a corporeal body. This is true for both man and God.
2. This error of corporeality shows in two extremes:
A. In materialism, man ceases to exist because he loses his body.
B. In pantheism, God is not a person because he has no body.
3. Progressing personality functions in a union of mind and spirit.
XIII.REFERENCE: (29.3) 1:5.13 - “Personality is not...”
COMMENT
1. Personality stands for the totality of the infinite nature and divine will shown in eternity and universality of divine expression. God expresses himself through his personality.
2. It is the revelation of God to the universes.
XIV. REFERENCE: (29.4) 1:5.14 - “God, being eternal...”
COMMENT
1. God, being eternal, universal, absolute, and infinite, does not grow in knowledge nor increase in wisdom.
2. While God does not acquire experience, as finite man might comprehend, he does enjoy continuous expansions of self-realization.
3. These expansions are comparable to the acquirement of new experience by finite creatures.
XV. REFERENCE: (29.5) 1:5.15 - “The absolute perfection...”
COMMENT
1. The Father participates in the personality struggle of every Adjuster-endowed creature in the cosmos.
2. Every ascending mortal—every progressing spirit being—is a part of the Father’s ever-expanding self-consciousness of ceaseless self-realization.
XVI. REFERENCE: (29.6) 1:5.16 - “It is literally true...”
COMMENT
1. God shares our afflictions. This is Isa 63:9. “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them.” Compare with Zech 2:8. “For thus said the Lord of hosts...he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.”
2. In all your triumphs he triumphs with you. (Have been unable to locate this quotation.)
3. His prepersonal spirit is a part of you. This refers to the Adjuster.
4. The Isle of Paradise participates in all of the metamorphoses of the universe of universes.
5. The Eternal Son embraces all the spirit impulses of all creation.
6. The Conjoint Actor encompasses all the mind expression of the expanding cosmos.
7. The Universal Father shares all personality experiences.
8. This is all true, because “in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28.
Note: The word “all” in the quotation in The Urantia Book. Explanation: Different versions. Perhaps quoted from memory. Editorialization.
6. PERSONALITY IN THE UNIVERSE
I. REFERENCE: (29.7) 1:6.1 - “Human personality is...”
COMMENT
In general, things finite and temporal are but the shadow of infinite and eternal realities. (Greek philosophy—Plato)
II. REFERENCE: (30.1) 1:6.2 - “God is to science...”
COMMENT
1. God is:
A. To science a cause.
B. To philosophy an idea.
C. To religion a person.
2. God is:
A. To the scientist a primal cause.
B. To the philosopher a hypothesis.
C. To the religionist an experience.
3. Man’s concept of God’s personality will remain inadequate until he is embraced by the Father on Paradise.
III. REFERENCE: (30.2) 1:6.3 - “Never lose sight...”
COMMENT
1. God and man view personality from the diverse positions of the finite and the infinite.
2. Again: man possesses the lowest type of personality—God the highest.
3. Personality, both human, and divine, is best understood by the study of the bestowal life of Jesus.
IV. REFERENCE: (30.3) 1:6.4 - “The prepersonal divine spirit...”
COMMENT
1. The prepersonal divine spirit (Thought Adjuster) is referred to as “which” and “it.”
2. Personal religious experience is necessary for insight into the divine personality.
V. REFERENCE: (30.4) 1:6.5 - “Some degree of...”
COMMENT
1. Love and affection are mutual experiences.
2. Consecration is demanded in this business of finding and comprehending God.
VI. REFERENCES: (30.5) 1:6.6 - “The more completely...”
COMMENT
1. The better we understand any and all personalities, the better we can understand God’s personality—and vice versa.
2. You can argue about God, but experience with him is beyond controversy.
3. Your religious experience is not to convince unbelievers—but to edify believers.
VII. REFERENCE: (30.6) 1:6.7 - “To assume that...”
COMMENT
1. The fact that the universe can be known proves that it is mind made and mind managed.
2. If man’s personality can perceive the universes, then there is personality concealed somewhere in the universe.
VIII. REFERENCE: (30.7) 1:6.8 - “God is spirit...”
COMMENT
1. God is a real spirit personality; man is potentially a spirit personality.
2. Jesus attained the full potential of spirit personality in human experience, therefore his life becomes man’s most real and ideal revelation of the personality of God.
Note: The whole plan of human religious experience and eternal survival is presented in this first paper.
3. While the personality of God is only comprehended by personal religious experience, Jesus’ earth life constitutes a perfect revelation of the personality of God in association with a human personality.
7. SPIRITUAL VALUE OF THE PERSONALITY CONCEPT
I. REFERENCE: (31.1) 1:7.1 - “When Jesus talked...”
COMMENT
1. Jesus’ living God was a personal Deity.
2. Jesus, in discussing the living bread, said in John 6:57: “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father...”
3. The personality concept of Deity:
A. Facilitates fellowship.
B. Favors intelligent worship.
C. Promotes refreshing trustfulness.
4. You can have interaction between nonpersonal things, but not fellowship.
5. Personal communion can exist only between persons—albeit such communion can be assisted by an impersonal spirit—the Adjuster.
II. REFERENCE: (31.2) 1:7.2 - “Man does not achieve...”
COMMENT
1. Man’s union with God is not like a drop of water which finds unity with the ocean.
2. Consider theosophy and the Hindu religions. The Oriental concept of salvation—the lost identity of the survivor—is much like the concept of the nonsurvivor as presented in The Urantia Book.
3. Diverse concept of the “Universe Oversoul” as taught by Hinduism and The Urantia Book.
4. Man attains divine union by intelligent, co-operative, and progressive conformity to the divine will. Both head and heart are involved.
5. These sublime relations can exist only between persons.
III. REFERENCE: (31.3) 1:7.3 - “The concept of truth...”
COMMENT
1. The concept of truth and even beauty might be entertained apart from personality—but never goodness.
2. Only persons can love and be loved.
IV. REFERENCE: (31.4) 1:7.4 - “We cannot fully understand...”
COMMENT
1. God exists changeless and perfect in an ever-changing, apparently law-limited, and imperfect universe.
2. We cannot understand this, but we can know it in our personal experience for we maintain identity and unity of will in spite of constant change.
V. REFERENCE: (31.5) 1:7.5 - “Ultimate universe reality...”
COMMENT
1. Ultimate reality is grasped only by the personal experience in conformity to the will of a personal God.
2. The personality of God is not validated by science, philosophy, or theology—but only by personal experience of the faith sons.
3. Note the use of “heavenly Father.” This is an effort to avoid a break with the “heaven” concept. They break squarely with “hell.”
VI. REFERENCE: (31.6) 1:7.6 - “The higher concepts...”
COMMENT
1. The higher concepts of universe personality imply: identity, self-consciousness, self-will, and the possibility for self-revelation.
2. All these imply fellowship with other and equal personalities as shown in the Deity association of the Paradise Trinity. Nathaniel used this concept to convince Rodan of the Trinity.
3. There is absolute unity in these Deity associations—”The Lord God is one.” This is Deut 6:4. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.” This is a part of the prelude of the first Ten Commandments as recorded in Deut 5:6-21. The second Ten Commandments are found in Ex 20:1-17. (See also Ex 23:8-13; 34:14-22.)
4. Deity indivisibility does not prevent God’s bestowing his prepersonal spirit (the Thought Adjuster) upon man.
5. A human father’s personality is not divided by the reproduction of offspring.
Note: Germ-plasm is pre-individual, but has full potential of the future individual.
VII. REFERENCE: (31.7) 1:7.7 - “This concept of indivisibility...”
COMMENT
1. Note concept of unity and individuality in reference to the Ultimate.
2. The First Source and Center is an infinity which unqualifiedly transcends all mind, all energy, and all spirit.
3. We can conceptualize God as:
A. Father.
B. Creator.
C. Upholder.
D. Controller.
E. Trinity.
F. First Source and Center.
G. “I AM.” Infinite, eternal, universal—ABSOLUTE.
VIII. REFERENCE: (31.8) 1:7.8 - “The fact of...”
COMMENT
1. The Paradise Trinity in no manner violates the truth of divine unity. In all universe reactions and in all creature relations, the three persons are one.
2. How three can be one is not wholly clear to even high celestial beings.
IX. REFERENCE: (32.1) 1:7.9 - “(Presented by a...)”
COMMENT
1. This author is a Divine Counselor, belonging to a group of Trinity-origin beings embracing:
A. Trinity Teacher Sons.
B. Perfectors of Wisdom.
C. Divine Counselors.
D. Universal Censors.
E. Inspired Trinity Spirits.
F. Havona Natives.
G. Paradise Citizens.
2. This paper begins with “The Universal Father is the God of all creation...” and ends with “...the long mortal ascent to Paradise.”
We would have a transcendent and enlarged religion to give the world —a superb philosophy—if we had only this one paper. It is about all there.
3. “Ancients of Days.” This is the first use of this name (found in Daniel) and the introduction to the superuniverse geography. The name of the local universe is used for the first time.
4. This is the first designation of these papers as a REVELATION.
5. The early introduction of such a far-flung terminology requires the FOREWORD to prevent confusion.
6. The author leaves no doubt as to his authority to present truth.
SPONSORSHIP OF THE URANTIA PAPERS
The Urantia Papers were sponsored by various personalities, but, as they are grouped into Parts, these major divisions were sponsored as follows:
Part I. The Central and Superuniverses as a group of papers was “Sponsored by a Uversa Corps of Superuniverse Personalities, acting by authority of the Orvonton Ancients of Days.” “These thirty-one papers...were sponsored, formulated, and put into English by a high commission consisting of twenty-four Orvonton administrators acting in accordance with a mandate issued by the Ancients of Days of Uversa...” (354.8) 31:10.22
Part II. The Local Universe papers, twenty-five in number, were “...sponsored as a group by a commission of Nebadon personalities numbering twelve and acting under the direction of Mantutia Melchizedek.” (648.6) 56:10.22 The Commission as a whole functioned “...by authority of Gabriel of Salvington.”
Part III. The History of Urantia embraces sixty-three presentations “...sponsored by numerous personalities...These papers were authorized by a Nebadon commission of twelve acting under the direction of Mantutia Melchizedek...” (1319.2) 119:8.9 And as in Part II the sponsoring commission acted “...by authority of Gabriel of Salvington.”
Part IV. The Life and Teachings of Jesus are told in seventy-seven papers, and, excepting the first, were based on a narrative “...supplied by a secondary midwayer who was onetime assigned to the superhuman watchcare of the Apostle Andrew.” The first paper is indicted by a certain Melchizedek who states that he has been “assigned by Gabriel to supervise the restatement of the life of Michael when on Urantia and in the likeness of mortal flesh...” and further, that he is the “...director of the revelatory commission intrusted with this task...” (1323.1) 120:0.1 The entire seventy-seven papers in Part IV as a group are “...sponsored by a commission of twelve Urantia midwayers acting under the supervision of [this] Melchizedek revelatory director.”