:banana:
The Westboro kooks plan to picket the funerals of the Boston Marathon victims because of the bigoted hatred of homosexuals.
Colter
The Late Great Urantia Revelation
- Thread starter Caino
- Start date
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:banana:
The Westboro kooks plan to picket the funerals of the Boston Marathon victims because of the bigoted hatred of homosexuals.
Colter
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
rising above religious bigotry
rising above religious bigotry
The Westboro Baptist Church is disgusting. That goes without saying. Lets focus on more positive values and principles that make for our enlightenment, peace and progress. Focusing on insanity is not the cure, recognizing it for what it is...is a start.
pj
rising above religious bigotry
The Westboro Baptist Church is disgusting. That goes without saying. Lets focus on more positive values and principles that make for our enlightenment, peace and progress. Focusing on insanity is not the cure, recognizing it for what it is...is a start.
pj
"If you would but believe that my Father loves you with an infinite love,
then you are in the kingdom of God."
Jesus, The Urantia Book, (1537.4) 137:8.17
then you are in the kingdom of God."
Jesus, The Urantia Book, (1537.4) 137:8.17
Spiritual Unity
(1591.6) 141:5.1 "One of the most eventful of all the evening conferences at Amathus was the session having to do with the discussion of spiritual unity. James Zebedee had asked, “Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more harmony among ourselves?” When Jesus heard this question, he was stirred within his spirit, so much so that he replied: “James, James, when did I teach you that you should all see alike? I have come into the world to proclaim spiritual liberty to the end that mortals may be empowered to live individual lives of originality and freedom before God. I do not desire that social harmony and fraternal peace shall be purchased by the sacrifice of free personality and spiritual originality. What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity — and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven. You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the heavenly Father. Your apostolic harmony must grow out of the fact that the spirit hope of each of you is identical in origin, nature, and destiny."
Caino
This explains a lot but it's not pretty:
AFTER MELCHIZEDEK'S DEPARTURE
93:9.1 It was a great trial for Abraham when Melchizedek so suddenly disappeared. Although he had fully warned his followers that he must sometime go as he had come, they were not reconciled to the loss of their wonderful leader. The great organization built up at Salem nearly disappeared, though the traditions of these days were what Moses built upon when he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
93:9.2 The loss of Melchizedek produced a sadness in the heart of Abraham that he never fully overcame. Hebron he had abandoned when he gave up the ambition of building a material kingdom; and now, upon the loss of his associate in the building of the spiritual kingdom, he departed from Salem, going south to live near his interests at Gerar.
93:9.3 Abraham became fearful and timid immediately after the disappearance of Melchizedek. He withheld his identity upon arrival at Gerar, so that Abimelech appropriated his wife. (Shortly after his marriage to Sarah, Abraham one night had overheard a plot to murder him in order to get his brilliant wife. This dread became a terror to the otherwise brave and daring leader; all his life he feared that someone would kill him secretly in order to get Sarah. And this explains why, on three separate occasions, this brave man exhibited real cowardice.)
93:9.4 But Abraham was not long to be deterred in his mission as the successor of Melchizedek. Soon he made converts among the Philistines and of Abimelech's people, made a treaty with them, and, in turn, became contaminated with many of their superstitions, particularly with their practice of sacrificing first-born sons. Thus did Abraham again become a great leader in Palestine. He was held in reverence by all groups and honored by all kings. He was the spiritual leader of all the surrounding tribes, and his influence continued for some time after his death. During the closing years of his life he once more returned to Hebron, the scene of his earlier activities and the place where he had worked in association with Melchizedek. Abraham's last act was to send trusty servants to the city of his brother, Nahor, on the border of Mesopotamia, to secure a woman of his own people as a wife for his son Isaac. It had long been the custom of Abraham's people to marry their cousins. And Abraham died confident in that faith in God which he had learned from Melchizedek in the vanished schools of Salem.
93:9.5 It was hard for the next generation to comprehend the story of Melchizedek; within five hundred years many regarded the whole narrative as a myth. Isaac held fairly well to the teachings of his father and nourished the gospel of the Salem colony, but it was harder for Jacob to grasp the significance of these traditions. Joseph was a firm believer in Melchizedek and was, largely because of this, regarded by his brothers as a dreamer. Joseph's honor in Egypt was chiefly due to the memory of his great-grandfather Abraham. Joseph was offered military command of the Egyptian armies, but being such a firm believer in the traditions of Melchizedek and the later teachings of Abraham and Isaac, he elected to serve as a civil administrator, believing that he could thus better labor for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven.
93:9.6 The teaching of Melchizedek was full and replete, but the records of these days seemed impossible and fantastic to the later Hebrew priests, although many had some understanding of these transactions, at least up to the times of the en masse editing of the Old Testament records in Babylon.
93:9.7 What the Old Testament records describe as conversations between Abraham and God were in reality conferences between Abraham and Melchizedek. Later scribes regarded the term Melchizedek as synonymous with God. The record of so many contacts of Abraham and Sarah with "the angel of the Lord" refers to their numerous visits with Melchizedek.
93:9.8 The Hebrew narratives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are far more reliable than those about Abraham, although they also contain many diversions from the facts, alterations made intentionally and unintentionally at the time of the compilation of these records by the Hebrew priests during the Babylonian captivity. Keturah was not a wife of Abraham; like Hagar, she was merely a concubine. All of Abraham's property went to Isaac, the son of Sarah, the status wife. Abraham was not so old as the records indicate, and his wife was much younger. These ages were deliberately altered in order to provide for the subsequent alleged miraculous birth of Isaac.
93:9.9 The national ego of the Jews was tremendously depressed by the Babylonian captivity. In their reaction against national inferiority they swung to the other extreme of national and racial egotism, in which they distorted and perverted their traditions with the view of exalting themselves above all races as the chosen people of God; and hence they carefully edited all their records for the purpose of raising Abraham and their other national leaders high up above all other persons, not excepting Melchizedek himself. The Hebrew scribes therefore destroyed every record of these momentous times which they could find, preserving only the narrative of the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek after the battle of Siddim, which they deemed reflected great honor upon Abraham.
93:9.10 And thus, in losing sight of Melchizedek, they also lost sight of the teaching of this emergency Son regarding the spiritual mission of the promised bestowal Son; lost sight of the nature of this mission so fully and completely that very few of their progeny were able or willing to recognize and receive Michael when he appeared on earth and in the flesh as Machiventa had foretold.
93:9.11 But one of the writers of the Book of Hebrews understood the mission of Melchizedek, for it is written: "This Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, was also king of peace; without father, without mother, without pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like a Son of God, he abides a priest continually." This writer designated Melchizedek as a type of the later bestowal of Michael, affirming that Jesus was "a minister forever on the order of Melchizedek." While this comparison was not altogether fortunate, it was literally true that Christ did receive provisional title to Urantia "upon the orders of the twelve Melchizedek receivers" on duty at the time of his world bestowal.
Caino
AFTER MELCHIZEDEK'S DEPARTURE
93:9.1 It was a great trial for Abraham when Melchizedek so suddenly disappeared. Although he had fully warned his followers that he must sometime go as he had come, they were not reconciled to the loss of their wonderful leader. The great organization built up at Salem nearly disappeared, though the traditions of these days were what Moses built upon when he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
93:9.2 The loss of Melchizedek produced a sadness in the heart of Abraham that he never fully overcame. Hebron he had abandoned when he gave up the ambition of building a material kingdom; and now, upon the loss of his associate in the building of the spiritual kingdom, he departed from Salem, going south to live near his interests at Gerar.
93:9.3 Abraham became fearful and timid immediately after the disappearance of Melchizedek. He withheld his identity upon arrival at Gerar, so that Abimelech appropriated his wife. (Shortly after his marriage to Sarah, Abraham one night had overheard a plot to murder him in order to get his brilliant wife. This dread became a terror to the otherwise brave and daring leader; all his life he feared that someone would kill him secretly in order to get Sarah. And this explains why, on three separate occasions, this brave man exhibited real cowardice.)
93:9.4 But Abraham was not long to be deterred in his mission as the successor of Melchizedek. Soon he made converts among the Philistines and of Abimelech's people, made a treaty with them, and, in turn, became contaminated with many of their superstitions, particularly with their practice of sacrificing first-born sons. Thus did Abraham again become a great leader in Palestine. He was held in reverence by all groups and honored by all kings. He was the spiritual leader of all the surrounding tribes, and his influence continued for some time after his death. During the closing years of his life he once more returned to Hebron, the scene of his earlier activities and the place where he had worked in association with Melchizedek. Abraham's last act was to send trusty servants to the city of his brother, Nahor, on the border of Mesopotamia, to secure a woman of his own people as a wife for his son Isaac. It had long been the custom of Abraham's people to marry their cousins. And Abraham died confident in that faith in God which he had learned from Melchizedek in the vanished schools of Salem.
93:9.5 It was hard for the next generation to comprehend the story of Melchizedek; within five hundred years many regarded the whole narrative as a myth. Isaac held fairly well to the teachings of his father and nourished the gospel of the Salem colony, but it was harder for Jacob to grasp the significance of these traditions. Joseph was a firm believer in Melchizedek and was, largely because of this, regarded by his brothers as a dreamer. Joseph's honor in Egypt was chiefly due to the memory of his great-grandfather Abraham. Joseph was offered military command of the Egyptian armies, but being such a firm believer in the traditions of Melchizedek and the later teachings of Abraham and Isaac, he elected to serve as a civil administrator, believing that he could thus better labor for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven.
93:9.6 The teaching of Melchizedek was full and replete, but the records of these days seemed impossible and fantastic to the later Hebrew priests, although many had some understanding of these transactions, at least up to the times of the en masse editing of the Old Testament records in Babylon.
93:9.7 What the Old Testament records describe as conversations between Abraham and God were in reality conferences between Abraham and Melchizedek. Later scribes regarded the term Melchizedek as synonymous with God. The record of so many contacts of Abraham and Sarah with "the angel of the Lord" refers to their numerous visits with Melchizedek.
93:9.8 The Hebrew narratives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are far more reliable than those about Abraham, although they also contain many diversions from the facts, alterations made intentionally and unintentionally at the time of the compilation of these records by the Hebrew priests during the Babylonian captivity. Keturah was not a wife of Abraham; like Hagar, she was merely a concubine. All of Abraham's property went to Isaac, the son of Sarah, the status wife. Abraham was not so old as the records indicate, and his wife was much younger. These ages were deliberately altered in order to provide for the subsequent alleged miraculous birth of Isaac.
93:9.9 The national ego of the Jews was tremendously depressed by the Babylonian captivity. In their reaction against national inferiority they swung to the other extreme of national and racial egotism, in which they distorted and perverted their traditions with the view of exalting themselves above all races as the chosen people of God; and hence they carefully edited all their records for the purpose of raising Abraham and their other national leaders high up above all other persons, not excepting Melchizedek himself. The Hebrew scribes therefore destroyed every record of these momentous times which they could find, preserving only the narrative of the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek after the battle of Siddim, which they deemed reflected great honor upon Abraham.
93:9.10 And thus, in losing sight of Melchizedek, they also lost sight of the teaching of this emergency Son regarding the spiritual mission of the promised bestowal Son; lost sight of the nature of this mission so fully and completely that very few of their progeny were able or willing to recognize and receive Michael when he appeared on earth and in the flesh as Machiventa had foretold.
93:9.11 But one of the writers of the Book of Hebrews understood the mission of Melchizedek, for it is written: "This Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, was also king of peace; without father, without mother, without pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made like a Son of God, he abides a priest continually." This writer designated Melchizedek as a type of the later bestowal of Michael, affirming that Jesus was "a minister forever on the order of Melchizedek." While this comparison was not altogether fortunate, it was literally true that Christ did receive provisional title to Urantia "upon the orders of the twelve Melchizedek receivers" on duty at the time of his world bestowal.
Caino
God’s Wrath
(1597.1) 142:2.1 There was in Jerusalem in attendance upon the Passover festivities one Jacob, a wealthy Jewish trader from Crete, and he came to Andrew making request to see Jesus privately. Andrew arranged this secret meeting with Jesus at Flavius’s home the evening of the next day. This man could not comprehend the Master’s teachings, and he came because he desired to inquire more fully about the kingdom of God. Said Jacob to Jesus: “But, Rabbi, Moses and the olden prophets tell us that Yahweh is a jealous God, a God of great wrath and fierce anger. The prophets say he hates evildoers and takes vengeance on those who obey not his law. You and your disciples teach us that God is a kind and compassionate Father who so loves all men that he would welcome them into this new kingdom of heaven, which you proclaim is so near at hand.”
(1597.2) 142:2.2 When Jacob finished speaking, Jesus replied: “Jacob, you have well stated the teachings of the olden prophets who taught the children of their generation in accordance with the light of their day. Our Father in Paradise is changeless. But the concept of his nature has enlarged and grown from the days of Moses down through the times of Amos and even to the generation of the prophet Isaiah. And now have I come in the flesh to reveal the Father in new glory and to show forth his love and mercy to all men on all worlds. As the gospel of this kingdom shall spread over the world with its message of good cheer and good will to all men, there will grow up improved and better relations among the families of all nations. As time passes, fathers and their children will love each other more, and thus will be brought about a better understanding of the love of the Father in heaven for his children on earth. Remember, Jacob, that a good and true father not only loves his family as a whole — as a family — but he also truly loves and affectionately cares for each individual member.”
(1597.3) 142:2.3 After considerable discussion of the heavenly Father’s character, Jesus paused to say: “You, Jacob, being a father of many, know well the truth of my words.” And Jacob said: “But, Master, who told you I was the father of six children? How did you know this about me?” And the Master replied: “Suffice it to say that the Father and the Son know all things, for indeed they see all. Loving your children as a father on earth, you must now accept as a reality the love of the heavenly Father for you — not just for all the children of Abraham, but for you, your individual soul.”
(1597.4) 142:2.4 Then Jesus went on to say: “When your children are very young and immature, and when you must chastise them, they may reflect that their father is angry and filled with resentful wrath. Their immaturity cannot penetrate beyond the punishment to discern the father’s farseeing and corrective affection. But when these same children become grown-up men and women, would it not be folly for them to cling to these earlier and misconceived notions regarding their father? As men and women they should now discern their father’s love in all these early disciplines. And should not mankind, as the centuries pass, come the better to understand the true nature and loving character of the Father in heaven? What profit have you from successive generations of spiritual illumination if you persist in viewing God as Moses and the prophets saw him? I say to you, Jacob, under the bright light of this hour you should see the Father as none of those who have gone before ever beheld him. And thus seeing him, you should rejoice to enter the kingdom wherein such a merciful Father rules, and you should seek to have his will of love dominate your life henceforth.”
(1598.1) 142:2.5 And Jacob answered: “Rabbi, I believe; I desire that you lead me into the Father’s kingdom.”
Caino
The Mind Arena of Choice
(1216.2) 111:1.1 Though the work of Adjusters is spiritual in nature, they must, perforce, do all their work upon an intellectual foundation. Mind is the human soil from which the spirit Monitor must evolve the morontia soul with the co-operation of the indwelt personality.
(1216.3) 111:1.2 There is a cosmic unity in the several mind levels of the universe of universes. Intellectual selves have their origin in the cosmic mind much as nebulae take origin in the cosmic energies of universe space. On the human (hence personal) level of intellectual selves the potential of spirit evolution becomes dominant, with the assent of the mortal mind, because of the spiritual endowments of the human personality together with the creative presence of an entity-point of absolute value in such human selves. But such a spirit dominance of the material mind is conditioned upon two experiences: This mind must have evolved up through the ministry of the seven adjutant mind-spirits, and the material (personal) self must choose to co-operate with the indwelling Adjuster in creating and fostering the morontia self, the evolutionary and potentially immortal soul.
(1216.4) 111:1.3 Material mind is the arena in which human personalities live, are self-conscious, make decisions, choose God or forsake him, eternalize or destroy themselves.
(1216.5) 111:1.4 Material evolution has provided you a life machine, your body; the Father himself has endowed you with the purest spirit reality known in the universe, your Thought Adjuster. But into your hands, subject to your own decisions, has been given mind, and it is by mind that you live or die. It is within this mind and with this mind that you make those moral decisions which enable you to achieve Adjusterlikeness, and that is Godlikeness.
(1216.6) 111:1.5 Mortal mind is a temporary intellect system loaned to human beings for use during a material lifetime, and as they use this mind, they are either accepting or rejecting the potential of eternal existence. Mind is about all you have of universe reality that is subject to your will, and the soul — the morontia self — will faithfully portray the harvest of the temporal decisions which the mortal self is making. Human consciousness rests gently upon the electrochemical mechanism below and delicately touches the spirit-morontia energy system above. Of neither of these two systems is the human being ever completely conscious in his mortal life; therefore must he work in mind, of which he is conscious. And it is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend that insures survival; it is not so much what mind is like as what mind is striving to be like that constitutes spirit identification. It is not so much that man is conscious of God as that man yearns for God that results in universe ascension. What you are today is not so important as what you are becoming day by day and in eternity.
(1217.1) 111:1.6 Mind is the cosmic instrument on which the human will can play the discords of destruction, or upon which this same human will can bring forth the exquisite melodies of God identification and consequent eternal survival. The Adjuster bestowed upon man is, in the last analysis, impervious to evil and incapable of sin, but mortal mind can actually be twisted, distorted, and rendered evil and ugly by the sinful machinations of a perverse and self-seeking human will. Likewise can this mind be made noble, beautiful, true, and good — actually great — in accordance with the spirit-illuminated will of a God-knowing human being.
(1217.2) 111:1.7 Evolutionary mind is only fully stable and dependable when manifesting itself upon the two extremes of cosmic intellectuality — the wholly mechanized and the entirely spiritualized. Between the intellectual extremes of pure mechanical control and true spirit nature there intervenes that enormous group of evolving and ascending minds whose stability and tranquillity are dependent upon personality choice and spirit identification.
(1217.3) 111:1.8 But man does not passively, slavishly, surrender his will to the Adjuster. Rather does he actively, positively, and co-operatively choose to follow the Adjuster’s leading when and as such leading consciously differs from the desires and impulses of the natural mortal mind. The Adjusters manipulate but never dominate man’s mind against his will; to the Adjusters the human will is supreme. And they so regard and respect it while they strive to achieve the spiritual goals of thought adjustment and character transformation in the almost limitless arena of the evolving human intellect.
(1217.4) 111:1.9 Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain. The master of the mortal vessel should have the wisdom to trust the divine pilot to guide the ascending soul into the morontia harbors of eternal survival. Only by selfishness, slothfulness, and sinfulness can the will of man reject the guidance of such a loving pilot and eventually wreck the mortal career upon the evil shoals of rejected mercy and upon the rocks of embraced sin. With your consent, this faithful pilot will safely carry you across the barriers of time and the handicaps of space to the very source of the divine mind and on beyond, even to the Paradise Father of Adjusters.UB
Caino
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
figurative language........
figurative language........
Did you forget that Jesus used parables to teach with, and could you prove in every instance of these 'stories' in the gospels that they were in fact 'historical events' or just 'stories' told to relate spiritual truths and principles, analogically/allegorically? Even if a passage is 'religious fiction' or a 'literary device'....we look to what the story is 'relating', for that's the purpose of it.
Also note that John said if we had books of all Jesus said and did, the world could not contain the volumes,....so what makes you think that what men canonized and included in what is currently our standardized 'Bible' is all that Jesus said and did?
'Religious fiction' probably does more good than one realizes if one engages it, for what one takes as 'true' or 'God's word....could be just that. However, if it relates a true principle or precept of eternal value...then its worth is evident upon its reception.
UB Fellowship
pj
figurative language........
Did you forget that Jesus used parables to teach with, and could you prove in every instance of these 'stories' in the gospels that they were in fact 'historical events' or just 'stories' told to relate spiritual truths and principles, analogically/allegorically? Even if a passage is 'religious fiction' or a 'literary device'....we look to what the story is 'relating', for that's the purpose of it.
Also note that John said if we had books of all Jesus said and did, the world could not contain the volumes,....so what makes you think that what men canonized and included in what is currently our standardized 'Bible' is all that Jesus said and did?
'Religious fiction' probably does more good than one realizes if one engages it, for what one takes as 'true' or 'God's word....could be just that. However, if it relates a true principle or precept of eternal value...then its worth is evident upon its reception.
UB Fellowship
pj
Forgiveness of Sin
(984.4) 89:10.1 "Ancient man only attained consciousness of favor with God through sacrifice. Modern man must develop new techniques of achieving the self-consciousness of salvation. The consciousness of sin persists in the mortal mind, but the thought patterns of salvation therefrom have become outworn and antiquated. The reality of the spiritual need persists, but intellectual progress has destroyed the olden ways of securing peace and consolation for mind and soul.
(984.5) 89:10.2 Sin must be redefined as deliberate disloyalty to Deity. There are degrees of disloyalty: the partial loyalty of indecision; the divided loyalty of confliction; the dying loyalty of indifference; and the death of loyalty exhibited in devotion to godless ideals.
(984.6) 89:10.3 The sense or feeling of guilt is the consciousness of the violation of the mores; it is not necessarily sin. There is no real sin in the absence of conscious disloyalty to Deity.
(984.7) 89:10.4 The possibility of the recognition of the sense of guilt is a badge of transcendent distinction for mankind. It does not mark man as mean but rather sets him apart as a creature of potential greatness and ever-ascending glory. Such a sense of unworthiness is the initial stimulus that should lead quickly and surely to those faith conquests which translate the mortal mind to the superb levels of moral nobility, cosmic insight, and spiritual living; thus are all the meanings of human existence changed from the temporal to the eternal, and all values are elevated from the human to the divine.
(984.8) 89:10.5 The confession of sin is a manful repudiation of disloyalty, but it in no wise mitigates the time-space consequences of such disloyalty. But confession — sincere recognition of the nature of sin — is essential to religious growth and spiritual progress.
(985.1) 89:10.6 The forgiveness of sin by Deity is the renewal of loyalty relations following a period of the human consciousness of the lapse of such relations as the consequence of conscious rebellion. The forgiveness does not have to be sought, only received as the consciousness of re-establishment of loyalty relations between the creature and the Creator. And all the loyal sons of God are happy, service-loving, and ever-progressive in the Paradise ascent."
Caino
Aimiel
Well-known member
Actually, yes, I can. It has been proven. We have more proof of Jesus' sayings than we do of anyone in antiquity. The reason being: the apostles wrote of Him and what He said and did and their testimony agrees. One of the ways this is proven is the fact that the apostles testified in Scripture of their own weaknesses and failures. This proves that they were relating Truth. Had they been writing fiction they would have written about their own virtues or told the story to make themselves look good. The way they wrote is proof of the truth of their words. This and other forensic evidence is weighed by the world's foremost authority on judiciary evidence of his time: Dr. Simon Greenleaf, one of the founders of Harvard University. He set out on a quest to try to disprove Scripture, using the testimony of the apostles as the evidence, since he was an atheist. He not only found out that they were true and honest, but that Jesus did live, die, rose from the dead and is seated at The Right Hand of God... he became a Christian. You can read his book, which weighs all the evidence found in the four gospels, "The Testimony of the Evangelists," by getting a copy from Amazon for a Kindle for free (or just read it in cloud form on your PC): CLICK HERE. ... or you can buy it from Amazon for as little as $4.00 for a used copy. I recommend you at least read this summary, by Dr. Greenleaf: CLICK HERE. I think you just might be surprised at what you learn. Your doubts about Scripture just might be laid to rest.
No, what Truth God is relating isn't the purpose of Scripture. The purpose of The Holy Scriptures is to lead you into a relationship with Him which will last forever. The purpose of the darkness in the things that you and others read and swear is so 'good' for people is to drive people away from a relationship with Christ. That is pure evil. Half-Truth is exactly the same thing as a whole lie. Worse, even, since it is a lie masquerading as Truth.
It is all that God decided would be printed in His Holy Bible, yes. More than what is written we are not to even ask about, much less believe that we have found out about. There is no private interpretation of prophecy.
2 Peter 1:20
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
Those who are prophets can tell you: God doesn't reveal something only to certain people. When He uses parables, it's to prevent people who would twist His Words from even understanding what it is He's talking about. He doesn't reveal His Truth through false gods. He revealed ALL His Truth through His Son. If that isn't enough for you then you will only ever have your false gods which are actually demons and they will be your companions for eternity. It won't be fun, though.
God does use fiction to point men to Christ. The proof against Urantia is the mere fact that those who believe it is Truth don't stick to The Holy Bible. God will never violate His Word. Urantia does.
The Concept of Sin
(975.5) 89:2.1 The fear of chance and the dread of bad luck literally drove man into the invention of primitive religion as supposed insurance against these calamities. From magic and ghosts, religion evolved through spirits and fetishes to taboos. Every primitive tribe had its tree of forbidden fruit, literally the apple but figuratively consisting of a thousand branches hanging heavy with all sorts of taboos. And the forbidden tree always said, “Thou shalt not.”
(975.6) 89:2.2 As the savage mind evolved to that point where it envisaged both good and bad spirits, and when the taboo received the solemn sanction of evolving religion, the stage was all set for the appearance of the new conception of sin. The idea of sin was universally established in the world before revealed religion ever made its entry. It was only by the concept of sin that natural death became logical to the primitive mind. Sin was the transgression of taboo, and death was the penalty of sin.
(975.7) 89:2.3 Sin was ritual, not rational; an act, not a thought. And this entire concept of sin was fostered by the lingering traditions of Dilmun and the days of a little paradise on earth. The tradition of Adam and the Garden of Eden also lent substance to the dream of a onetime “golden age” of the dawn of the races. And all this confirmed the ideas later expressed in the belief that man had his origin in a special creation, that he started his career in perfection, and that transgression of the taboos — sin — brought him down to his later sorry plight.
(976.1) 89:2.4 The habitual violation of a taboo became a vice; primitive law made vice a crime; religion made it a sin. Among the early tribes the violation of a taboo was a combined crime and sin. Community calamity was always regarded as punishment for tribal sin. To those who believed that prosperity and righteousness went together, the apparent prosperity of the wicked occasioned so much worry that it was necessary to invent hells for the punishment of taboo violators; the numbers of these places of future punishment have varied from one to five.
(976.2) 89:2.5 The idea of confession and forgiveness early appeared in primitive religion. Men would ask forgiveness at a public meeting for sins they intended to commit the following week. Confession was merely a rite of remission, also a public notification of defilement, a ritual of crying “unclean, unclean!” Then followed all the ritualistic schemes of purification. All ancient peoples practiced these meaningless ceremonies. Many apparently hygienic customs of the early tribes were largely ceremonial.
Caino
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
Its your 'choosing'..........
Its your 'choosing'..........
Summary-points: In the Papers we find a definitive teaching on the sovereignty of free will, as it regards the condition and destiny of the individual soul as it exercises its 'free agency' within the liberties given by divine providence. As the above explains,...the mind is the 'chooser'.... to follow the spirit-leadings of the Adjuster, the minds own desires or lower nature inclincations.....these choices ultimately affecting destiny, therefore the soul can choose destruction (sinful choices fostering death) or construction (eternal survival/life) choosing the divine will. A soul that embraces sin/iniquity whole-heartedly and reaches a point of no return DIES a final and eternal death. Souls that make a final choice of self-destruction are brought before the heavenly courts where the powers that be adjudicate their case. Since 'free will' is respected for every individual soul, its choice is conditional and final as far as its effects are concerned.
Papers 107 - 112 cover the Thought Adjusters and the soul, and Personality-survival.
~*~*~
Some more posts on the 'Thought- Adjuster' and its presence/ministry in the human soul -
God consciousness and the Thought Adjuster
TAs
The TA guiding the soul, serving as a pilot
Every soul has liberty of choice......
pj
Its your 'choosing'..........
Summary-points: In the Papers we find a definitive teaching on the sovereignty of free will, as it regards the condition and destiny of the individual soul as it exercises its 'free agency' within the liberties given by divine providence. As the above explains,...the mind is the 'chooser'.... to follow the spirit-leadings of the Adjuster, the minds own desires or lower nature inclincations.....these choices ultimately affecting destiny, therefore the soul can choose destruction (sinful choices fostering death) or construction (eternal survival/life) choosing the divine will. A soul that embraces sin/iniquity whole-heartedly and reaches a point of no return DIES a final and eternal death. Souls that make a final choice of self-destruction are brought before the heavenly courts where the powers that be adjudicate their case. Since 'free will' is respected for every individual soul, its choice is conditional and final as far as its effects are concerned.
Papers 107 - 112 cover the Thought Adjusters and the soul, and Personality-survival.
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Some more posts on the 'Thought- Adjuster' and its presence/ministry in the human soul -
God consciousness and the Thought Adjuster
TAs
The TA guiding the soul, serving as a pilot
Every soul has liberty of choice......
pj
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
Reconcilation in a new light.........
Reconcilation in a new light.........
Here we see that 'sacrifice' includes olden forms of 'blood sacrifice', or 'atonement' by such means. As we learn later,....'loyalty relations' are what matter, as one's heart and will are 'loyal' to 'God'...or not. Therefore, forgiveness is a 'release' or 'resolution' effected AS the soul chooses to unite itself to 'God', while the karmic consequences for the sin may still be experienced to some degree, until the reparation is complete.
This definition of 'sin' would seem to be of a higher intellectual note, as the mind's arena of choice is pivotal in determining the caliber of sin and its remedy.
pj
Reconcilation in a new light.........
Here we see that 'sacrifice' includes olden forms of 'blood sacrifice', or 'atonement' by such means. As we learn later,....'loyalty relations' are what matter, as one's heart and will are 'loyal' to 'God'...or not. Therefore, forgiveness is a 'release' or 'resolution' effected AS the soul chooses to unite itself to 'God', while the karmic consequences for the sin may still be experienced to some degree, until the reparation is complete.
This definition of 'sin' would seem to be of a higher intellectual note, as the mind's arena of choice is pivotal in determining the caliber of sin and its remedy.
pj
Good post Freelight,
We must also keep in mind that sin and redemption was/is very much a business for the shamans, priest and then the church. When Jesus taught that God is already forgiving and that sincere faith was all that was necessary, then the temple merchants were furious!
The Liberal teachings of Jesus are a threat to controlling doctrines wherein middlemen and conflicting theologies are also a requirement.
Caino
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
God is Love.......
God is Love.......
Ah, the business aspect of religion. That 'God' being Love is already forgiving and that repentance and faith are all that is essential to re-turning to 'God' is a matter of divine nature. Such would be enough to make any intelligent person reconsider the necessity of 'blood- sacrifice' or 'sin-offerings' to somehow merit God's favor. As in the parable of the prodigal son, the Father ever waits for his sons to come home. Note the wayward son never had to bring an animal to sacrifice....to be embraced by the Father.
Well,...in this case Jesus was more like an Essene, where gentleness, harmlessness, humaneness to animals, and the rejection of the bloody temple sacrifices and its priesthood corruptions were held strongly. The true sacrifices of 'God' are a humble heart and contrite spirit. All that is required to return to 'God' is prayer, repentance, the offering of one's own heart and soul to truth,....the actual DOING of God's will. This is true repentance, a return to righteousness.
No one else's righteousness can ever be accredited to another, as each must make reparation or atonement for their own sins, and return to righteousness to their own credit, for such is based on the principle of self-responsibility. While the grace or spiritual radiance of a great master or Messiah can bless, help, empower and in some way mediate for a believer, the one still must by his own response and return to 'God', choose to do right and earn the victory of righteousness by his own choice and willful surrender to Spirit.
pj
God is Love.......
Ah, the business aspect of religion. That 'God' being Love is already forgiving and that repentance and faith are all that is essential to re-turning to 'God' is a matter of divine nature. Such would be enough to make any intelligent person reconsider the necessity of 'blood- sacrifice' or 'sin-offerings' to somehow merit God's favor. As in the parable of the prodigal son, the Father ever waits for his sons to come home. Note the wayward son never had to bring an animal to sacrifice....to be embraced by the Father.
Well,...in this case Jesus was more like an Essene, where gentleness, harmlessness, humaneness to animals, and the rejection of the bloody temple sacrifices and its priesthood corruptions were held strongly. The true sacrifices of 'God' are a humble heart and contrite spirit. All that is required to return to 'God' is prayer, repentance, the offering of one's own heart and soul to truth,....the actual DOING of God's will. This is true repentance, a return to righteousness.
No one else's righteousness can ever be accredited to another, as each must make reparation or atonement for their own sins, and return to righteousness to their own credit, for such is based on the principle of self-responsibility. While the grace or spiritual radiance of a great master or Messiah can bless, help, empower and in some way mediate for a believer, the one still must by his own response and return to 'God', choose to do right and earn the victory of righteousness by his own choice and willful surrender to Spirit.
pj
Aimiel
Well-known member
Simply patently false: only by applying Jesus' Righteousness to us can God give us His Grace. Without Jesus' Blood there is no forgiveness for our sins.
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