© 2005 Chris Ragetly
© 2005 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 35 — Autumn/Winter 2005 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 35 — Autumn/Winter 2005 | Science, philosophy, religion and revelation |
God is inherently kind, naturally compassionate, and everlastingly merciful. And never is it necessary that any influence be brought to bear upon the Father to call forth his loving-kindness. The creature’s need is wholly sufficient to insure the full flow of the Father’s tender mercies and his saving grace. Since God knows all about his children, it is easy for him to forgive. The better man understands his neighbor, the easier it will be to forgive him, even to love him. (UB 2:4.2)
To understand our neighbor, let us follow God’s example. First, let us learn to know him, let us know how to discern his qualities and his faults, he necessarily has some, how can we know these qualities? Quite simply by observing the life of our neighbor, we quickly become aware of his qualities and his faults. Curiously, it is by forgiving that we learn to love our neighbor better. The verb to love takes on a completely different meaning here than that which we can give it in the case of falling in love with our future partner. To forgive, there must be something to forgive, that is to say, a defect, an imperfection, a weakness, a shortcoming, a fault, even a vice appears. Forgiving a wrong that has been done to us is the solution to better understand and then try to love our neighbor. Even if no wrong has been done to us, it may happen that the “head” of his neighbor does not “please” us, and it is then that our ability to take the first step of a friendship that can develop into love comes into play. This is one of the most difficult things to accomplish. “…it is this lack of natural brotherly attraction that is now preventing an immediate realization of the brotherhood of man on Urantia.” (UB 68:1.1). The guidance of our Thought Adjuster is indispensable to us here. And “it works”! Why does “it work”? Because in contacting the Father, we set in motion our faith, our faculty of discernment, our potential to become the friend of God, and all this is reflected in an experience that will satisfy and edify our neighbor as well as ourselves. Our action will have given us the opportunity to have perhaps brought a mortal closer to God. And this action is beneficial to our neighbor, to ourselves, and to God. It is the beginning of brotherhood between men.
C. M. Ragetly
(Quotes from The Urantia Book are in italics)
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 35 — Autumn/Winter 2005 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 35 — Autumn/Winter 2005 | Science, philosophy, religion and revelation |