© 2011 David Glass
© 2011 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Machiventa Melchizedek: One of History's Mysteries | Volume 11, Number 2, 2011 (Summer) — Index | One Man's Tour Through The Evolutionary Debate |
The progressive comprehension of reality is the equivalent of approaching God. [UB 196:3.3]
“Is there a God; and, if so, what is he like?” These are age-old questions, having arisen as long ago as man himself when he first wonderingly beheld the starry heavens at night; or observed a plant emerge out of the earth, grow, flourish, and flower; when he responded to his seemingly innate love of family and children; or when he contemplated the destiny of his departed friends, family, associates, and chieftains.
Since those ancient times, man has achieved some theological sophistication; however, The Urantia Book testifies that currently on our world “there exists great confusion respecting the meanings of such terms as God, divinity, and deity.” [UB 0:0.1] (my emphasis) There are many groups and individuals who believe they have certain, but conflicting, answers to our initial questions, and many of these are passionately dedicated to maintaining and to proliferating such beliefs among other persons and peoples. There is also a newly refreshed and recently more prominently vocal group of people who are non-believers in “God, divinity, and deity.” And among this group there are some who are likewise passionate about the proliferation of their views.
Into this milieu of conflict, contrariety, and discord, a revelation has been bestowed—given—or, perhaps, you might even say, thrust; The Urantia Book has been made available to the minds of those who are seeking answers to our initial questions. The revelation presents its material with a frank forcefulness and with a direct authority which a growing number of mortals are finding difficult to resist, even easy to entertain—believe.
The purposes of this presentation are basically twofold: (1) to overview the what, the how, and the why of the opening content of The Urantia Book–more specifically, to consider the manner in which the revelation states and arranges its introductory information (about God) and (2) to discuss what meaning, impact, and relevance these teachings are for each of us today.
Thus, as stated, the subject matter of this presentation is nothing timid or unadventuristic—it is a consideration of God, the Universal Father, your father and my father— spiritually—as he is presented and described in papers one through three of The Urantia Book. So without further introductory ado, may I begin:
First, let’s see how simply the titles of our three papers relate directly to our original questions: “Is there a God, and, if so, what is he like?”
The first paper begins by immediately discussing God, thus affirming that the revelator’s answer to our first question is: Yes, there is a God. And, we meet God by a new name, “the Universal Father,” the title of Paper l. Then, in Papers 2 and 3, we learn about the nature and attributes of God, as reflected in their titles—here we learn something about what God is like.
When I go back over and through the three papers, I marvel at how logically, how reasonably, the contents of these papers are arranged: in an order and sequence designed to maximize the quality of the manner in which the information is presented to the human mind.
Paper 1 begins with important information about God: It reveals God as the Creator, Controller, and Upholder of all things and beings, while emphasizing his uniqueness. Then, the Divine Counselor—the author of papers 1-3—reveals that God has manifested an intentionally inhabited, far-flung universe of universes wherein are scattered myriads of planets and that many of these worlds, are more or less comparable to our own world, Urantia.
Next comes a declaration which discloses the most important aspect of the relationship between God himself and his lowest ranking universe citizens, mortal men. That dynamic, progress-inciting decree of the Father which has set all creation astir is God’s primary invitation-command to man—indeed to all creature beings: “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.”
Assurances of the possibility of attaining this destiny follow, and the opening section of paper 1 closes by describing the cosmos-wide, Paradiseward ascension of all mortals everywhere to God as “the supreme adventure” of all time.
Now, let’s consider more of Paper 1: Section 1 is titled, “The Father’s Name.” It just makes sense to me that the first section of the first paper about God should discuss and establish God’s name and the significance and importance of that name. Within this section we learn two additional truths: (1) that dedicating our will to the doing of our Father’s will is our “choicest gift to God,” and (2) that we will each find or devise our own individual names for God which will adequately express our personal concepts of the First Great Source and Center. God has never revealed himself by name, only by nature. Section number 1 closes by deemphasizing the name selected for God and by exalting the importance of getting to know God and of thereby becoming more like him while spiritually and cosmically “drawing nearer” to God—our theme.
Section 2 affirms the next most salient truth about God. Having established a few names wherewith to refer to God, such as “God,” we come to the first of our questions: Is there a God? Is God real? Section 2 is titled, “The Reality of God.” God is most certainly real. Indeed, God is Primal Reality; he is the Prior Reality, the First Great Source of all reality.
While Jesus through his life revealed God to man’s comprehension capacity as fully as possible, he, surprisingly, taught very little specifically about “the heavenly Father”—only “that God in himself is spirit, and that . . . he is a Father.” [UB 169:4.11] In the very title of Paper 1, it is revealed that God is a Father, even “The Universal Father.” Having established a name for God and the reality of God, the Divine Counselor now titles section 3, “God is a Universal Spirit” throughout which the spirit nature of God and the nature of God’s spirit are considered. The Counselor relates the important revelation-statements: “’God is spirit,’ and ‘God is love.’” [UB 1:3.8]
Now the Counselor encounters a problem—a seeming impasse in his assignment, as would any spirit revelator presenting the Universal Father (who is spirit) to the minds of mortal men (who are predominantly material). God’s selfrevelation to men and the revelator’s ability to reveal spiritual truth to the minds of men is probably made possible principally for the same reason: because man’s mind is indwelt by a spirit fragment of God himself. Man’s indwelling spirit is a fragment of the original, absolute, and prior-to-allelse Reality of God. All functions of man’s indwelling spirit represent the activities of God’s indwelling spirit in the mind of man; they constitute, therefore, “the most profound of all universe mysteries”—“the mystery of mysteries.” [UB 1:4.1]
Continuing in section 4, “The Mystery of God,” the Counselor writes: “As a reality in human spiritual experience God is not a mystery. But when an attempt is made to make plain the realities of the spirit world to the physical minds of the material order, mystery appears.” “[O]nly the faith-grasp of the God-knowing mortal can achieve the philosophic miracle of the recognition of the Infinite by the finite.” [UB 1:4.7] The discovery of the presence and activity of God’s spirit in the mind of man constitutes a philosophical miracle; therefore, it should not be a corresponding great mystery to us that some men’s minds do not achieve this miracle, ascribe the effective reality of human spiritual experience to magic, or disallow it altogether.
“Miracle” is in no sense too strong a term to refer to the presence and activity of the spirit of the Infinite in the mind of the finite. To God, who achieved the realization of such an association of the finite and the infinite, it is not a miracle. But probably to all sub-infinite intellects, such an association does constitute a miracle, hence a “mystery,”—indeed, “the mystery of mysteries.”
The three (final) sections of Paper 1 emphatically establish the personality of deity. [UB 1:5-7] You may recall that the personality of God was also the topic discussed by Rodan, Thomas, and Nathaniel. [See: UB 161:1]
In Paper 1, section 5, the revelator patently states: “God is both infinite and personal; he is an infinite personality.” [UB 1:5.1] As such, God’s personality is not fully comprehensible by any finite material creature beings, such as ourselves. “Although you may know that God must be much more than the human conception of personality, you equally well know that the Universal Father cannot possibly be anything less than an eternal, infinite, true, good, and beautiful personality.” [UB 1:5.2]
There are a plentiful number of arguments which establish the personality of God in this section and in sections 6 and 7. However, the most memorable and incontrovertible argument, to my mind, is stated in another paper by a Melchizedek of Nebadon, who writes: “If God were not at least personal, he could not be conscious, and if not conscious, then would he be infrahuman,” subhuman. [UB 103:1.6]
The biblical passage which appears back in Paper 1, section 5, also makes a strong appeal to my sense of the reasonable: “He who planned the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eye, shall he not see?” [UB 1:5.1] Stated otherwise: If personality is the highest, all-encompassing, and unifying aspect of our being—see [UB 0:5] and [UB 112:0.1]—then our Primal Creator, a being infinitely more exalted, universal, and unified than we are, must likewise possess personality; he must be personal.
In section 7, we read about “The Spiritual Value of the Personality Concept”: “The concept of the personality of Deity facilitates fellowship; it favors intelligent worship; it promotes refreshing trustfulness. . . . Only personalities can commune with each other.” [UB 1:7.1] Fellowship, worship, trust, and communion are spiritually valuable: they all promote interactive human-divine relations which result in man’s becoming more and more Godlike; man responds thereby to the supreme mandate; and he makes progress in his age-long approach to his Universal Father.
We know that truth, beauty, and goodness represent man’s “comprehensible elements of Deity.” [UB 56:10.2] “To finite man,” they “embrace the full revelation of divinity reality.” [UB 56:10.20] They constitute a “love-comprehension of Deity.” [UB 56:10.20] In Paper 1, section 7, they are referenced in the further establishment of the personality of Deity in this way:
The concept of truth might possibly be entertained apart from personality, the concept of beauty may exist without personality, but the concept of divine goodness is understandable only in relation to personality. Only a person can love and be loved. Even beauty and truth would be divorced from survival hope if they were not attributes of a personal God, a loving Father. [UB 1:7.3]
The personality of Deity is absolutely unified, notwithstanding the threefold personalization of Deity. The three divine personalities are indivisibly one in the deity unity of the Paradise Trinity. The oneness of the philosophically postulated, solitary I AM, from which the Father, Son, and Spirit “proceed,” is “reconstituted” or “maintained” in the absolute unity of the three persons of the Paradise Trinity.
Moving on to Paper 2: Concerning “The Nature of God,” we have already learned that the Father is infinite, eternal and perfect—[see: Sections UB 2:1 and UB 2:2]. Next, in section 3 of Paper 2, we learn that God is just and righteous; however, this section is immediately followed, qualified, and overshadowed by the assurances and descriptions of the mercy of God in section 4. Section 4, “The Divine Mercy,” begins with a definition of mercy that refers back to the justice and perfection of God, while anticipating his attribute of all-knowingness: “Mercy is simply justice tempered by that wisdom which grows out of perfection of knowledge and the full recognition of the natural weaknesses and environmental handicaps of finite creatures.” [UB 2:4.1] (My emphases) Thus, God is just because he is righteous, but God’s just nature is nevertheless mercy-dominated. (My emphasis throughout)
Later, we read: “Mercy is that natural and inevitable offspring of goodness and love,” and we learn: “Divine mercy represents a fairness technique of adjustment between the universe levels of perfection and imperfection.” [UB 2:4.4-5] Thus, God’s mercy, like his personality, is related to his love and his goodness.
A definitive statement in this section is: “Eternal justice and divine mercy together constitute what in human experience would be called fairness.” [UB 2:4.4] (My emphasis)
Now we arrive at section 5, “The Love of God.” I believe this entire section is more than deserving of many rereadings. It presents many points well worth reviewing. I will only touch on a few of them here.
The love of God is his only personal attitude towards the affairs of the universe. [see: UB 2:5.1, my emphases] In that sense, love is God’s exclusive situational response to all universe events. It follows that God’s love is universally inclusive: “He would ‘have all men be saved by coming into the knowledge of the truth.’” [UB 2:5.2] Furthermore, “God is divinely kind to sinners. When rebels return to righteousness, they are mercifully received.” [UB 2:5.4]
How can we know the extent, the power, and the greatness of the significance of God’s love for us? “The Father loves us sufficiently to bestow his life upon us.” [UB 2:5.1] But, “the greatest evidence of the goodness of God and the supreme reason for loving him is the indwelling gift of the Father—the Adjuster who so patiently awaits the hour when you both shall be eternally made one.” [UB 2:5.5] God’s love is of such a nature that he bestows sonship upon us, his mortal planetary children of time and space. Paul pours out his response to this realization-of-his-heart in the famous words: “’Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.” [UB 2:5.4]
That the forms of the expressions of some of the truths of this presentation have become familiar to us should to no degree diminish our estimation of their importance nor attenuate our experience of their astonishing impact. The truths of man’s eternal sonship with God; of the infinite love of God; and of the divine injunction to serve one’s fellows as Jesus served us are among the cornerstones of Jesus’ living gospel. He said: “That which the world needs most to know is: Men are the sons of God. . . ” [UB 193:0.4] He proclaimed: “If you would but believe that my Father loves you with an infinite love, then you are in the kingdom of God.” [UB 137:8.17] And he enjoins each of us today: “Serve your fellow men even as I have served you.” [UB 192:2.10]
It is empowering beyond measure for anyone to realize: The limitless and all-powerful, Creative Source of the entirety of the far-flung universe of universes loves me—uniquely, personally, individually! We are assured that a “finite human being can actually feel—literally experience—the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father’s LOVE.” [UB 3:4.6] Now, should anyone be of the opinion that he has not, thus far, actually felt and literally experienced the infinite love of God, then I enjoin him, by all means, to meditate upon God’s love, contemplate God’s love, and experience God’s love to the fullness of his present capacity, for (as we shall read later) such experiences are in themselves capacity-enlarging.
Paper 2 concludes with sections on “The Goodness of God,” and “Divine Truth and Beauty.” [UB 2:6.7]. The goodness of God is a part of the personality of God [see: UB 2:6.1] When thinking of the goodness, the perfection, the righteousness of the heavenly Father, ever recall: “Righteousness may be the divine thought, but love is a father’s attitude.” (UB 2:6.5) Rememeber: “God as a father transcends God as a judge.” [UB 2:6.6] In all our progressive attempts to discern the depth, the fullness—the infinity and the eternity—of the Universal Father’s plans and purposes, let us bear in mind: “Love identifies the volitional will of God.”[UB 2:6.9] While God the Creator ever does all things in perfection and in all-wisdom—God is love.
In section 7 of Paper 2, we learn that the “Divine Truth and Beauty,” together with the goodness of God, are all involved in an integrative process which results in a unity in divine love: “The discernment of supreme beauty is the discovery and integration of reality: The discernment of the divine goodness in the eternal truth, that is ultimate beauty. Even the charm of human art consists in the harmony of its unity.” [UB 2:7.8] (My emphasis) The Counselor writes, “Truth is coherent, beauty attractive, goodness stabilizing. And when these values of that which is real are co-ordinated in personality experience, the result is a high order of love conditioned by wisdom and qualified by loyalty.” [UB 2:7.12] And then comes the show-stopper: “Truth, beauty, and goodness are divine realities, and as man ascends the scale of spiritual living, these supreme qualities of the Eternal become increasingly co-ordinated and unified in God, who is love.” [UB 2:7.10] [Emphases mine]
Paper 3, “The Attributes of God,” continues the discussion of the Universal Father by establishing the preeminence of his Creatorship: “Creatorship is hardly an attribute of God; it is rather the aggregate of his acting nature. . . . And the creatorship of Deity culminates in the universal truth of the Fatherhood of God.” [UB 3:0.3] [My emphases throughout]
Section 1 of Paper 3 establishes the “Everywhereness” of God. “The ability of the Universal Father to be everywhere present, and at the same time, constitutes his omnipresence.” [UB 3:1.1]
It might be usefully stated here that the reason that the titles of sections 1, 2, and 3 of Paper 3 do not employ the terms we usually find when discussing deity—omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience—is, presumably, because, in the word-usage of the revelation, these three terms are generally reserved to refer to the absonite level of reality [see: UB 105:7.13]—whereas, in speaking of God—the Universal Father—we are, more likely than not, discussing realities having to do with the absolute and/or the infinite levels of Reality [see: UB 106:0.8-9]
One interesting feature of the topic of section 1 is that “the everywhereness of God” refers to the omnipresence, to the “presence” of God. While the universal presence of God is uniform and unvarying on infinite and absolute levels, we may be somewhat surprised to learn that on sub-infinite and sub-absolute levels, the presence of God, as a functional reality in the individual lives of personal creatures, while not whimsical in manifestation, is variable: that while “[t]he Father has freely bestowed himself upon us without limit and without favor,” [UB 3:1.12] “his effective presence is determined by the degree of co-operation accorded [the] indwelling [Thought] Adjusters by the minds of their sojourn.” [UB 3:1.11]
Further clarifying this truth, the revelator adds: “The fluctuations of the Father’s presence are not due to the changeableness of God. . . . Rather, having been endowed with the power of choice (concerning Himself), his children, in the exercise of that choice, directly determine the degree and limitations of the Father’s divine influence in their own hearts and souls.” [UB 3:1.12] This seems to be a rather instructive and admonitory notification by the Counselor.
Concerning “God’s Infinite Power,” discussed in section 2, we learn three things regarding the limitless power of the Universal Father: (1) God’s power is infinite; (2) his control of all force, energy, and power is complete, total, and universal— all-inclusive—that is, there is no power not dominated by the controllership of God; and (3) God is the exclusive Source of all force, energy, and power: “’[T]here is no power but of God.’” [UB 3:2.1]
God’s all-powerfulness implies his omnipotence which in turn implies God’s ability to do all things. The Counselor qualifiedly confirms this truth, stating, “Within the bounds of that which is consistent with the divine nature, it is literally true that ‘with God all things are possible.’” [UB 3:2.2] The Counselor further qualifies the concept of God’s omnipotence in section 3: “Omnipotence does not imply the power to do the nondoable.” [UB 3:3.5] Even the omnipotence of God is, of course, not capable of producing square circles or of creating evil which is inherently good— as some Urantian philosophers have sometimes considered. God’s actions, powered by his omnipotence, all “unfold in accordance with the eternal purpose of the Universal Father, . . . and in keeping with the all-wise plan of God.” [UB 3:2.2]
(It is, again, perhaps noteworthy, that we have terms for God’s everywhereness, infinite power, and universal knowledge— omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience, respectively— but that there is no corresponding term for God’s inherent, universal, eternal, and perfect “all-wisdom.” Whenever the “omni-wisdom” of God is referred to in the revelation the terms “all-wise” and “all-wisdom” are employed.) (My emphasis)
Here is an important statement regarding the all-wisdom of the Universal Father: “As the emergencies of human experience arise, he has foreseen them all, and therefore he does not react to the affairs of the universe in a detached way but rather in accordance with the dictates of eternal wisdom and in consonance with the mandates of infinite judgment.” [UB 3:2.6] [My emphases]
Furthermore, the truth-fact that “God controls all power” [UB 3:2.4], extends to an associated truth: “[H]e has ordained the circuits of all energy. He has decreed the time and manner of the manifestation of all forms of energymatter.” [UB 3:2.4] God’s direct control of all energy, most probably, ought to be referred to his effectiveness upon the infinite and absolute levels. On subinfinite levels—certainly on the finite level—God permits his physical laws to become somewhat subject to modifications in the interests of more localized conditions and in accordance with the plans and purposes of his entrusted subordinates.
Consider, for example, this statement from Paper 4: “God acts in accordance with a well-defined, unchanging, immutable law throughout the wide-spreading master universe; but he modifies the patterns of his action so as to contribute to the co-ordinate and balanced conduct of each universe, constellation, system, planet, and personality in accordance with the local objects, aims, and plans of the finite projects of evolutionary unfolding.” [UB 4:2.1]
God’s knowledge is universal, complete, total, perfect: all-inclusive (Section 3). God knows all things; he is conversant with the thought of all creation; his knowledge of events is universal and perfect; his awareness extends into every place. “All the worlds of every universe are constantly within the consciousness of God.” [UB 3:3.2] He likewise knows of, and perhaps, in some inexplicable fashion, experiences—shares—the “afflictions” of all his children. And he knows all their needs before they have thought to make petition therefor.
God’s universal knowledge is supplemented indirectly through the consciousness and experience of his Sons and directly through God’s conscious identity with his spirit fragments such as the Paradise Thought Adjusters that serve, wait, and watch in the depths of the human mind. The Universal Father is also all the time aware of the content of the absolute mind of the Infinite Spirit.
It is not clear to the Counselor whether God chooses to foreknow events of sin. However, should God choose to exercise complete foreknowledge, such awareness would in no way abrogate the true free will of all of his personal creatures. “One thing is certain: God is never subjected to surprise.” [UB 3:3.4]
Regarding the import of section 4, the significance of “The Limitlessness of God” can be expressed in one sentence: “In potential of force, wisdom, and love, the Father has never lessened aught of his possession nor become divested of any attribute of his glorious personality as the result of the unstinted bestowal of himself upon the Paradise Sons, upon his subordinate creations, and upon the manifold creatures thereof.” [UB 3:4.1] (My emphasis)
Paradoxically—that is, at least in human understanding— it would seem that we cannot truly fathom even the nature, much less the actuality, of infinity. In fact, we are assured that “[t]he Supreme . . . probably embraces all of infinity that [we] can ever really comprehend. To understand more than the Supreme is to be more than finite!” [UB 117:6.19]
There is one exception to this general truth: It seems to be possible (as stated above) for an individual mortal to experience the quality, if not the quantity, of the infinite Father’s love: A “finite human being can actually feel—lit erally experience—the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father’s LOVE. . . . [W]hile quality of experience is unlimited, quantity of such an experience is strictly limited by the human capacity for spiritual receptivity and by the associated capacity to love the Father in return.” [UB 3:4.6]
At this point in the Counselor’s disclosures, he pauses to make an observation which is germane to our contemplation, as mortal creatures, on all the qualities, traits, attributes, and characteristics of God in which we have been engaged throughout this discussion: “Finite appreciation of infinite qualities far transcends the logically limited capacities of the creature because of the fact that mortal man is made in the image of God—there lives within him a fragment of infinity.” [UB 3:4.7]
In section 5, we consider ‘The Father’s Supreme Rule,’ his sovereignty. The supreme, ultimate, absolute, and infinite sovereignty of God is perfectly consistent with his universal and maximated plan and practice of delegating personal authority and universe supervision upon a vast concourse of subordinate personalities. All delegations of authority are, however, in the final analysis, conditional: “Any and all powers delegated,” the Counselor writes, “if occasion should arise, if it should become the choice of the divine mind, could be exercised direct; but, as a rule, such action only takes place as a result of the failure of the delegated personality to fulfill the divine trust.” [UB 3:5.1]
The bestowal of free will upon imperfect creatures can and does occasion significant departures from the Father’s perfect purposes and eternal plans. Men are capable of actualizing that evil which is only potential in the bestowal of free will. And while “the uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God” [UB 3:5.5], they can create situations fraught with difficulties and replete with not a little anxiety. That these challenges which comprise a part of the mortal life adventure also provide spiritual- and character-improvement opportunities is evidenced in the listing of the eleven considerations which have come to be called “the inevitabilities.”[UB 3:5.6-14]
The Father’s supreme rule eventuates in his primacy, the topic of section 6: “With divine selflessness, consummate generosity, the Universal Father relinquishes authority and delegates power, but he is still primal; his hand is on the mighty lever of the circumstances of the universal realms; he has reserved all final decisions and unerringly wields the all-powerful veto scepter of his eternal purpose with unchallengeable authority over the welfare and destiny of the outstretched, whirling, and ever-circling creation.” [UB 3:6.1]
The Divine Counselor comes full circle in this final section of Paper 3, affirming in a fresh, memorable, and succinct expression: “The will of God is divine truth, living love.” [UB 3:6.2] We return to the divine truth that the Universal Father is the personality of living love which the First Great Source and Center ever turns toward the innumerable personalities of his intelligent creatures inhabiting hundreds of thousands of universes.
To review: God is eternal, infinite, and perfect. He is a personality defined as spirit and consisting in love. “God is unlimited in power, divine in nature, final in will, infinite in attributes, eternal in wisdom, and absolute in reality.” [UB 3:2.15] God is just, merciful, and fair; true, beautiful, and good; powerful, sovereign, and primal.
It is both my prayer and purpose that this survey of information about the Universal Father should redound to our all having been enabled to move at least slightly nearer to him. No concepts of God or about God are as spiritually valuable, however, as experience with him. Therefore, I close with these words of a Mighty Messenger, one who has discovered God in his heart and subsequently in person on Paradise, and who once came to Urantia bearing this message:
Men all too often forget that God is the greatest experience in human existence. Other experiences are limited in their nature and content, but the experience of God has no limits save those of the creature’s comprehension capacity, and this very experience is in itself capacity enlarging. When men search for God, they are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything. The search for God is the unstinted bestowal of love attended by amazing discoveries of new and greater love to be bestowed. [UB 117:6.9] (My emphases throughout)
David Glass has been a Urantia Book reader and study group participant since 1972. He is currently a member of the Fellowship Publication Committee, and the president of the Urantia Society of North Texas. He also serves on the Urantia University introduction Development Team.
| Machiventa Melchizedek: One of History's Mysteries | Volume 11, Number 2, 2011 (Summer) — Index | One Man's Tour Through The Evolutionary Debate |