© 2016 Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2016 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
In the new edition of the Link, we invite you to explore some concepts from the Urantia Book in an interactive way, a bit like a study group. Questions on a given theme will be asked with a list of readings suggested to answer them.
These questions will also be posted on the forum and those who wish will be able to exchange their points of view. For a first attempt we have chosen the following theme which will be spread over four issues of the Link.
The Inevitable Injunction
During the second period we found that God has equipped us with everything we need to do His divine will, a mind, the “arena of choice” that provides us with consciousness; a unique personality with free will that gives us awareness of ourselves and others; a physical body as the vehicle for our personality; a Thought Adjuster bringing with it a perfect pattern of spiritual career to inspire and guide us to the Universal Father; and finally our soul, the joint creation of our material mind and our Thought Adjuster that grows as we do the will of God and eventually merges with our Thought Adjuster.
All these things are generously given to us so that we can become actors in this divine plan of endless outpouring of love, mercy and service. Will we participate in it by devoting our will to doing the will of our Father? The Divine Counselor whispers in our ears: “The loving consecration of the human will to the execution of the will of the Father is man’s most precious gift to God. In fact, such a consecration of the creature’s will constitutes the only truly valuable gift that it is possible for man to make to the Father in Paradise.” (UB 1:1.2).
What does it mean to do God’s will and how can we actualize it in our lives? What role does living faith in God play and how can it control our demanding ego and energize our lives?
The faith of Jesus, sublime, dynamic and alive, is a perfect example of the consecration of a man’s will to do the will of God. The life of Jesus is an exceptional source of inspiration from which we can draw solutions to resolve our psychological tensions, resolve our emotional conflicts, control our ego and put the ups and downs of our existence in the broader perspective of our eternal life. The third period will therefore be devoted to the study of booklet 196.
Question 1: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3
A Melchizedek writes: “Through religious faith the soul of man reveals itself and demonstrates the potential divinity of its emerging nature by the characteristic way in which it prompts the mortal personality to respond to certain intellectually and socially trying situations. (UB 101:3.4).
What are the sources of authentic faith and among the twelve human reactions induced, which inspires you the most? Give an example taken from your experience.
Question 2: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3
In the introduction to booklet 196, the author describes the sublime and inspiring faith of Jesus.
What are the remarkable characteristics of Jesus’ faith and which one inspires you the most and why?
Question 3: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3 Jesus prayed for “the mobilization of the combined powers of the soul to resist all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin.” (UB 196:0.10)
What are these powers of the soul that Jesus appeals to?
Question 4: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3
When we seek to control our demanding ego and our psychological temptations by an effort of will to do the will of the Father, it very often results in repressed frustrations which resurface in the form of irresistible impulses. On this issue Jesus responds to Nathanael: “But I warn you against the madness of wanting to overcome temptation by resorting to simple human will to replace one desire with another desire considered superior.” (UB 156:5.5)
What solution does Jesus offer us?
Question 5: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3 The narrator uses the phrase “living faith” to describe Jesus’ faith in the introduction.
What practice did Jesus do to keep this faith alive?
Question 6: Read the following sections: 196; 101:3
“Personal, spiritual religious experience effectively solves most mortal difficulties; it effectively selects, evaluates, and adjusts all human problems. Religion does not remove or eliminate human troubles, but dissolves, absorbs, illuminates, and transcends them.” (UB 196:3.1)
How do you explain this statement and what lesson do you draw from it?
The fourth period will be published in le Lien No. 74 of June 2016