© 1999 Jeffrey Wattles
© 1999 Association Internationale Urantia (IUA)
Jeffrey Wattles
Ohio, United States
It took me decades of struggle to find a deep and lasting peace about the fatherhood of God. It was in the 1970s, while living in Berkeley, at the height of the feminist movement, that I became actively involved in proclaiming the gospel. I was accused of being a bad man because of my specific relationships with women. I was told that my theology could not be uncontaminated by my personal and cultural imperfections; and I could not help but feel that these accusations were quite insightful. A notice from the pulpit of the Pacific School of Religion reminded speakers to use “inclusive language.” Ministers who came out of liberal seminaries largely stopped referring to God as our Father, except in a few vestiges of traditional liturgy. Referring to God primarily as our Father was considered unfair to women;
How would Jesus answer these arguments if they were presented to him? Perhaps he could rephrase the appeal to Thomas: “How long before you will acquire the ability to listen with the ear of the spirit? How long will it be before you discern that this kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and that my Father is also a spiritual being? Do you not understand that I am teaching you as spiritual children in the spirit family of heaven, of which the fatherhead is an infinite and eternal spirit? Will you not allow me to use the earth family as an illustration of divine relationships without so literally applying my teaching to material affairs? In your minds cannot you separate the spiritual realities of the kingdom from the material, social, economic, and political problems of the age? When I speak the language of the spirit, why do you insist on translating my meaning into the language of the flesh just because I presume to employ commonplace and literal relationships for purposes of illustration? My children, I implore that you cease to apply the teaching of the kingdom of the spirit to the sordid affairs of slavery, poverty, houses, and lands, and to the material problems of human equity and justice.” [UB 142:7.17]. We know that the Master countenanced only those teachings which accorded women equality with men. [UB 167:5.4], and he was explicit about the divine paradigm of this equality when he spoke to the man who beat his wife. (UB 133:2.2)
It is also clear that Jesus would not approve of the reduction of the fatherhood of God to a mere doctrine or belief. Among the prayers which he taught the apostles one began: _Our creative Parent; another: Glorious Father and Mother, united in one ascendant; a third: Our all-faithful Source and all-powerful Center,. (UB 144:5.74) In preaching the gospel of the kingdom, you are simply teaching friendship with God. And this fellowship will appeal alike to men and women in that both will find that which most truly satisfies their characteristic longings and ideals. UB 159:3.9
The student of The Urantia Book who seeks to look beyond these answers ventures, I believe, beyond religion into history, sociology, philosophy, and theology. Part III contains teachings on the differences and complementarity of the sexes which can only be interpreted in the context of the spiritual perspective established in Parts I, II, and IV of the Book. We are told, for example, that a bestowal Son always incarnates as a male child (UB 20:6.2) and that the mortal bestowal of Jesus was intended to reveal the Father. (UB 120:0.8) If the bestowal of Jesus was typical, one may wonder how such a bestowal would function on a planet where women rule. (UB 52:2.7) The synthesis of these various teachings is a task that will continue to attract psychologists, philosophers, and theologians since the problem is so important today. It is not my purpose to attempt this philosophical synthesis but only to clarify the spiritual teaching of the Father.
In any phase of growth, study, or service there seems to be only one great theme to which we must give maximum attention. Sometimes it is the spirit of genuine service that we must realize first; other times it is a relationship with the Universal Father, or the Eternal Son, or the Infinite Spirit, or the Creator Son, or the Supreme or the Thought Adjuster. The theme of a day, or a month, or a longer period, may be faith, or trust, or love. Once the requisite experience, reflection, and discernment have been acquired, one is carried on to a new theme of maximum attention. As the number of major themes is limited, and as our mortal discernment is never final, we go round in circles and return to truths in which our former level of discernment no longer suffices. Thus there is a spiral of the spiritual life. The Fatherhood of God is a fact and truth to which, on my personal spiral, I have returned many times. What brought me a new level of peace was a recent experience in which I realized that finding the Father included also finding God the Mother. I can hardly imagine that my struggles in seeking to fathom and teach the Fatherhood of God are over, but I also cannot imagine that the peace I have found will ever disappear.
Section 1 of Booklet One, “The Name of the Father,” deals in the most elaborate way with the question of the name of the Father.
How important is the name we choose? Section 1 tells us: “The First Source and Universe Center has never revealed himself by name, only by nature.” (UB 1:1.1) The author uses many names in this section and informs us of many names used in different parts of the universe. The author makes it clear that no theological orthodoxy is to be imposed. Individuals are free to choose different names. “The name he is given is of little importance; the significant thing is that you should know him and aspire to be like him.” [UB 1:1.6]
Why is the name Father frequently used? If we believe that we are the children of this Creator, it is only natural that we should eventually call him Father. [UB 1:1.1] On those worlds where a Paradise Son has lived a bestowal life, God is generally known by some name indicative of personal relationship, tender affection, and fatherly devotion… Those who know God through the revelations of the bestowals of the Paradise Sons, eventually yield to the sentimental appeal of the touching relationship of the creature-Creator association and refer to God as “our Father.” [UB 1:1.5]
How shall we go about selecting a personal name for God? First of all, it is necessary to find God. The name of our own choice are much dependent on the creature’s concept of the Creator. [UB 1:1.1]. The choice of name which we make grows out of the recognition of our personal relationship with the First Source and Center. [UB 1:1.1] When you have once become truly God-conscious, after you really discover the majestic Creator and begin to experience the realization of the indwelling presence of the divine controller, …you will find a name for the Universal Father which will be adequately expressive of your concept of the First Great Source and Center. [UB 1:1.3]
It is possible to become entangled in the problems surrounding the fatherhood of God in our day. An enemy of the family would be delighted with the subtle difficulties of the problems which attacks on the fatherhood of God present to those who follow Jesus. There are many good ideas as to how to respond in this situation, but all have their limitations. However, we learn to be strong in the face of difficulties [UB 26:5.3] which only stimulate the true children of the Most Highs. [UB 48:7.7] Jesus said to Fortunate: “Trouble will invigorate you; disappointment will spur you on; difficulties will challenge you; and obstacles will stimulate you. Arise, young man!» [UB 130:6.4]
Difficulty # 1. It is tempting to cherish the fatherhood of God simply as a revealed fact, a doctrine. After all, it is only through revelation that we know the fatherhood of God; experience cannot fully validate it. (UB 1:5.10) Loyalty to revelation, even in its mystery and its apparent indifference to immediate social and political demands, is a virtue; but in those who teach dogmatically loyalty stoops to polemic and to the refusal of a broader cultural conversation.
…sonship is the only experience which makes fatherhood certain. [UB 102:7.1] If we have not yet found the gospel as living truth, all we have is doctrine. However, to hold to doctrine is to sacrifice the flexibility of living truth. Effective proclamation cannot be activated by the mind. It must be an expression of the soul that knows its Father and delights in him. The personality that enters into worship repeatedly will find God daily in a new and amazing way. Jesus employed the word God [Elohim] to designate the idea of Deity, and the word Father to designate the experience of knowing God. [UB 169:4.7] Moving between the wonderfully simple teachings of the Creator Son and the complex but helpful teachings of the Divine Counselor, (UB 5:3.1-UB 5:3.8) our worship deepens. Without worship, genuine service is impossible, and evangelism is mere wind. May our devotion to divinely motivated thoughts and acts of kindness enable us to speak revealing words in beauty.
Difficulty #2. In an environment more or less hostile to the teachings of Jesus, a natural reaction is to become militant. Jesus was at times militant, and he said: “But when the willful unbeliever attacks you, do not hesitate to stand in vigorous defense of the truth which has saved and sanctified you.” [UB 178:1.16] Note, however, that this injunction concerns only the response to a personal attack. In the absence of such an attack, the relevant lesson is the admonition: “strive not with the souls you would win for the kingdom.” (UB 181:2.5) May we be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
Difficulty #3. In many cases it is better to speak of God or the Creator rather than the Father. There are so many ways to introduce the multifaceted gospel that it is not necessary to insist on language that may turn off the person we are speaking to. When I went door to door I would simply say, “I am your neighbor, Jeff, and I encourage you to believe that you are a daughter of God (or a son of God).” However, when we are motivated not by love or wisdom, but by fear and embarrassment, we may go so far as to eliminate the use of the word ‘Father’ altogether. The personality of God is sacrificed for social acceptance. It takes a great deal of faith to believe that deep down in the other person there is something desiring to hear the expression of a revelatory concept of God. Sometimes I still find it a challenge to experience sharing the gospel as a gift of good news rather than as an unwelcome message that the person is likely to receive as neither new nor good. Only an ongoing and renewed relationship with the Father and the Son keeps the fatherhood of God for us as new and even good news.
Difficulty #4. Another possible strategy is to express, as part of our main message to the world, something of the motherhood of God. There is much to be said for this approach, but there is a danger of repeating the error of the early Christian educators who sacrificed the simplicity of the Master’s gospel. The recent Christian goddess theology has reinforced the revival of neo-pagan polytheism. Islam, on the other hand, has succeeded in winning converts because of the clarity of its message which many people, both educated and uneducated, can easily understand. I conclude that the Trinitarian explanation is probably adequate especially for those who have already accepted the teachings of Jesus. When I teach in situations where I expect to encounter feminist concerns, my own solution is to speak of ‘God’s motherly love,’ or to assert that in God we experience motherly love as well as fatherly love.’ Most of what needs to be said is involved in the following sequence: God is. God is in us. We are in God. (UB 16:9.14)
It is wise to appreciate the thought of eminent contemporary theologians who say that to call God ‘Father’ is to use a metaphor. The word metaphor is drawn from our daily experience and is used to express something else - in this case, something whose mystery is beyond human comprehension. Because the reference to God as Father has worked so well in traditional patriarchal hands, it is said, we must introduce a complement to this metaphor by using other metaphors such as mother, lover, friend. Let us recognize that the artistic language of the best spokesmen of our time does indeed express spiritual insight. And, of course, the equality of women and men is an essential affirmation. Moreover, The Urantia Book offers partial support for this interpretation which speaks of the Father metaphorically. Jesus told us that “the child … is wholly dependent on the earthly father for his first ideas of the heavenly Father.” [UB 177:2.5; cf. UB 159:5.7] The truth is that the evolving mind of the child, which projects its image of the father, is precisely following the Creator’s plan. The function of metaphor is, so to speak, precisely to anticipate the adult’s reception of revelation. However, The Urantia Book contains passages which challenge the theology of metaphor. God loves not as a father, but as a father. [UB 2:6.4] In general the book teaches that human fathers are the created reflection of an eternal archetype, and the [shadows] should be interpreted in terms of the true substance. [UB 1:6.1] In the New Testament Paul writes: “The Father, from whom every family, spiritual and natural, is named.” (Ephesians 3:14). In other words, once we begin to truly know God, we learn from God what it means to be a parent.
Difficulty #5. We might answer the problem by leaving it to The Urantia Book to get the message across; it does so well that we might think that we need only have people read it. The Urantia Book has a significant part to play in the renewal of the evangelical movement. Nevertheless, there are countless people today who will not read the book and who need the soul-saving truth… What is most needed now is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who are actually revealing the Master to all men. [UB 195:10.1] If our ministry consists largely in letting a book give our message, our lives will hardly manifest those qualities of appeal which would lead others to quench their thirst with the water we claim to offer them.
Difficulty #6. One might suggest ignoring the problem since even talking about it is a trap. In truth, the best way to deal with many problems is not to make them problems. If you mention the Father and someone says, “What about God the Mother?” you can laugh and say, “So does she!” Moreover, many people are accustomed to referring to God so naturally and spontaneously that raising the question could only be to the detriment of their teaching. They might be embarrassed, filled with doubt about their wonderfully spontaneous expression, and their effectiveness would be diminished. After all, Jesus never gave a theological lecture on the Fatherhood of God, so why even ask the question? What the world is waiting for, ultimately, is to hear the gospel, not a dissertation on the Fatherhood of God.
We recognize, however, the illogicality of exalting something while refusing to analyze it. (UB 83:7.9) Furthermore, the fifth epochal revelation has much to say concerning the fatherhood of God, and at a time when the culture is in crisis over this subject, we should be able to make our contribution. Jesus took great care in resolving the key problems relating to his ministry, and we can do likewise, provided that, like the Master, we avoid overanalysis and subordinate intellectual inquiry to our religious purpose.
Here are some facets of the concept of God as a father as I have gathered them. The more we penetrate them with spiritual insight, the more authentic will be our expression, whatever name we use. God—the Universal Father—is the personality of the First Source and Center [UB 0:3.10] The concept of God as a father includes the unity and personality of God, the love and mercy of God, friendship with God, our capacity to experience God from within. The concept of the Father implies that God is the head of the universal family, that he is absolute volition. If we obey him as a servant obeys a king who promulgates laws for the people, we shall entirely miss the individual and personal experience of the consecration of our will to do his will which brings us the joy of a fatherly relationship. (UB 141:2.1 - UB 141:2.3; UB 149:6.2; UB 149:6.12) Jesus further commented: “Buddha, lacking the vision of God as spirit and Father, failed to bring to his teaching the moral energy and spiritual motive power which a religion must possess to change a race and uplift a nation.” UB 132:7.5 The concept of father has implications of sovereignty as This is indicated by the remark on the almost paternal relationship of system sovereigns to their subordinates. (UB 35:9.5) … the Father,… can at any time interpose a paternal hand in the flow of cosmic events [UB 118:10.6] Paternal love calls us to perfection and chastens us for our own good, assures us of eternal sonship, and indwells us to be the parent of our evolving soul. We are created to have a natural affection for the Father who assures us of understanding and loving relationship. [UB 140:10.4] A father is responsible for the fact of our existence, our safety and enjoyment, our training, our discipline and deportment, our fellowship and loyalty, our love and mercy, and our provision for the future. In our universe career we normally come to know seven fathers: the fleshly father, the Planetary Adam, the System Sovereign, the Constellation Father, the Creator Son, the Ancients of Days, and the Universal Father. (UB 51:6.6-13)
While the Trinity is not a pattern for the marriage of two human beings, (UB 33:3.6) the Trinity nevertheless represents a pattern of partnership in which the head has an equal relationship with the other members. Even more important for our present purposes, just as the concept of the Father was partly taught by Melchizedek to prepare the way for the Bestowal Son, so it was partly taught by Jesus to prepare the way for the motherhood of God. In human experience God is one. We cannot separate or identify divine fatherly love from divine motherly love. In an age when ideological controversy is mingled with sincere soul searching for the motherhood of God, we have been given a revelation concerning the Eternal Mother Son, the family of daughters of the Infinite Spirit, and the maternal Supreme Being.
If the human mind cannot solve these difficulties, the soul filled with faith can do so very well. We shall not arrive at identical solutions, but the Spirit of Truth will harmonize our best efforts as the Master did with the twelve.
In sermons or while teaching, I have found that many groups appreciate the following clarifications:
What could the phrase ‘God is our Father’ possibly mean to the Jews of first-century Palestine? The meaning of a word is given by contrast. The Jews already knew God as the Creator of heaven and earth and as the Lord of history. They looked upon God as a king of terrible power and as a judge of supreme authority. Jesus brought an even greater truth. The concept of God as Father contrasts with the concept of God as King. The point of the contrast is not to deny God’s sovereignty, but to emphasize a relationship of love and closeness between the Creator-father and the creature-child. Through the gift of the spirit, the kingdom within, we can enjoy the faith-experience of personal communion with him.
This historical note suggests that it is wrong to interpret Jesus’ revelation of the Father as if it were to fit into present discussions of God’s motherhood. Jesus’ proclamation was not in contrast to God’s motherhood. In truth, Jesus was preparing us to recognize that in God we experience motherly love as well as fatherly love. He compared the kingdom of heaven to a woman searching for a lost coin, and he compared himself to a mother hen seeking to gather her chicks under her wing. The loving care of God that surrounds and nurtures us is present in Jesus’ ministry. We must look to God for our minimum daily ration of divinely fatherly and divinely motherly love. To those today who seek an expanded revelation of God’s motherhood Jesus says: “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.” [UB 144:2.3]. Jesus did not make people recite doctrines; he did not force anyone to adopt a particular name. But he revealed the personality and nature of God. Advanced Trinitarian theology can clarify these points even more, but Jesus invites us to enter into a relationship with God as our Father, and in fact this is quite remarkable. He could have come to us and said, “God is my Father and he is your grandfather.” But in fact he invited us to share in the relationship he experienced with God.
Perhaps we sense additional reasons to spend a year disseminating the teachings through prayer, preparation, and personal service. Join us in spirit or in person at the IUA Conference April 29-May 2 in Nashville as we gather to learn from one another and seek together all that the Spirit of Truth has in store for us.
Two concluding thoughts. First, even if we accept the concept of the Father God as the highest human concept of God, (UB 115:1.2; UB 196:3.35) and even if we choose to use the word ‘father’ to express our concept, it is well to have available other terms than our favorite term for God. Paucity of terminology, together with the sentimental retention of olden nomenclature, is often provocative of the failure to understand the true significance of the evolution of religious concepts. [UB 94:12.1]
Finally, remember that in the phrase “our Father” the word “our” is as important as the word “Father.” The word “our” points in two directions. A Creator Son to whom the First Source and Center is in a fatherly relationship has invited us to share in his wonderful relationship with God. Thus, our elder brother, Jesus, began the great revelation of this truth, and we are one with him to the extent that we truly convey the ever-expanding revelation of Deity and divinity. Second, we must always regard the Father as also the Father of the other person. Once we regard the other person as included in the circle of the family of love, the shadows of alienation and strife vanish. Peace can come. Jesus sent the believers to present to the people not a word or even a concept, but an experience, a relationship.