© 2001 Ken Glasziou
© 2001 The Brotherhood of Man Library
“The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. Such a new and righteous vision of morality will attract all that is good in the mind of man and challenge that which is best in the human soul.” (UB 2:7.10)
“The teachers of the religion of Jesus should approach other religions with the recognition of the truths which are held in common while they refrain from placing so much emphasis on the differences.” (UB 149:2.5)
Religion manifests itself in three main categories:
Primitive religion. The semi-natural and instinctive urge to fear mysterious energies and worship superior forces, chiefly a religion of the physical nature, the religion of fear.
The religion of civilization. The advancing religious concepts and practices of the civilizing races—the religion of the mind—the intellectual theology of the authority of established religious tradition.
True religion—the religion of revelation. The revelation of supernatural values, a partial insight into eternal realities, a glimpse of the goodness and beauty of the infinite character of the Father in heaven—the religion of the spirit as demonstrated in human experience.
Teach us delight in simple things,
And mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And love to all men 'neath the sun!
Rudyard Kipling
Abashed the devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is.
John Milton
In our present times, virtually all religion on our planet falls into the second category—religion of authority. True religion, religion of the spirit, is still only meagerly represented. However only a relatively small change is required to shift one of the major religions—Christianity—out from the authoritarian category to back where it belongs—a true religion of the spirit.
The early Christians were almost all Jews who, as children, learned to read and write in the synagogue schools. By the end of the first century the major works of the New Testament were available in written form and in those writings more than twenty verses contained the vital message that all believers are indwelt by the spirits of the Father and the son—the Spirit of Truth. Believers could make their own choice—to foster a personal relationship with indwelling deity, or to accept group authority.
The balance shifted as more and more new converts came from among the illiterate who were dependent upon others for what was taught them. There followed an almost complete displacement of a religion consisting in an individual personal relationship with the God-spirit within by a religion of priestly authority.
The Christian religion has been stagnant for many centuries. It will remain so until it reverts to being a personal religion of the spirit. A relatively simple change would restore Christianity to that state. It requires only a change of emphasis so as to awaken individuals to the truth of their indwelling by the Father-spirit and to encourage them to seek a sincere, personal relationship with, and guidance from, the spirit forces within—the Father-spirit and the spirit endowment of Jesus of Nazareth, the Spirit of Truth.
Those who already have the religion of the spirit need to be aware of several warnings provided in the Papers. Jesus instructed his apostles to refrain from all efforts to take something out (meaning to correct the errors) of those they attempted to teach. “Lead all men into the kingdom,” he said, “and presently the great and living truths of the kingdom will drive out all serious error.” On another occasion, he said, “you are commissioned to go forth preaching only the good news. You are not to attack the old ways; you are skillfully to put the leaven of new truth in the midst of the old beliefs. Let the Spirit of Truth do his own work.”
A reforming zeal that sets its priorities in correcting the supposedly erroneous doctrines of other religions is predestined to fail. The positive preaching of spiritual truths is the only pathway sanctioned by Jesus, the recommended approach being through truths which are held in common. There are more than twenty New Testament verses that speak of the indwelling spirits of Father and Son, and many parables that illustrate God’s nature as a loving, compassionate, forgiving, and merciful Father who actively seeks out the erring human child.
But even if our two billion nominal Christians were to embrace the religion of the spirit, it may have little or no effect upon the remaining billions of Urantians excepting that the fruits of that spirit living become visible as the direct consequence. “Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men.” (UB 195:10.1)
In seeking to bring religion of the spirit to non-Christian religions, we are specifically warned against placing emphasis upon the personality of Jesus (UB 149:2.4), the approach through seeking common grounds being preferred. Primarily this entails the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all mankind. As with Christianity, this concept is already a basic tenet of the religion of Islam but there also it fails to impact as it should.
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William Shakespeare
To know the world, not love her is thy point,
She gives but little, nor that little long.
Eduard Young
Perhaps what is required is much more emphasis upon the realization of the indwelling of the Father-spirit and the enhancement of the religion of the spirit that accompanies the development of a personal relationship with the deity within. Stripped of authority from outside ourselves, the religion of the spirit appears to have all the necessary potential to bring peace on earth and goodwill to all, in addition to fostering the progress of the eternal career of those who embrace it.
“The only uniform thing about men is their indwelling spirit which reacts uniformly to all spiritual appeals. Only through and by appeal to this spirit can mankind ever attain unity and brotherhood.” (UB 149:3.3)
For most of us, understanding the nature of God is often best learned from parables. Important among these are:
Imagine a fisherman who takes his young son out for his first trip on the family fishing boat. As they haul in the nets the boy asks for a nice fish to take home to his mother. But the father gives him a toad fish, an inedible, even poisonous, fish. Or imagine the father is a baker and his hungry young son asks for some bread. But instead of fresh bread, his father gives him some stale crusts fit only for the dogs. Would a good earthly father do such things? How much more consideration then would we expect the heavenly Father to have for the welfare of his earthly children?
The heavenly Father is father to all his earthly children no matter what race or religion they might be, or whether they be rich or poor, clever or dull, handsome or ugly, their Creator-Father loves them all equally. His concern is that they all should, sooner or later, now or in the eternal future, voluntarily seek him and hope to become like him. God knows all about every one of us, what makes us as we are. His mercy, his compassion, his understanding are unsurpassable. Knowing this, the parable helps us to comprehend the true meaning of loving and treating our brothers and sisters as we think God would love and treat them.
For many thousands of years human societies have been forced to establish systems of rewards and punishments to ensure that their society is practically operative. Along with this procedure, judges are usually appointed so as to make punishments fit the crime. Human societies have always tended to make their Gods in the image of man, and so their Gods are wrathful and vengeful so as to secure obedience. What really lacks in human justice systems that regulate society is the ability to know what makes the law-breaker what he or she is.
For example, human leaders often become ambitious And to fulfill their ambitions, they have their young men trained to become obedient (but often cruel and heartless) soldiers of the armies they send out to subdue the enemy. When things go wrong and these soldiers are captured, they may come in for retributive punishment for their crimes. But who really is the guilty party, the soldiers, or the leader who used them for his own nefarious purposes? And what of the child brought up in a home in which it knows only the behavior patterns of immoral and abusive parents?
The spirit of the Father is present in the minds of all human beings, there to inform us, if we will listen, what is really right in contrast to what human society might teach us is right. God knows every detail of what makes each of us as we are—and God also knows what it will take to make us what he would have us be. So instead of a wrathful, punishing God, made in human image, we need to learn about a God who takes the initiative to seek out those who go astray from his ideal pathway and brings them back to become fruitful members of his earthly family.
We have a group of parables that illustrate this fact about God’s nature. Among them is the good shepherd who, when one of his hundred sheep goes astray, shuts the remainder in a pen, while he goes forth to find and bring back the one that is lost; the lost coin of the poor widow who turns her house upside down until she recovers that which was lost; and the prodigal son, the lazy, party-going spendthrift who wastes his inheritance then, penniless and in despair, goes back to his father to beg for forgiveness and to be taken on as a hired servant. But instead, on sighting him coming home, his father, without waiting for his son’s expression of penitence, rushes out to welcome him back into the family.
Wrath, vengeance, and punishment are absent entities in the God who is love. If there is punishment for our misdeeds it is what we do to ourselves that brings self-punishment in the form of our having rejected the love of God that is our birthright.
The only sure way to ultimately bring mankind to religion of the spirit is for those who have it to lead by example.
Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other.
Edmund Burke
Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
Now I may wither into the truth.
William Yeats