© 1993 Ken Glasziou
© 1993 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
Ken Glasziou, Maleny, Queensland
A review of a recent university study on ‘lying’ claimed to show that we all tell lies and about 93 percent of us tell at least one ‘whopper’ per week. I presume that all URANTIA Book readers make up part of the remaining 7 percent!
Why do human beings lie so much? I once heard a child psychologist explaining that our reward and punishment system for the training of our children is a marvelous way to teach children to lie. Harking back to my own childhood, I recall that if we chose to lie it had to be water-tight, since the consequences of being caught for lying were far worse than admitting to the felony. I recall too that my dear old mum could hand out a mean whipping for lying — for which I belatedly thank her. In those days the 9th commandment came over as, “It’s a sin to tell a lie” — and there was even a popular song having that as both title and main theme. It must have been effective training, for almost 70 years later, I can still remember every deliberate lie I ever told. And that’s no lie.
There are many kinds of liars in this world, some despicable like the ‘con artists’ who get their kicks from acts like cheating the feeble minded out of their life savings. Then there are those who seem to get away with it, such as politicians or the likeable rogue who is quick to confess with a cheery word and a mischievous grin when confronted with exposure.
There can be no doubt all forms of lying must hinder our spiritual progress but I wonder whether there is any form of lying that is as inhibitory to our progress’ as that of lying to ourselves. This is the kind of lying we do when we bend the truth to bolster our self-esteem, or when we rationalize those selfish actions that bring hurt or harm to others. Most of us develop this kind of self-deceit into an art form such that virtually every act of our egoistic behaviour gets itself whitewashed, then polished shiny clean — and the blame for our defaults is squarely placed upon something or someone else.
Not so long ago, God was often thought of as a cantankerous, white- bearded old man who sat upon a heavenly throne doing little other than keeping score of our sins and misdeeds — and perhaps a few credits if we were very, very good.
On casual reading, The URANTIA Book appears to have replaced that outmoded concept with one of a benign loving God whose spirit indwells our minds to conserve all those components of our thoughts and actions that have spiritual value. Only these are then utilised in the molding of a growing entity it calls our soul.
So what happened to the nasties?
Just this week, I was reading about tertiary seconaphim in The URANTIA Book, when I came across this comment:
“The Memory of Mercy discloses the moral debt of the children of mercy — their spiritual liabilities — to be set down against their assets of the saving provision established by the Sons of God.” (UB 28:6.5)
That made me sit up and take notice. Then a little further on:
“The Memory of Mercy is a living trial balance, a current statement of your account with the supernatural forces of the realms. These are the living records of mercy ministration which are read into the testimony of the courts of Uversa when each individual’s right to unending life comes up for adjudication, when thrones are cast up and the Ancients of Days are seated. The broadcasts of Uversa issue and come forth from before them; thousands upon thousands minister to them, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before them. The judgment is set, and the books are opened.” (UB 28:6.6)
That surely does not look as if I am going to have the slate wiped clean. Maybe I’ll have to make some kind of restitution for those three lies I once told. (I guess that makes it four?) I found some confirmation:
“…justice demands the adjudication of every default in the climb towards divine perfection, mercy requires that every such misstep be adjudged in accordance with the creature nature and the divine purpose.” (UB 39:1.8)
In my student days, I once had a cynical professor who used to say that the purpose of life is to avoid death and the motivation for human behaviour is the avoidance of pain. The latter seems to be a fairly rational and logical explanation for our propensity to bury those self-seeking and self-gratifying components of the motivating forces for our actions underneath an overlay of self-justification — a feat that almost invariably results in complete self-exoneration. Such is the human condition. But when we hit the heavenly courts will we get away with it?
It seems not, for in describing those secondary seconophim called the Discerners of Spirits, a Universal Censor says:
“Regardless of the source or channel of information, no matter how meager the evidence at hand, when it is subjected to their reflective scrutiny, these discerners will forthwith inform us as to the true motive, the actual purpose, and the real nature of its origin. I marvel at the superb functioning of these angels, who so unerringly reflect the actual moral and spiritual character of any individual concerned in a focal exposure.” (UB 28:5.19)
A little further on, he concludes:
“So it is with mortal man: The Mother Spirit of Salvington knows you fully, for the Holy Spirit on your world searches all things and whatsoever the divine Spirit knows of you is immediately available whenever the secoraphic discerners reflect with the spirit concerning the Spirit’s knowledge of you.” (UB 28:5.22)
In other words nothing, absolutely nothing at all, can be hidden.
Sometimes I wonder whether we mortals might not have been better off without The URANTIA Book. Surely we could not be held responsible for what we do not know. But I do have the book (so do you), I have read it many times, and there is so much I do know and so much I have understood (the same goes for you).
I know I will not get away with a plea of ignorance. That is quite out of the question. And I will be held responsible for those things I have tried to bury. Fortunately, I know that I will not exceed my mercy credits (UB 28:6.8), but I think I may be in for a big slice of penal servitude with hard labour. It will not surprise me to see some fellow URANTIA Book readers there in the chain gang with me. It will be nice to have your company.
I want to conclude these maudlin peregrinations of an introspecting mind with a conundrum. Is it possible to do the will of God on a part- time basis? For example, suppose that Job had scrupulously and religiously kept nine of the ten commandments for all of the time but felt that the seventh was not reasonable, so had the occasional Saturday night fling. Would he have been doing God’s will for nine tenths of the time? Or would he have been doing his own will for all of the time? My conclusion would be that in selecting what he would or would not do, his own will is in total command. Actually The URANTIA Book provides the answer for us.
“To isolate part of life and call it religion is to disintegrate life and to distort religion. And this is just why the God of worship claims all allegiance or none.” (UB 102:6.1)
It’s worth some thought, for there is nothing that can be hidden, nothing that will not be exposed. The worst of it is that our inherent inclination for self-exoneration tends to become habitual. Move over, Job!