It behooves us to afford no stumbling block for the authorities. [1]
In everything related with peace plans, we must submit to the government. In these matters we must do what they bid us and observe the essentials of the law. [2] We just have to conflict when rulers require worship which belongs only to God. [3]
The last great speech of Jesus in our world was a long speech of almost two hours that he gave before fifty followers about sonship with God and citizenship in earthly governments. [4] Jesus forbade apostles to become embroiled in politics. [5] Jesus did not teach rules of government. [6] He urged them to make no denunciations of government. [7] We should never make the mistake of identifying Jesus’ teachings with any political or economic theory, with any social or industrial system. [8]
So long as the rulers of earthly governments seek to exercise the authority of religious dictators, who believe the gospel can expect only trouble, persecution, and even death. [9] It is the believer’s duty to render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and to God the things which are God’s. [10] Cosmic citizenship is a matter of responsibility and morality and so it is therefore taught in heaven. [11]
With respect to the various religious groups and the political parties of Palestine, Jesus’ words always were, “We are seeking to win all of them, but we are not of any of them.”. [12]
Jesus said: “When you are brought up before governors and rulers, it shall be for a testimony of your faith and to show your steadfastness in the gospel of the kingdom. And when you stand before judges, be not anxious beforehand as to what you should say, for the spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should answer your adversaries.”. [13]
The Urantia Book contains excerpts from lectures delivered by Jesus at Urmia on political sovereignty, though adapted to be applicable to twentieth-century political conditions. [14]
Affairs of all worlds are divinely supervised. [15]
In his contact with the post-Havona creations, the Universal Father does not exercise his infinite power and final authority by direct transmittal but rather through his Sons and their subordinate personalities. The Father rules through his Sons; on down through the universe organization there is an unbroken chain of rulers ending with the Planetary Princes, who direct the destinies of the evolutionary spheres of the Father’s vast domains. [16]
The various subadministrations of the universe have assigned to them certain special domains of responsibility. For example, a system government looks after biologic problems. [17]
Concerning the government of the central universe, Havona, there is none. In every requirement of Havona there is disclosed the reason of righteousness and the rule of justice. [18]
As persons you may conceive of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son as separate individuals, for they indeed are; but in the administration of the universes they are so intertwined and interrelated that it is not always possible to distinguish between them. [19]
The administration of the Eternal Son in the superuniverses, being exclusively spiritual and superpersonal, is not discernible by creature personalities. [20]
Most Highs rule in kingdoms of men. This rule of the Most Highs in the kingdoms of men is not for the especial benefit of any especially favored group of mortals. There is no such thing as a “chosen people. ”. [21]
Democracy is an ideal form of government, but it is a product of civilization, not evolution, and it is not without its dangers. The dangers of democracy are: [22]
Popular elections may not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a wrong thing. [23]
In ancient times, priestly positions and kings were considered fetishes. Today men have also made a fetish of democracy, the exaltation and adoration of the common man’s ideas when collectively called “public opinion.”. [24]
Onagar, almost a million years ago, instituted an efficient tribal government, the like of which was not attained by succeeding generations in many millenniums. Never again, until the arrival of the Planetary Prince, was there such a high spiritual civilization on earth. [25] At some point every evolution of government brings with it the abolition of slavery. [26]
The first party government was “the strong” vs. “the weak. ” In ancient times a change of administration only followed civil war, abundant proof that the weak had become strong. [27]
Every human institution had a beginning, and civil government is a product of progressive evolution just as much as are marriage, industry, and religion. From the early clans and primitive tribes there gradually developed the successive orders of human government which have come and gone right on down to those forms of social and civil regulation that characterize the second third of the twentieth century. [28]
The red man never managed to create a state. The closest thing was the Iroquois, who created a federation, but which lacked the essentials of modern government. [29] The intellectual keenness, economic wisdom, social cleverness, and moral stamina of a people are all faithfully reflected in statehood. [30] Early communism was one more evolutionary step in government. The first real governmental body was the council of the elders of the clan. [31] Ever-present danger of suffering an external aggression stimulates development of state. [32] Government is an unconscious development; it evolves by trial and error. [33] The development of industry demands law, order, and social adjustment; private property necessitates government. [34] In the primitive government the dictators were the ones who prevailed. [35] The early states were small and were all the result of conquest. [36] Effective state rule only came with the arrival of a chief with full executive authority, the monarchal government. [37] The executive power arose from the need to organize the war or from the healers and priests. [38]
The weak and the inferior have always contended for equal rights; they have always insisted that the state compel the strong and superior to supply their wants and otherwise make good those deficiencies which all too often are the natural result of their own indifference and indolence. [39]
In the past, institutional religion could remain passive while the upper strata of society turned a deaf ear to the sufferings and oppression of the helpless lower strata, but in modern times these lower social orders are no longer so abjectly ignorant nor so politically helpless. [40]
The Urantia Book describes how the most prominent country on a neighboring planet, which currently enjoys a representative republic, is governed. [41] In this nation on the neighboring planet, governmental servants supported by tax funds are, for the periods of such services, disenfranchised. [42] In the worlds that are in the stages of light and life the government gradually disappears. [43]
In the epochs of light and life there are mortal chief executives who serve as joint administrators associated with the Planetary Sovereign, thus freeing the Adam and Eve of the planet from their positions of government. [44]
These are the principles that should govern all forms of human government:
Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. [89]
There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are: [91]
Strongest state has common language, mores, and institutions. [92] System is of value only if it enhances welfare of individual and mankind. [93] A sovereignty that transcends all minor struggles and group differences is the characteristic of the true state. [94]
The state is a territorial social regulative organization, and the strongest, most efficient, and enduring state is composed of a single nation whose people have a common language, mores, and institutions. [95]
The status of any level of civilization is faithfully portrayed by the caliber of its citizens who volunteer to accept the responsibilities of statehood. [96]
These are the dangers to be avoided: [97]
Heavenly orders in which their own members participated in their own creation are candidates for a heavenly type of self-government. [113] Self-government is the highest type of representative government. [114]
Adam made a heroic and determined effort to establish a world government, but he met with stubborn resistance at every turn. Adam abandoned all effort to establish representative government, and before the collapse of the Edenic regime he succeeded in establishing almost one hundred outlying trade and social centers where strong individuals ruled in his name. [115]
The individual will enjoy far more liberty under world government. Today, the citizens of the great powers are taxed, regulated, and controlled almost oppressively, and much of this present interference with individual liberties will vanish when the national governments are willing to trustee their sovereignty as regards international affairs into the hands of global government. [116] World-wide peace cannot prevail until creation of a planetary government. [117]
War on Urantia will never end so long as nations cling to the illusive notions of unlimited national sovereignty. There are only two levels of relative sovereignty on an inhabited world: the spiritual free will of the individual mortal and the collective sovereignty of mankind as a whole. [118]
Under global government the national groups will be afforded a real opportunity to realize and enjoy the personal liberties of genuine democracy. The fallacy of self-determination will be ended. [119]
See also: UB 70; UB 71; UB 70; UB 71; UB 72.