A Question About Midwayer Messengers

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  • #43461
    Richard E Warren
    Richard E Warren
    Participant

    .

    Attention advanced Urantia teacher/students. What do you think the Archangel author of Paper 77 means by “This group bear names…”

    77:8.6 (864.7) 1. Midway messengers. This group bear names; they are a small corps and are of great assistance on an evolutionary world in the service of quick and reliable personal communication.

    Maybe the author intended to convey the idea that the group’s members have names, if so, shouldn’t it read ‘This group bears names’? Even then, the meaning isn’t clear to me, in previous paragraphs the author already stated that midwayers all have names (1,2,3 the first, a,b,c the first etc). Maybe it means the midwayers carry or bestow names. What do make of this?

    Confused.

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    Richard E Warren

    #43462
    Bradly
    Bradly
    Participant

    I think the semantics are correct – the members of this group bear names…so “this group bear names”. Each member bears a name but the group of members each bear a name. It’s the semantics I think…pluralized vs. singular. Personally I find the grammar and punctuation and sentence structure in the UB to be far superior to my own…and to most.

    But the book was transcribed from handwritten text by a typist once upon a time and then again transcribed from typed to printing plates. Typos are possible. But I do think the word usage is correct myself. This group bears names is an incorrect form of pluralism I think. If the group had a name, it would be this group bears “a” name. Any English/grammar teachers out there???

    #43463
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    Mark Kurtz
    Participant

    Reading Section 8 and focusing on your question, note paragraph 5. “Organized for service with the planetary seraphim…..in the following groups:”

    The author lists several groups. Only the first group narrative, the Midway Messengers, has the words of your concern. So, therefore, we could assume within the messenger group there is a name for each individual or perhaps there are names for assignments, such as for team projects. They bear names apparently for management convenience.  As you say, they all have names or numbers, but within this group there is need for more separation identity for tasks.  Golly, that’s the best guess I can offer.

     

    I don’t see the words in the other Midwayer groups.

    #43464
    Richard E Warren
    Richard E Warren
    Participant

    Thanks much Bradly, Mark,

    You both pretty much align with what a Facebook forum member offered:

    “As a collective noun, “this group” can be treated as “these” so the singular form of “bear” rather than “bears” is fine. “Those in the army wear uniforms” would be another example. And as to the meaning, I have always taken it to mean that they are given names in addition to numbers. “Soldier #251885875 is Tom Jones”. No mystery here.”

    To which I replied: That helps, apparently the alpha-numeric designations are just that. And, not all midwayers are given names, just designations.

    .

    Richard E Warren

    #44582
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    bobbi
    Participant

    I’m new here and mostly new to the Urantia book. Thanks for starting this thread.  I appreciate the language lesson but I think I might have a different perspective. In case you’ve never seen a midwayer in action…that’s what the video is for. It’s 15 highly unusual events caught on camera.  Number 1 is of course, the midwayer. I recommend watching the whole video. My reasons for getting involved in the conversation I’ll share after I post a link for another one.  Let me know what you think. Thanks.  https://youtu.be/oLtM15iBeQU. This group bear names…what if…

    #44583
    Avatar
    bobbi
    Participant

    https://youtu.be/TjoKbvx7IKE.  This is another video that has a midwayer in action. Watch their hands! Only the first 2:30 minutes need to be watched. I’m looking for possibly a conversation with advanced readers. Thanks.

    #44584
    Bradly
    Bradly
    Participant

    Start a conversation about what?  Please do so….and welcome!!  :-)

    Life is filled with the inexplicable.  Instincts, intuition, insight, guardian angels, midwayers, and other mortals often intersect in life in very mysterious ways.

    Even the celestials are filled with wonder and awe at the mysterious and inexplicable and seemingly miraculous.

    The human hope and need to explain such phenomena is itself interesting.  The wish for certain proofs or evidence or signs and wonders is also interesting and so very human.

    The favor of the gods or good and bad luck or fortune and misfortunes are given significant consideration in the UB.   I am always amused (and a little annoyed) by athletes (for one example) who give thanks to the gods for their victory or performance.  As if those who were in opposition or came second, or even last, were not also beloved children of the gods too or the gods take sides in such human efforts and competitions!  The UB teaches that those who believe in such favors exhibit age old primitive superstitions.

    It is good to be thankful for all blessings but….

    I am reminded of the warning in the teachings about the curse of good fortune and the benefits of adversity, disappointment, failure… and not just victory….delivered by the hammer and anvil!!

    156:5.17 (1740.4) The measure of the spiritual capacity of the evolving soul is your faith in truth and your love for man, but the measure of your human strength of character is your ability to resist the holding of grudges and your capacity to withstand brooding in the face of deep sorrow. Defeat is the true mirror in which you may honestly view your real self.

    Your own certainty of the agent and agency of your personal deliverance from disaster and in the posted videos is also of interest.

    Regardless…life is filled with wonder and mystery.

    ;-)

    123:4.5 (1361.5) The only real accident Jesus had up to this time was a fall down the back-yard stone stairs which led up to the canvas-roofed bedroom. It happened during an unexpected July sandstorm from the east. The hot winds, carrying blasts of fine sand, usually blew during the rainy season, especially in March and April. It was extraordinary to have such a storm in July. When the storm came up, Jesus was on the housetop playing, as was his habit, for during much of the dry season this was his accustomed playroom. He was blinded by the sand when descending the stairs and fell. After this accident Joseph built a balustrade up both sides of the stairway.

    123:4.6 (1361.6) There was no way in which this accident could have been prevented. It was not chargeable to neglect by the midway temporal guardians, one primary and one secondary midwayer having been assigned to the watchcare of the lad; neither was it chargeable to the guardian seraphim. It simply could not have been avoided. But this slight accident, occurring while Joseph was absent in Endor, caused such great anxiety to develop in Mary’s mind that she unwisely tried to keep Jesus very close to her side for some months.

    123:4.7 (1361.7) Material accidents, commonplace occurrences of a physical nature, are not arbitrarily interfered with by celestial personalities. Under ordinary circumstances only midway creatures can intervene in material conditions to safeguard the persons of men and women of destiny, and even in special situations these beings can so act only in obedience to the specific mandates of their superiors.

    102:8.7 (1128.3) But religion is never enhanced by an appeal to the so-called miraculous. The quest for miracles is a harking back to the primitive religions of magic. True religion has nothing to do with alleged miracles, and never does revealed religion point to miracles as proof of authority….

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