PAPER 196 – THE FAITH OF JESUS

Home Forums Online Urantia Book Study Groups One Page a Day Study Group (OPAD) PAPER 196 – THE FAITH OF JESUS

Viewing 4 posts - 31 through 34 (of 34 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #12008
    Richard E Warren
    Richard E Warren
    Participant

    This presentation is a keeper – made me more aware how the Son of God took complex and interrelated conceptualizations – and with masterful and majestic expressions planted the seeds for progressive evolutional growth for the present and future generations; in a quiet simplistic manner. His apparently charismatic personality radiated those qualities of his nature – truth, beauty and goodness – exemplified by his love of his Father and his loving ministry to us. His outward acts are characteristic of his nature – divinity in action – righteous experiential living – the factualizations of those values. Greater awe and inspiration is humbling and the realization of these truths reduces me to a childlike acceptance and faith. Thank you.

    Reduces, or conduces, Ray? :good:

    Richard E Warren

    #12015
    Richard E Warren
    Richard E Warren
    Participant

     

    Welcome to The OPAD Online Study Session

    Today’s Presentation

    Paper 196 – The Faith Of Jesus

    3. The Supremacy of Religion

    [Part 4 of 4]

       Be not discouraged; human evolution is still in progress, and the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail.

    (2097.2)196:3.34 The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind. Man’s greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well-balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness — contact with the divine presence. Such an experience constitutes God-consciousness, an experience mightily confirmative of the pre-existent truth of the religious experience of knowing God. Such spirit-consciousness is the equivalent of the knowledge of the actuality of sonship with God. Otherwise, the assurance of sonship is the experience of faith.

    (2097.3)196:3.35 And God-consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest levels of spiritual reality. Only the spirit content of any value is imperishable. Even that which is true, beautiful, and good may not perish in human experience. If man does not choose to survive, then does the surviving Adjuster conserve those realities born of love and nurtured in service. And all these things are a part of the Universal Father. The Father is living love, and this life of the Father is in his Sons. And the spirit of the Father is in his Sons’ sons — mortal men. When all is said and done, the Father idea is still the highest human concept of God.

    .

    ***

    .

    [Each OPAD presentation is copied from The Urantia Book published by Urantia Foundation. Questions and comments related to the Paper under discussion are welcome and encouraged. In-depth questions and related topics may be studied in branch threads in the OPAD, or other subforums, as you require. Thank you for studying with us.]

    Richard E Warren

    #12016
    Richard E Warren
    Richard E Warren
    Participant

    .

    Good day Ray, Nelsong, Bonita, Rick B, Keryn, Brad, Mark K, Alina, Carolyn, Carola, Fellow Students, Forum Friends, Members and Visitors,

    These last three paragraphs encapsulate so many of the major themes of this remarkably enlightening book composed and delivered by our celestial siblings. The Midwayer authors of Part IV wanted to end on a promising and encouraging note:

    …Be not discouraged; human evolution is still in progress, and the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail…. (2097.1)196:3.33

    From that I infer Urantia may look like a disaster in slow motion now, but God always triumphs. And so will the Master’s teachings be restated, re-examined, tested, proved and finally integrated into the lives of our successors, our children. How long will it take is the obvious question, and doesn’t that depend on us in a measure? Urantia is waiting for and wanting us to live these teachings. Michael and God too.

    In the second paragraph of today’s OPAD, we are offered yet another challenge:

    …The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind…. (2097.2)196:3.34

    Compare that with this challenge in Paper 2:7:

     …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…. (43.3)2:7.10

    And there is this challenge in a Supreme Paper, 117:4:

    …The great challenge that has been given to mortal man is this: Will you decide to personalize the experiencible value meanings of the cosmos into your own evolving selfhood? or by rejecting survival, will you allow these secrets of Supremacy to lie dormant, awaiting the action of another creature at some other time who will in his way attempt a creature contribution to the evolution of the finite God? But that will be his contribution to the Supreme, not yours…. (1284.6)117:4.10

    In Paper 160:2, we are shown the source of inspiration that will enable us to meet all challenges:

    Only a glimpse of the circle of eternity can inspire man to do his best and can challenge the best in him to do its utmost. And when man is thus at his best, he lives most unselfishly for the good of others, his fellow sojourners in time and eternity…. (1776.3)160:2.9

    Here is a challenge (and predicted result) for the institution of religion that well relates to the 21st century’s problems. From Paper 195:4:

    …Religion is now confronted by the challenge of a new age of scientific minds and materialistic tendencies. In this gigantic struggle between the secular and the spiritual, the religion of Jesus will eventually triumph…. (2075.3)195:4.5

    The second paragraph continues quite poetically and beautifully:

    …Man’s greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well-balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness — contact with the divine presence.

    Someday we will meet God in his Paradise home, receive the divine embrace, and then head out to the open fields of untapped adventure in “outer space”, there to help the Universal Father with the further unfolding and realization of the potentials now concealed in his bottomless reservoirs. What a grand adventure! And we are all invited to contribute, to interact with God, each in our unique way.

    ***

    About God-consciousness, cited in the second paragraph:

    …Such an experience constitutes God-consciousness, an experience mightily confirmative of the pre-existent truth of the religious experience of knowing God.

    The indwelling God fragment that we may become conscious of is referred to as the Thought Adjuster. A description of the nature and function of these “pilots” occupies a whole block of Papers, 107-112:

    107. Origin and Nature of Thought Adjusters

    1. Origin of Thought Adjusters
    2. Classification of Adjusters
    3. The Divinington Home of Adjusters
    4. Nature and Presence of Adjusters
    5. Adjuster Mindedness
    6. Adjusters as Pure Spirits
    7. Adjusters and Personality

    108. Mission and Ministry of Thought Adjusters

     .

    109. Relation of Adjusters to Universe Creatures

    1. Development of Adjusters
    2. Self-Acting Adjusters
    3. Relation of Adjusters to Mortal Types
    4. Adjusters and Human Personality
    5. Material Handicaps to Adjuster Indwelling
    6. The Persistence of True Values
    7. Destiny of Personalized Adjusters

     .
    ..
     .
     .
    .
     .
     .

    .

    This last sentence of the second paragraph is a fascinating statement:

    …Such spirit-consciousness is the equivalent of the knowledge of the actuality of sonship with God. Otherwise, the assurance of sonship is the experience of faith.

    To become God conscious is equal to the realization of sonship. But until awareness of God within is achieved, faith must fill the void. Does that mean faith is not needed in God conscious beings? There is this in Paper 101:5:

    …Increasingly throughout the morontia progression the assurance of truth replaces the assurance of faith…. (1111:4) 101:5.14

    ***

    The last paragraph has the final use of the words true, beautiful and good:

     …Even that which is true, beautiful, and good may not perish in human experience….(2097.3)196:3.35

    TB&G quotes are found throughout the book. They are worthy of a study all by themselves. They are the foundation stones of a new philosophy that is destined to change Urantia for the better. How can a world improve if its philosophy is backward looking, confused, and error prone? Urantia must have a newer and greater philosophy to guide it into the arms of true religion, and steer it toward real science–religion based in genuine spiritual truth and science rooted in factual truth. Only a divinely inspired philosophy can reconcile the truth experience of religion and the facts derived from scientific experiment.

    84 Uses of Truth, Beauty & Goodness In 16 Languages

    ***

    Compare this in today’s reading:

    …If man does not choose to survive, then does the surviving Adjuster conserve those realities born of love and nurtured in service…. (2097.3)196:3.35

    …with this from the Adjuster Papers. This is in 109:6:

     …a mortal creature may reject survival; still the life experience is not wasted; the eternal Adjuster carries the worth-while features of such an apparent life of failure over into some other world and there bestows these surviving meanings and values upon some higher type of mortal mind, one of survival capacity. No worth-while experience ever happens in vain; no true meaning or real value ever perishes…. (1200.1)109:6.1

    …which also complements this pithy sentence in the last of today’s reading:

    …Only the spirit content of any value is imperishable…. (2097.3)196:3.35

    ***

    Cosmic integration is also cited in the final paragraph of today’s text:

     …God-consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest levels of spiritual reality…. (2097.3)196:3.35

    …and appears in several other Papers. From Paper 99:4, on transition problems, integration in relation to religion:

    …if religion is to stimulate individual development of character and augment integration of personality, it must not be standardized. If it is to stimulate evaluation of experience and serve as a value-lure, it must not be stereotyped. If religion is to promote supreme loyalties, it must not be formalized…. (1089.11)99:4.3

    Here integration is examined from the artistic or creative perspective. Paper 111:4:

    …Inner creativity contributes to ennoblement of character through personality integration and selfhood unification…. (1221.1)111:4.12

    In this quote a Melchizedek reveals the Root of integration, from Paper 115:2:

    …The Original is what makes possible the coexistence and integration of man the actual, man the potential, and man the eternal…. (1263.2)115:3.15

    At the other end of the time/space universe is the Supreme Being, the Great Integrator of cosmic values. This is from the Supreme Papers, 115:3:

     …Man’s universe integration — the increase of human insight plus the increase of human experiential achievement brings him into closer harmony with the unifying presences of Supremacy — Paradise Trinity and Supreme Being. And this is what establishes the sovereignty of the Supreme on the worlds long settled in light and life. Such advanced planets are indeed poems of harmony, pictures of the beauty of achieved goodness attained through the pursuit of cosmic truth. And if such things can happen to a planet, then even greater things can happen to a system and the larger units of the grand universe as they too achieve a settledness indicating the exhaustion of the potentials for finite growth…. (1306.4)118:10.15

    One day Urantia will be settled in light and life. The authors revealed what that will look like, and the route to get there. We are already on our way, we just need something that will unify us, like this great revelation. But it will take considerable time, don’t you think?

    ***

    Might we be more accurately called the grandchildren of God? From the next to last sentence of the book:

    …And the spirit of the Father is in his Sons’ sons — mortal men…. (2097.3)196:3.35

    ***

    Compare this last sentence of the book:

     …When all is said and done, the Father idea is still the highest human concept of God….(2097.3)196:3.35

    …with the first line of the Foreword:

     …IN THE MINDS of the mortals of Urantia — that being the name of your world — there exists great confusion respecting the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity…. (1.1)0:0.1

    So, has the confusion been cleared away?

    ***

    Thus ends the fifth epochal revelation to our quarantined planet. The Urantia Book will surely stand as the spiritual touchstone for billions of people, if not now then in the foreseeable future. The Revelators must be thanked and complimented for such a monumental accomplishment. We are in their debt.

    Tomorrow, the OPAD study session will end with an epilogue, a final few words of reflection from your host, and any comments you would like to make.

    Contents of: Paper 196 – THE FAITH OF JESUS

    1. Jesus — The Man

    2. The Religion of Jesus

    3. The Supremacy of Religion

    Listen to Paper 196: (click the speaker icon at the top of the page)

    Thanks for reading. Members’ thoughts, reflections, insights, observations, comments, corrections and questions about today’s OPAD presentation are invited.

    Much love, Rick/OPAD host.

    Richard E Warren

    #12017
    Ray
    Ray
    Participant

    Just when I thought I knew everything!

    …Such spirit-consciousness is the equivalent of the knowledge of the actuality of sonship with God. Otherwise, the assurance of sonship is the experience of faith.
    To become God conscious is equal to the realization of sonship. But until awareness of God within is achieved, faith must fill the void. Does that mean faith is not needed in God conscious beings? There is this in Paper 101:5:
    …Increasingly throughout the morontia progression the assurance of truth replaces the assurance of faith…. (1111:4) 101:5.14

    What a gift this is for a once confirmed agnostic such as I. By the 5th or 6th reading of the UB – pieces began to fall into place. Many questions, many study groups, many classes; many reflections, many years of critical seeking – the slow realization and understanding to my self-satisfaction and then the acceptance of these revealed truths of the Son of God – gave me that unique self-assurance I sought. ‘Instilled’ faith as a child was not sufficient to sustain through life’s trials. Institutionalized religious beliefs were lost in the boring ritualized ceremonies.

    As for establishing a new philosophy for living – I’ll leave that to those better qualified; but is not the definitions given us for Deity, Divinity, and God sufficient to establish the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man as a new philosophy?!

    Walk with God. May His Peace be unto you.

Viewing 4 posts - 31 through 34 (of 34 total)

Login to reply to this topic.

Not registered? Sign up here.