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Michael – we seem to be transitioning away from the actual topic of “Reincarnation”. While I am happy to continue here, I suggest you consider starting New Topic(s) of interest to you or find a topic already begun which interests you. I think it important to not hijack topical discussions (a result, sometimes intentional by some persons who seek to disrupt and distract – and sometime just by innocent and interesting topical tangents like here).
I would be happy to start such a discussion on your behalf if you care to describe any area of interest you wish to pursue and don’t wish to do so yourself for any reason. I am not a shy person….hahahaha!!
I have really enjoyed these past months and many points of discovery and discussion. And I am most eager to continue discussing any subject you might wish to.
But we are well past reincarnation issues here now. So…we have touched upon evolution – the UB was the first work I ever encountered which taught about the evolution of society and of universes and Deity!! God the Supreme! And the function of experiential wisdom. And the relationship between experiential wisdom, perfecting, evolution, and the perfect beings of origin. And there is personality and freewill and their inherent association related to evolution and wisdom and perfecting. And there is uncertainty and its inherent link to adventure and how we are to learn to feast and fatten upon uncertainty and disappointment as inherent elements of evolution and experiential wisdom!!
Michael….you have opened many doors of inquiry and discovery in your short time here!! Congratulations. So much to consider. So much to learn. Rather than a specific topic, perhaps you’d like to start a study here of a particular Paper. Any Paper you wish would be welcome by me. You can find discussions here already of Papers 100, 101, 102, and 103 and many topics too.
Just let me know. Thanks again for attending here. I’m so glad you have found it helpful….and I hope a little fun too!!
Bradly
14:5.7 (159.3) Not until you traverse the last of the Havona circuits and visit the last of the Havona worlds, will the tonic of adventure and the stimulus of curiosity disappear from your career. And then will the urge, the forward impulse of eternity, replace its forerunner, the adventure lure of time.
14:5.10 (159.6) Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony—these traits inherent in evolving human nature—were not put there just to aggravate and annoy you during your short sojourn on earth, but rather to suggest to you that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery.
14:5.11 (160.1) Curiosity—the spirit of investigation, the urge of discovery, the drive of exploration—is a part of the inborn and divine endowment of evolutionary space creatures. These natural impulses were not given you merely to be frustrated and repressed. True, these ambitious urges must frequently be restrained during your short life on earth, disappointment must be often experienced, but they are to be fully realized and gloriously gratified during the long ages to come.
26:5.3 (291.3) That, then, is the primary or elementary course which confronts the faith-tested and much-traveled pilgrims of space. But long before reaching Havona, these ascendant children of time have learned to feast upon uncertainty, to fatten upon disappointment, to enthuse over apparent defeat, to invigorate in the presence of difficulties, to exhibit indomitable courage in the face of immensity, and to exercise unconquerable faith when confronted with the challenge of the inexplicable. Long since, the battle cry of these pilgrims became: “In liaison with God, nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible.”
32:5.7 (365.3) There is in the mind of God a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life. And the infinite treasures of such a matchless career are yours for the striving!
32:5.8 (365.4) The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh.
You are probably right Bradly that we should start a new topic of discussion since I am already willing to accept the UB’s teachings on reincarnation as NOT being the reality occurring on our PHYSICAL Earth. And according to UB, even when we resurrect on the 7th Mansion World (being the first one on which we awaken), that also is not us reincarnated – it’s rather the salvageable elements of us reconstructed with help from our Thought Adjusters. By the way, are the Mystery Monitors the same or different from the Thought Adjusters? Also, now that I am a little more familiar with parts of the UB, I went back and read a chapter in the Bible and noticed how it describes the work of the Holy Spirit in ways that seem very similar to how the UB describes the work of our Thought Adjusters. It’s not a big deal, but it’s nice to have clarification whenever possible.
Let me have the next 5-7 days to think about what topics we could discuss, for one of the reasons I got on this forum tonight was to let you know that my wife wants to travel with me – possibly up to a week, starting this weekend, so I can’t guarantee that I will log onto the forum during that time. By the way, I have to agree with you about asking Andre for clarification, though I suspect it’s not so easy to translate some thoughts into English if it is not someone’s 1st language. French is my wife’s 1st language, but lucky for me that she speaks English just as fluently so that I don’t have to keep asking her for clarification. She laughs that I only know one language, but that is OK for now. That will change after I (and everyone else) leaves this physical existence, according to the UB. Then we will ALL have to learn a new language (or 2) that is suitable for Morontia Life.
There are SO MANY topics within the UB – if we are going to start a new line of discussion, we should be sure that we pick a topic that is NOT already being covered; otherwise, it would be better to simply join an existing line of discussion. Bye for now.
I’m going to take a chance and see if I can correctly guess at what Andre meant in his last post about brotherhood on this forum. Perhaps he was hoping – as I had hoped – that you Bradly & Bonita could somehow make peace or amends. I’m NOT suggesting that either of you admit any wrongdoing – you had good intentions, but I think you both took each others comments a little to personal. We are NOT competing against each other on this forum. If we are all honest about wanting to learn, then we should all assume we are all on the same team, each of us bringing our own unique combination of knowledge & experiences. You both are especially knowledgeable when it comes to the UB, but even the UB teaches that love is the highest good we can achieve. If you both recall from the Bible, Jesus said “If you come to worship GOD but your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the alter & make amends with your brother (or sister). Sorry – I don’t mean to lecture anyone, but even moderators on this forum advised us not to engage in mean-spirited disputes. And though you both have technically obeyed the rules of this forum by ending your disputes, that’s not quite the same as making amends or offering some kind of peace offering in the spirit of brotherhood. Perhaps that is what Andre meant. It’s late so I must go to sleep soon. Blessings.
Road trip…..yippee! Enjoy.
I too regret the tension and rancor that has appeared between Bonita and myself. I am clueless about its origins, sources, causes, or solutions. It began many months ago.
I cannot speak for Bonita and she has not posted here for weeks. I appreciate your wishes for harmony and agree with them. Thank you and best wishes.
Bradly
Hi all:I am new to TUB and am having to adjust to weaning myself off the classic Eastern view of reincarnation which is proving difficult for me in the area of retribution and justice from a mortal’s point of view. I know that what I think is fair and just in Urantia life is inferior to the plan of the Father and what I believe is the result of not understanding properly its teachings. I have much to learn and am willing to invest in the time and patience to do so. But I have a stumbling block that I just can’t seem to get over so want opinions and/or advice on other viewpoints from more advanced students of TUB.As I understand it with no predestination a mortal is born to parents in a random chance, the parents contributing to some degree to the make-up of the child. Then at a certain age a moral choice is made and a Thought Adjuster enters into a relationship with the mortal, providing it has a “fully functioning vehicle” to receive it. I have no idea what the criteria for that is. That child grows up to be a mortal with very few morals or ethics. Then goes on to inflict pain, suffering, death and misery on millions of people. We all know this is no exaggeration. Those mortals born into or thrust into this misery are what, victims of “bad luck?” What have they done to deserve to be there while others are born into a life of ease? I know it is said that the harder the choices the more a person grows in spirit advancement. And the person who is responsible for all this misery dies a mortal death and is given ample opportunity to be given another choice to correct his path? I just can’t seem to put it into proper prospective to make it all acceptable. And as I said, I know the plan of the Father is just. I would like references to particular areas of TUB which could help me to dispel these thoughts.Any and all opinions/advice/references are welcome.Thank you all.BartWelcome Bart!!
So glad you are here. Lots of issues in your post to consider…so…great start!! This will take time.
To begin…Eastern philosophies offer much truth about the causes and cures of suffering as confirmed by the UB. Please read this topic in its entirety to learn more about karma and the laws of reciprocity and reaping what we sow. Suffering offers meaning and value and the benefits of wisdom and enlightening and experiential progress to those who seek such truth.
We are told the greatest affliction is to never suffer affliction. Most suffering is self inflicted by our own self importance. True victims can overcome all affliction and suffering by faith and spiritual progress and the self forgetting love of and service to others.
Certainly not all children, or even most children, grow up without ethics or morals. An unfortunate perspective of immaturity, inexperience , frustration, and disappointment.
The God Fragment now comes to all normal minded children between their 5th and 6th birthday upon their first concsiously moral decision. Read Papers 108-112.
Link to “suffering”:
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book/search?keys=Suffering+&op=Search
A little primer for us tadpoles. Enjoy.
100:0.1 (1094.1) THE experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power. Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all.
100:1.1 (1094.3) While religion produces growth of meanings and enhancement of values, evil always results when purely personal evaluations are elevated to the levels of absolutes. A child evaluates experience in accordance with the content of pleasure; maturity is proportional to the substitution of higher meanings for personal pleasure, even loyalties to the highest concepts of diversified life situations and cosmic relations.
100:1.6 (1095.1) Religious experience is markedly influenced by physical health, inherited temperament, and social environment. But these temporal conditions do not inhibit inner spiritual progress by a soul dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven. There are present in all normal mortals certain innate drives toward growth and self-realization which function if they are not specifically inhibited. The certain technique of fostering this constitutive endowment of the potential of spiritual growth is to maintain an attitude of wholehearted devotion to supreme values.
100:1.7 (1095.2) Religion cannot be bestowed, received, loaned, learned, or lost. It is a personal experience which grows proportionally to the growing quest for final values. Cosmic growth thus attends on the accumulation of meanings and the ever-expanding elevation of values. But nobility itself is always an unconscious growth.
100:1.8 (1095.3) Religious habits of thinking and acting are contributory to the economy of spiritual growth. One can develop religious predispositions toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned spiritual reflex. Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God. The factors of religious growth may be intentional, but the growth itself is unvaryingly unconscious.
100:2.6 (1096.3) The goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material. The only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal. Mortal man is entitled to the enjoyment of physical pleasures and to the satisfaction of human affections; he is benefited by loyalty to human associations and temporal institutions; but these are not the eternal foundations upon which to build the immortal personality which must transcend space, vanquish time, and achieve the eternal destiny of divine perfection and finaliter service.
100:2.7 (1096.4) Jesus portrayed the profound surety of the God-knowing mortal when he said: “To a God-knowing kingdom believer, what does it matter if all things earthly crash?” Temporal securities are vulnerable, but spiritual sureties are impregnable. When the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable; at least this is true of every human being who has dedicated the keeping of his soul to the indwelling spirit of the eternal God.
100:3.7 (1097.4) Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions. Growth is always unconscious, be it physical, intellectual, or spiritual. Love thus grows; it cannot be created, manufactured, or purchased; it must grow. Evolution is a cosmic technique of growth. Social growth cannot be secured by legislation, and moral growth is not had by improved administration. Man may manufacture a machine, but its real value must be derived from human culture and personal appreciation. Man’s sole contribution to growth is the mobilization of the total powers of his personality—living faith.
100:4.2 (1097.6) Religious perplexities are inevitable; there can be no growth without psychic conflict and spiritual agitation. The organization of a philosophic standard of living entails considerable commotion in the philosophic realms of the mind. Loyalties are not exercised in behalf of the great, the good, the true, and the noble without a struggle. Effort is attendant upon clarification of spiritual vision and enhancement of cosmic insight. And the human intellect protests against being weaned from subsisting upon the nonspiritual energies of temporal existence. The slothful animal mind rebels at the effort required to wrestle with cosmic problem solving.
100:4.3 (1097.7) But the great problem of religious living consists in the task of unifying the soul powers of the personality by the dominance of LOVE. Health, mental efficiency, and happiness arise from the unification of physical systems, mind systems, and spirit systems. Of health and sanity man understands much, but of happiness he has truly realized very little. The highest happiness is indissolubly linked with spiritual progress. Spiritual growth yields lasting joy, peace which passes all understanding.
100:4.5 (1098.2) In the mind’s eye conjure up a picture of one of your primitive ancestors of cave-dwelling times—a short, misshapen, filthy, snarling hulk of a man standing, legs spread, club upraised, breathing hate and animosity as he looks fiercely just ahead. Such a picture hardly depicts the divine dignity of man. But allow us to enlarge the picture. In front of this animated human crouches a saber-toothed tiger. Behind him, a woman and two children. Immediately you recognize that such a picture stands for the beginnings of much that is fine and noble in the human race, but the man is the same in both pictures. Only, in the second sketch you are favored with a widened horizon. You therein discern the motivation of this evolving mortal. His attitude becomes praiseworthy because you understand him. If you could only fathom the motives of your associates, how much better you would understand them. If you could only know your fellows, you would eventually fall in love with them. *
100:4.6 (1098.3) You cannot truly love your fellows by a mere act of the will. Love is only born of thoroughgoing understanding of your neighbor’s motives and sentiments. It is not so important to love all men today as it is that each day you learn to love one more human being. If each day or each week you achieve an understanding of one more of your fellows, and if this is the limit of your ability, then you are certainly socializing and truly spiritualizing your personality. Love is infectious, and when human devotion is intelligent and wise, love is more catching than hate. But only genuine and unselfish love is truly contagious. If each mortal could only become a focus of dynamic affection, this benign virus of love would soon pervade the sentimental emotion-stream of humanity to such an extent that all civilization would be encompassed by love, and that would be the realization of the brotherhood of man.
Hello again – finished one road trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but going on another short trip soon, but closer to home. My employer gives 2 weeks off during the end of year holidays, so hence the travels. I have not settled on a UB topic Bradly, but I greatly appreciate what Bart has recently written, as I too struggled with the beliefs commonly associated with reincarnation. However, I would like to know more about the Thought Adjusters, since I recently pointed out that they seem to have the responsibilities commonly attributed to the biblical Holy Spirit. So Bart’s timing is very good with his post also including comments and questions regarding Thought Adjusters (aka – Father fragments). As a side note, I hope Bart has read some of our earlier posts regarding this topic, which I think would also be helpful to him. Bart’s main question/struggle is a good one, for without the context of something like reincarnation, it is difficult to accept how some are born with silver spoons in their mouths, while most people in life struggle from paycheck, in addition to many other struggles. Where is the “fairness” in all of that?! But from what the UB contains, I get the impression that in a way, our one-time physical lives on physical Earth really don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but it simply provides all humans with a starting point in our evolutionary paths. And once we arrive in the “first” Mansion World (which is actually the 7th by the way the UB counts them), things will get sorted out “fairly” at that point, based on our current sense of fairness. It’s a little like creating a good story with multiple characters – you need to begin with a setting (aka – time, place, etc) in which to place all the characters – in our case, we are the characters starting our lives in our somewhat unique/somewhat shared settings/situations on physical planet Earth. If my crude analogy is lacking in any way, I am sure Bradly and/or Bonita can correct it where it needs to be corrected. Bye for now.
For now let me point out the obvious, exemplified by the life of the Buddha, Siddhartha himself: riches, power, and leisure are not rewards or advantages in a true life where enlightenment, happiness, and spiritual progress are desirable and in such a true life poverty is no punishment or obstacle. Once a rich prince, he found no true wealth from such riches but instead suffered a great poverty and disillusioned disappointment and yearning hunger for reality.
Which life is more “fair”?
It is our personal motives, intentions, and choices that determine outcomes and “fairness” and destiny and happiness …and it most certainly is not wealth or ease or material power.
Again I wonder at the level of understanding here of karma, enlightenment, fairness, and Eastern philosophies related to those. Who thinks materialism is greater than or might deliver happiness?! For no true philosophy teaches that.
So…in 100:1.6 posted above we are taught the truth and fact that no personal/family circumstances or situations are true obstacles to spiritualization and enlightening and experiential wisdom. Neither are wealth and power inherently helpful in such pursuits. Indeed, we know and the UB concurs that power is corrupting and the more power the more potential for the most corruption. Wealth and power are great assets to the wise but are even greater burdens and obstacles to the foolish and immature.
As to fairness….the UB teaches that fairness is the foundation of reality. Karma makes fairness entirely certain and ultimately predictable. The fruits of the spirit are fruits of the spirit…and not the fruits of wealth or power or leisure. All mortals have access to the same fruits of the spirit by the same means and methods….righteousness in our choices and motives and intentions and priorities. Spirituality cannot be purchased or given or taken or loaned or borrowed. Neither can wisdom. And the fruits of the spirit cannot be acquired thusly either.
48:5.8 (551.3) One of the purposes of the morontia career is to effect the permanent eradication from the mortal survivors of such animal vestigial traits as procrastination, equivocation, insincerity, problem avoidance, unfairness, and ease seeking. The mansonia life early teaches the young morontia pupils that postponement is in no sense avoidance. After the life in the flesh, time is no longer available as a technique of dodging situations or of circumventing disagreeable obligations.
108:5.5 (1191.6) The Mystery Monitors are not thought helpers; they are thought adjusters. They labor with the material mind for the purpose of constructing, by adjustment and spiritualization, a new mind for the new worlds and the new name of your future career. Their mission chiefly concerns the future life, not this life. They are called heavenly helpers, not earthly helpers. They are not interested in making the mortal career easy; rather are they concerned in making your life reasonably difficult and rugged, so that decisions will be stimulated and multiplied. The presence of a great Thought Adjuster does not bestow ease of living and freedom from strenuous thinking, but such a divine gift should confer a sublime peace of mind and a superb tranquillity of spirit.
108:5.6 (1192.1) Your transient and ever-changing emotions of joy and sorrow are in the main purely human and material reactions to your internal psychic climate and to your external material environment. Do not, therefore, look to the Adjuster for selfish consolation and mortal comfort. It is the business of the Adjuster to prepare you for the eternal adventure, to assure your survival. It is not the mission of the Mystery Monitor to smooth your ruffled feelings or to minister to your injured pride; it is the preparation of your soul for the long ascending career that engages the attention and occupies the time of the Adjuster.
113:4.3 (1245.3) Seraphim function as teachers of men by guiding the footsteps of the human personality into paths of new and progressive experiences. To accept the guidance of a seraphim rarely means attaining a life of ease. In following this leading you are sure to encounter, and if you have the courage, to traverse, the rugged hills of moral choosing and spiritual progress.
154:2.5 (1719.1) Universe difficulties must be met and planetary obstacles must be encountered as a part of the experience training provided for the growth and development, the progressive perfection, of the evolving souls of mortal creatures. The spiritualization of the human soul requires intimate experience with the educational solving of a wide range of real universe problems. The animal nature and the lower forms of will creatures do not progress favorably in environmental ease. Problematic situations, coupled with exertion stimuli, conspire to produce those activities of mind, soul, and spirit which contribute mightily to the achievement of worthy goals of mortal progression and to the attainment of higher levels of spirit destiny.
180:2.5 (1946.3) When there exists this living connection between divinity and humanity, if humanity should thoughtlessly and ignorantly pray for selfish ease and vainglorious accomplishments, there could be only one divine answer: more and increased bearing of the fruits of the spirit on the stems of the living branches. When the branch of the vine is alive, there can be only one answer to all its petitions: increased grape bearing. In fact, the branch exists only for, and can do nothing except, fruit bearing, yielding grapes. So does the true believer exist only for the purpose of bearing the fruits of the spirit: to love man as he himself has been loved by God—that we should love one another, even as Jesus has loved us.
180:2.6 (1946.4) And when the Father’s hand of discipline is laid upon the vine, it is done in love, in order that the branches may bear much fruit. And a wise husbandman cuts away only the dead and fruitless branches.
181:1.2 (1953.4) “When I have returned to live in you and work through you, I can the better lead you on through this life and guide you through the many abodes in the future life in the heaven of heavens. Life in the Father’s eternal creation is not an endless rest of idleness and selfish ease but rather a ceaseless progression in grace, truth, and glory. Each of the many, many stations in my Father’s house is a stopping place, a life designed to prepare you for the next one ahead. And so will the children of light go on from glory to glory until they attain the divine estate wherein they are spiritually perfected even as the Father is perfect in all things.
Me here: The life of God’s children is about finding and becoming HAPPY!! There is that which delivers happiness and contentment and that which delivers suffering and disappointment. One’s social and wealth position at birth have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with either of those – happiness and contentment OR suffering and disappointment. Sorry. To believe so is to display a great misunderstanding and immaturity and defies all Eastern Philosophies and all religious truths ever embrace by mortal beings anywhere. Karma does not deliver to or deprive us of ease and leisure and wealth and power. Such temporal ‘advantages’ are great traps and the bait of fools and weak minds who do not perceive the true and inner nature of the Spirit within.
Or so I understand karma…and the teachings of the UB. Wealth can be so very unfair indeed!!
My trouble with the seeming unfairness has nothing to do with wealth or possessions. It has to do with the unspeakable suffering and cruelty, death and hardship that so many have been thrust into. Granted, this mortal life is a starting point but I bet that didn’t ease the suffering of those in the death camps or the killing fields. I know, I am ignorant of the grand scheme and hope to someday have a more clear understanding of the UB which will no doubt enlighten me and I thank all for their comments and suggestions. I guess from most comments suffering is a blessing. But for now I will have keep examining my thoughts and get over it.
Suffering as a function of accidents of time, health, cruelty, domination, war, etc. is NOT a function of karma or a punishment from God…neither. It is a reflection of the planet’s immature and primitive status.
And suffering in this so brief life cannot prevent the eternal adventure or the fruits of the Spirit in this life. Or so the UB teaches.
Here are two links to other topics here which are related to your questions:
“Suffering”:
and “Undying Hope”:
Once you read Papers 100-103, let me know. There are long topical discussions here on each of those 4 Papers that you also might find helpful.
Bottom line is: no matter the source of suffering or the kind of suffering or the amount of suffering we may experience – whether self imposed or as true victims of personal/social injustice or by the accidents and natural disasters of time – personal religious experience and relationship with the Divine Spirit within will soothe all forms of suffering and cure all of its causes. And by such experience there two profound effects: first our personal perspective of reality and suffering and those who cause suffering is radically changed to a new vision of reality based on love, mercy, forgiveness, and true understanding; and second – the more people who practice this cure for personal suffering, the less and less suffering and the fewer and fewer sources of suffering there are on our world. There is a miraculous Double Effect!!
I am unsure of those Eastern Philosophies you say you have studied and which guide your beliefs and philosophy and perspective but I will say that ALL the Eastern Philosophies I have studied teach this exact same truth. The UB brilliantly verifies these truths of universe reality and suffering. Jesus said that mortals are not inherently evil or sinful….we are immature and inexperienced and ignorant and behave that way!!
Fordstar, as you ponder suffering, consider these several references:3:5.14 [Part I]9. Is pleasure — the satisfaction of happiness — desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.86:2.1 [Part III]Anxiety was a natural state of the savage mind. When men and women fall victims to excessive anxiety, they are simply reverting to the natural estate of their far-distant ancestors; and when anxiety becomes actually painful, it inhibits activity and unfailingly institutes evolutionary changes and biologic adaptations. Pain and suffering are essential to progressive evolution.90:3.8 [Part III]4. Sin — punishment for taboo violation. In comparatively recent times it has been believed that sickness is a punishment for sin, personal or racial. Among peoples traversing this level of evolution the prevailing theory is that one cannot be afflicted unless one has violated a taboo. To regard sickness and suffering as “arrows of the Almighty within them” is typical of such beliefs. The Chinese and Mesopotamians long regarded disease as the result of the action of evil demons, although the Chaldeans also looked upon the stars as the cause of suffering. This theory of disease as a consequence of divine wrath is still prevalent among many reputedly civilized groups of Urantians.118:10.9 [Part III]Some of the amazingly fortuitous conditions occasionally prevailing on the evolutionary worlds may be due to the gradually emerging presence of the Supreme, the foretasting of his future universe activities. Most of what a mortal would call providential is not; his judgment of such matters is very handicapped by lack of farsighted vision into the true meanings of the circumstances of life. Much of what a mortal would call good luck might really be bad luck; the smile of fortune that bestows unearned leisure and undeserved wealth may be the greatest of human afflictions; the apparent cruelty of a perverse fate that heaps tribulation upon some suffering mortal may in reality be the tempering fire that is transmuting the soft iron of immature personality into the tempered steel of real character.148:5.3 [Part IV]“But, my son, you should know that the Father does not purposely afflict his children. Man brings down upon himself unnecessary affliction as a result of his persistent refusal to walk in the better ways of the divine will. Affliction is potential in evil, but much of it has been produced by sin and iniquity. Many unusual events have transpired on this world, and it is not strange that all thinking men should be perplexed by the scenes of suffering and affliction which they witness. But of one thing you may be sure: The Father does not send affliction as an arbitrary punishment for wrongdoing. The imperfections and handicaps of evil are inherent; the penalties of sin are inevitable; the destroying consequences of iniquity are inexorable. Man should not blame God for those afflictions which are the natural result of the life which he chooses to live; neither should man complain of those experiences which are a part of life as it is lived on this world. It is the Father’s will that mortal man should work persistently and consistently toward the betterment of his estate on earth. Intelligent application would enable man to overcome much of his earthly misery.”And there are many more references. I get your point (fordstar7 wrote: It has to do with the unspeakable suffering and cruelty, death and hardship that so many have been thrust into.)4:3.3 [Part I]Much, very much, of the difficulty which Urantia mortals have in understanding God is due to the far-reaching consequences of the Lucifer rebellion and the Caligastia betrayal. On worlds not segregated by sin, the evolutionary races are able to formulate far better ideas of the Universal Father; they suffer less from confusion, distortion, and perversion of concept.
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