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Bonita….thanks for ungarbling me….again! Yes indeed, I used the wrong term. The Spiritual Brotherhood is the ‘second’ kingdom of the 5 used by Jesus…the kingdom of believers. And it exists throughout a planet’s epochal transformations. Those who find the kingdom within are immediately mustered into the kingdom of all believers on a world.
Do you think it takes cognitive recognition of the third kingdom to be a member of that one? Or does joining the first two kingdoms bring automatic entry into the kingdom of heaven (#3) too? And all 3 of those forms of the kingdom lead to the evolving kingdoms #4 & #5. Meaning that living in the kingdom of God delivers choices that serve all of God’s creation and children and helps the Supreme and the Most Highs in their upliftment of all time and space creation to progress toward destiny and into potential?
Bradly wrote: Do you think it takes cognitive recognition of the third kingdom to be a member of that one?I think #3 is about supermortal invisible beings. We are not members of that kingdom. However, our souls are superhuman and our souls are capable of performing on superhuman and invisible levels of reality. But that’s something I think we should be careful not to make assumptions about.
Bradly wrote: And all 3 of those forms of the kingdom lead to the evolving kingdoms #4 & #5.I don’t read the quote to mean that one phase or epoch leads to another. I think they are all coexistent and mutually evolving together towards a goal.170:4.1-6 In the course of this Sabbath afternoon’s sermon Jesus noted no less than five phases, or epochs, of the kingdom, and they were:
1. The personal and inward experience of the spiritual life of the fellowship of the individual believer with God the Father.
2. The enlarging brotherhood of gospel believers, the social aspects of the enhanced morals and quickened ethics resulting from the reign of God’s spirit in the hearts of individual believers.
3. The supermortal brotherhood of invisible spiritual beings which prevails on earth and in heaven, the superhuman kingdom of God.
4. The prospect of the more perfect fulfillment of the will of God, the advance toward the dawn of a new social order in connection with improved spiritual living – the next age of man.
5. The kingdom in its fullness, the future spiritual age of light and life on earth.
I notice that of the five phases or epochs of the kingdom as elucidated by Jesus only the first one pertains specifically to the personal, individual mortal. The other four have to do with various groupings of individuals: enlarging brotherhood of gospel believers on earth; the supermortal brotherhood of invisible spiritual beings on earth; the dawn of a new social order on earth; the kingdom in its fullness on earth. Which reminds me again: as the part, so the whole.
12:7.11 Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between every personality in universal existence. No person can escape the benefits or the penalties that may come as a result of relationship to other persons. The part profits or suffers in measure with the whole. The good effort of each man benefits all men; the error or evil of each man augments the tribulation of all men. As moves the part, so moves the whole. As the progress of the whole, so the progress of the part. The relative velocities of part and whole determine whether the part is retarded by the inertia of the whole or is carried forward by the momentum of the cosmic brotherhood.The enlarging brotherhood of gospel believers on earth is one of the five phases or epochs of the kingdom as elucidated by Jesus. Is this enlarging brotherhood of gospel believers the same group as those who desire to do God’s will? Does a person have to have a relationship with Jesus to be in the enlarging brotherhood?
133:0.3 Said Jesus: “Though human beings differ in many ways, the one from another, before God and in the spiritual world all mortals stand on an equal footing. There are only two groups of mortals in the eyes of God: those who desire to do his will and those who do not. As the universe looks upon an inhabited world, it likewise discerns two great classes: those who know God and those who do not.
Does a person have to have a relationship with Jesus to be in the enlarging brotherhood? An answer:170:5.11 The kingdom, to the Jews, was the Israelite community; to the gentiles it became the Christian church. To Jesus the kingdom was the sum of those individuals who had confessed their faith in the fatherhood of God, thereby declaring their wholehearted dedication to the doing of the will of God, thus becoming members of the spiritual brotherhood of man.There’s a difference between the spiritual brotherhood and the social brotherhood. Obviously, the spiritual brotherhood comes first followed by an overflow of spirit into the social brotherhood. Personal religious experience, a relationship between creature and Creator is the core of the brotherhood. It is by recognizing this same phenomenon in others, or at least recognizing the right of others to have this relationship on their own, that breaks down the barriers to the social brotherhood of man. The spiritual brotherhood is of God; the social brotherhood is of man. Jesus talked so much about being both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Sonship is at the heart of it all.
155:6.8 Every race of mankind has its own mental outlook upon human existence; therefore must the religion of the mind ever run true to these various racial viewpoints. Never can the religions of authority come to unification. Human unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the superendowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but all mankind is indwelt by the same divine and eternal spirit. The hope of human brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit—the religion of personal spiritual experience.
195:10.11 Christianity is seriously confronted with the doom embodied in one of its own slogans: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The non-Christian world will hardly capitulate to a sect-divided Christendom. The living Jesus is the only hope of a possible unification of Christianity. The true church—the Jesus brotherhood—is invisible, spiritual, and is characterized by unity, not necessarily by uniformity. Uniformity is the earmark of the physical world of mechanistic nature. Spiritual unity is the fruit of faith union with the living Jesus. The visible church should refuse longer to handicap the progress of the invisible and spiritual brotherhood of the kingdom of God. And this brotherhood is destined to become a living organism in contrast to an institutionalized social organization. It may well utilize such social organizations, but it must not be supplanted by them.
196:2.11 Jesus offered no rules for social advancement; his was a religious mission, and religion is an exclusively individual experience. The ultimate goal of society’s most advanced achievement can never hope to transcend Jesus’ brotherhood of men based on the recognition of the fatherhood of God. The ideal of all social attainment can be realized only in the coming of this divine kingdom.
The invisible and spiritual brotherhood of the kingdom of God cuts across all monotheistic religions, because this divine kingdom is composed of all individuals who desire to do God’s will, those who know God (133:0.3), those who confess their faith in the fatherhood of God. (170:5.11) Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between every personality in universal existence (12:7.11) which includes personality relationships here on earth. While an individual has his/her own religion of personal spiritual experience, which might be associated with that individual’s participation in an institutional religion or not, that individual cannot escape from social interactions and personal relationships in life. I think spirit born individuals seek out social interactions and personal relationships, as do those who are not spirit born. But spirit born individuals have something extra. They have their personal spiritual experience with God, a relationship with him, and this inner experience (5:0.1) leads to the social aspects of religious life – social brotherhood – the more complicated relationships with which all of us are intimately familiar.
99:5.1 While religion is exclusively a personal spiritual experience — knowing God as a Father — the corollary of this experience — knowing man as a brother — entails the adjustment of the self to other selves, and that involves the social or group aspect of religious life.The cornerstones of the gospel of the kingdom: brotherhood and service and these pertain to outworkings of personality relationships.
178:1.4 Sonship in the kingdom, from the standpoint of advancing civilization, should assist you in becoming the ideal citizens of the kingdoms of this world since brotherhood and service are the cornerstones of the gospel of the kingdom. The love call of the spiritual kingdom should prove to be the effective destroyer of the hate urge of the unbelieving and war-minded citizens of the earthly kingdoms. But these material-minded sons in darkness will never know of your spiritual light of truth unless you draw very near them with that unselfish social service which is the natural outgrowth of the bearing of the fruits of the spirit in the life experience of each individual believer.I think the cornerstone of Jesus’ gospel is the father-child relationship. Sonship is the cornerstone of service, which brings the realization of brotherhood, but it always begins with the Father. Prayer and meditation are the best mechanisms for approaching the Father-child relationship and the alter-ego approach is the best way to approach prayer.
103:4.1 The atmosphere of the communion provides a refreshing and comforting period of truce in the conflict of the self-seeking ego with the altruistic urge of the indwelling spirit Monitor. And this is the prelude to true worship–the practice of the presence of God which eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man.
99:7.4 Man can never wisely decide temporal issues or transcend the selfishness of personal interests unless he meditates in the presence of the sovereignty of God and reckons with the realities of divine meanings and spiritual values. 1093:01-02
‘Tis true the Father comes first, after a person sadly discovers his/her parents are not gods. But a solitary life is fatal to happiness. The rubber and the road meet up in interpersonal relationships and that’s where the real action is in my opinion. It’s about how we treat each other. Relationships are ends in and of themselves. They are not a means to an end. We fellowship with each other not to prove a point, but rather for our mutual edification. One’s inner experience wells up, as in *my cup runneth over* and is palpable not only to citizens of the kingdom of heaven, but also others. Sharing is Godlike. It’s a way of life. A way of relatedness to other human beings who may or may not be members of the kingdom of heaven.111:4.7 Happiness and joy take origin in the inner life. You cannot experience real joy all by yourself. A solitary life is fatal to happiness. Even families and nations will enjoy life more if they share it with others.It is natural to give (my opinion) when already so very much has been received.
I agree. Personality relationships are extremely important; they actually have cosmic value. TUB does say that we will be known in the next life by the company we keep here. It’s a wonder people don’t take relationships more seriously . . .
112:5.22 But personality and the relationships between personalities are never scaffolding; mortal memory of personality relationships has cosmic value and will persist. On the mansion worlds you will know and be known, and more, you will remember, and be remembered by, your onetime associates in the short but intriguing life on Urantia.
Here’s a gem on Fatherhood, personality and brotherhood:
16:9.14 You become conscious of man as your creature brother because you are already conscious of God as your Creator Father. Fatherhood is the relationship out of which we reason ourselves into the recognition of brotherhood. And Fatherhood becomes, or may become, a universe reality to all moral creatures because the Father has himself bestowed personality upon all such beings and has encircuited them within the grasp of the universal personality circuit. We worship God, first, because he is, then, because he is in us, and last, because we are in him.And because he is in our neighbor and our neighbor’s neighbor.I think the cornerstone of Jesus’ gospel is the father-child relationship.
Jesus used the father-child relationship as an illustration of a better way to understand the gospel of the kingdom, because the Jewish people were expecting a material deliverer. (176:1.2 ) He he had challenged their ideas of the material Messiah. (153:1.2) (158:4.4)
142:7.4 He next explained that the “kingdom idea” was not the best way to illustrate man’s relation to God; that he employed such figures of speech because the Jewish people were expecting the kingdom, and because John had preached in terms of the coming kingdom. Jesus said: “The people of another age will better understand the gospel of the kingdom when it is presented in terms expressive of the family relationship — when man understands religion as the teaching of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, sonship with God.” Then the Master discoursed at some length on the earthly family as an illustration of the heavenly family, restating the two fundamental laws of living: the first commandment of love for the father, the head of the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the children, to love your brother as yourself. And then he explained that such a quality of brotherly affection would invariably manifest itself in unselfish and loving social service.He said the quality of brotherly affection would manifest in unselfish and loving social service. The quality of earthly families would, it seems to me, reflect the quality of brotherly affection in families, and therefore would be a measure of individual brotherly affection, so it seems to me. As the part, so the whole.63:4.9 It is impossible to induce such primitive beings long to live together in peace. Man is the descendant of fighting animals, and when closely associated, uncultured people irritate and offend each other.
I think the keyword in the above quote is uncultured. The family concept is the very beginning of culture.
66:7.4 The definite order of family life and the living of one family together in one residence of comparatively settled location date from these times of Dalamatia and were chiefly due to the example and teachings of the one hundred and their pupils. The home as a social unit never became a success until the supermen and superwomen of Dalamatia led mankind to love and plan for their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s children. Savage man loves his child, but civilized man loves also his grandchild.
I think the keyword in the above quote is civilized. The family concept is the beginning of culture and civilized society.
68:2.8 Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family. The family was the first successful peace group, the man and woman learning how to adjust their antagonisms while at the same time teaching the pursuits of peace to their children.
I think the keywords in the above quote are lasting value and teaching the pursuits of peace. Without the traditional family I think culture and civilization are doomed to retrogression.
But again, this is the social brotherhood. The spiritual brotherhood would not be affected at all.
I think social brotherhood, racial harmony and social co-operation, human brotherhood, are the fruit of spiritual brotherhood.
39:5.4 2. The Spirits of Brotherhood. It should be apparent that, when an Adam and Eve arrive on an evolutionary world, the task of achieving racial harmony and social co-operation among its diverse races is one of considerable proportions. Seldom do these races of different colors and varied natures take kindly to the plan of human brotherhood. These primitive men only come to realize the wisdom of peaceful interassociation as a result of ripened human experience and through the faithful ministry of the seraphic spirits of brotherhood. Without the work of these seraphim the efforts of the Material Sons to harmonize and advance the races of an evolving world would be greatly delayed. And had your Adam adhered to the original plan for the advancement of Urantia, by this time these spirits of brotherhood would have worked unbelievable transformations in the human race. In view of the Adamic default, it is indeed remarkable that these seraphic orders have been able to foster and bring to realization even as much of brotherhood as you now have on Urantia.Social brotherhood is an inevitability. The kingdom of heaven is the means to the world-wide realization of the brotherhood of man.52:6.7 The brotherhood of man is, after all, predicated on the recognition of the fatherhood of God. The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above, thus augmenting moral insight while enhancing the soul capacity of every mortal to understand and love every other mortal. Mutual understanding and fraternal love are transcendent civilizers and mighty factors in the world-wide realization of the brotherhood of man.Mutual understanding and fraternal love are spiritual fruit too, I think.71:4.16 The appearance of genuine brotherhood signifies that a social order has arrived in which all men delight in bearing one another’s burdens; they actually desire to practice the golden rule..98:7.11 Christianity, today, has become a religion well adapted to the social, economic, and political mores of the white races. It has long since ceased to be the religion of Jesus, although it still valiantly portrays a beautiful religion about Jesus to such individuals as sincerely seek to follow in the way of its teaching. It has glorified Jesus as the Christ, the Messianic anointed one from God, but has largely forgotten the Master’s personal gospel: the Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of all men.Yes, the brotherhood is the fruit of sonship. But it ain’t gonna happen until the world wakes up to the gospel: The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Fatherhood comes first. Then sonship. Then family relations.
That shouldn’t stop those who recognize sonship and want to live the gospel from doing whatever they can to prosper. In fact, TUB says that it is okay for “golden rulers”(another way of saying those who recognize sonship and practice brotherhood) are permitted to isolate themselves from the rest of the world if necessary.
71:4.16 The appearance of genuine brotherhood signifies that a social order has arrived in which all men delight in bearing one another’s burdens; they actually desire to practice the golden rule. But such an ideal society cannot be realized when either the weak or the wicked lie in wait to take unfair and unholy advantage of those who are chiefly actuated by devotion to the service of truth, beauty, and goodness. In such a situation only one course is practical: The “golden rulers” may establish a progressive society in which they live according to their ideals while maintaining an adequate defense against their benighted fellows who might seek either to exploit their pacific predilections or to destroy their advancing civilization.
Isolation isn’t always bad. The decision by Andon and Fonta to isolate themselves from their tribe turned them into humans. The superior civilization developing on a neighboring planet is geographically. The lemurs who evolved into the human race developed on an isolated Mesopotamian peninsula. I wonder sometimes if the flight of the Pilgrims to the New World wasn’t another superior decision of “golden rulers” isolating themselves. I would think that temporary isolation would actually concentrate the qualities of the brotherhood, making it more envious to outsiders. Isn’t that what happened in Daligastia and the Garden? Maybe it’s time to revisit that idea . . . make a super concentrated example of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Just a thought.
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