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More information in support of the case for Christianity to rid itself of the primitive atonement doctrine. The notion that every person is born into spiritual debt slavery is perpetuation of soul hopelessness and attempts to nullify the fact of sonship status and high spirit destiny of the person as Jesus taught. Atonement runs counter to the liberating proclamation “the kingdom is within you” where entrance is simply acceptance of the fact of sonship by faith, without any prior conditions necessary.
The doctrine of original sin, or racial guilt, started every person out in serious debt to the spirit powers
The earliest idea of the sacrifice was that of a neutrality assessment levied by ancestral spirits; only later did the idea of atonement develop. As man got away from the notion of the evolutionary origin of the race, as the traditions of the days of the Planetary Prince and the sojourn of Adam filtered down through time, the concept of sin and of original sin became widespread, so that sacrifice for accidental and personal sin evolved into the doctrine of sacrifice for the atonement of racial sin. The atonement of the sacrifice was a blanket insurance device which covered even the resentment and jealousy of an unknown god. [Paper 89:4.5, page 978:2]
Atonement is a man-made, fear-motivated, blanket spiritual insurance policy.
Surrounded by so many sensitive spirits and grasping gods, primitive man was face to face with such a host of creditor deities that it required all the priests, ritual, and sacrifices throughout an entire lifetime to get him out of spiritual debt. The doctrine of original sin, or racial guilt, started every person out in serious debt to the spirit powers. [Paper 89:4.6, page 978:3]
Vern wrote: Why not?I left so BB can come back. I don’t want to be the cause of anyone’s bad feelings, as I’ve been told by many here that I am. Also, it seems to me that most of the contributors and moderators on this forum have bad feelings toward me and I don’t like being in a negative environment. Besides, it seems like people mostly talk to themselves here. Nevertheless, I continue to read when I can. I’m mostly interested to know about nameless until fused. I think she lives, used to live, somewhere near me. There aren’t many readers in my area.Bonita wrote: I left so BB can come back.Hi Bonita,I Really appreciate you taking a moment to reply, thanks. I gather BB is Brooklynborn. I know that a group of posters that once came when the previous Forum was in place, do get together in another forum. I’ve had emails from Menno who is part of that group who comprise Alina, Kookaburra, Pike and Brooklynborn who have become good friends and can discuss ideas and experiences openly.Vern,
Are you saying that BB is not interested in coming back? That my absence is in vain? BTW, I miss Pike and Alina. They were deep thinkers and good conversationalists. Nevertheless, I continue to feel unwelcome here. Moderator 2 got on my last nerve. I don’t see it as a friendly place of discourse at all, but rather an arena for essayists. Perhaps that is a better way of proceeding? Writing essays, that is.
Thanks for the kind reply though. Carry on.
Bonita wrote: BTW, I miss Pike and Alina.Yes, so do I.Menno tells me he thinks Alina has a very deep knowledge of The Urantia Book and she is a fluent Spanish speaker. I’ve just sent a message to him saying you dropped by, hope that’s OK. I’m hoping some of the gang will come by and post here again, this place sure could do with a bit of life, I agree with you.I know Nigel misses you, he mentioned you last week at our Canberra Study Group.
Well with regard to a friendly atmosphere we can make it that way. Not everyone is a typist, for some a cut and paste approach works to present an idea or make a point. I can understand that you might seek a bit more depth other than seeing paragraphs of what you already have read and are familiar with. I guess it takes time to have the concepts living inside the mind ready to be discussed creatively as personal experiences.
I guess that’s your issue with the essayists. I’m probably one of them. I get a idea and then go hunting and gathering and see what I come up with, if others join in, all the better. My latest escapade is “face to face” and then there’s this ongoing project on “what Christianity can do to re-invent itself?” That one is a response to the fact the last part of the book focuses so specifically on Christianity. We are informed after all, that the angels of the Churches have got the first watch of the revelation and I think their tenure is the first hundred years after which the angels of progress kick in. Well, 60 years has already passed, that’s the 1st generation of readers essentially and the spirit is moving among the people to get the spiritual brotherhood hooked up. It would be great if existing Christian believers could come alive with the religion of Jesus and the organic spiritual brotherhood ranks could swell substantially, God knows the book has lots of references about that.
Anyway Bonita, I think you are most welcome here. You are as far as I’m concerned. And, you must have seen Mara’s welcoming message also. I daresay that Moderator 2 is quite a charming person and would willingly allay your concerns with a “virtual” smile in your direction.
Anyway, keep buzzing around this garden and see if any blossoms pop up worth landing on.
Thanks for the gracious reply Vern. I think you misunderstood what I said about essayists. I don’t have an issue with them. I love to write essays myself. I wish there was a place on this forum just for essays. I think your essays on the discussion side of the forum is a form of thinking out loud, where it’s okay to have others help you develop your thoughts. Essays are about already developed thoughts, or so I think.
As for Menno and the gang, tell them I said hi. As for Nigel, tell him that I’m still waiting for a response from an email conversation we started over a year and half ago. Since he never replied, I take that as an unfriendly gesture. And as for Moderator 2, I will not accept a virtual smile from a person who refuses to divulge his/her identity. If you’re going to use my personal email account to contact me, then identify yourself and speak to me person to person, not moralizing automaton to person. I’m highly offended by it. Highly. No smiling here.
Okay, it was nice having a chat and clearing the air. Incidentally, while I’m at it, all of you sided with Moderator 2, as I recall. And you all agreed with BB who called me a bully, among other nasty things. Group justice reigns as they say. So, I’ll just read and keep my ideas to myself for now hoping that BB and his rebellion obsession will return as you folks and Moderator 2 obviously desire.
Bonita wrote: nice having a chat and clearing the air.Sure is Bonita.To clarify one thing you mentioned in your closing paragraph regarding allegiances, I am just a participating individual on the Forum with no official role in the Association. You may have noticed, probably not, because you were out of the loop yourself for quite a while, that I had not been participating in this general discussion zone for over a year, the functional difficulties I was experiencing with the forum tool-set have been resolved to some extent and I’m back. As I have not been participating till recently, I have no knowledge of the particular difficulties you experienced to which you refer. I’m just a visitor to the site. An ordinary person who is not involved with administration. I share your concern about lack of openness in personal dealings. If you have been contacted in a private email I agree, it should be person to person.I don’t know how often Nigel views this general discussion zone, as he likes to focus on scientific matters, but he is curious about people too. I will pass on your message to him. Likewise, I will pass on your greetings to Menno and the gang.Confining myself to this topic using Papers 99 – 103 as the touchstone for conversations since the FER fact (a bona-fide REVELATION) is that the version of Cosmic Mind we have on loan while in this skin suit on Urantia is the actual source of the answer to “What is religion?” Meaning, THE INDIVIDUAL has the God-given right to answer it – uniquely – if they so choose. Modern psychiatry is ABSOLUTELY the worst judge of personality, character and soul because the Shamans of Psycho-Logic do not know what the source of real “mind”is! What are THEY judging?!
5. The Origin of Ideals
103:5.1 (1133.6) The early evolutionary mind gives origin to a feeling of social duty and moral obligation derived chiefly from emotional fear. The more positive urge of social service and the idealism of altruism are derived from the direct impulse of the divine spirit indwelling the human mind.
103:5.2 (1133.7) This idea-ideal of doing good to others — the impulse to deny the ego something for the benefit of one’s neighbor — is very circumscribed at first. Primitive man regards as neighbor only those very close to him, those who treat him neighborly; as religious civilization advances, one’s neighbor expands in concept to embrace the clan, the tribe, the nation. And then Jesus enlarged the neighbor scope to embrace the whole of humanity, even that we should love our enemies. And there is something inside of every normal human being that tells him this teaching is moral — right. Even those who practice this ideal least, admit that it is right in theory.
103:5.3 (1134.1) All men recognize the morality of this universal human urge to be unselfish and altruistic. The humanist ascribes the origin of this urge to the natural working of the material mind; the religionist more correctly recognizes that the truly unselfish drive of mortal mind is in response to the inner spirit leadings of the Thought Adjuster.
103:5.4 (1134.2) But man’s interpretation of these early conflicts between the ego-will and the other-than-self-will is not always dependable. Only a fairly well unified personality can arbitrate the multiform contentions of the ego cravings and the budding social consciousness. The self has rights as well as one’s neighbors. Neither has exclusive claims upon the attention and service of the individual. Failure to resolve this problem gives origin to the earliest type of human guilt feelings.
103:5.5 (1134.3) Human happiness is achieved only when the ego desire of the self and the altruistic urge of the higher self (divine spirit) are co-ordinated and reconciled by the unified will of the integrating and supervising personality. The mind of evolutionary man is ever confronted with the intricate problem of refereeing the contest between the natural expansion of emotional impulses and the moral growth of unselfish urges predicated on spiritual insight — genuine religious reflection.
103:5.6 (1134.4) The attempt to secure equal good for the self and for the greatest number of other selves presents a problem which cannot always be satisfactorily resolved in a time-space frame. Given an eternal life, such antagonisms can be worked out, but in one short human life they are incapable of solution. Jesus referred to such a paradox when he said: “Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for the sake of the kingdom, shall find it.”
103:5.7 (1134.5) The pursuit of the ideal — the striving to be Godlike — is a continuous effort before death and after. The life after death is no different in the essentials than the mortal existence. Everything we do in this life which is good contributes directly to the enhancement of the future life. Real religion does not foster moral indolence and spiritual laziness by encouraging the vain hope of having all the virtues of a noble character bestowed upon one as a result of passing through the portals of natural death. True religion does not belittle man’s efforts to progress during the mortal lease on life. Every mortal gain is a direct contribution to the enrichment of the first stages of the immortal survival experience.
103:5.8 (1134.6) It is fatal to man’s idealism when he is taught that all of his altruistic impulses are merely the development of his natural herd instincts. But he is ennobled and mightily energized when he learns that these higher urges of his soul emanate from the spiritual forces that indwell his mortal mind.
103:5.9 (1134.7) It lifts man out of himself and beyond himself when he once fully realizes that there lives and strives within him something which is eternal and divine. And so it is that a living faith in the superhuman origin of our ideals validates our belief that we are the sons of God and makes real our altruistic convictions, the feelings of the brotherhood of man.
103:5.10 (1134.8) Man, in his spiritual domain, does have a free will. Mortal man is neither a helpless slave of the inflexible sovereignty of an all-powerful God nor the victim of the hopeless fatality of a mechanistic cosmic determinism. Man is most truly the architect of his own eternal destiny.103:5.11 (1135.1) But man is not saved or ennobled by pressure. Spirit growth springs from within the evolving soul. Pressure may deform the personality, but it never stimulates growth. Even educational pressure is only negatively helpful in that it may aid in the prevention of disastrous experiences. Spiritual growth is greatest where all external pressures are at a minimum. “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Man develops best when the pressures of home, community, church, and state are least. But this must not be construed as meaning that there is no place in a progressive society for home, social institutions, church, and state.
103:5.12 (1135.2) When a member of a social religious group has complied with the requirements of such a group, he should be encouraged to enjoy religious liberty in the full expression of his own personal interpretation of the truths of religious belief and the facts of religious experience. The security of a religious group depends on spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity. A religious group should be able to enjoy the liberty of freethinking without having to become “freethinkers.” There is great hope for any church that worships the living God, validates the brotherhood of man, and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its members.
This article in “The Rolling Stone”, of all places, is proof positive, for me, anyway, that we do not even have a Christian as a Pope. The psyche ops is complete – people will indeed be clutching on to the Pope’s garment hems to be dragged to nevernever land…awful propaganda – the OCD attention to detail confining itself to critiquing only the previous Pope Benedict.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/pope-francis-the-times-they-are-a-changin-20140128
The Catholic Church has never been LESS INTERESTED in taking a LEADERSHIP role for PEACE in its entire 2000 year history! WTF!
I just rejoined after many years away. I must say that over the many years that I did participate I enjoyed Bonita’s insights more than any other. I’m 76 now, and have been studying the UB for 25 years, after studying the Bible for 15 years before that. I have a degree in Philosophy from Emory U, and attended John Marshall Law School. I started a blog 5 years ago, gospel-parallels.net, comparing UB Part IV and the Bible, which has now enjoyed over 82,000 hits. I’m a committed UB believer.
In an answer to the title of this thread, I’ll opine that when the churches adopt an emphasis on a return to the individual’s faith/belief relationship with the Jesus of the Gospels, rather than their own doctrines, and relegate Paul’s letters to a more secondary status (as Paul was a human who never knew Jesus as a God/man), they will start to become the spiritual assembly that Jesus envisioned. They must also serve the believers.
Without the UB, I would have never known Jesus as the love filled human that he was, and thus know that his love awaits all believers in heaven, despite our many flaws.
He came to comfort our minds, liberate our spirits, and save our souls. He comforts my mind every day and night, and I still read Part IV daily.
Peace.
Sabinatu wrote: “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Man develops best when the pressures of home, community, church, and state are least.Thanks Sab for an excellent post.Sabinatu wrote: …Catholic Church has never been LESS INTERESTED taking a LEADERSHIP role for PEACETaking these two quotes together it’s plain to see the challenge before us. Evolution and revelation work in tandem to effect change, and if evolutionary society chooses to attempt to achieve different outcomes by using already failed methods, the lessons not yet learned, will have to be gained through even more spectacular failures, to differentiate the true from the false more starkly. It is my observation, things are becoming increasingly contrastive, so much so, that even the most neutral of “fence-sitters” who endlessly bang on about the need to give equal value to the case “for” as the case “against” any proposition, must finally decide. In matters of morality it’s possible to be right in fact, but oh, so wrong in truth.Law is life itself and not the rules of its conduct. Evil is a transgression of law, not a violation of the rules of conduct pertaining to life, which is the law. Falsehood is not a matter of narration technique but something premeditated as a perversion of truth. The creation of new pictures out of old facts, the restatement of parental life in the lives of offspring — these are the artistic triumphs of truth. The shadow of a hair’s turning, premeditated for an untrue purpose, the slightest twisting or perversion of that which is principle — these constitute falseness. But the fetish of factualized truth, fossilized truth, the iron band of so-called unchanging truth, holds one blindly in a closed circle of cold fact. One can be technically right as to fact and everlastingly wrong in the truth. [Paper 48:6.33, page 555.1]I take comfort in giving credit to my neighbour, who I know is fundamentally good. Confused and directionless, perhaps but not wicked. Weak in resolve as a result of lack of purpose. Lack of motivation for too many, other than material gain. That’s why the truth of the ennobling proclamation of “sonship with God” is so vital to planetary progress. Something Christianity has a role in doing if it finds its spiritual purpose. If it fails to re-invent itself it will become an irrelevance and wither on the vine, having borne no spiritual fruit, by becoming fixated and inflexible and so identified with the activities of the secular world.Jesus blessed the poor because they were usually sincere and pious; he condemned the rich because they were usually wanton and irreligious. He would equally condemn the irreligious pauper and commend the consecrated and worshipful man of wealth. [Paper196:2.8, page 2093.2]
We can attained an idealistic religious life in the very midst of a realistic world, if we truly follow him. Keep the ideal of a magnificent and eternal future for those who choose survival, uppermost in our hearts and minds and manifest in our daily lives. Be constant in faith, return good for evil, love those who love us not, a stranger is friend not yet met.
Jesus led men to feel at home in the world; he delivered them from the slavery of taboo and taught them that the world was not fundamentally evil. He did not long to escape from his earthly life; he mastered a technique of acceptably doing the Father’s will while in the flesh. He attained an idealistic religious life in the very midst of a realistic world. Jesus did not share Paul’s pessimistic view of humankind. The Master looked upon men as the sons of God and foresaw a magnificent and eternal future for those who chose survival. He was not a moral skeptic; he viewed man positively, not negatively. He saw most men as weak rather than wicked, more distraught than depraved. But no matter what their status, they were all God’s children and his brethren. [Paper 196:2.9, page 2093.3]
Teobeck wrote: …I’ll opine that when the churches adopt an emphasis on a return to the individual’s faith/belief relationship with the Jesus of the Gospels…Vern wrote: “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”Hello Teobeck, welcome and thank you for your introduction and support of the need for Christianity to return to its “spiritual mission.”…If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world. [Paper195:9.4, page 2082.9]There is urgent need for spirit-born souls to “quickly supply” the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world. Institutionalized Christianity is on notice.Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. One would think that such motivated individuals could be found among the Christian fraternity.Vern, you are right on target. The world is becoming vastly more complex every day for the average person and the elites (population explosion, dwindling resources, economic malaise, increasing national debts, etc.). As the UBook explains, the basic root of all of these problems is materialism and nationalism. And, a return to Jesus is the only solution.
It would seem impossible, until one learns that one third of the Gypsies in Europe, approximately 4 million people, have converted to Jesus through the Pentecostal Churches in the last 50 years. They have stopped drinking, stealing, begging, telling fortunes, beating their wives, are obtaining regular employment, are leaving their kids in school, and are integrating into society. This has been allowing them to become much less marginalized. The Spirit is definitely available to all who knock. It is a small victory, but nonetheless a significant one, and indicative of the fact that Jesus is the answer.
I just hope that the spiritual changes take place in time, before there are more serious major catastrophes i.e. the 20 million displaced middle easterners,etc.
Teobeck wrote: …serious major catastrophes i.e. the 20 million displaced middle easterners,etc.It’s time to address causes instead of dealing with symptoms of tyranny and oppression. The institutions of international peace like the United Nations, must begin to put in place the precursors to world government, global rule-of-law with “consequences” if broken.Peace will not come to Urantia until every so-called sovereign nation surrenders its power to make war into the hands of a representative government of all mankind. Political sovereignty is innate with the peoples of the world. When all the peoples of Urantia create a world government, they have the right and the power to make such a government SOVEREIGN; and when such a representative or democratic world power controls the world’s land, air, and naval forces, peace on earth and good will among men can prevail — but not until then. [Paper134:5.12, page 1489:3]Still confining myself to Papers 99 -103 and not dragging Jesus into it other than as inspiration because NOW we know a whole lot more (if you believe in TUB’s version of “reality”) about WHY Jesus SIMPLIFIED life ala “religion”. The way the Son of Man LIVED on Urantia was a perfect presentation of how THE God would LIVES out truth, beauty and goodness in a “friendly and GENEROUS” universe.
Just because it has not been, ever from what I can discern, one of the topics that the new cadre of “teachers” of TUB ever bring up – is it not step #1 for Peace – What is “religion”?
Certainly a Global Peace Institute, with the muscle needed to contain globally linked aggressors and predators using war to STEAL, needs to confirm for everyone on the planet that these wars are not about “religion” – at all! Anyone’s “religion” – because “religion” is all the same thing for every human – it is a MIND endowment!
I agree, Vern, the SPIRITUAL contrasts between the predator with his philosophies of Nihilism, Hedonism and Anarchy are a clear contrast to “religion” as a MIND ENDOWMENT – 6th and 7th Adjutants.
Jesus came to Urantia to benefit from the contrast – “…but when you have once filled up your cup of impenitence, and when once you have finally rejected my Father’s mercy, this nation will be left to its own counsels, and it shall speedily come to an inglorious end…..”
Funny how only predator psyche ops doesn’t have to be “patient” with the plan they have for leading the world to peace…..
We basically have a situation in USA right now that can erupt any day into a full blown Civil War because of the presence of two distinct military factions – the USA uniform wearing Army, Navy, Air Force (maybe – but doubtful they can think straight anymore due to the saturation of holy holy holy evangelism) Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard – and the haliburton-esque mercernary, er “contractor” army at the whim of the tyrant and despot and “homeland security” – which, btw, does NOT have “diversity” in its employee pool, nor USA citizens – go figure…
I’d like a complete DIVORCE from the mercs – financially, SPIRITUALLY, civic law enforcement – you name it. And a 1,000 mile restricted zone. The “refugee” crisis we are all supposed to parrot PC correctness about to prove our bona-fides as “good” (“christian”?!) Occidental peoples is the handiwork of the Global War, Drug and Slave Lords that “mercs” bend their knee in homage to for their manly power and for the $$$$ – yes, Virginia, we have our own _______ (fill in the blank) “terrorists”. The MUCH more accurate name for them, globally, is “Psychotic Proselyte Predator” – if the baseline to judge them by is a normal HUMAN mind – the 6th and 7th Adjutant Mind Spirit – the human right to religion.
SPIRITUALLY within MY right to “religion” (free speech) to knock out the “religion” use for “war” in TODAY’s world, that is for sure.
C’mon – pick out something, anything, from Papers 99 – 103 that can be LIVED as contrast to the philosophical mayhem that the marriage of religion and state has created! Yes, Jesus is an inspiration. But he NEVER meant for us to be used as scape goats if we LVIE what we believe…LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of Man
Sabinatu wrote: SPIRITUAL contrasts between the predator with his philosophies of Nihilism, Hedonism and Anarchy…Papers 99–103 are a treasure trove of wisdom as are the Thought Adjuster Papers also, to gain an insight into steps Christianity can take.We live and breathe and then we die. All this time Though Adjusters have been valiantly striving to build a spiritual counterpart—soul—that has sufficient survival value to carry the precious personality onward.The vast majority must await the liberation of the emerging soul from the well-nigh complete domination of the energy patterns and chemical forces inherent in your material order of existence.But with the vast majority of Urantians the Adjuster must patiently await the arrival of death deliverance; must await the liberation of the emerging soul from the well-nigh complete domination of the energy patterns and chemical forces inherent in your material order of existence. The chief difficulty you experience in contacting with your Adjusters consists in this very inherent material nature. So few mortals are real thinkers; you do not spiritually develop and discipline your minds to the point of favorable liaison with the divine Adjusters. The ear of the human mind is almost deaf to the spiritual pleas which the Adjuster translates from the manifold messages of the universal broadcasts of love proceeding from the Father of mercies. The Adjuster finds it almost impossible to register these inspiring spirit leadings in an animal mind so completely dominated by the chemical and electrical forces inherent in your physical natures.natures. [Paper110:7.6, page 1213.1]So few of us are real thinkers. When I read the Rodan Papers I am impressed with the philosophic astuteness of this great Greek thinker.The limited thinking capability of mortals should result in a sobering attitude of humility.Mind, on Urantia, is a compromise between the essence of thought perfection and the evolving mentality of your immature human nature. The plan for your intellectual evolution is, indeed, one of sublime perfection, but you are far short of that divine goal as you function in the tabernacles of the flesh. Mind is truly of divine origin, and it does have a divine destiny, but your mortal minds are not yet of divine dignity. [Paper 9:5.6, page 103:4]
Animal tendencies like unthinking fear and useless anxiety, inhibit higher levels of mind attainment. Anxiety must be abandoned, disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come. Then we have the whole range of mental poisons to deal with; anger, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and intolerance, which tremendously interfere with balanced reason and spiritual progress of the evolving soul.
Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness; you subject them to animal fear and distort them by useless anxiety. Therefore, though the source of mind is divine, mind as you know it on your world of ascension can hardly become the object of great admiration, much less of adoration or worship. The contemplation of the immature and inactive human intellect should lead only to reactions of humility. [Paper 9:5.7, page 103:5]
One of the great shortcomings of the mortal mental viewpoint is “impatience.” Being evolutionary creatures, we are conditioned by the experiential unit of a lifetime, it requires exercise of faith to gain the patience of an eternal perspective.
The individual’s yardstick for time measurement is the length of his life. All creatures are thus time conditioned, and therefore do they regard evolution as being a long-drawn-out process. To those of us whose life span is not limited by a temporal existence, evolution does not seem to be such a protracted transaction. On Paradise, where time is nonexistent, these things are all present in the mind of Infinity and the acts of Eternity. [Paper 65:8.3, page 739:7]
Spiritual progress is dependent on mental expansion and is unfailingly delayed by intellectual retardation.
As mind evolution is dependent on, and delayed by, the slow development of physical conditions, so is spiritual progress dependent on mental expansion and unfailingly delayed by intellectual retardation. But this does not mean that spiritual evolution is dependent on education, culture, or wisdom. The soul may evolve regardless of mental culture but not in the absence of mental capacity and desire — the choice of survival and the decision to achieve ever-increasing perfection — to do the will of the Father in heaven. Although survival may not depend on the possession of knowledge and wisdom, progression most certainly does. [Paper 65:8.4, page 739:8]
Capacity to know God and a desire to to find him and become like him, ensures survival regardless of the handicaps of time. A whole-soul choice of will is an ironclad guarantee of spiritual success.
In the cosmic evolutionary laboratories mind is always dominant over matter, and spirit is ever correlated with mind. Failure of these diverse endowments to synchronize and co-ordinate may cause time delays, but if the individual really knows God and desires to find him and become like him, then survival is assured regardless of the handicaps of time. Physical status may handicap mind, and mental perversity may delay spiritual attainment, but none of these obstacles can defeat the whole-souled choice of will. [Paper 65:8.5, page 740:1]
Christianity still has time to re-invent itself for when conditions are ripe, when mind status is propitious, “sudden” spiritual transformations may occur. What we are dealing with is enhancement of spiritual values individually and collectively.
When physical conditions are ripe, sudden mental evolutions may take place; when mind status is propitious, sudden spiritual transformations may occur; when spiritual values receive proper recognition, then cosmic meanings become discernible, and increasingly the personality is released from the handicaps of time and delivered from the limitations of space. [Paper 65:8.6, page 740:2]
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