Just like Lucifer was allowed to fool the whole world as a free will being, holy men are allowed to be imperfect in their writings. If God wrote the bible it wouldn't contain so many human errors. What we can conclude is that the men who wrote the books had faith, but they didn't know about evolution and science.
Just like Lucifer was allowed to fool the whole world as a free will being, holy men are allowed to be imperfect in their writings. If God wrote the bible it wouldn't contain so many human errors. What we can conclude is that the men who wrote the books had faith, but they didn't know about evolution and science.
God in His infinite wisdom made sure that we would not be saved by saying, "Wow, look at that, the Bible spoke of science before scientists could prove it."
We are saved by belief and obedience to His Son.
If the Bible has so many mistakes, then it is because you do not have understanding.
God in His infinite wisdom made sure that we would not be saved by saying, "Wow, look at that, the Bible spoke of science before scientists could prove it."
We are saved by belief and obedience to His Son.
If the Bible has so many mistakes, then it is because you do not have understanding.
115:3.1 The absolute cosmos is conceptually without limit; to define the extent and nature of this primal reality is to place qualifications upon infinity and to attenuate the pure concept of eternity. The idea of the infinite-eternal, the eternal-infinite, is unqualified in extent and absolute in fact. There is no language in the past, present, or future of Urantia adequate to express the reality of infinity or the infinity of reality. Man, a finite creature in an infinite cosmos, must content himself with distorted reflections and attenuated conceptions of that limitless, boundless, never-beginning, never-ending existence the comprehension of which is really beyond his ability.
115:3.2 Mind can never hope to grasp the concept of an Absolute without attempting first to break the unity of such a reality. Mind is unifying of all divergencies, but in the very absence of such divergencies, mind finds no basis upon which to attempt to formulate understanding concepts.
115:3.3 The primordial stasis of infinity requires segmentation prior to human attempts at comprehension. There is a unity in infinity which has been expressed in these papers as the I AM—the premier postulate of the creature mind. But never can a creature understand how it is that this unity becomes duality, triunity, and diversity while yet remaining an unqualified unity. Man encounters a similar problem when he pauses to contemplate the undivided Deity of Trinity alongside the plural personalization of God.
115:3.4 It is only man’s distance from infinity that causes this concept to be expressed as one word. While infinity is on the one hand UNITY, on the other it is DIVERSITY without end or limit. Infinity, as it is observed by finite intelligences, is the maximum paradox of creature philosophy and finite metaphysics. Though man’s spiritual nature reaches up in the worship experience to the Father who is infinite, man’s intellectual comprehension capacity is exhausted by the maximum conception of the Supreme Being. Beyond the Supreme, concepts are increasingly names; less and less are they true designations of reality; more and more do they become the creature’s projection of finite understanding toward the superfinite.
2:7.1 All finite knowledge and creature understanding are relative. Information and intelligence, gleaned from even high sources, is only relatively complete, locally accurate, and personally true.
2:7.2 Physical facts are fairly uniform, but truth is a living and flexible factor in the philosophy of the universe. Evolving personalities are only partially wise and relatively true in their communications. They can be certain only as far as their personal experience extends. That which apparently may be wholly true in one place may be only relatively true in another segment of creation.
2:7.3 Divine truth, final truth, is uniform and universal, but the story of things spiritual, as it is told by numerous individuals hailing from various spheres, may sometimes vary in details owing to this relativity in the completeness of knowledge and in the repleteness of personal experience as well as in the length and extent of that experience. While the laws and decrees, the thoughts and attitudes, of the First Great Source and Center are eternally, infinitely, and universally true; at the same time, their application to, and adjustment for, every universe, system, world, and created intelligence, are in accordance with the plans and technique of the Creator Sons as they function in their respective universes, as well as in harmony with the local plans and procedures of the Infinite Spirit and of all other associated celestial personalities.
2:7.4 The false science of materialism would sentence mortal man to become an outcast in the universe. Such partial knowledge is potentially evil; it is knowledge composed of both good and evil. Truth is beautiful because it is both replete and symmetrical. When man searches for truth, he pursues the divinely real.
~*~*~
Yes,...truth matters and is what every seeker of truth is looking to realize, live and experience,...but truth as we experience it is relative to that degree, reception and capacity of our own souls to receive at any given moment. Truth is living and dynamic yes,...its value and meaning will be essential to any sharing in that same spirit of truth, as the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, of the things of God. That Spirit is life and peace,....since it commmunicates truth, according to our capacity to recognize and receive.
~*~*~
"I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God's rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all. Our Father also sits upon a throne, but not one made with hands. The throne of the Infinite is the eternal dwelling place of the Father in the heaven of heavens; he fills all things and proclaims his laws to universes upon universes. And the Father also rules within the hearts of his children on earth by the spirit which he has sent to live within the souls of mortal men." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (141:2.1)
2:7.1 All finite knowledge and creature understanding are relative. Information and intelligence, gleaned from even high sources, is only relatively complete, locally accurate, and personally true.
2:7.2 Physical facts are fairly uniform, but truth is a living and flexible factor in the philosophy of the universe. Evolving personalities are only partially wise and relatively true in their communications. They can be certain only as far as their personal experience extends. That which apparently may be wholly true in one place may be only relatively true in another segment of creation.
2:7.3 Divine truth, final truth, is uniform and universal, but the story of things spiritual, as it is told by numerous individuals hailing from various spheres, may sometimes vary in details owing to this relativity in the completeness of knowledge and in the repleteness of personal experience as well as in the length and extent of that experience. While the laws and decrees, the thoughts and attitudes, of the First Great Source and Center are eternally, infinitely, and universally true; at the same time, their application to, and adjustment for, every universe, system, world, and created intelligence, are in accordance with the plans and technique of the Creator Sons as they function in their respective universes, as well as in harmony with the local plans and procedures of the Infinite Spirit and of all other associated celestial personalities.
2:7.4 The false science of materialism would sentence mortal man to become an outcast in the universe. Such partial knowledge is potentially evil; it is knowledge composed of both good and evil. Truth is beautiful because it is both replete and symmetrical. When man searches for truth, he pursues the divinely real.
~*~*~
Yes,...truth matters and is what every seeker of truth is looking to realize, live and experience,...but truth as we experience it is relative to that degree, reception and capacity of our own souls to receive at any given moment. Truth is living and dynamic yes,...its value and meaning will be essential to any sharing in that same spirit of truth, as the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, of the things of God. That Spirit is life and peace,....since it commmunicates all that God is to us, according to our capacity to recognize and receive.
~*~*~
"I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God's rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all. Our Father also sits upon a throne, but not one made with hands. The throne of the Infinite is the eternal dwelling place of the Father in the heaven of heavens; he fills all things and proclaims his laws to universes upon universes. And the Father also rules within the hearts of his children on earth by the spirit which he has sent to live within the souls of mortal men." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (141:2.1)
I don't care to talk about things that are not from the Holy Bible.
I have had someone close to me in my life that spoke at length about things that you teach.
This is what I wish I would have said to them---stop being a thief and do what Jesus says and only what Jesus says, you have entered demonic territory and the only way to help yourself is to obey by repenting.
But what I shared is important regarding truth, hence the sharing. Truth is universal, and as shared is 'relative' due to our limited ability to perceive it since it is condition or modified by so many filters, space and time, and or mortal finite constitution. If you read the text and considered its intellectual and spiritual truth, you could engage in an informed dialogue on the subject, which is the purpose of the thread.
If your limiting your 'reading' only to the Bible you are unnecessarily limiting yourself, and if this thread is discussing the papers of the UB (its text),...then you cant really engage in a real discussion on the subject without reading the text itself, understanding it, which enables then a constructive dialogue on the material. Remember, this is a discussion forum, and your creative abilities and innovations can be exercised here, in what I call 'creative dialogue',...its something you can perhaps experiment with which maximizes the space and time we have sharing.
I have had someone close to me in my life that spoke at length about things that you teach.
This is what I wish I would have said to them---stop being a thief and do what Jesus says and only what Jesus says, you have entered demonic territory and the only way to help yourself is to obey by repenting.
The story of your personal experience with your friend is respected,....but this ought not deflect or unnecessarily misconstrue what is being communicated, since I see nothing wrong in being a student of universal spirituality, comparative religions or a more eclectic path such as the one I espouse. I am consciousness exploring, learning, adventuring within this current personality and physical embodiment,....as is each soul presently incarnated upon our planet at this time. We are all on this journey together, and all come from the same God-Source.
Your misjudgment of being a theif is a false charge, as the clear statements of Jesus already shared with you here, proves that the papers wholly affirm what Jesus said of himself in the gospel of John, so a claim that I or the UB is presenting another 'way' to 'God' is entirely ignorant and erroneous.
See Jesus's discourse on the Good shepherd:
Spoiler
165:2 SERMON ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD
165:2.1 A company of over three hundred Jerusalemites, Pharisees and others, followed Jesus north to Pella when he hastened away from the jurisdiction of the Jewish rulers at the ending of the feast of the dedication; and it was in the presence of these Jewish teachers and leaders, as well as in the hearing of the twelve apostles, that Jesus preached the sermon on the "Good Shepherd." After half an hour of informal discussion, speaking to a group of about one hundred, Jesus said:
165:2.2 "On this night I have much to tell you, and since many of you are my disciples and some of you my bitter enemies, I will present my teaching in a parable, so that you may each take for yourself that which finds a reception in your heart.
165:2.3 "Tonight, here before me are men who would be willing to die for me and for this gospel of the kingdom, and some of them will so offer themselves in the years to come; and here also are some of you, slaves of tradition, who have followed me down from Jerusalem, and who, with your darkened and deluded leaders, seek to kill the Son of Man. The life which I now live in the flesh shall judge both of you, the true shepherds and the false shepherds. If the false shepherd were blind, he would have no sin, but you claim that you see; you profess to be teachers in Israel; therefore does your sin remain upon you.
165:2.4 "The true shepherd gathers his flock into the fold for the night in times of danger. And when the morning has come, he enters into the fold by the door, and when he calls, the sheep know his voice. Every shepherd who gains entrance to the sheepfold by any other means than by the door is a thief and a robber. The true shepherd enters the fold after the porter has opened the door for him, and his sheep, knowing his voice, come out at his word; and when they that are his are thus brought forth, the true shepherd goes before them; he leads the way and the sheep follow him. His sheep follow him because they know his voice; they will not follow a stranger. They will flee from the stranger because they know not his voice. This multitude which is gathered about us here are like sheep without a shepherd, but when we speak to them, they know the shepherd's voice, and they follow after us; at least, those who hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness do. Some of you are not of my fold; you know not my voice, and you do not follow me. And because you are false shepherds, the sheep know not your voice and will not follow you."
165:2.5 And when Jesus had spoken this parable, no one asked him a question. After a time he began again to speak and went on to discuss the parable:
165:2.6 "You who would be the undershepherds of my Father's flocks must not only be worthy leaders, but you must also feed the flock with good food; you are not true shepherds unless you lead your flocks into green pastures and beside still waters.
165:2.7 "And now, lest some of you too easily comprehend this parable, I will declare that I am both the door to the Father's sheepfold and at the same time the true shepherd of my Father's flocks. Every shepherd who seeks to enter the fold without me shall fail, and the sheep will not hear his voice. I, with those who minister with me, am the door. Every soul who enters upon the eternal way by the means I have created and ordained shall be saved and will be able to go on to the attainment of the eternal pastures of Paradise.
165:2.8 "But I also am the true shepherd who is willing even to lay down his life for the sheep. The thief breaks into the fold only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; but I have come that you all may have life and have it more abundantly. He who is a hireling, when danger arises, will flee and allow the sheep to be scattered and destroyed; but the true shepherd will not flee when the wolf comes; he will protect his flock and, if necessary, lay down his life for his sheep. Verily, verily, I say to you, friends and enemies, I am the true shepherd; I know my own and my own know me. I will not flee in the face of danger. I will finish this service of the completion of my Father's will, and I will not forsake the flock which the Father has intrusted to my keeping.
165:2.9 "But I have many other sheep not of this fold, and these words are true not only of this world. These other sheep also hear and know my voice, and I have promised the Father that they shall all be brought into one fold, one brotherhood of the sons of God. And then shall you all know the voice of one shepherd, the true shepherd, and shall all acknowledge the fatherhood of God.
165:2.10 "And so shall you know why the Father loves me and has put all of his flocks in this domain in my hands for keeping; it is because the Father knows that I will not falter in the safeguarding of the sheepfold, that I will not desert my sheep, and that, if it shall be required, I will not hesitate to lay down my life in the service of his manifold flocks. But, mind you, if I lay down my life, I will take it up again. No man nor any other creature can take away my life. I have the right and the power to lay down my life, and I have the same power and right to take it up again. You cannot understand this, but I received such authority from my Father even before this world was."
165:2.11 When they heard these words, his apostles were confused, his disciples were amazed, while the Pharisees from Jerusalem and around about went out into the night, saying, "He is either mad or has a devil." But even some of the Jerusalem teachers said: "He speaks like one having authority; besides, who ever saw one having a devil open the eyes of a man born blind and do all of the wonderful things which this man has done?"
165:2.12 On the morrow about half of these Jewish teachers professed belief in Jesus, and the other half in dismay returned to Jerusalem and their homes.
"Truth is a liberating revelation, but love is the supreme relationship. And no matter what blunders your fellow men make in their world management of today, in an age to come the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world. The ultimate goal of human progress is the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (143:1.4)
The gospel of Jesus as confirmed in the UB, centers upon the foundational truth that God is our Father, that thru faith in this truth and the spiritual rebirth that such faith engenders, we ssee that souls make up the 'brotherhood of man', we realize sonship. All the great statements made by Jesus in the canonical gospels are reiterated in the UB, and further expanded upon.
187:3.1 At about half past nine o'clock this Friday morning, Jesus was hung upon the cross. Before eleven o'clock, upward of one thousand persons had assembled to witness this spectacle of the crucifixion of the Son of Man. Throughout these dreadful hours the unseen hosts of a universe stood in silence while they gazed upon this extraordinary phenomenon of the Creator as he was dying the death of the creature, even the most ignoble death of a condemned criminal.
187:3.2 Standing near the cross at one time or another during the crucifixion were Mary, Ruth, Jude, John, Salome (John's mother), and a group of earnest women believers including Mary the wife of Clopas and sister of Jesus' mother, Mary Magdalene, and Rebecca, onetime of Sepphoris. These and other friends of Jesus held their peace while they witnessed his great patience and fortitude and gazed upon his intense sufferings.
187:3.3 Many who passed by wagged their heads and, railing at him, said: “You who would destroy the temple and build it again in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, why do you not come down from your cross?” In like manner some of the rulers of the Jews mocked him, saying, “He saved others, but himself he cannot save.” Others said, “If you are the king of the Jews, come down from the cross, and we will believe in you.” And later on they mocked him the more, saying: “He trusted in God to deliver him. He even claimed to be the Son of God—look at him now—crucified between two thieves.” Even the two thieves also railed at him and cast reproach upon him.
187:3.4 Inasmuch as Jesus would make no reply to their taunts, and since it was nearing noontime of this special preparation day, by half past eleven o'clock most of the jesting and jeering crowd had gone its way; less than fifty persons remained on the scene. The soldiers now prepared to eat lunch and drink their cheap, sour wine as they settled down for the long deathwatch. As they partook of their wine, they derisively offered a toast to Jesus, saying, “Hail and good fortune! to the king of the Jews.” And they were astonished at the Master's tolerant regard of their ridicule and mocking.
187:3.5 When Jesus saw them eat and drink, he looked down upon them and said, “I thirst.” When the captain of the guard heard Jesus say, “I thirst,” he took some of the wine from his bottle and, putting the saturated sponge stopper upon the end of a javelin, raised it to Jesus so that he could moisten his parched lips.
187:3.6 Jesus had purposed to live without resort to his supernatural power, and he likewise elected to die as an ordinary mortal upon the cross. He had lived as a man, and he would die as a man—doing the Father's will."
But what I shared is important regarding truth, hence the sharing. Truth is universal, and as shared is 'relative' due to our limited ability to perceive it since it is condition or modified by so many filters, space and time, and or mortal finite constitution. If you read the text and considered its intellectual and spiritual truth, you could engage in an informed dialogue on the subject, which is the purpose of the thread.
If your limiting your 'reading' only to the Bible you are unnecessarily limiting yourself, and if this thread is discussing the papers of the UB (its text),...then you cant really engage in a real discussion on the subject without reading the text itself, understanding it, which enables then a constructive dialogue on the material. Remember, this is a discussion forum, and your creative abilities and innovations can be exercised here, in what I call 'creative dialogue',...its something you can perhaps experiment with which maximizes the space and time we have sharing.
The story of your personal experience with your friend is respected,....but this ought not deflect or unnecessarily misconstrue what is being communicated, since I see nothing wrong in being a student of universal spirituality, comparative religions or a more eclectic path such as the one I espouse. I am consciousness exploring, learning, adventuring within this current personality and physical embodiment,....as is each soul presently incarnated upon our planet at this time. We are all on this journey together, and all come from the same God-Source.
Your misjudgment of being a theif is a false charge, as the clear statements of Jesus already shared with you here, proves that the papers wholly affirm what Jesus said of himself in the gospel of John, so a claim that I or the UB is presenting another 'way' to 'God' is entirely ignorant and erroneous.
See Jesus's discourse on the Good shepherd:
Spoiler
165:2 SERMON ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD
165:2.1 A company of over three hundred Jerusalemites, Pharisees and others, followed Jesus north to Pella when he hastened away from the jurisdiction of the Jewish rulers at the ending of the feast of the dedication; and it was in the presence of these Jewish teachers and leaders, as well as in the hearing of the twelve apostles, that Jesus preached the sermon on the "Good Shepherd." After half an hour of informal discussion, speaking to a group of about one hundred, Jesus said:
165:2.2 "On this night I have much to tell you, and since many of you are my disciples and some of you my bitter enemies, I will present my teaching in a parable, so that you may each take for yourself that which finds a reception in your heart.
165:2.3 "Tonight, here before me are men who would be willing to die for me and for this gospel of the kingdom, and some of them will so offer themselves in the years to come; and here also are some of you, slaves of tradition, who have followed me down from Jerusalem, and who, with your darkened and deluded leaders, seek to kill the Son of Man. The life which I now live in the flesh shall judge both of you, the true shepherds and the false shepherds. If the false shepherd were blind, he would have no sin, but you claim that you see; you profess to be teachers in Israel; therefore does your sin remain upon you.
165:2.4 "The true shepherd gathers his flock into the fold for the night in times of danger. And when the morning has come, he enters into the fold by the door, and when he calls, the sheep know his voice. Every shepherd who gains entrance to the sheepfold by any other means than by the door is a thief and a robber. The true shepherd enters the fold after the porter has opened the door for him, and his sheep, knowing his voice, come out at his word; and when they that are his are thus brought forth, the true shepherd goes before them; he leads the way and the sheep follow him. His sheep follow him because they know his voice; they will not follow a stranger. They will flee from the stranger because they know not his voice. This multitude which is gathered about us here are like sheep without a shepherd, but when we speak to them, they know the shepherd's voice, and they follow after us; at least, those who hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness do. Some of you are not of my fold; you know not my voice, and you do not follow me. And because you are false shepherds, the sheep know not your voice and will not follow you."
165:2.5 And when Jesus had spoken this parable, no one asked him a question. After a time he began again to speak and went on to discuss the parable:
165:2.6 "You who would be the undershepherds of my Father's flocks must not only be worthy leaders, but you must also feed the flock with good food; you are not true shepherds unless you lead your flocks into green pastures and beside still waters.
165:2.7 "And now, lest some of you too easily comprehend this parable, I will declare that I am both the door to the Father's sheepfold and at the same time the true shepherd of my Father's flocks. Every shepherd who seeks to enter the fold without me shall fail, and the sheep will not hear his voice. I, with those who minister with me, am the door. Every soul who enters upon the eternal way by the means I have created and ordained shall be saved and will be able to go on to the attainment of the eternal pastures of Paradise.
165:2.8 "But I also am the true shepherd who is willing even to lay down his life for the sheep. The thief breaks into the fold only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; but I have come that you all may have life and have it more abundantly. He who is a hireling, when danger arises, will flee and allow the sheep to be scattered and destroyed; but the true shepherd will not flee when the wolf comes; he will protect his flock and, if necessary, lay down his life for his sheep. Verily, verily, I say to you, friends and enemies, I am the true shepherd; I know my own and my own know me. I will not flee in the face of danger. I will finish this service of the completion of my Father's will, and I will not forsake the flock which the Father has intrusted to my keeping.
165:2.9 "But I have many other sheep not of this fold, and these words are true not only of this world. These other sheep also hear and know my voice, and I have promised the Father that they shall all be brought into one fold, one brotherhood of the sons of God. And then shall you all know the voice of one shepherd, the true shepherd, and shall all acknowledge the fatherhood of God.
165:2.10 "And so shall you know why the Father loves me and has put all of his flocks in this domain in my hands for keeping; it is because the Father knows that I will not falter in the safeguarding of the sheepfold, that I will not desert my sheep, and that, if it shall be required, I will not hesitate to lay down my life in the service of his manifold flocks. But, mind you, if I lay down my life, I will take it up again. No man nor any other creature can take away my life. I have the right and the power to lay down my life, and I have the same power and right to take it up again. You cannot understand this, but I received such authority from my Father even before this world was."
165:2.11 When they heard these words, his apostles were confused, his disciples were amazed, while the Pharisees from Jerusalem and around about went out into the night, saying, "He is either mad or has a devil." But even some of the Jerusalem teachers said: "He speaks like one having authority; besides, who ever saw one having a devil open the eyes of a man born blind and do all of the wonderful things which this man has done?"
165:2.12 On the morrow about half of these Jewish teachers professed belief in Jesus, and the other half in dismay returned to Jerusalem and their homes.
"Truth is a liberating revelation, but love is the supreme relationship. And no matter what blunders your fellow men make in their world management of today, in an age to come the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world. The ultimate goal of human progress is the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man." ~ Jesus, The Urantia Book, (143:1.4)
The gospel of Jesus as confirmed in the UB, centers upon the foundational truth that God is our Father, that thru faith in this truth and the spiritual rebirth that such faith engenders, we ssee that souls make up the 'brotherhood of man', we realize sonship. All the great statements made by Jesus in the canonical gospels are reiterated in the UB, and further expanded upon.
It is not limiting God to do exactly what He says.
It is not limiting God to believe Him when He says He is a jealous God.
It is not limiting God when He says salvation comes from the JEWS, and NOT from all over the place---from all over the place like you do, which is against Him.
Assuming 'God' is jealous by human standards and definitions could be seen as limiting 'God' to human attributes.
It is not limiting God when He says salvation comes from the JEWS, and NOT from all over the place---from all over the place like you do, which is against Him.
Considering that 'God' is both infinite and omnipresent,...His availability is every-present thru-out all space and time - it is only recorded in the gospel of John of Jesus saying salvation comes from the Jews, but no matter, we must understand that in the context of what the writer was trying to communicate. John writes often as a mere recorder or narrator, and his gospel has undergone some redactions as noted by some scholars. In any case, no matter.....since you still CANNOT limit the INFINITE to any one image, name, idea, concept, religious tradition or formula. What is infinite is infinite. The revelation of 'God' may be better presented in some schools than others, but all reflections of the original Light are like rays from the Great Central SUN
You cannot grab a ray of light and assume that you have all the light, although you will have the same quality and substance of the original Sun in that particular ray, which derives from the Sun. Just an analogy to contemplate. Infinity is a tuff concept for the finite mind to conceive.
'God' as Spirit is equally a good metaphor, since those born of the Spirit are hard to determine since the wind blows where it wills, and we cannot always discern its activity beyond whatever effect or fruit that Spirit produces at any given time.
'God' is not limited to any religious book or revelation, since a book, revelation or some effect is 'phenomenal', produced in time. These may represent, describe or portray eternal realities, meanings and values...but they are still limitations of the unlimited, being conceptual approximations of that which is beyond words. All language is symbolic
187:3.1 At about half past nine o'clock this Friday morning, Jesus was hung upon the cross. Before eleven o'clock, upward of one thousand persons had assembled to witness this spectacle of the crucifixion of the Son of Man. Throughout these dreadful hours the unseen hosts of a universe stood in silence while they gazed upon this extraordinary phenomenon of the Creator as he was dying the death of the creature, even the most ignoble death of a condemned criminal.
187:3.2 Standing near the cross at one time or another during the crucifixion were Mary, Ruth, Jude, John, Salome (John's mother), and a group of earnest women believers including Mary the wife of Clopas and sister of Jesus' mother, Mary Magdalene, and Rebecca, onetime of Sepphoris. These and other friends of Jesus held their peace while they witnessed his great patience and fortitude and gazed upon his intense sufferings.
187:3.3 Many who passed by wagged their heads and, railing at him, said: “You who would destroy the temple and build it again in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, why do you not come down from your cross?” In like manner some of the rulers of the Jews mocked him, saying, “He saved others, but himself he cannot save.” Others said, “If you are the king of the Jews, come down from the cross, and we will believe in you.” And later on they mocked him the more, saying: “He trusted in God to deliver him. He even claimed to be the Son of God—look at him now—crucified between two thieves.” Even the two thieves also railed at him and cast reproach upon him.
187:3.4 Inasmuch as Jesus would make no reply to their taunts, and since it was nearing noontime of this special preparation day, by half past eleven o'clock most of the jesting and jeering crowd had gone its way; less than fifty persons remained on the scene. The soldiers now prepared to eat lunch and drink their cheap, sour wine as they settled down for the long deathwatch. As they partook of their wine, they derisively offered a toast to Jesus, saying, “Hail and good fortune! to the king of the Jews.” And they were astonished at the Master's tolerant regard of their ridicule and mocking.
187:3.5 When Jesus saw them eat and drink, he looked down upon them and said, “I thirst.” When the captain of the guard heard Jesus say, “I thirst,” he took some of the wine from his bottle and, putting the saturated sponge stopper upon the end of a javelin, raised it to Jesus so that he could moisten his parched lips.
187:3.6 Jesus had purposed to live without resort to his supernatural power, and he likewise elected to die as an ordinary mortal upon the cross. He had lived as a man, and he would die as a man—doing the Father's will."
The details of the Crucifixion given in the UB are amazing - Paper 187
Here is told the greatest revelation of a human beings devotion to his Father-God and his divine mission to reveal God's love to man. It was all about total devotion and loving committment to DO God's will,...an endeavor he modelled for all mortals to follow.
Also note that Jesus being our Creator Son (the Creator of this local universe and its inhabited worlds), was the Creator himself experiencing the mortal death of a man. Hence the UB holds to and expounds upon the divine mystery of the 'incarnation', or when divine Sons bestow themselves on the worlds of time and space, incarnating or appearing on material worlds by supernatural means. While the UB does not support the virgin birth theory or belief, the mystery of how Creator Sons bestow themselves on the worlds of time and space holds, and this we may explore further in our discussion of UB Christology.
It is not limiting God to do exactly what He says.
It is not limiting God to believe Him when He says He is a jealous God.
It is not limiting God when He says salvation comes from the JEWS, and NOT from all over the place---from all over the place like you do, which is against Him.
189:1.1 "At two forty-five Sunday morning, the Paradise incarnation commission, consisting of seven unidentified Paradise personalities, arrived on the scene and immediately deployed themselves about the tomb. At ten minutes before three, intense vibrations of commingled material and morontia activities began to issue from Joseph’s new tomb, and at two minutes past three o’clock, this Sunday morning, April 9, A.D. 30, the resurrected morontia form and personality of Jesus of Nazareth came forth from the tomb.
189:1.2 After the resurrected Jesus emerged from his burial tomb, the body of flesh in which he had lived and wrought on earth for almost thirty-six years was still lying there in the sepulchre niche, undisturbed and wrapped in the linen sheet, just as it had been laid to rest by Joseph and his associates on Friday afternoon. Neither was the stone before the entrance of the tomb in any way disturbed; the seal of Pilate was still unbroken; the soldiers were still on guard. The temple guards had been on continuous duty; the Roman guard had been changed at midnight. None of these watchers suspected that the object of their vigil had risen to a new and higher form of existence, and that the body which they were guarding was now a discarded outer covering which had no further connection with the delivered and resurrected morontia personality of Jesus.
189:1.3 Mankind is slow to perceive that, in all that is personal, matter is the skeleton of morontia, and that both are the reflected shadow of enduring spirit reality. How long before you will regard time as the moving image of eternity and space as the fleeting shadow of Paradise realities?
189:1.4 As far as we can judge, no creature of this universe nor any personality from another universe had anything to do with this morontia resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. On Friday he laid down his life as a mortal of the realm; on Sunday morning he took it up again as a morontia being of the system of Satania in Norlatiadek. There is much about the resurrection of Jesus which we do not understand. But we know that it occurred as we have stated and at about the time indicated. We can also record that all known phenomena associated with this mortal transit, or morontia resurrection, occurred right there in Joseph’s new tomb, where the mortal material remains of Jesus lay wrapped in burial cloths.
189:1.5 We know that no creature of the local universe participated in this morontia awakening. We perceived the seven personalities of Paradise surround the tomb, but we did not see them do anything in connection with the Master’s awakening. Just as soon as Jesus appeared beside Gabriel, just above the tomb, the seven personalities from Paradise signalized their intention of immediate departure for Uversa.
189:1.6 Let us forever clarify the concept of the resurrection of Jesus by making the following statements:
1. His material or physical body was not a part of the resurrected personality. When Jesus came forth from the tomb, his body of flesh remained undisturbed in the sepulchre. He emerged from the burial tomb without moving the stones before the entrance and without disturbing the seals of Pilate.
2. He did not emerge from the tomb as a spirit nor as Michael of Nebadon; he did not appear in the form of the Creator Sovereign, such as he had had before his incarnation in the likeness of mortal flesh on Urantia.
3. He did come forth from this tomb of Joseph in the very likeness of the morontia personalities of those who, as resurrected morontia ascendant beings, emerge from the resurrection halls of the first mansion world of this local system of Satania. And the presence of the Michael memorial in the center of the vast court of the resurrection halls of mansonia number one leads us to conjecture that the Master’s resurrection on Urantia was in some way fostered on this, the first of the system mansion worlds.
189:1.10 The first act of Jesus on arising from the tomb was to greet Gabriel and instruct him to continue in executive charge of universe affairs under Immanuel, and then he directed the chief of the Melchizedeks to convey his brotherly greetings to Immanuel. He thereupon asked the Most High of Edentia for the certification of the Ancients of Days as to his mortal transit; and turning to the assembled morontia groups of the seven mansion worlds, here gathered together to greet and welcome their Creator as a creature of their order, Jesus spoke the first words of the postmortal career. Said the morontia Jesus: “Having finished my life in the flesh, I would tarry here for a short time in transition form that I may more fully know the life of my ascendant creatures and further reveal the will of my Father in Paradise.”
189:1.11 After Jesus had spoken, he signaled to the Personalized Adjuster, and all universe intelligences who had been assembled on Urantia to witness the resurrection were immediately dispatched to their respective universe assignments.
189:1.12 Jesus now began the contacts of the morontia level, being introduced, as a creature, to the requirements of the life he had chosen to live for a short time on Urantia. This initiation into the morontia world required more than an hour of earth time and was twice interrupted by his desire to communicate with his former associates in the flesh as they came out from Jerusalem wonderingly to peer into the empty tomb to discover what they considered evidence of his resurrection.
189:1.13 Now is the mortal transit of Jesus—the morontia resurrection of the Son of Man—completed. The transitory experience of the Master as a personality midway between the material and the spiritual has begun. And he has done all this through power inherent within himself; no personality has rendered him any assistance. He now lives as Jesus of morontia, and as he begins this morontia life, the material body of his flesh lies there undisturbed in the tomb. The soldiers are still on guard, and the seal of the governor about the rocks has not yet been broken.UB 1955
The Jews who rejected Jesus are the Jews who did not want to stop doing the cleaning works themselves, they wanted to keep getting circumcised and offering the blood of animals. They did not accept the fact that Jesus is the Lamb and his blood is the blood that cleans.
Jesus says plainly that salvation is from the Jews. That means it is from that region, and from the Holy Bible about those people that Jesus came. You believe in all kinds of things and call it God's Word because it sounds good to you.
Considering that 'God' is both infinite and omnipresent,...His availability is every-present thru-out all space and time - it is only recorded in the gospel of John of Jesus saying salvation comes from the Jews, but no matter, we must understand that in the context of what the writer was trying to communicate. John writes often as a mere recorder or narrator, and his gospel has undergone some redactions as noted by some scholars. In any case, no matter.....since you still CANNOT limit the INFINITE to any one image, name, idea, concept, religious tradition or formula. What is infinite is infinite. The revelation of 'God' may be better presented in some schools than others, but all reflections of the original Light are like rays from the Great Central SUN
You cannot grab a ray of light and assume that you have all the light, although you will have the same quality and substance of the original Sun in that particular ray, which derives from the Sun. Just an analogy to contemplate. Infinity is a tuff concept for the finite mind to conceive.
'God' as Spirit is equally a good metaphor, since those born of the Spirit are hard to determine since the wind blows where it wills, and we cannot always discern its activity beyond whatever effect or fruit that Spirit produces at any given time.
'God' is not limited to any religious book or revelation, since a book, revelation or some effect is 'phenomenal', produced in time. These may represent, describe or portray eternal realities, meanings and values...but they are still limitations of the unlimited, being conceptual approximations of that which is beyond words. All language is symbolic
You would understand how wrong you were if you would believe everything you read in the Bible about Jesus and obey him. You go off to others who are not God. Why don't you see the error in that?
Acts 19:26
And as you see and hear, not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
1 Corinthians 10:20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
The Jews who rejected Jesus are the Jews who did not want to stop doing the cleaning works themselves, they wanted to keep getting circumcised and offering the blood of animals. They did not accept the fact that Jesus is the Lamb and his blood is the blood that cleans.
The Jews were following their scripture, and Jesus didn't teach the atonment doctrine. The Jews were told in their scripture what they must do, so when the new gospel of Paul came along and told the Jews that their Messiah was a final sacrifice then the Jews wanted no part of it.
The Jews were following their scripture, and Jesus didn't teach the atonment doctrine. The Jews were told in their scripture what they must do, so when the new gospel of Paul came along and told the Jews that their Messiah was a final sacrifice then the Jews wanted no part of it.
The Jews who rejected Jesus did not recognize Jesus' words as being the words of God.
Jesus did teach atonement. God gave the teaching tool and shadow of Jesus to Moses to give to the Jews.
Even John the baptizer, the forerunner, the one who prepared the way for Jesus exclaimed that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The blood is for atonement. There is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
