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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 3
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
3:0.1
GOD is everywhere present; the Universal Father rules
the circle of eternity. But he rules in the local
universes in the persons of his Paradise Creator Sons,
even as he bestows life through these Sons. "God has
given us eternal life, and this life is in his Sons."
These Creator Sons of God are the personal expression of
himself in the sectors of time and to the children of
the whirling planets of the evolving universes of space.
3:0.2
The highly personalized Sons of God are clearly
discernible by the lower orders of created
intelligences, and so do they compensate for the
invisibility of the infinite and therefore less
discernible Father. The Paradise Creator Sons of the
Universal Father are a revelation of an otherwise
invisible being, invisible because of the absoluteness
and infinity inherent in the circle of eternity and in
the personalities of the Paradise Deities.
3:0.3
Creatorship is hardly an attribute of God; it is rather
the aggregate of his acting nature. And this universal
function of creatorship is eternally manifested as it is
conditioned and controlled by all the co-ordinated
attributes of the infinite and divine reality of the
First Source and Center. We sincerely doubt whether any
one characteristic of the divine nature can be regarded
as being antecedent to the others, but if such were the
case, then the creatorship nature of Deity would take
precedence over all other natures, activities, and
attributes. And the creatorship of Deity culminates in
the universal truth of the Fatherhood of God.
1. GOD'S EVERYWHERENESS
3:1.1
The ability of the Universal Father to be everywhere
present, and at the same time, constitutes his
omnipresence. God alone can be in two places, in
numberless places, at the same time. God is
simultaneously present "in heaven above and on the earth
beneath"; as the Psalmist exclaimed: "Whither shall I go
from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your
presence?"
3:1.2
"`I am a God at hand as well as afar off,' says the
Lord. `Do not I fill heaven and earth?'" The Universal
Father is all the time present in all parts and in all
hearts of his far-flung creation. He is "the fullness of
him who fills all and in all," and "who works all in
all," and further, the concept of his personality is
such that "the heaven (universe) and heaven of heavens
(universe of universes) cannot contain him." It is
literally true that God is all and in all. But even that
is not all of
God. The Infinite can be finally revealed only in
infinity; the cause can never be fully comprehended by
an analysis of effects; the living God is immeasurably
greater than the sum total of creation that has come
into being as a result of the creative acts of his
unfettered free will. God is revealed throughout the
cosmos, but the cosmos can never contain or encompass
the entirety of the infinity of God.
3:1.3
The Father's presence unceasingly patrols the master
universe. "His going forth is from the end of the
heaven, and his circuit to the ends of it; and there is
nothing hidden from the light thereof."
3:1.4
The creature not only exists in God, but God also lives
in the creature. "We know we dwell in him because he
lives in us; he has given us his spirit. This gift from
the Paradise Father is man's inseparable companion." "He
is the ever-present and all-pervading God." "The spirit
of the everlasting Father is concealed in the mind of
every mortal child." "Man goes forth searching for a
friend while that very friend lives within his own
heart." "The true God is not afar off; he is a part of
us; his spirit speaks from within us." "The Father lives
in the child. God is always with us. He is the guiding
spirit of eternal destiny."
3:1.5
Truly of the human race has it been said, "You are of
God" because "he who dwells in love dwells in God, and
God in him." Even in wrongdoing you torment the
indwelling gift of God, for the Thought Adjuster must
needs go through the consequences of evil thinking with
the human mind of its incarceration.
3:1.6
The omnipresence of God is in reality a part of his
infinite nature; space constitutes no barrier to Deity.
God is, in perfection and without limitation,
discernibly present only on Paradise and in the central
universe. He is not thus observably present in the
creations encircling Havona, for God has limited his
direct and actual presence in recognition of the
sovereignty and the divine prerogatives of the
co-ordinate creators and rulers of the universes of time
and space. Hence must the concept of the divine presence
allow for a wide range of both mode and channel of
manifestation embracing the presence circuits of the
Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and the Isle of
Paradise. Nor is it always possible to distinguish
between the presence of the Universal Father and the
actions of his eternal co-ordinates and agencies, so
perfectly do they fulfill all the infinite requirements
of his unchanging purpose. But not so with the
personality circuit and the Adjusters; here God acts
uniquely, directly, and exclusively.
3:1.7
The Universal Controller is potentially present in the
gravity circuits of the Isle of Paradise in all parts of
the universe at all times and in the same degree, in
accordance with the mass, in response to the physical
demands for this presence, and because of the inherent
nature of all creation which causes all things to adhere
and consist in him. Likewise is the First Source and
Center potentially present in the Unqualified Absolute,
the repository of the uncreated universes of the eternal
future. God thus potentially pervades the physical
universes of the past, present, and future. He is the
primordial foundation of the coherence of the so-called
material creation. This nonspiritual Deity potential
becomes actual here and there throughout the level of
physical existences by the inexplicable intrusion of
some one of his exclusive agencies upon the stage of
universe action.
3:1.8
The mind presence of God is correlated with the absolute
mind of the Conjoint Actor, the Infinite Spirit, but in
the finite creations it is better discerned in the
everywhere functioning of the cosmic mind of the
Paradise Master Spirits. Just as the First Source and
Center is potentially present in the mind circuits of
the Conjoint Actor, so is he potentially present in the
tensions of the Universal Absolute. But mind of the
human order is a bestowal of the Daughters of the
Conjoint Actor, the Divine Ministers of the evolving
universes.
3:1.9
The everywhere-present spirit of the Universal Father is
co-ordinated with the function of the universal spirit
presence of the Eternal Son and the everlasting divine
potential of the Deity Absolute. But neither the
spiritual activity of the Eternal Son and his Paradise
Sons nor the mind bestowals of the Infinite Spirit seem
to exclude the direct action of the Thought Adjusters,
the indwelling fragments of God, in the hearts of his
creature children.
3:1.10
Concerning God's presence in a planet, system,
constellation, or a universe, the degree of such
presence in any creational unit is a measure of the
degree of the evolving presence of the Supreme Being: It
is determined by the en masse recognition of God and
loyalty to him on the part of the vast universe
organization, running down to the systems and planets
themselves. Therefore it is sometimes with the hope of
conserving and safeguarding these phases of God's
precious presence that, when some planets (or even
systems) have plunged far into spiritual darkness, they
are in a certain sense quarantined, or partially
isolated from intercourse with the larger units of
creation. And all this, as it operates on Urantia, is a
spiritually defensive reaction of the majority of the
worlds to save themselves, as far as possible, from
suffering the isolating consequences of the alienating
acts of a headstrong, wicked, and rebellious minority.
3:1.11
While the Father parentally encircuits all his sons --
all personalities -- his influence in them is limited by
the remoteness of their origin from the Second and the
Third Persons of Deity and augmented as their destiny
attainment nears such levels. The
fact of God's
presence in creature minds is determined by whether or
not they are indwelt by Father fragments, such as the
Mystery Monitors, but his
effective
presence is determined by the degree of co-operation
accorded these indwelling Adjusters by the minds of
their sojourn.
3:1.12
The fluctuations of the Father's presence are not due to
the changeableness of God. The Father does not retire in
seclusion because he has been slighted; his affections
are not alienated because of the creature's wrongdoing.
Rather, having been endowed with the power of choice
(concerning Himself), his children, in the exercise of
that choice, directly determine the degree and
limitations of the Father's divine influence in their
own hearts and souls. The Father has freely bestowed
himself upon us without limit and without favor. He is
no respecter of persons, planets, systems, or universes.
In the sectors of time he confers differential honor
only on the Paradise personalities of God the Sevenfold,
the co-ordinate creators of the finite universes.
2. GOD'S INFINITE POWER
3:2.1
All the universes know that "the Lord God omnipotent
reigns." The affairs of this world and other worlds are
divinely supervised. "He does according to his will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth." It is eternally true, "there is no power but of
God."
3:2.2
Within the bounds of that which is consistent with the
divine nature, it is literally true that "with God all
things are possible." The long-drawn-out evolutionary
processes of peoples, planets, and universes are under
the perfect control of the universe creators and
administrators and unfold in accordance with the eternal
purpose of the Universal Father, proceeding in harmony
and order and in keeping with the all-wise plan of God.
There is only one lawgiver. He upholds the worlds in
space and swings the universes around the endless circle
of the eternal circuit.
3:2.3
Of all the divine attributes, his omnipotence,
especially as it prevails in the material universe, is
the best understood. Viewed as an unspiritual
phenomenon, God is energy. This declaration of physical
fact is predicated on the incomprehensible truth that
the First Source and Center is the primal cause of the
universal physical phenomena of all space. From this
divine activity all physical energy and other material
manifestations are derived. Light, that is, light
without heat, is another of the nonspiritual
manifestations of the Deities. And there is still
another form of nonspiritual energy which is virtually
unknown on Urantia; it is as yet unrecognized.
3:2.4
God controls all power; he has made "a way for the
lightning"; he has ordained the circuits of all energy.
He has decreed the time and manner of the manifestation
of all forms of energy-matter. And all these things are
held forever in his everlasting grasp -- in the
gravitational control centering on nether Paradise. The
light and energy of the eternal God thus swing on
forever around his majestic circuit, the endless but
orderly procession of the starry hosts composing the
universe of universes. All creation circles eternally
around the Paradise-Personality center of all things and
beings.
3:2.5
The omnipotence of the Father pertains to the everywhere
dominance of the absolute level, whereon the three
energies, material, mindal, and spiritual, are
indistinguishable in close proximity to him -- the
Source of all things. Creature mind, being neither
Paradise monota nor Paradise spirit, is not directly
responsive to the Universal Father. God
adjusts with
the mind of imperfection -- with Urantia mortals through
the Thought Adjusters.
3:2.6
The Universal Father is not a transient force, a
shifting power, or a fluctuating energy. The power and
wisdom of the Father are wholly adequate to cope with
any and all universe exigencies. As the emergencies of
human experience arise, he has foreseen them all, and
therefore he does not react to the affairs of the
universe in a detached way but rather in accordance with
the dictates of eternal wisdom and in consonance with
the mandates of infinite judgment. Regardless of
appearances, the power of God is not functioning in the
universe as a blind force.
3:2.7
Situations do arise in which it appears that emergency
rulings have been made, that natural laws have been
suspended, that misadaptations have been recognized, and
that an effort is being made to rectify the situation;
but such is not the case. Such concepts of God have
their origin in the limited range of your viewpoint, in
the finiteness of your comprehension, and in the
circumscribed scope of your survey; such
misunderstanding of God is due to the profound ignorance
you enjoy regarding the existence of the higher laws of
the realm, the magnitude of the Father's character, the
infinity of his attributes, and the fact of his
free-willness.
3:2.8
The planetary creatures of God's spirit indwelling,
scattered hither and yon throughout the universes of
space, are so nearly infinite in number and order, their
intellects are so diverse, their minds are so limited
and sometimes so gross, their vision is so curtailed and
localized, that it is almost impossible to formulate
generalizations of law adequately expressive of the
Father's infinite attributes and at the same time to any
degree comprehensible to these created intelligences.
Therefore, to you the creature, many of the acts of the
all-powerful Creator seem to be arbitrary, detached, and
not infrequently heartless and cruel. But again I assure
you that this is not true. God's doings are all
purposeful, intelligent, wise, kind, and eternally
considerate of the best good, not always of an
individual being, an individual race, an individual
planet, or even an individual universe; but they are for
the welfare and best good of all concerned, from the
lowest to the highest. In the epochs of time the welfare
of the part may sometimes appear to differ from the
welfare of the whole; in the circle of eternity such
apparent differences are nonexistent.
3:2.9
We are all a part of the family of God, and we must
therefore sometimes share in the family discipline. Many
of the acts of God which so disturb and confuse us are
the result of the decisions and final rulings of
all-wisdom, empowering the Conjoint Actor to execute the
choosing of the infallible will of the infinite mind, to
enforce the decisions of the personality of perfection,
whose survey, vision, and solicitude embrace the highest
and eternal welfare of all his vast and far-flung
creation.
3:2.10
Thus it is that your detached, sectional, finite, gross,
and highly materialistic viewpoint and the limitations
inherent in the nature of your being constitute such a
handicap that you are unable to see, comprehend, or know
the wisdom and kindness of many of the divine acts which
to you seem fraught with such crushing cruelty, and
which seem to be characterized by such utter
indifference to the comfort and welfare, to the
planetary happiness and personal prosperity, of your
fellow creatures. It is because of the limits of human
vision, it is because of your circumscribed
understanding and finite comprehension, that you
misunderstand the motives, and pervert the purposes, of
God. But many things occur on the evolutionary worlds
which are not the personal doings of the Universal
Father.
3:2.11
The divine omnipotence is perfectly co-ordinated with
the other attributes of the personality of God. The
power of God is, ordinarily, only limited in its
universe spiritual manifestation by three conditions or
situations:
1. By the nature of God, especially by his infinite
love, by truth, beauty, and goodness.
2. By the will of God, by his mercy ministry and
fatherly relationship with the personalities of the
universe.
3. By the law of God, by the righteousness and justice
of the eternal Paradise Trinity.
3:2.12
God is unlimited in power, divine in nature, final in
will, infinite in attributes, eternal in wisdom, and
absolute in reality. But all these characteristics of
the Universal Father are unified in Deity and
universally expressed in the Paradise Trinity and in the
divine Sons of the Trinity. Otherwise, outside of
Paradise and the central universe of Havona, everything
pertaining to God is limited by the evolutionary
presence of the Supreme, conditioned by the eventuating
presence of the Ultimate, and co-ordinated by the three
existential Absolutes -- Deity, Universal, and
Unqualified. And God's presence is thus limited because
such is the will of God.
3. GOD'S UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE
3:3.1
"God knows all things." The divine mind is conscious of,
and conversant with, the thought of all creation. His
knowledge of events is universal and perfect. The divine
entities going out from him are a part of him; he who
"balances the clouds" is also "perfect in knowledge."
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place." Said your
great teacher of the insignificant sparrow, "One of them
shall not fall to the ground without my Father's
knowledge," and also, "The very hairs of your head are
numbered." "He tells the number of the stars; he calls
them all by their names."
3:3.2
The Universal Father is the only personality in all the
universe who does actually know the number of the stars
and planets of space. All the worlds of every universe
are constantly within the consciousness of God. He also
says: "I have surely seen the affliction of my people, I
have heard their cry, and I know their sorrows." For
"the Lord looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of
men; from the place of his habitation he looks upon all
the inhabitants of the earth." Every creature child may
truly say: "He knows the way I take, and when he has
tried me, I shall come forth as gold." "God knows our
downsittings and our uprisings; he understands our
thoughts afar off and is acquainted with all our ways."
"All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with
whom we have to do." And it should be a real comfort to
every human being to understand that "he knows your
frame; he remembers that you are dust." Jesus, speaking
of the living God, said, "Your Father knows what you
have need of even before you ask him."
3:3.3
God is possessed of unlimited power to know all things;
his consciousness is universal. His personal circuit
encompasses all personalities, and his knowledge of even
the lowly creatures is supplemented indirectly through
the descending series of divine Sons and directly
through the indwelling Thought Adjusters. And
furthermore, the Infinite Spirit is all the time
everywhere present.
3:3.4
We are not wholly certain as to whether or not God
chooses to foreknow events of sin. But even if God
should foreknow the freewill acts of his children, such
foreknowledge does not in the least abrogate their
freedom. One thing is certain: God is never subjected to
surprise.
3:3.5
Omnipotence does not imply the power to do the
nondoable, the ungodlike act. Neither does omniscience
imply the knowing of the unknowable. But such statements
can hardly be made comprehensible to the finite mind.
The creature can hardly understand the range and
limitations of the will of the Creator.
4. GOD'S LIMITLESSNESS
3:4.1
The successive bestowal of himself upon the universes as
they are brought into being in no wise lessens the
potential of power or the store of wisdom as they
continue to reside and repose in the central personality
of Deity. In potential of force, wisdom, and love, the
Father has never lessened aught of his possession nor
become divested of any attribute of his glorious
personality as the result of the unstinted bestowal of
himself upon the Paradise Sons, upon his subordinate
creations, and upon the manifold creatures thereof.
3:4.2
The creation of every new universe calls for a new
adjustment of gravity; but even if creation should
continue indefinitely, eternally, even to infinity, so
that eventually the material creation would exist
without limitations, still the power of control and
co-ordination reposing in the Isle of Paradise would be
found equal to, and adequate for, the mastery, control,
and co-ordination of such an infinite universe. And
subsequent to this bestowal of limitless force and power
upon a boundless universe, the Infinite would still be
surcharged with the same degree of force and energy; the
Unqualified Absolute would still be undiminished; God
would still possess the same infinite potential, just as
if force, energy, and power had never been poured forth
for the endowment of universe upon universe.
3:4.3
And so with wisdom: The fact that mind is so freely
distributed to the thinking of the realms in no wise
impoverishes the central source of divine wisdom. As the
universes multiply, and beings of the realms increase in
number to the limits of comprehension, if mind continues
without end to be bestowed upon these beings of high and
low estate, still will God's central personality
continue to embrace the same eternal, infinite, and
all-wise mind.
3:4.4
The fact that he sends forth spirit messengers from
himself to indwell the men and women of your world and
other worlds in no wise lessens his ability to function
as a divine and all-powerful spirit personality; and
there is absolutely no limit to the extent or number of
such spirit Monitors which he can and may send out. This
giving of himself to his creatures creates a boundless,
almost inconceivable future possibility of progressive
and successive existences for these divinely endowed
mortals. And this prodigal distribution of himself as
these ministering spirit entities in no manner
diminishes the wisdom and perfection of truth and
knowledge which repose in the person of the all-wise,
all-knowing, and all-powerful Father.
3:4.5
To the mortals of time there is a future, but God
inhabits eternity. Even though I hail from near the very
abiding place of Deity, I cannot presume to speak with
perfection of understanding concerning the infinity of
many of the divine attributes. Infinity of mind alone
can fully comprehend infinity of existence and eternity
of action.
3:4.6
Mortal man cannot possibly know the infinitude of the
heavenly Father. Finite mind cannot think through such
an absolute truth or fact. But this same finite human
being can actually
feel --
literally experience -- the full and undiminished impact
of such an infinite Father's LOVE. Such a love can be
truly experienced, albeit while quality of experience is
unlimited, quantity of such an experience is strictly
limited by the human capacity for spiritual receptivity
and by the associated capacity to love the Father in
return.
3:4.7
Finite appreciation of infinite qualities far transcends
the logically limited capacities of the creature because
of the fact that mortal man is made in the image of God
-- there lives within him a fragment of infinity.
Therefore man's nearest and dearest approach to God is
by and through love, for God is love. And all of such a
unique relationship is an actual experience in cosmic
sociology, the Creator-creature relationship -- the
Father-child affection.
5. THE FATHER'S SUPREME RULE
3:5.1
In his contact with the post-Havona creations, the
Universal Father does not exercise his infinite power
and final authority by direct transmittal but rather
through his Sons and their subordinate personalities.
And God does all this of his own free will. Any and all
powers delegated, if occasion should arise, if it should
become the choice of the divine mind, could be exercised
direct; but, as a rule, such action only takes place as
a result of the failure of the delegated personality to
fulfill the divine trust. At such times and in the face
of such default and within the limits of the reservation
of divine power and potential, the Father does act
independently and in accordance with the mandates of his
own choice; and that choice is always one of unfailing
perfection and infinite wisdom.
3:5.2
The Father rules through his Sons; on down through the
universe organization there is an unbroken chain of
rulers ending with the Planetary Princes, who direct the
destinies of the evolutionary spheres of the Father's
vast domains. It is no mere poetic expression that
exclaims: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof." "He removes kings and sets up kings." "The
Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men."
3:5.3
In the affairs of men's hearts the Universal Father may
not always have his way; but in the conduct and destiny
of a planet the divine plan prevails; the eternal
purpose of wisdom and love triumphs.
3:5.4
Said Jesus: "My Father, who gave them to me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand." As you glimpse the manifold workings and
view the staggering immensity of God's well-nigh
limitless creation, you may falter in your concept of
his primacy, but you should not fail to accept him as
securely and everlastingly enthroned at the Paradise
center of all things and as the beneficent Father of all
intelligent beings. There is but "one God and Father of
all, who is above all and in all," "and he is before all
things, and in him all things consist."
3:5.5
The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of
existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of
the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary
creature life is beset by certain
inevitabilities.
Consider the following:
3:5.6
1. Is courage
-- strength of character -- desirable? Then must man be
reared in an environment which necessitates grappling
with hardships and reacting to disappointments.
3:5.7
2. Is altruism
-- service of one's fellows -- desirable? Then must life
experience provide for encountering situations of social
inequality.
3:5.8
3. Is hope --
the grandeur of trust -- desirable? Then human existence
must constantly be confronted with insecurities and
recurrent uncertainties.
3:5.9
4. Is faith
-- the supreme assertion of human thought -- desirable?
Then must the mind of man find itself in that
troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it
can believe.
3:5.10
5. Is the love of
truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads,
desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error
is present and falsehood always possible.
3:5.11
6. Is idealism
-- the approaching concept of the divine -- desirable?
Then must man struggle in an environment of relative
goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the
irrepressible reach for better things.
3:5.12
7. Is loyalty
-- devotion to highest duty -- desirable? Then must man
carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and
desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the
implied danger of default.
3:5.13
8. Is
unselfishness -- the spirit of self-forgetfulness --
desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with
the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for
recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose
the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake.
Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if
there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate
the good by contrast.
3:5.14
9. Is pleasure
-- the satisfaction of happiness -- desirable? Then must
man live in a world where the alternative of pain and
the likelihood of suffering are ever-present
experiential possibilities.
3:5.15
Throughout the universe, every unit is regarded as a
part of the whole. Survival of the part is dependent on
co-operation with the plan and purpose of the whole, the
wholehearted desire and perfect willingness to do the
Father's divine will. The only evolutionary world
without error (the possibility of unwise judgment) would
be a world without
free
intelligence. In the Havona universe there are a billion
perfect worlds with their perfect inhabitants, but
evolving man must be fallible if he is to be free. Free
and inexperienced intelligence cannot possibly at first
be uniformly wise. The possibility of mistaken judgment
(evil) becomes sin only when the human will consciously
endorses and knowingly embraces a deliberate immoral
judgment.
3:5.16
The full appreciation of truth, beauty, and goodness is
inherent in the perfection of the divine universe. The
inhabitants of the Havona worlds do not require the
potential of relative value levels as a choice stimulus;
such perfect beings are able to identify and choose the
good in the absence of all contrastive and
thought-compelling moral situations. But all such
perfect beings are, in moral nature and spiritual
status, what they are by virtue of the fact of
existence. They have experientially earned advancement
only within their inherent status. Mortal man earns even
his status as an ascension candidate by his own faith
and hope. Everything divine which the human mind grasps
and the human soul acquires is an experiential
attainment; it is a
reality of
personal experience and is therefore a unique possession
in contrast to the inherent goodness and righteousness
of the inerrant personalities of Havona.
3:5.17
The creatures of Havona are naturally brave, but they
are not courageous in the human sense. They are innately
kind and considerate, but hardly altruistic in the human
way. They are expectant of a pleasant future, but not
hopeful in the exquisite manner of the trusting mortal
of the uncertain evolutionary spheres. They have faith
in the stability of the universe, but they are utter
strangers to that saving faith whereby mortal man climbs
from the status of an animal up to the portals of
Paradise. They love the truth, but they know nothing of
its soul-saving qualities. They are idealists, but they
were born that way; they are wholly ignorant of the
ecstasy of becoming such by exhilarating choice. They
are loyal, but they have never experienced the thrill of
wholehearted and intelligent devotion to duty in the
face of temptation to default. They are unselfish, but
they never gained such levels of experience by the
magnificent conquest of a belligerent self. They enjoy
pleasure, but they do not comprehend the sweetness of
the pleasure escape from the pain potential.
6. THE FATHER'S PRIMACY
3:6.1
With divine selflessness, consummate generosity, the
Universal Father relinquishes authority and delegates
power, but he is still primal; his hand is on the mighty
lever of the circumstances of the universal realms; he
has reserved all final decisions and unerringly wields
the all-powerful veto scepter of his eternal purpose
with unchallengeable authority over the welfare and
destiny of the outstretched, whirling, and ever-circling
creation.
3:6.2
The sovereignty of God is unlimited; it is the
fundamental fact of all creation. The universe was not
inevitable. The universe is not an accident, neither is
it self-existent. The universe is a work of creation and
is therefore wholly subject to the will of the Creator.
The will of God is divine truth, living love; therefore
are the perfecting creations of the evolutionary
universes characterized by goodness -- nearness to
divinity; by potential evil -- remoteness from divinity.
3:6.3
All religious philosophy, sooner or later, arrives at
the concept of unified universe rule, of one God.
Universe causes cannot be lower than universe effects.
The source of the streams of universe life and of the
cosmic mind must be above the levels of their
manifestation. The human mind cannot be consistently
explained in terms of the lower orders of existence.
Man's mind can be truly comprehended only by recognizing
the reality of higher orders of thought and purposive
will. Man as a moral being is inexplicable unless the
reality of the Universal Father is acknowledged.
3:6.4
The mechanistic philosopher professes to reject the idea
of a universal and sovereign will, the very sovereign
will whose activity in the elaboration of universe laws
he so deeply reverences. What unintended homage the
mechanist pays the law-Creator when he conceives such
laws to be self-acting and self-explanatory!
3:6.5
It is a great blunder to humanize God, except in the
concept of the indwelling Thought Adjuster, but even
that is not so stupid as completely to
mechanize the
idea of the First Great Source and Center.
3:6.6
Does the Paradise Father suffer? I do not know. The
Creator Sons most certainly can and sometimes do, even
as do mortals. The Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit
suffer in a modified sense. I think the Universal Father
does, but I cannot understand
how; perhaps
through the personality circuit or through the
individuality of the Thought Adjusters and other
bestowals of his eternal nature. He has said of the
mortal races, "In all your afflictions I am afflicted."
He unquestionably experiences a fatherly and sympathetic
understanding; he may truly suffer, but I do not
comprehend the nature thereof.
3:6.7
The infinite and eternal Ruler of the universe of
universes is power, form, energy, process, pattern,
principle, presence, and idealized reality. But he is
more; he is personal; he exercises a sovereign will,
experiences self-consciousness of divinity, executes the
mandates of a creative mind, pursues the satisfaction of
the realization of an eternal purpose, and manifests a
Father's love and affection for his universe children.
And all these more personal traits of the Father can be
better understood by observing them as they were
revealed in the bestowal life of Michael, your Creator
Son, while he was incarnated on Urantia.
3:6.8
God the Father loves men; God the Son serves men; God
the Spirit inspires the children of the universe to the
ever-ascending adventure of finding God the Father by
the ways ordained by God the Sons through the ministry
of the grace of God the Spirit.
3:6.9
Being the Divine Counselor assigned to the presentation
of the revelation of the Universal Father, I have
continued with this statement of the attributes of
Deity.
*
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