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The Logic of Some Major Concepts in The Urantia Book
If God is a personal being with whom we can have a relationship, then what sort of relationship is it? The authors of The Urantia Book and most of us I think would agree that love is the most meaningful and profound of relationships between two persons. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that God's greatest aspect is love, and that as Jesus portrayed him, God loves us as would a father love his children. And because God is at the highest level of reality and we are at the lowest level, is it not logical that God would find a way to bridge that gap? Of course, we do have the ministry of the descending sons and children of the Infinite Spirit, but God chooses to minister to us directly. He has the ultimate way to bridge that gap; he has sent a very part of himself to dwell in us, to be with us as we struggle with life's challenges, and if we will accept it, to guide us, even finally into the presence of God himself. He has sent us himself as a Thought Adjuster. Therefore, I find the existence and ministry of Thought Adjusters both reasonable and logical. But what of all the other types of spiritual beings and all those different levels? Is all that logical?
How is it that "Heaven" can be so organized with all sorts of beings and so many levels of progress for us? If God does not personally do everything that gets done in the universe, then obviously someone else has to do it. I like to think of God as the ultimate executive; he delegates both as much responsibility and as much authority as he is able to others. And at each level of the spiritual universe of beings, this is the ideal pattern for keeping the whole enterprise moving in the direction of God's ultimate vision for the universe. If there were only one inhabited planet as most people used to believe, then things could be much simpler. But now that over 120 planets have been discovered orbiting other stars, it is evident that many, perhaps even the majority of stars have a planet in orbit around them. With at least 200 billion stars in our galaxy, it is hard to believe that ours is the only planet with intelligent life. In fact, I think that it is the ultimate of geocentric arrogance to believe that this vast universe was created just to support one small, inhabited planet out on the edge of a great galaxy, which is only one of perhaps 100 billion other galaxies. It seems logical to me that not just the earth but also the entire universe is intended by God to be occupied; otherwise, why make it so expansive? If there are as many inhabited planets as the authors tell us there are, then there is needed a vast organization with numerous types of spirit workers to oversee this huge enterprise. There are a lot of beings to be kept track of, guided, and educated, not just in their material existence, but also in the rest of their universe career. So to me, all those personalities and levels of progress make sense. But progress in the next life implies that there is a next life. Is the idea of personality survival reasonable and logical?
The authors of The Urantia Book inform us, "Nature does not afford ground for logical belief in human-personality survival." [101:2.8] Is survival of some aspect of ourselves a reasonable idea? Many cultures have a concept similar to that of a soul, and many have a concept of survival beyond this life. As the authors tell us, this is not something for which anyone can offer any sort of reliable proof. But is it illogical? As I observe our lives, it seems to me that most of us are an unfinished product when we leave here. This earthly experience seems to be a preparation for another step forward on another level. Another thought I've had is that if we accept the reality of a personal, loving God, then he would want to have his spirit children continue progressing until they have achieved their potential. Furthermore, it seems unfair to many people that lives are shortened by disease, accident or war--especially the lives of children. Then in the spirit of fairness and justice, it seems reasonable and logical to me that there is a next life where we can continue our progress and make up for opportunities lost in this life.
The Urantia Book has a great deal to say about our path of progression in the next phase of our eternal life, the morontia career. The authors speak of a great many levels through which we progress on our journey to Paradise. This idea of incremental progress does not seem to be a part of orthodox Christian theology. The traditional idea is that we die and either go to Heaven or Hell. If we make it to Heaven, we are instantly made perfect, regardless of our status at the time we made our transition. But consider: That is nothing like the lives we lead here. We progress in steps from one grade to the next higher one in school, or we progress from apprentice to skilled worker to master craftsperson in our work. We do not expect a first grader to solve complex trigonometric problems, nor do we expect a beginner to perform at the level of an athlete with years of training. It seems logical for us to have the chance to progress at a measured pace, to learn to walk before we are required to fly. Another reason I can see for the intervening morontia life is the comfort factor.
When we awake on the mansion worlds, we will have a body and mind that are far advanced from the ones we have here, but they will retain some familiar features. For instance, we will still eat food and communicate with speech. Since we retain some idea of who we were and what we were, it seems like a good idea to make our transition to the next life somewhat familiar. That way, we will find similarity to our previous lives and have a less traumatic experience. It seems to me that this scheme of small transitions from one level to another reflects divine wisdom and is both reasonable and logical.
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