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in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." (Matt 22:30)--which amounts to very little. Parts 1-3 of The Urantia Book fill this enormous gap by providing a reasonably detailed account of the Isle of Paradise and the Grand Universe, the hierarchical structure of its administration, an account of our progressive pathway towards the ultimate attainment of the Universal Father, our entry into the Corps of the Finality, and even some speculation on what may lie beyond.
In providing us with this glimpse of the circle of eternity in The Urantia Book, the Revelators have challenged us who possess it to do our utmost to live "most unselfishly for the good of others" in a manner not seen on our planet since the bestowal life of Michael of Nebadon. Such is the privilege of receiving and believing the revelation contained in this precious book.
Many, perhaps most of us Urantia Book readers, have only a vague or inadequate understanding of what it means to have a religious experience, or to be conscious of the presence of the God-within. Some people, such as Paul for example, really strike it big when they get their religious experience--a brilliant light from heaven, a voice calling him by name, and to prove that he was not just hallucinating, striking him blind for three days then restoring his sight at the hands of someone who mistrusted him and did not really want to know him. Now that's an experience!
A religious experience is not necessarily that dramatic: "When a moral being chooses to be unselfish when confronted by the urge to be selfish, that is primitive religious experience." (1131) Not only that--this same unselfish act embraces the fact of God consciousness." We do not need to be struck by lightning! "When mind chooses a right moral judgment by an act of the free will, such a decision constitutes a religious experience." (1131) On the very next page we are told, "the fact remains that the true religious impulse has its origin in genuine spirit presences activating the will to be unselfish" (1132), and two pages later, "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." (1134)
Both the Bible and The Urantia Book inform us that all goodness has its origin in the Father. (381) It stands to reason then, that every good thought we have ever had, and every good deed that we have ever performed, provide us with the evidence that we are indwelt by the spirit of God and that, at least in our superconscious minds, we have truly listened to His voice. Our awareness of our real spirituality, of the God-within, and our response to that God-within, is further evidenced by the quality of unselfishness as it reveals itself in the fruits of the spirit showing forth in our lives, our increasing involvement in disinterested labor for the welfare of our earthly fellows.
"Spiritual growth is first an awakening to needs, next a discernment of meanings, and then a discovery of values. The evidence of true spiritual development consists in the exhibition of a human personality motivated by love, activated by unselfish ministry, and dominated by the wholehearted worship of the perfection ideals of divinity. And this entire experience constitutes the reality of religion as contrasted with mere theological beliefs." (1095) When all is said and done, knowing God and being familiar with Him can be a fairly ordinary, down-to-earth, unselfish experience. That is the way it is really meant to be.
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