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Learning in Phoenicia
"This world is only a bridge; you may pass over it, but you should not think to build a dwelling place upon it."
You cannot stand still. You must go forward in righteousness or retrogress into evil and sin.
You must refuse to harbor even feelings of guilt. If you confess your sins, they are forgiven.
You must be born of the spirit. You must be taught by the spirit and be led by the spirit if you would live the spirit-filled life among your fellows.
It became the habit of your forefathers to believe that God led them thither for testing, punishing, or strengthening. But you know better.
It is folly to supplant one temptation with another through the mere force of the human will.
Develop an actual interest in, and love for, those higher and more idealistic forms of conduct, and the old and inferior will be forgotten in the love for the new and superior
Spiritual destiny is dependent on faith, love, and devotion to truth--hunger and thirst for righteousness--the wholehearted desire to find God and to be like him.
Make not the mistake of estimating the soul's worth by the imperfections of the mind or by the appetites of the body. Your spiritual destiny is conditioned only by your spiritual longings and purposes.
Religion is the exclusively spiritual experience of those who are God-knowing. But moral power and spiritual energy are mighty forces for dealing with social situations.
You are destined to live a narrow and mean life if you love only those who love you.
The less of love in any creature's nature, the greater the love need.
Love is never self-seeking. As with divine love, it cannot be self-contained but must be unselfishly bestowed.
God-knowing individuals are not discouraged by misfortune nor downcast by disappointment.
Spirit livers are not perturbed by the episodes of the material world.
Every day that true believers live, they find it easier to do the right thing.
Spiritual living mightily increases true self-respect.
Self-respect is always coordinate with the love and service of one's fellows.
It is not possible to respect yourself more than you love your neighbor.
As the days pass, every true believer becomes more and more skillful in alluring his fellows into the love of eternal truth.
In the spirit, your citizenship is in heaven; in the flesh you are still citizens of earthly kingdoms.
Render to the Caesars of earthly kingdoms that which is rightfully theirs. But render to God that which is spiritual.
The measure of your spiritual capacity is your faith in truth and love for man.
The measure of your strength of character is your ability to resist the holding of grudges and to withstand brooding.
Defeat is the true mirror in which you may honestly view your real self.
Tact is the fulcrum of social leverage. Tolerance is the earmark of a great soul.
Seek no unearned recognition. Crave no undeserved sympathy.
In all things related to honor, seek only that which honestly belongs to you.
The God-conscious mortal is certain of salvation. Therefore he is unafraid.
Bravely endure unavoidable suffering. Be uncomplaining when faced by hardship.
The true believer never grows weary of well-doing. Obstacles only challenge the exertions of kingdom-builders.
Following the sojourn in Phoenicia, Jesus and his handful of followers made their way back to Gennesaret on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and crossed immediately to the eastern shore to the territory of Herod's brother Philip.
Not long after they were joined by almost one hundred evangelists and also the women's corps to commence what would be the final phase of Jesus' bestowal on Urantia.
An important incident occurred very early in this period, its importance being in what it tells us about self-appointed authoritarianism.
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