|
Being and Doing
That evening while teaching in the house, for it had begun to rain, Jesus talked at great length, trying to show the twelve what they must be, not what they must do. They knew only a religion that imposed the doing of certain things as the means of attaining righteousness--salvation. But Jesus would reiterate, "In the kingdom you must be righteous in order to do the work."
The title for this article, "Being and Doing," is derived from the above remark made by Jesus to his followers that later goes on to state that "being righteous, by faith, must precede doing righteousness in our daily lives." (1584)
This innocuous looking remark is the catalyst for initiating some serious thinking. For one, what does Jesus mean by "being righteous?" The most common assumption is that it simply means "doing good deeds to others." But that reverses Jesus' priority which asserted that being righteous takes precedence over the doing of righteousness.
An insight into Jesus' meaning for "being righteous" is found in a statement about his earthly mission: "Jesus refused to have his attention diverted from his mission. He ignored the civic, social, and economic realms. He told the apostles he was concerned only with the principles of man's inner and personal spiritual life." (1580) Hence, for those seeking to follow Jesus, this statement completely divorces "righteousness" from the arena of the material and transfers it to the domain of the spiritual.
Jesus informs us what we must seek is righteousness in our spiritual life. Confirmation occurs many times in the Papers with statements such as, "the goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material" (1096); "the only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal" (1096); and "spiritual destiny is dependent on faith, love, and devotion to truth--hunger and thirst for righteousness--the whole hearted desire to find God and be like him." (1739)
In other words we must transfer our concepts of what we must "be" completely out from the finite, material, secular world to the inner, personal and spiritual world in which we, as individuals, must seek to remake ourselves in the image of God. That is what this life is all about. And in case you are unconvinced, hear this:
"The Master fully realized that certain social results would appear in the world as a consequence of the spread of the gospel of the kingdom; but he intended that all such desirable social manifestations should appear as unconscious and inevitable outgrowths, or natural fruits, of this inner personal experience of individual believers." (1865)
Is this asking too much of us? If it is our desire to have a career in eternity, we do not appear to have a realistic alternative. To seek to become God-like is the only destiny on offer. Naturally that is a long term process for which our immediate, earthly goal is provided by Jesus' revelation of what it means to be God-like. But it is the only offer we have.
Unfortunately Christianity forsook whatever understanding it had of this reality when it evolved from being a small band of dedicated individuals to become an ecclesiastical organization governed by creeds, ritual, and a priesthood. Periodically, attempts have been made for a revival, the one most relevant for Urantians occurring 350 years ago when it arose from the ashes of English Puritanism under the leadership of one, George Fox.
The aim of this group was for a purely personal religion in which each individual was dedicated to living in accordance with a direct consciousness of what they called the "Inward Light"--in our parlance, the God-Spirit-Within. Known as the Quakers, the group operated without creeds or clergy, and firmly believed that their experimental approach to the discovery of the "Inward Light" would spill over to reform all of Christendom.
The role of the Quakers' "Inward Light" is similar, perhaps identical to, the Thought Adjuster of the Urantia Papers. The hope of the Quakers for the reformation of organized authoritarian Christianity is also very close to hopes expressed in the Papers--such as: "What a service if, through this revelation, the Son of Man should be recovered from the tomb of traditional theology and be presented as the living Jesus to the church that bears his name. (2090)
In its early days, the Quaker movement achieved remarkable results. It led the campaign in Britain and the USA for the abolition of slavery, it achieved much needed reform to the ghastly prison systems of both countries, it championed a campaign for more humane treatment of the mentally retarded, it was a leader in the campaign for women's liberation, and much else. But in the long run it failed. Why?
Some Quaker literature places the blame for their demise squarely in the lap of their over-involvement in worldly affairs at the expense of individual consciousness of the Inward Light--the result being that the path illuminated by that Inward Light was lost.
But Jesus, in his wisdom, has instructed his Urantian followers to concern themselves only with man's inner and spiritual life (1580)--and to allow the fruits of the spirit to arise unconsciously (1865) as a consequence of what we must become. For Jesus, being righteous is a categorical imperative that must take precedence over merely doing righteousness.
|
|
