Some Study Group Questions
Paper 4: God's Relation to the Universe
1. A dictionary definition of "watchword" is "a motto that embodies a principle or guide to action for an individual or a group." What do you make of the comment that "...the watchword of the universe is progress?" 4:1.2
2. In Paper 3 we were introduced the three absolutes--the Unqualified Absolute, the Universal Absolute and the Deity Absolute. [3:1.7,8,9] In Paper 4, these three absolutes are introduced as a group and are given the name "The Absolutes of potentiality." Notice that they are introduced as "the mysterious coordinates" of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit and the Isle of Paradise. [4:1.8]
3. In [4:1.10] we get a hint that "the living presence of the evolving Supreme Being" is a reality in its own right known as the "Immanence of the Projected Incomplete." At this point in your study, stop to consider the degree to which you have a grasp of the concept of the Supreme Being--which has just been enhanced by encountering the name, "Immanence of the Projected Incomplete"--as contrasted with your understanding of absonite realities as introduced in [1:3.5]. Your understanding is likely to be much better when ideas and concepts are given names (the "Immanence of the Projected Incomplete") and given roles in a cosmic drama than when they are discussed as intellectual abstractions ("The ultimate reality of the personal cosmos is absonite spirit"). Bear this in mind as you try to make sense out of the seeming endless presentation of personalities, roles and relationships given in the Urantia Book. The Urantia Book can be considered as containing a revelation about a personal cosmos being made to creatures endowed with personalities.
4. What realities encountered in daily life might be included in the Urantia Book's definition of "nature" as developed in section 2? As you think about this, consider the statement that "Continuing evolution modifies nature by augmenting the content of paradise perfection." [4:2.4] To what elements of "nature" might the authors be referring?
5. What metaphysical blunders are represented in the belief that God has fits of anger or is "wrathful?" 4:3, 4:5
6. Why do you suppose the Divine Counselor who composed this Paper was instructed to portray God as "the Universal Father?" 4:4.5
7. Read section 5 of this paper and consider ways in which your reading so far in the Urantia Book has influenced your concept of God. What new elements have been added? What incomplete conceptions do you now grasp more clearly? Do you feel that any of the ideas so far presented are misrepresentations of God?
8. With the conclusion of this paper, almost all of the major structural elements of the cosmos which will be developed in The Urantia Book have been mentioned, most of them only in quiet passing and none of them (except the Universal Father) with much detail. These are: The Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit and their communal functioning as the Paradise Trinity; the Unqualified Absolute, the Universal Absolute and the Deity Absolute and their related functioning as the Absolutes of potentiality; the Supreme Being, the indwelling spirit as the Thought Adjuster, the Ultimacy of Deity, the absonite level of reality and God the Sevenfold. This would be a good time to review the Foreword, from the start through F:X.5.
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The Urantia Book Fellowship
