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The
Story of Everything
An
abridged edition of The Urantia Book
Paper
54: Problems of the Lucifer Rebellion
Of all the problems caused by the Lucifer rebellion, none has created more difficulty than the failure of immature mortals to distinguish between true and false liberty. True liberty is related to reality and is mindful of cosmic fairness, fraternity, and divine obligations. Liberty divorced from justice, fairness, forbearance, duty, and spiritual values is suicidal. License disguised as liberty is the precursor of abject bondage.
Ever since he first formed Havona with the Son and the Spirit, God the Father has created a divine pattern of sharing. Sons and Daughters who attempt to replicate the central universe in the universes of time and space are creative partners with the Father, as is each person in every evolving universe who aspires to do the Father's will. Lucifer's crime was an attempt to disenfranchise every personality in Satania from this God-given freewill participation in the evolutionary struggle for light and life. The Lucifer manifesto, masquerading as the promotion of liberty, attempted to deprive ascenders of the privilege of participating in the creation of their own destinies.
Sin is potential whenever imperfect beings are endowed with the ability to choose between good and evil. Mortals who are puzzled as to why God permits evil and sin fail to comprehend that both are inevitable if the creature is to be truly free. Free will is not a mere philosophic concept; it is a universe reality. Wholehearted identification with sin leads eventually to non-existence, but there is always a period between the embrace of sin and the penalty thereof. The Ancients of Days do not annihilate any being until all moral values are extinct, both in the evildoer and in any related supporters.
Lucifer and Satan were permitted to work their wickedness for an extended time before they were apprehended. People who have raised children are best able to understand why Michael, the Creator-father, might be slow to destroy his sons. Immanuel, the Faithful of Days, the Supreme Executive of Orvonton, and the Divine Minister all concurred that the rebellion should be allowed to take its full natural course.
Mercy delays of time are mandated by the Creators, and there is good to be derived in the universe from patience in dealing with sinful rebels. But such delays are not interminable. Justice in a mercy-dominated universe may be slow, but it is certain. Mercy requires that wrongdoers be given sufficient time to fully choose their evil thoughts and acts. Justice will never destroy that which mercy can save.
When a father shows mercy to one of his erring children, it may bring a temporary hardship to his other children. Such risk is inseparable from the reality of being a member of a family. Each family member profits by the righteous conduct of every other member, and each suffers the consequences of the misconduct of the others. But such hardships are transient; no consequence of fraternal misbehavior can never jeopardize the eternal prospects of another individual.
Compensation invariably accompanies the sin of rebellion. The Lucifer rebellion at first seemed to be a complete calamity, but gradually benefits began to accrue. About twenty thousand years ago, the good that had arisen from Lucifer's sin came to equal the evil incurred. The evil now has become almost stationary, while the beneficial repercussions continue to multiply throughout the superuniverse. The good that has resulted from the Lucifer rebellion is now more than a thousand times the sum of the evil created. As mortals ascend Paradiseward, they will increasingly learn how ultimate good can derive from time-limited evil.