The
Spiritual Teachings of The Urantia Book: Synopsis, Part 7
"Let Me Emphatically State . . . "
Contents of this Synopsis
Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: if you, by truth coordination learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your acquaintances will then seek after you that they may gain what you have acquired.
The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth coordinated life.
Many souls can best be led to love the unseen God by first being taught to love their brothers and sisters whom they can see.
When religion is wholly spiritual in motive, it makes all of life more worthwhile, filling it with high purposes, dignifying it with transcendent values, inspiring it with superb motives, all the while comforting the human soul with a sublime and sustaining hope.
The most thrilling and inspiring of all possible human experiences is the personal quest for truth, the determination to explore the realities of personal religious experience, and the exhilaration of facing the perils of intellectual discovery. It is the supreme satisfaction of experiencing the personal victory of spiritual faith over intellectual doubt as it is honestly won in that supreme adventure of all human existence-man seeking God for himself, of himself, and as himself-and finding him.
The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress.
Jesus continued: We will shortly begin the bold proclamation of a new religion-a religion that makes its chief appeal to the divine spirit of my Father that resides in the mind of man-a religion that shall derive its authority from the fruits of its acceptance.
I have called upon you to discover the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself and as a fact of your own experience. The religion of the spirit leaves you forever free to follow the truth wherever the leadings of the spirit may take you.
The supreme experience of human existence is: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls.
Never forget there is only one adventure that is more satisfying than the attempt to discover the will of God, and that is the supreme experience of honestly trying to do the divine will.
Spiritual destiny is dependent on faith, love and devotion to truth-hunger and thirst for righteousness-the whole hearted desire to find God and to be like him.
You are destined to live a narrow and mean life if you learn to love only those who love you. The less of love in any person's nature the greater their love need-and the more does divine love seek to satisfy such need.
Kingdom believers should have an implicit faith, a whole souled belief in the certain triumph of righteousness. They must increasingly learn to step aside from the harassments of material existence while they refresh the soul, inspire the mind, and renew the spirit by worshipful communion.
In advancing the cause of the kingdom, make your appeals directly to the divine spirit that dwells within the mind.
In bringing others into the kingdom, do not lesson or destroy their self-respect. It is the purpose of this gospel to restore self-esteem to those who have lost it and to restrain it in those who have it.
Do not make the mistake of only condemning the wrongs in peoples' lives. Accord generous recognition for the most praiseworthy things in their lives. Forget not that I will stop at nothing to restore self-esteem to those who have lost it and who really desire to regain it.
Idleness is destructive to self-esteem; therefore encourage your brethren to ever keep busy at their chosen tasks.
God's children die searching for the very same God who dwells within them.
The believer has only one battle and that is against doubt-unbelief. In preaching the gospel you are simply teaching friendship with God.
If you dare to believe in me and wholeheartedly follow me, you shall most certainly, by so doing, enter upon a sure pathway to trouble. I do not promise to deliver you from the waters of adversity, but I do promise to go with you through all of them.
Never forget, the Father does not limit the revelation of truth to any one generation or to any one people.
Fear not those who are able to kill the body but after that have no more power over you. I admonish you to fear no one, neither in heaven nor on Earth but rejoice in the knowledge of him who has power to deliver you from all unrighteousness and to present you blameless before the judgment seat.
The Father never compels anyone to enter the kingdom. Though the door to life may be narrow, it is wide enough to admit all those who sincerely seek to find him.
I am the new and living way. Whosoever wills may enter to embark upon the endless truth-search for eternal life. All too long have your fathers believed that prosperity was the token of divine approval, that adversity was the proof of God's displeasure. Such beliefs are superstitions.
Jesus on prayer: All true prayers are addressed to spiritual beings, and all such petitions must be answered in spiritual terms and consist in spiritual realities. Spirit beings cannot bestow material answers to the spirit petitions of material beings.
In this world, the kingdom is the supreme desire to do the will of God, the unselfish love of your fellow man which yields the good fruits of improved ethical and moral conduct.
In heaven, the kingdom is the goal of mortal believers wherein their love of God is perfected.
Jesus taught that we enter the kingdom by faith. Two things only are essential, firstly to come with the faith-sincerity of a little child to receive our entry as a gift while submitting to the Father's will unconditionally, and secondly, truth hunger, the thirst for righteousness-the acquirement of the motive to find God and to be like him.
The receipt of God's forgiveness involves a four step process:
God's forgiveness is actually made available and is personally experienced just in so far as we have forgiven our neighbor.
We will not truly forgive our neighbors unless we love them as ourselves.
To thus love our neighbor is the highest ethics.
Moral conduct, true righteousness, becomes then, the natural result of such love.
The righteousness of any act must be measured by the motive.
Jesus spread good cheer everywhere he went. He was full of grace and truth. His associates never ceased to wonder at the gracious words that proceeded from his mouth. You can cultivate gracefulness, but graciousness is the aroma of friendliness which emanates from a love-saturated soul.
Goodness is attractive only when it is gracious-and is effective only when it is attractive.
Jesus was always ready and willing to stop or detain a multitude while he ministered to the needs of a single person or to a little child. Most of the really important things that Jesus said or did seemed to happen casually, 'as he passed by.' He dispensed health and happiness naturally and gracefully as he journeyed though life. It was literally true, 'he went about doing good.'
And so it behooves the Master's followers in all ages to learn to minister 'as they pass by' -to do unselfish good as they go about their daily duties.
When the wise understand the inner impulses of others, they will love them. And when you love your neighbors, you have already forgiven them. This capacity to understand human nature and to forgive apparent wrongdoing is Godlike.
Your inability or unwillingness to forgive your neighbor is the measure of your immaturity, your failure to attain adult sympathy, understanding, and love. You hold grudges and nurse vengefulness in direct proportion to your ignorance of the inner nature and true longings of your fellow human beings.
Love is the outworking of the divine and inner urge of life. It is founded on understanding, nurtured by unselfish service and perfected in wisdom. Seek not in your daily lives, self-glorification, but seek rather the glory of God.
You cannot stand still in the affairs of the eternal kingdom. My father requires all his children to grow in grace and in the knowledge of truth. You who know these truths must yield the increase of the fruits of the spirit and manifest a growing devotion to the unselfish service of your fellows. In faithfulness do what is entrusted to you, and thereby shall you be ready for the reckoning call of death.
A service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship
Serving the Readership since 1955