Postings

Current Events – Values

Events in the news cry out for comment; there is much heated debate with little real dialog. Getting bogged down in the details might be an exercise in futility, rather it would be interesting to look at these times using concepts from my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness” and the corresponding website. We will comment on values as exemplified by an elected political leader and how strongly this leader is supported. We find that one of the “Talking Points” pages on the website, “Ideologically Driven Processes,” explains these times very well.

Coloring an entire movement with the characteristics of one leader sometimes may be unfair, but in our political environment one leader has taken advantage of our strongly polarized society with no opposition from his supporters, in this case such colorization is warranted. If his supporters disagreed with him there would be public comments. This silence is confirmation of their support, even admiration, of their leader. His values and ideals have become their values and ideals.

This leader admires only those world leaders who are brutal dictators such as Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Vladimir Putin in Russia while he says unkind words about democratically elected ones such as Angela Merkel in Germany. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.

This leader forcibly takes young children from their families and locks them in cages. He has unkind things to say about women, those with handicaps, the free press, and minorities. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.

And there is more.

Why is there silence from his supporters? In order to get elected and reelected politicians need financial support which will dry up if they go against this polarizing leader. These politicians are afraid to speak their minds because if they do, there will not be enough funds to run a political campaign. The money they need comes from wealthy donors who have a particular ideology the leader espouses.

These wealthy donors have a set of values they believe in strongly and they are willing to give a large amount of money to further their values. To them these values are so important anything is acceptable as long as it enhances their values. Therefore they give money to this leader and those supporting him, all of whom have become beholden to the wealthy donors.

What is wrong with this? What is wrong with following strongly held beliefs? The problem is that everything needs a solid foundation. Just as we cannot build a house upon sand, we cannot build our life on a moral quicksand; there must be a firm moral foundation. When any goal becomes so important that morality is lost, the goal becomes unattainable. After this point there will be no way to evaluate decisions, no way to judge which is the proper course. Going astray is inevitable.

As an aside, for those working to counteract climate change the motivation is the health of Mother Earth. Everyone, even super-billionaires, depends on their environment for sustenance; therefore working to protect our environment for the good of humanity might be an acceptable foundation. However, this is not adequate because violent radicals would be unrestrained; a more enduring foundation would be to recognize that everyone has within them an actual spark of God;[1] He is literally within each thinking human being. With this truth as a moral foundation, protectors of Planet Earth will be well guided. With this as a moral foundation there will be a way to judge each proposed action: what effects will the action have, will it harm human beings who are indwelt by God?

How did this leader come into power? Because of the extremely unequal distribution of wealth in our society (and around the world), a significant segment has been disadvantaged and frustrated. These frustrations led them to vote for anybody promising to help them. Of those running for this office, one largely ignored these disadvantaged voters while the other made empty promises but cut taxes for the rich once elected.

Our polarized society needs to recognize the value of every human being; since everyone equally has within them a spark of God, everyone has value. God is no respecter of persons, He respects everyone equally. This truth needs to be incorporated into our greed-filled economic system, our overburdened welfare system, our immigration policies, our interpersonal relationships, and even into how we think about our sisters and brothers.

  1. Bible: I Corinthians 3,16 ↑

Who are the Immigrants?

Immigration is much in the news recently, especially in the political arena; we examine this issue from the perspective of faith; how does faith enter into the immigration discussion?

When we hear people of faith expressing political views it is generally the religious right speaking about fundamentalist faith, a narrow view excluding those of differing faiths. I have been to a fundamental Baptist Church where the preacher looked directly at me and thundered “Those who do not know Jesus will burn in Hell.” (He and his parents are excellent people; they have helped Betty and me in many ways without asking anything in return.) In their stagnated view anybody with a differing faith will not resurrect. The Urantia Book presents a broader, more inclusive prospective; a cosmic prospective.

The Bible talks much about love; which is used 131 times in the Old Testament and 176 times in the New Testament. The word “Love” is used a total of 307 times in the Bible (King James edition). The phrase “God is love” is used twice in First John Chapter 4. How does this correlate with a narrow viewpoint excluding anybody? Since He has created all things, all planets, all creatures, how can a God of love be reconciled with the existence of Hell? The Urantia Book teaches us everyone will have life eternal once they have made a final decision to do God’s will.

Also there are politicians who seek to exclude those who are not like them in some arbitrary manner, who have a different religion, a different ethnicity or a different sexual orientation. These politicians inflame passions of voters who have been disenfranchised and left behind by a changing society; politicians do this solely to get themselves elected and reelected to political office. They have little regard for the damage they do to the fabric of society and to those they seek to exclude from their nation.

Exclusionary and anti-immigrant trends promoted by politicians are even seeping into our nation, which was founded on and grows stronger as a result of a fresh influx of immigrants. The first wave was the European people, whose immigration started in 1607, pushing back the Native Americans; it continued relentlessly until the true Americans became but a ghost of their former state. There have been many other waves, one was the peoples imported from Africa starting in 1619, another was the Irish who started arriving in 1846, the Asians started in the 1850’s, followed by the Italians in 1890. Our native land has historically been and currently is founded on and rejuvenated by fresh waves of immigrants. The only truly Native American is the Red race which has been marginalized nearly to extinction; everyone else is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants.

Our political environment is clouded by many unsavory undercurrents. How can The Urantia Book clarify this situation? What does it teach us?

The creator of all life in our universe, Michael whom we know as Jesus, lived as a mortal on our planet; his purpose was to reveal to his universe the nature of our Heavenly Father and to reveal to God the best that humans can become. He chose our planet, known as Urantia in universe records, partially because it had been previously betrayed by its leader, our planetary prince who had joined a rebellion against universe authority. As a mortal human being Jesus defeated our rebellious planetary prince, Caligastia. This fallen planetary prince is now confined to our planet but he is free to move about and work mischief; he and those working with him are invisible to mortal vision. There are many signs in current society indicating his dark forces at work, for example the rise of authoritarian leaders and the decrease in basic human rights in many countries.

There is a progressive element to faith that is interested in immigrant rights and there are signs this element of our religious community is becoming more active; for example at the last Democratic national convention, Rev. William Barber said: “Jesus, a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew, called us to preach good news to the poor, the broken, the bruised, and all those who are made to feel unaccepted!”[1]

Betty and I attended Rev. Barber’s church, Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Greenleaf, NC on Father’s Day 2019; Betty grew up in the Christian Church in Tennessee. This church is the most welcoming and joyous church I have ever attended. When the service was over I had no idea that about three hours had passed. Rev. Barber was in Washington that day, but the feeling of energy and love in his church was powerful.

Jesus was all about inclusion, for example he started the women’s corps,[2] he talked to the Samaritan woman Nalda to the consternation of the apostles,[3] and Jesus taught we should love our sisters and brothers.[4] Our Heavenly Father treats everyone equally; he is no respecter of persons[5] and He is love.[6]

The Urantia Book has many references to the love of God, for example at the Last Supper Jesus said: If you will only love one another as I am loving you, you shall be my friends…. (Urantia Book 1944.6)

When Jesus was just over one year old he became a refugee in Alexandria.[7] What if Pharaoh had the same view of immigrants as modern day politicians? Immigrants contribute to our government by paying a portion of their wages into Social Security without any chance they will be able to receive benefits and they willingly accept jobs others are unwilling to take. We need immigrants.

The major target of those promoting exclusion are potential immigrants fleeing persecution in their native lands. That is exactly why the original settlers from England and the rest of Europe came to America in the first place starting over four hundred years ago, that is the foundation of our democracy. Now American demagogues seek to exclude these people from our nation; they would even exclude their own ancestors for political gain.

There are at least ten references in the Bible about helping strangers;[8] “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt”[9] and “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”[10]

Fresh immigrants are needed to keep our society functioning smoothly.

Finally there is this thought, thousands of children have been forcibly taken from their parent’s custody and placed in cages. Imagine what effect this devastating trauma has on these young minds and growing bodies. The terrorists of tomorrow are being educated in these inhumane conditions.

The love of God must be allowed to inform our political discussions and actions.

What we need now is love.

  1. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/684435743/provoked-by-trump-the-religious-left-is-finding-its-voice Retrieved 8/18/19 ↑

  2. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 1683.5 for example ↑

  3. 1614.3, also Bible: John, Chapter 4, especially verse 27 ↑

  4. 1949.1 ↑

  5. 1958.1 ↑

  6. 1782.2 for example ↑

  7. 1354.3; Bible: Mathew 2:13 ↑

  8. https://www.christiantoday.com/article/welcoming-the-stranger-in-our-midst-10-bible-verses/104300.htm Retrieved 8/18/19 ↑

  9. Exodus 23:9 and 22:21 ↑

  10. Hebrews 13: 1-2 ↑

Website Progress and Service

Developing this website is a fascinating challenge, so many new things to learn. With each new thing there is a plugin that must be chosen, installed, learned, applied to the website, errors located and fixed. This is all about developing a platform to get the message out; this message must be shared with our sisters and brothers.

An important aspect of this website is the extensive crosslinking throughout the postings and pages. While reading a page, if there is a link to something you want to explore, right-click on the link and open it in another tab for later study. For example, if there is a reference to our Planetary Prince clicking on the link will present further information about him.

To find a reference to The Urantia Book, there is a link at the bottom of the Home page. This link goes to the new Urantia Foundation online search engine that finds the reference in question. There is even an audio option for the quotation that can be found at the beginning of the Paper. For example entering 1496.1 and clicking on the reference starts the paper about John the Baptist. Very soon I will have a separate page on the website linking to the online search engine and the text of The Urantia Book, so stay tuned, this is an ongoing process.

A recent addition to the website is a short commentary about each photo accessed from a link under the photo; there is also a page, “Photos,” that has each photo, a description and a link to its page.

Another new addition to the website is a link on the main page enabling users to sign up for the email list; once added they will be notified of new postings and other news. How could such a simple thing be so complicated? For this I needed two plugins and it was a struggle to get them working together. They are now up and running, but enough of that; what about service?

We know there is a spark of God within each thinking mortal, everyone has this gift from God and because of this everyone has equal spiritual value. Our Heavenly Father is actually present in our lives; we do not need to seek for Him elsewhere. This means He can literally guide us if we sincerely listen and follow this divine guidance. The more we listen and follow this internal advice, the easier it becomes the next time. God has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to follow that plan. The consequence of this is times when we must give attention to opportunities of service, even though it means we have to delay something else we want to do.

For example before Jesus was thirteen years old, a celestial messenger appeared before him telling him it was time to be about your Father’s business. (Urantia Book 1376.1) Just over a year later, when Jesus was barely fourteen, Joseph was killed in an accident at work; for Jesus this meant his young human nature must also shoulder the responsibility of caring for his widowed mother and seven brothers and sisters — and another yet to be born. (Urantia Book 1388.1)

Jesus had been instructed to be about his Father’s business, yet he had pressing obligations to his family that could not be denied. The story of how he lovingly cared for his family is a thrilling tale of devotion to duty; for example he spent two days in prison with his young brother Jude who had said unkind words about Roman soldiers.[1]

Jesus spent many years helping his family and learning how people lived their lives. He also toured the Mediterranean Sea for more than a year. Eighteen years after the celestial visitation Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River at Pella and began his public work.

Jesus was focused on following God’s guidance even though this meant delaying something else important, being about his Father’s business.

If you sincerely seek to do God’s will, there are going to be serious choices to make; if you are not so tested, your faith is not yet strong enough to be tested. If you are living a life of ease you have not faith because having true faith means being willing to go where we will be uncomfortable. God’s ways are not our ways, He knows the true way and only when we cooperate with His loving guidance can we make real spiritual progress.

Talking about service, Betty and I both have family obligations requiring us to delay other needful things, like developing this website for my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the triumph of Righteousness” and other important obligations.

My brother needs surgery on both knees because he is in constant pain and his wife has trouble getting around. It is a long sad story of bureaucratic nonsense but he has been trying since February to have the operations; just recently he has finally been given a date in early September for the first knee. Betty and I need to be there to assist them during his recovery. Twice this year we have driven from western North Carolina to near Tampa, Florida thinking the operation was imminent only to find out otherwise.

Betty’s son on the southeast coast of Florida is downsizing and needs considerable maintenance, yard work and other necessary work. He has sold one house and another needs to be made presentable for prospective buyers.

We do these periods of service knowing our Heavenly Father has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to accept and cooperate with His plan. At each step along the way we must choose whether we accept and follow the will of God or reject His guidance.

If we have a strong moral foundation based on doing the will of our Heavenly Father there should be no hesitation when presented with service opportunities. This moral foundation guides us and gives us assurance that we have a firm underpinning upon which to build our lives and guide our decisions.

Periods of service are only partly about helping somebody else; they are also about growing a soul of eternal advancement possibilities. Each of us should sincerely and joyfully choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father because then our soul grows stronger, we help ourselves as much as we help others.

Tags: God Within, service, spiritual free will, Urantia Book, Truth Seekers

  1. The Urantia Book; the number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph, 1415.5-7 ↑