Tag: God within

God Within

Beauty is From God

Click on photo for information about it.

The “Talking Points” page “God Within” has been updated. This posting is a slight condensation of the new page. Additions include a discussion of the plan our Thought Adjuster has for our life, and ways we can cooperate with our indwelling spark of God. This page is important because the truth our Heavenly Father is literally a part of every thinking mortal on Earth is a vital part of the revelations in The Urantia Book; it should be the moral foundation of our life.

Every mortal with a normal mind living on this planet has as a part of their being an actual fragment of God, our Thought Adjuster, or Adjuster. God is therefore infinite, can be everywhere, and at the same instant actually dwells within each of us; He is both within us and outside, guiding us toward His presence. We need not go any farther than our inner experience to find God and commune with Him.[1]

Since Pentecost, when the Spirit of Truth was universally bestowed, everyone on Earth has received a Thought Adjuster.[2] Again, everyone has this fragment of God within as a part of their being; therefore everyone has value, everyone must be included in society, every child of God has something unique to offer.

While our Adjuster is a part of each one of us, its goal is very long term; it is preparing us for the long journey to Paradise and being in the presence of God.[3] Our God within is not concerned with our momentary fancies, rather our Adjuster is gradually preparing us for the challenges of eternity.

Before our Adjuster arrives to dwell within us it received an estimation of our intellectual endowment and our capacity for spiritual progress; based upon this information it volunteers to work with a specific mortal.[4] This is comforting; your Adjuster knows your potential and volunteers to assist you in your ascent toward Paradise. This spark of God in our lives knows our capability exactly and desires to be within us, guiding us toward realizing our full potential.

When our Adjuster arrives to dwell within our minds they have a carefully thought out plan for us that was approved by their supervisors.[5] God indeed has a plan for our life, each and every one of us. He wants to guide us step by gradual step through many existences on many levels until we literally stand in the presence of the creator of all things on Paradise. The only catch, the only fly in the ointment, is we must, of our own free will, accept this plan. Our loving Heavenly Father absolutely will not force us into anything against our will. We need to accept the plan God has for our life. Since we have this capability of rejecting the plan of God at any time, it is not predestination; we certainly can reject it anytime and choose, whatever. As if we could improve upon the plan of God!

Our Thought Adjuster arrives when we make our first moral decision, our first free will decision; currently this is just before the child’s sixth birthday.[6] At this point the divine fragment begins to guide the child toward making spiritual decisions, initiating a desire to know more about God. While this spark of God is working in our minds it refuses to compel us to do anything against our will;[7] our spiritual free will is inviolate.

They want to change our feelings of fear to those of love;[8] they cannot do this arbitrarily, we must make the decision. Our decision to accept love into our life is the fulcrum on which our Adjuster can apply a spiritual lever to advance our emotional life. Our everyday decisions supply the fulcrum our Adjuster can use to uplift our emotional base and reach toward spiritual advancement. When our emotions are negative the Adjuster has nothing to base the desired uplifting spiritual lever upon; they are thwarted by our baser thoughts.[9]

Our Thought Adjuster is a literal spark of God and is therefore perfect. Our Adjuster will not fail; apparent failures are caused by our unwillingness to follow the internal guidance we receive. If we are honest we will definitely know what our Heavenly Father wishes for our lives, the choice is ours. We have perfect guides; therefore is the goal of perfection certainly attainable.[10]

There is no conscious way we can assist our Adjuster as it seeks to spiritualize us, this interaction cannot be guided by specific thoughts and actions, rather our faith and supreme desires are utilized in this upward struggle.[11] There are however, ways we can cooperate with our spark of God within.

First, we must choose to respond to the guidance we receive. For those without knowledge of revelations in The Urantia Book this may be a challenge as they are not aware of this internal guidance. Regardless of our spiritual awareness, our highest desires are acted upon. If we desire truth, beauty, and goodness we will be guided in that direction. Our highest, most spiritual aspirations are respected.

Second, we must love God and want to become more like Him. There is a spontaneous desire to worship our heavenly Father, and love Him.

Third, we need to love our sisters and brothers, sincerely recognize universal brotherhood. We must serve them and see to their needs. An intelligent, inherent, and wise love for those around us is an important aspect of spiritual growth.

Finally, we have to recognize cosmic citizenship, our responsibility to God that we fulfill obligations to grow, serve, and minister to sisters and brothers. Cosmic morality entails recognizing our duty to universal reality, realizing each one of us has something special only we can contribute to the growth of universal deity. Everyone has value, meaning, and purpose in our Father’s creation.

Every decision we make has an effect on work of our Adjuster.[12] It is important to always be conscious of the potential spiritual value of each decision. In our heart we usually know which way our Heavenly Father might want us to go, which decision He might approve. Certainly some decisions will be of more importance than others, but each one can become vitally important.

The Adjusters have long term plans for our lives; they gradually and persistently work to carry out these plans, lovingly guiding us every small step along the way. What is important for each step is our decision to follow the guidance of our spark of God within. No human being will ever be spiritualized by a divine Monitor against his will; survival is a gift of the Gods which must be desired by the creatures of time.[13] We need to give consent for this glorious transformation, from a lowly creature on this evolutionary planet into an eternal being with growing spiritual awareness and progress.

Frequently we are so tied up in the trifles of life, everyday conflicts, we totally overlook spiritual values, spiritual reality.[14] We are generally unaware of the need to cooperate with the divine guidance each and every one of us receives throughout our lives. Each human being is constantly guided by a divine inner spark of God; we are oblivious. We can live a life of joy, love and brotherhood while totally living a God consecrated life, just as Jesus did. He certainly knew pain and loss, but his overriding emotion was joy and love. The life of Jesus was one of loving service. By our moment to moment choices we can also choose such a life.

The dominant emotion of these God fragments is love, the most truly divine love in all creation.[15] The love of our Creator Son, Jesus, is truly sublime, but our Adjuster is part of our being, within our mind always poring forth love and an urge to grow spiritually. The loving guidance of our Thought Adjuster will be with us forever, always showing the way toward spiritual growth and loving service.

We are not alone in the cosmos because our Heavenly Father is always with us; it is we who have chosen to ignore Him. Our choices define us and the most eternally significant choice we can make is to follow the guidance of our personal spark of God. His love is part of us; we must embrace and choose to follow His leadership. The consequence of so choosing is an eternal life of service and adventure.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book. They are to the one column edition in the format page:paragraph, 62.1 ↑

  2. 1187.2 ↑

  3. 1192.1 ↑

  4. 1185.4 ↑

  5. 1204.5 ↑

  6. 1186.8 ↑

  7. 753.2 ↑

  8. 1192.3 ↑

  9. 1193.1 ↑

  10. 1192.5 ↑

  11. The following discussion is based on 1206.4-8 ↑

  12. 1209.6 ↑

  13. 1204.6 ↑

  14. 1206.2 ↑

  15. 1203.2 ↑

We Need a Story

This posting is a slightly condensed version of the Preface to my book, “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness.” A similar version is on the Talking Points Page, Motivating Story. It was probably written a year or so ago but is even more relevant now than it was then. We truly need a story.

The presence of severe difficulties in global society begs the question: how did we get this way? And another: what we can do about it? There are sources pointing the way, showing what we can do to improve life on Earth; we must use these sources in efforts toward promoting brotherhood and love. Our planet has been living in spiritual darkness for decades; it is time to move forward into light of truth.

Society has no overall guiding principle, no well-defined goals, no story to motivate it, everything is piecemeal. “When we have no stories that describe the present and guide the future, hope evaporates. Political failure is, in essence, a failure of imagination.”[1] We seek a story to give us goals and hope; give lives purpose; it will become the motivator of our existence.

This inspiring story is a captivating narrative giving our lives meaning and direction. Stories in the media, such as Star Wars or Harry Potter, are entertaining but they do not motivate lives. The story we seek is a unifying ethic empowering our struggle for a better life. One such story brought about the westward expansion of America. Based on exaggerated glowing reports of opportunities in the west, shopkeepers and ordinary people in the east fled westward with family and few belongings to carve out a better life in the west; that story gave their hardships and their lives meaning; it gave them hope for the future.

Today we have no such encouraging story and as a result of this loss of direction there is an “epidemic of loneliness sweeping the world.”[2] People are not connected with their community, their surroundings; they are isolated as never before. This impacts their actions in society, their effectiveness. This isolation brings negative, even self-destructive emotions into their lives.

What is the story to motivate this change? This story to ignite our desire for a better society needs to be concise yet captivating, the goal needs to be enticing, and it should have a broad appeal to society. The story must be powerful enough people will be willing to undergo hardships to bring the story to life. Just as the story of a better life in western United States gave citizens in the east strength to endure the many dangers of the journey west, our story must give everyone strength to persevere through the struggle to bring about a better life for us all.

We propose a story based on teachings in The Urantia Book. [3] This revelation has power, depth, and complexity; it has the potential to transform society on our Planet. We use this revelation to build a story capable of bringing about a better life for everyone.

There are only three components to this story. First is the truth every thinking human being has a spark of God within. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you?”[4] This spirit of God is the Thought Adjuster. The second component of the story is the truth everyone can have eternal life if they so choose.[5] The third part of the story is the truth everyone is equally indwelt by our Heavenly Father; we are all sisters and brothers, when society realizes this there will be universal brotherhood.[6]

Here is the story.

Every thinking human being on Earth has the spirit of God within them; truly everyone, no exceptions. God is within every person. How strongly can it be stated? This truth is the cornerstone of our story. Our Father did not just send His son here a couple thousand years ago and then forget about us. Our Heavenly Father is literally present within each thinking mortal on this planet. God is no respecter of persons,[7] He respects everyone equally.

Life eternal is freely given to everyone who asks for it. All we need do is follow His guidance, choose to do His will in all things. Again, it is truly that simple. Physical death is simply like walking out of one room and into another; like walking out of this physical space and into a more spiritual realm. Eternal life is ours for the asking; we should live with the certainty of this truth.

As we recognize the presence of our Father equally within everyone we realize every person is sister or brother; we are all equally children of God. This feeling of universal brotherhood colors interactions with neighbors and everyone we may chance to meet or learn about. The watchword for every day becomes brotherhood.

One way to enlarge this story is to study the full life and teachings of Jesus as revealed in The Urantia Book. As we incorporate these teachings into our lives we are seeking to become more like our Heavenly Father, living our faith, allowing this faith to transform our existence, changing the world for the better, one interaction at a time.

Even though this fact of universal brotherhood is the final component of our story, this is where each one of us can have the greatest impact. The other two components, presence of God within and eternal life, primarily are personal and internal manifestations; something we experience within ourself. This issue of universal brotherhood is external; we express this in our daily life. This influences our reaction to situations as we encounter and interact with those around us. This feeling of brotherhood must be genuine; a natural consequence of internalizing the other components of the story.

This issue of brotherhood is where we declare how we stand; exclusion or inclusion, hate or love, rejection or acceptance, a narrow existence or an eternal life of service doing God’s will.

Simply stated our story is every mortal of sound mind has within a fragment of our Heavenly Father, this God within is the promise of eternal life and when we fully realize this we will know we are all sisters and brothers. This story with the potential to transform life on Earth is simple and profound, giving it power to energize society.

This story has the power to ignite a resurgence in spiritual awareness and willingness to bring about a better life for everyone on Earth; no exceptions.

  1. “Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis” by George Monbiot, Verso, New York, 2017, p6 ↑

  2. Monbiot p 17 ↑

  3. The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, Chicago IL, 2015 printing. See appendix 1 and 2 for a discussion of this revelation ↑

  4. Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  5. The Urantia Book, 71.7, this refers to the page.paragraph of the one column edition. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. ↑

  6. 2053.4 ↑

  7. Bible Acts 10,34 and Romans 2, 11; ↑

Accepting God’s Assistance

Our Heavenly Father wants only the best for each one of us; He wants us to succeed and is willing to help us if only we would let Him. Our Father is literally within each one of us, wanting to guide us and show us the way.

We will explore these thoughts based on one paragraph in The Urantia Book. Each sentence will be considered separately. The reference is The Urantia Book.

Why do you not aid the Adjuster in the task of showing you the spiritual counterpart of all these strenuous material efforts?

The presence of God within every thinking human being is called the Thought Adjuster, or simply Adjuster; it is also known by other names such as Mystery Monitor. Our Monitor wants to show us the way, why then do we not aid this fragment of God? He wants to assist us but cannot go against our free will choices; we must want to follow Him, we must want to accept His assistance. As we struggle in the material realm, He wants to show us the spiritual counterpart so we will be aware of goals and purposes for our life, our existence. Our material efforts also have a spiritual purpose but we are not aware of it unless we let our Monitor show us these values.

Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you with the spiritual truths of cosmic power while you wrestle with the temporal difficulties of creature existence?

There is power in cosmic realities which can strengthen us as we struggle with our material difficulties. The spiritual is primal over the physical; these spiritual truths can certainly help us here and now. This spiritual power is available to us in our earthly struggles if we only permit our Adjuster to guide us.

Why do you not encourage the heavenly helper to cheer you with the clear vision of the eternal outlook of universal life as you gaze in perplexity at the problems of the passing hour?

We can encourage our Monitor to grant us a certainty of our eternal life and allow this certainty to give us wisdom in dealing with our perplexing problems. We will then KNOW we are eternal beings and this would give us strength and comfort as confront our difficulties. Even while we are working out our material issues we can have that certain assurance of our eternal future; we need only to sincerely ask for it.

Why do you refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which beset your mortal life journey?

We are all cosmic citizens, having a more universal viewpoint will enlarge our horizons and enable us to have the broader picture in our mind as we struggle in our daily lives. Having this broader viewpoint will inspire us to incorporate this wider view into our daily existence.

Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize your thinking, even though your feet must tread the material paths of earthly endeavor?

In this material life there are many conflicting things we must be aware of and deal with; through it all, our feet must tread material paths. While we are dealing with physical necessities, our thinking is a certain guide in our lives. If this thinking is spiritualized, if we are seeking spiritual values, then we can better deal with whatever we might encounter in our daily lives. Again, we need to allow our Adjuster to guide us, to spiritualize our thinking.

We appear to be working out our lives solely in this earthly sphere, but in reality we are also working in a spiritual arena and it is in this spiritual workplace that we build our potentially eternal soul, our spirit being. Our indwelling spark of God, our Adjuster wants to assist us in this spiritual space and if we accept its workings there will also be an effect in our material lives.

Once we have fully accepted the guidance of our Adjuster we should consider accepting the covenant our Heavenly Father offers us.

And as you are the human parent, so is the Adjuster the divine parent of the real you, your higher and advancing self, your … future spiritual self. (Urantia Book 1193.5)

Heavenly Family

Heavenly House

Today we talk about two new Talking Points pages: Heavenly Family and Spiritual Guidance. Jesus wanted to promote the idea of a Heavenly Family but the Jewish people in his time were expecting the Messiah to appear and institute the Kingdom of Heaven and free them from Roman rule. Earthly kingdoms ruled by a king are no longer relevant in our society. We also briefly discuss the various ways in which we are spiritually guided.

In the time of Jesus, the relationship between the individual and God was described in terms of the kingdom of heaven because in those days there were real kings, the Jewish people in fact lived in the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were impatiently expecting the messiah to establish the kingdom of God that would free them from Roman rule.[1] They were eagerly expecting the kingdom of God to be established; therefore they would accept nothing else. The concept of a kingdom of heaven has lost its relevancy for our world; our description of a relationship with God needs to be revised for current reality.

Jesus wanted to substitute the concept of the heavenly family for the kingdom idea but he did not succeed.[2] The idea that the messiah would come to deliver Israel from its oppressors and begin the kingdom of God on Earth was strong; the concept of a heavenly family did not catch on because it was too advanced for that time.

Jesus wanted to represent the relationship between the individual and God as a family relationship because, for Jesus, the family was the most important aspect of life. He certainly exemplified this in his personal life, especially when he masterfully guided his earthly family after the death of Joseph. This period of dedicated service to his family is a shining example of a loving father watching over his family. People need to know the true Jesus and that the way he lived was a living demonstration of his teachings.

The primary purpose of the bestowal of Jesus to our planet was to portray to us, and the rest of his creation, the nature of our Heavenly Father. In his family life, Jesus certainly personified the earthly father who is a companion to the children and who is dedicatedly loyal to all of them. Jesus was loyal to such an extent he stayed in jail with his younger brother Jude for more than a day until the case against Jude could be settled.[3] The entire life of Jesus was a portrayal of the loyalty of God to His children. For companionship, God is actually present within us; He is certainly a part of us, guiding and teaching us; our Heavenly Father is the most intimate companion any mortal can have.

It is time for a restatement of the teachings of Jesus, our creator father and our earthly brother. The key element of this restatement is family. Everyone has been part of a family. Some families are more nurturing for their children than others it is true, but we all have some sort of family experience. What could be more natural as a simile for our relationship with God than family?

Every family needs to function as a united whole; when any part of a family separates itself from the rest of the family there is pain for the entire family. For everyone and anyone, the path of happiness is connection with all our sisters and brothers while the path of sorrow is separation and isolation.[4] The Heavenly Family needs to be a united whole with everyone working for the betterment of everyone else. This might seem to be a lofty goal, but remember our Heavenly Father is assisting us at each step along the way.

The masses truly need to know about the life of Jesus; they need to know how his life was a prefect reflection of his teachings; they need to know the immanence of our Father is a vital part of our being. God is with us and invites each one of us into the Heavenly Family. Within the spiritual realm of this family we find harmony, we attain a greater appreciation of our Father, and we better understand our sisters and brothers. Our Heavenly Family should be the foundation of our spiritual life, the wellspring of our faith and the vehicle for our manifesting the fruits of the spirit in our daily lives.

Even though we have no conscious awareness of it, we are always surrounded by spiritual assistance. While there are many spirit beings and forces impinging upon us, we will discuss only three: the spark of God dwelling within each of us, the Spirit of Truth, and our Guardian Angels.

Every mortal with a normal mind living on this planet has as a part of their being an actual fragment of God, called our Thought Adjuster, or Monitor; this is also discussed in the God Within page. God is therefore infinite, can be everywhere, and yet at the same instant actually dwells within each of us; He is both within us and outside us guiding us toward His presence. We need not go any farther than our inner experience to find God and commune with Him.[5] The presence of our Heavenly Father within each mortal is also mentioned in the Bible.[6]

After the Last Supper, Jesus addressed the apostles, telling them about the Spirit of Truth he would soon bestow upon the world; he said he would leave with them one who would teach them truth and comfort them, the Spirit of Truth.[7] He told them he could be with each of them at the same time; he would not leave them (or us) without guidance and he would be with them, teaching them.[8]

This spirit guide is exactly like Jesus except for the material body and will live with each of us. Jesus tells us: in this very manner will my Father and I be able to live in the souls of each one of you and also in the hearts of all other men who love us and make that love real in their experiences by loving one another, even as I am now loving you. (Urantia Book 1949.1) He lives in us as the Spirit of Truth just as the Father lives in us by means of the Thought Adjuster. Each of us has powerful spirit guides dwelling with us and they will certainly show us the way if we let them.

We are familiar with the Spirit of Truth since it is mentioned in the Bible where it is called the Holy Spirit.[9] It powerfully activated the apostles at Pentecost, especially Peter.[10]

Our guardian angels assist us in our earthly life, they are the traditional angels of heaven that we are familiar with from the Bible.[11] They have real forms but do not have physical bodies and they do not have wings.[12] Other than this they are very much like us, in fact we were created just a little bit lower than them.[13] Angels have been on this planet since the appearance of intelligent life.

Every person has a guardian angel to watch over them but the number of mortals each angel oversees varies according to the spiritual progress each person has made. At first each angel has oversight over one thousand mortals; as individuals make spiritual progress this ratio changes, decreasing to one hundred, then to ten. Finally persons who have made the most spiritual progress each have a personal guardian angel; actually there are two of them because they always work in pairs.[14]

These guardian angels act according to the directions of their supervisors rather than upon our direct requests; they have orders independent of whatever our passing fancy might be. Our choices may make their work on our behalf easier or more difficult but they do not necessarily respond to our prayers. Any response to prayer comes from God and He may use beings other than our guardian angels to answer our prayers. Guardian angels actually do guard us but they will not interfere with any of our free will choices; our free will decisions are held sacred by all higher beings. When we do make such a free will decision, our angels will do everything possible to help us make the best use of our chosen course.[15] If it is a worthy decision they will help us all they can, if on the other hand it is not, they might work with us to assist us to see the better way, arrive at a better choice.

Contrary to what our physical senses tell us, we are not alone in a friendless world. We are guided, guarded and protected by loving spirit guides. We hinder their work when we engage in selfish materialistic activity, when we put ourself ahead of our sisters and brothers, when we trample on the rights of those beaten down by society, and when we ignore spiritual reality. We must go forth with the certain knowledge of God’s guidance in our lives. Although there may be momentary setbacks, our Heavenly Father is with us and when we trust in this truth we cannot fail.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise stated. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 1500.2 and 1501.1 ↑

  2. 1860.6-7 ↑

  3. 1415.6 ↑

  4. “The Book of Joy – Lasting Happiness in a Changing World,” His Holiness the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams, Avery, New York, 2016, p 99 ↑

  5. 62.1 ↑

  6. Bible, I Corinthians 3, 16 ↑

  7. 1947.2 ↑

  8. 1948.2 ↑

  9. Bible, Acts chapter 2 ↑

  10. 2060.2 ↑

  11. 1241.2 and Bible, John 20:12 ↑

  12. 1246.1 ↑

  13. 1248.3 ↑

  14. 1242.2-3 ↑

  15. 1246.2-3 ↑

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 ↑