Tag: Lucifer

Rule of Law vs Individual Liberty

If we were given a choice between living in a system governed by the rule of law or one having individual liberty, the choice is obvious: give me liberty! However, before jumping to conclusions we need to examine exactly what each system is really like. If we declare our allegiance prematurely we could be entering something radically different from what was promised. After some contemplation we realize the rule of law is preferable to life where everybody thinks they have total liberty when instead they have lawless anarchy. Total liberty for some means no liberty for others.

We examine a system promoting individual liberty; its characteristics and where it originated. These ideas were first proposed in a place far away two hundred thousand years ago. Next we investigate a system of regular laws tempered by mercy and love. This system is much older and was put in place by someone we know and love. Finally we look at present day fallout from these systems; some acts in our distant past have had a severe effect on current society.

Individual Liberty

Lucifer, Satan, Caligastia

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” (Bible; Isaiah 14:12) This quotation is from the King James Version; Lucifer was translated out of most other versions.

The smallest unit of universe government is the local system. When complete each system will have about 1,000 inhabited planets; our system, Satania, currently has 619 inhabited planets. Two hundred thousand years go Lucifer was the system Sovereign in Satania. He had been in charge of the system government for a few hundred thousand years when he decided to rebel against universe authority. There was no external situation that needed to be changed; this rebellion arose entirely within Lucifer’s mind. (602.5)[1] His second in command, Satan, was won over to the rebellion.

The rebellion was announced with the Lucifer Manifesto which had three broad parts. (603.3-604.1) In the first item Lucifer declared God does not exist, and that natural forces were inherent in the universe. Next he stated that the local universe Creator Son who created the local universe did not have authority to rule, that the systems should be autonomous; no higher branches of government had authority in the local systems. His final declaration was that too much time was wasted on training ascendant mortals, beings like us who have passed from mortal life into beginning spirit life. We will be meticulously trained for an unrevealed eternal future career; Lucifer thought this effort was wasted.

Satan declared to the assembled citizens of the system capital that allegiance could be acknowledged only to the actual and present ruler, Lucifer, the “friend of men and angels” and the “God of liberty.” (604.3) This is the way demagogues always seek to gain power: by emotional appeals to the masses.

Satan went to the inhabited worlds to convince their Planetary Princes to join the rebellion. On 38 of the inhabited worlds the Planetary Prince joined the rebellion against universe authority. On our planet, known as Urantia on universe records, the Planetary Prince was Caligastia who also joined the rebellion. This calamity has had a severe effect on the history of each planet in rebellion. On our planet some civilization was gradually appearing, but upon the rebellion this was rapidly destroyed. (758.6-7)

Liberty is suicidal when divorced from material justice, intellectual fairness, social forbearance, moral duty, and spiritual values. Liberty is nonexistent apart from cosmic reality…. (613.6) True liberty must recognize the existence of our sisters and brothers; each is indwelt by a fragment of God, and each has equal standing before our creator. Recognizing cosmic reality means we recognize a creator behind the creation we observe and experience. Lucifer and his followers do not accept this, including his present day followers on Urantia.

Individual liberty is false liberty; attempting to implement it would result in a lawless anarchy with no laws and no liberty.

Rule of Law

Michael: Jesus

Our local universe was created by our Creator Son, Michael, and the Universe Mother Spirit. Together they created all life in this universe, including Lucifer himself. The system they set up involves laws tempered by mercy.

Even though he created this local universe, Michael had to earn the right to rule it on his own authority; this he did by incarnating seven times as one of his created beings. At the time of the Lucifer Rebellion this process had not been completed; he did not have authority to summarily end the rebellion. His last bestowal was as on our planet, Urantia, we know him as Jesus. After this bestowal was completed he became sovereign, yet he still treats the rebels with mercy and offers them rehabilitation.

Law is life itself and not the rules of its conduct. Evil is a transgression of law, not a violation of the rules of conduct pertaining to life, which is the law. Falsehood is not a matter of narration technique but something premeditated as a perversion of truth…. One can be technically right as to fact and everlastingly wrong in the truth. (555.1)

Those who proclaim individual liberty declare law must include their own personal liberty; however, recognizing cosmic reality means realizing LAW IS LIFE ITSELF. The moment we twist truth in the least amount we enter the realm of falsehood and evil. Recognizing our cosmic citizenship means realizing an obligation to sisters and brothers.

Mercy is simply justice tempered by that wisdom which grows out of perfection of knowledge and the full recognition of the natural weaknesses and environmental handicaps of finite creatures. (38.1) Heavenly Father knows us, knows our weaknesses, and tempers law with mercy accordingly.

An example of the difference between fact and truth is in the novel “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo. The fact is that the main character, Jean Valjean, stole something and therefore he was a thief and went to prison. The truth is he stole a loaf of bread so his brother’s child could have something to eat. In this case justice was not tempered by mercy.

Current Implications

We explore our current situation by looking at an interesting quotation from The Urantia Book; each sentence is examined separately.

True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration. (614.1)

Self-admiration was probably at the root of the Lucifer rebellion. He was spiritually brilliant and he knew it; out of more than 700,000 Lanonandeks he was ranked at number 37. (601.1) In our global society there are many dictators and dictator wannabes; these self-admiring individuals have such a bloated opinion of themselves that they know they must exert themselves over their “lesser” citizens. Those who have true liberty respect themselves as well as their fellow citizens.

True liberty is the fruit of self-control; false liberty, the assumption of self-assertion. (614.1)

There is a world of difference between self-control and self-assertion. Demagogues are certainly self-assertive. The self-assertive individual will forcibly assert their views regardless of consequences, while the self-control individual knows limitations and works toward inclusion and teamwork.

Self-control leads to altruistic service; self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings. (614.1)

A large portion of current global society is aimed towards possessing unjust power over fellow human beings. Greed, selfishness, and materialism seem to rule the day; these are a direct result of Caligastia’s betrayal of his responsibility as ruler of Urantia. After the bestowal of Jesus, Caligastia was shorn of his title but he remains on Earth seeking to spread mischief.

The problems associated with human existence on Urantia are impossible of understanding without a knowledge of certain great epochs of the past, notably the occurrence and consequences of the planetary rebellion. Although this upheaval did not seriously interfere with the progress of organic evolution, it did markedly modify the course of social evolution and of spiritual development. The entire superphysical history of the planet was profoundly influenced by this devastating calamity. (754.1)

Consequences from the rebellion have certainly had an effect on our society. We have elected to high office an individual strong on self-admiration and self-assertion; voting districts are redrawn so votes from individuals with certain superficial characteristics are diluted. Our planet needs laws tempered with mercy, as well as leaders with self-control. Forward, not backward.

  1. Unless otherwise noted, all references are from The Urantia Book one column version in the format page.paragraph. ↑

True Liberty

Freedom to Explore

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In 1775, before we became a nation, Patrick Henry declared “Give me liberty or give me death!” Ever since then our citizens have been concerned about liberty, but what is liberty? Our nation was founded on the rallying cry of liberty; it has an important place in our national psyche.

Current political discussions sometimes revolve around questions of liberty; government needs to implement regulations aimed at addressing health risks resulting from the COVID pandemic and some individuals claim these measures impair their liberty. A discussion about liberty is crucial at this time; it is especially important to distinguish between true liberty and false liberty.

We begin our discussion with gnats and camels, perhaps you remember the quote from the Bible; next we talk about false liberty; we conclude with true liberty, which is based partly upon the recognition that we are all equally sisters and brothers.

Of Gnats and Camels

In the Bible Jesus is quoted as saying: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” (Bible: Matthew 23, 24; also in The Urantia Book, 1736.5)

In today’s political environment there is a lot of gnat straining and camel swallowing. People read something on social media about the perceived dangers of vaccines and they accept everything negative as gospel. Every loose statement becomes part of their anti-vaccine mindset. Actively seeking out only falsehoods agreeing with their anti-truth viewpoint is similar to straining at gnats.

The efficacy of current vaccines is well established, they are over 95% effective; they are even more effective against getting a serious or fatal infection. Information about vaccine effectiveness can be found on the website for the Center for Disease Control (www.CDC.gov). Ignoring this mountain of scientific evidence and declaring vaccines are not effective is like swallowing the camel.

True liberty cannot exist in a vacuum; it must be scientifically informed, and it must recognize the existence of other selves: our sisters and brothers. For liberty to flourish its citizens need to be involved and have proper information about issues effecting society.

If we are unwary, gnats and camels can destroy our society.

False Liberty

One reason our society has trouble distinguishing between false liberty and true liberty is because of a rebellion against universe authority that happened a long time ago. What we think of as being normal is an aberration in the universe, not the norm. Actions of some of our predecessors who were entrusted with uplifting society, led us astray.

When we declare we want liberty there is a significant problem; if one person is to have unrestricted liberty, others must necessarily have something less than this, liberty must balance out. Personal liberty for some disenfranchises others, takes away their chance at liberty. A balanced society gives everyone equal opportunities; society must give each individual an equal chance to grow and become all they can become; anything less than this equilibrium disenfranchises some. When an individual seeks “personal liberty,” what is actually sought is freedom from regulation, freedom from oversight, and freedom from responsibility to others. Responsible citizens seek to increase the welfare of each sister and brother instead of a select few.

A vital consideration is the truth every thinking mortal has within them a spark of God. (Urantia Book, 63.5) Everyone stands equal before God; nobody has the right to use political or economic power to degrade anybody else.

False liberty is for a select few at the expense of others. False liberty is portrayed in “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand; at the end of the book the upper crust of society live in protected enclaves, while the mass of society are outside killing each other in a lawless state. False liberty recognizes value or importance for only a few individuals who self-proclaim their own importance over others. Arguments by the ultra-rich using calls to false liberty hide a deeper purpose: control others and limit their freedoms so they can enhance their own liberty. These individuals and their followers personify the call to false liberty.

False liberty is unsustainable in the long run because the actual workers, those who truly produce goods and services, are degraded until they can no longer function in society. The remaining privileged few are neither willing nor able to keep up the infrastructure or the flow of goods and services needed by society; the entire society will eventually collapse.

Those who seek unwarranted power over others are certainly not new in our history, they have been with us throughout all of our history; their allegiance is to a rebellion that took place two hundred thousand years ago. These seditious ideas have been with us for a very long time! Thus does the Lucifer manifesto, masquerading in the habiliments of liberty, stand forth in the clear light of reason as a monumental threat to consummate the theft of personal liberty and to do it on a scale that has been approached only twice in all the history of Nebadon. (Urantia Book – 614.8) (Nebadon is the name of our local universe; Jesus and our Universe Mother Spirit created all life therein.) This call to unfettered personal liberty was the major aspect of the Lucifer rebellion; it is also a major theme for his present-day followers.

One wonders about religions asking for an exemption from necessary health regulations because of some religious dogma. Apparently they are more concerned about ecclesiastical theory than they care about the health of their followers. Their adherents are dying because of a theology that ignores science and truth.

True Liberty

One of the most important consequences of rebellion is our inability to distinguish between true and false liberty. (Urantia Book, 613.3) True liberty allows all beings to become the best they can be, false liberty promotes a privileged few at the expense of everyone else. No being, in the exercise of his supposed personal liberty, has a right to deprive any other being of those privileges of existence conferred by the Creators and duly respected by all their loyal associates, subordinates, and subjects. (Urantia Book, 614.4)

We have difficulty distinguishing between true and false liberty. True liberty acknowledges everyone has value; everyone has a spark of God within. This presence of Heavenly Father within each normal minded individual has astounding implications; it means each of us has a chance for eternal life, go to Paradise, and meet Father in person. It also means if anybody is degraded for any superficial characteristic, it is God Himself who is being degraded. If any individual loses freedom because of prejudice, God is the subject of such unfair treatment. How can we subject the creator of all things and beings to such unfair treatment, to bigotry?

True liberty recognizes the worth of everyone, but it also includes responsibility for each of us to make the best use of whatever opportunities we have; this especially includes the downtrodden and the disenfranchised. When an individual realizes their own worth they will have incentive to better themselves even after they have been degraded by the mass of society for generations. Once they become aware of their eternal potential and that of every other individual, they will want to improve and will no longer be a drain on society, instead they will be able to make a positive contribution to society. They will want and will find dignity and meaning in their existence. This process will not be an overnight transformation; it will take patience, love, perseverance, compassion and understanding. This will be a small price to pay for the chance to transform these human beings from pure consumers to contributors, from the degraded to the participating, from the disenfranchised to real members of a more vibrant society.

True liberty, being inclusive and uplifting, is able to progress, improve and grow because everyone becomes contributors rather than having a class of degraded human beings who are a drag on society. True liberty includes God in our lives, and with Him on our side we cannot fail. False liberty is transitory, while true liberty is potentially eternal.

In the final analysis, what is true liberty? It can be summarized thus: No being in all the universe has the rightful liberty to deprive any other being of true liberty, the right to love and be loved, the privilege of worshiping God and of serving his fellows.(Urantia Book, 615.2)