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Why we need to know the earthly life of Jesus and how he lived it.
There surely is a very good reason. The book tells us that we disadvantaged Urantians cripple ourselves spiritually if we don't.
The preceding "Favorite Places" section, taken from The Urantia Book, informed us that "the dead truth of even the highest religious doctrines is powerless to transform human character or to control mortal behavior....The seed of theoretical truth is dead, the highest moral concepts without effect, unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness."
It would seem then, that we could know the "Foreword" backward, know the classifications of the whole hierarchy of the heavens, know all about Andon and Fonta, Adam and Eve, what the Melchizedeks, the Solitary and Mighty Messengers think about our past, present, and future, know all about our expected experiences in the morontia worlds, even know the historical components of the life of Jesus and have memorized his teachings, but this may still be without effect, "unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness."
That kind of puts us in the hot seat, does it not? So how do we get off it? The book has answers. First, the divine Spirit has to water our souls and breathe upon the forms of truth and the formulas of righteousness, and in doing so, 'conscious-izes' our minds and souls on the spiritual value of our assimilated knowledge. But then comes the crunch. Though we are temples of God because his divine spirit dwells in us, it is not enough. "The divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience."
There are measures to help us know about how we are progressing. One, of course, is the bearing of the fruits of the spirit in our lives. Another is contained within these words, "It is the presence of the divine Spirit, the water of life, that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the unspiritualized human mind." The book then tells us that spirit-motivated beings "never thirst," and that we can become, "all but independent of material environment as regards the joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly living." Is that really possible? A living example surely would be Mother Theresa, that wonderful Catholic nun who has worked for decades under appalling conditions yet, despite advanced age and broken health, still persists with her God-given work in looking after the homeless, impoverished dying from the streets of Calcutta in a loving attempt to provide them with a dignified exit from this life.
Not that we are all called upon to be "Mother Theresa's." But we are called upon to yield the fruits of the spirit. The book tells us that there are two powerful demonstrations that we are God-knowing. One of them is, "The fruits of the spirit showing forth in your daily routine life." (1733) It would surely be nice to have Mother Theresa-like credentials when we knock on the Pearly Gates and be greeted with a "well done my good and faithful servant."
The second demonstration of our God-knowingness is, "The fact that your entire life plan furnishes proof that you have unreservedly risked everything you are and have on the adventure of survival after death...." That statement is confirmatory to the quote that, "The divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience." (381)
Before looking at what the book tells us about how we might achieve these goals, let's increase our awareness of what is meant by "there truly exists within you a conspiracy of spiritual forces, a confederation of divine powers, whose exclusive purpose is to effect your final deliverance from material bondage and finite handicaps." (381)
We Urantians have need to appreciate that we are disadvantaged compared with mortal ascenders from normal planets. We have been in quarantine since the Lucifer rebellion 200,000 years ago. We were scheduled to receive genetic upgrading from the offspring of Adam and Eve almost 38,000 years ago in an attempt to increase our capacity for spiritual receptivity. However, things did not turn out as intended and only a minor upgrading occurred. Unfortunately that still left us with a serious congenital deficiency in ability to communicate with our Thought Adjusters (a serious study of the Thought Adjuster Papers 107-111 will make us cognizant of the difficulties that all Urantians have in achieving effective communication with them).
The conspiracy of spiritual forces that works for our deliverance from material bondage appears to consist of the spirits of the Universal Father, the Creator Son, and the Universe Mother Spirit. The Thought Adjusters indwell the thinking centers of our minds, "as a very part of our mind and they ever work in perfect harmony with the combined spirits of the Creator-Son and the Creative Spirit." (379/380) However, though we do not personally possess a segregated portion or entity of Creator Son or Mother Spirit, their dual spirit liaison hovers over the worlds, seeking to teach truth, spiritually enlighten the minds of men, and to inspire their souls. (379)
A legacy of Michael's bestowal on Urantia was the universal availability of Thought Adjusters to all Urantians having the potential to make a moral decision. A second legacy
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