Excerpts from a study course by Henry Nelson Wieman

This study consists of materials contributed by Henry Nelson Wieman to a book titled, "Experiments in Personal Religion" which was published in 1928 by the American Institute of Sacred Literature in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. An editorial note at the beginning of the original text comments that the fourfold purpose of this course is "to help people to think more clearly concerning the nature and function of religion, to quicken their powers of observation in their customary contacts with the religious life of others, to cultivate skill in the evaluation of the results of observation, and to foster a deeper religious life in themselves and others."

In preparing the following excerpts for web publication it is hoped that the purpose of the original publication will bear additional fruit in a new generation of truth seekers.

Study I: Religious Experience through the Outer World of Nature
       The Method of Religious Experience

Study II: Religious Experience through Communion, Meditation, and Worship
       How to Get the Benefit of Private Worship

Study III: Religious Experience through the Influence of Beauty
         1. The Religious Experience of Beauty
         2. How Beauty Leads to God
         3. A Personal Experiment with Beauty

Study IV: Religious Experience through the Struggle of Life
         1. The Practical Problem of Struggle
         2. The Sources of Personal Energy
         3. Personal Experiment in Religion for Release of Energy

Study V: Religious Experience through Loyalty to a Great Cause: Experiment in Loyalty to a Cause
         1. The Problem
         2. The Proposition
         3. The Method

Study VI: Religious Experience through Happiness
         1. How to Enjoy the World
         2. How to Cure the Joy-Killing Attitude
         3. How to Preserve Critical Moral Judgment and Spiritual Aspiration in the Midst of our Joys

Study VII: Religious Experience through Crisis in Individual Growth and Social Experience: Salvation through Crisis
         1. The Problem of the Crisis
         2. How not to Meet a Crisis
         3. The Right Way
         4. How to Achieve the Right Way

Study VIII: Religious Experience through the Church: The Method of Spiritual Fellowship
         1. Sympathetic and Instrumental Association
         2. Organic Association
         3. Organic Association as Adjustment to God
         4. The Personal Experiment

Phronetic social science

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Phronetic social science is an approach to the study of social – including political and economic – phenomena based on a contemporary interpretation of the classical Greek concept phronesis, variously translated as practical judgment, common sense, or prudence. Phronesis is the intellectual virtue used to deliberate about which social actions are good or bad for humans. Phronetic social scientists study social phenomena with a focus on values and power. Researchers ask and answer the following four value-rational questions for specific instances of social action:

1. Where are we going?
2. Is this development desirable?
3. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power?
4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

Phronetic social science was first described by Bent Flyvbjerg in his book Making Social Science Matter. Here he presented phronetic social science as an alternative to epistemic social science, that is, social science modeled after the natural sciences. Flyvbjerg observed that despite centuries of trying the natural science model still does not work in social science: No predictive social theories have been arrived at as yet, if prediction is understood in the natural science sense. Flyvbjerg held that as long as social science would try to emulate natural science, social science would stand as loser in the Science Wars. If, however, the social sciences modeled themselves after phronesis they would be strong where the natural sciences are weak, namely in the deliberation about values and power that is essential to social and economic development in modern society. Flyvbjerg's position was further developed in the so-called Flyvbjerg Debate.

REVELATION SOCIAL SCIENCE BASED UPON THE INSTRUCTIONS OF GOD AND THE PROMISES OF GOD Achievable only by living faith, following God's instructions and believing in God's Promises

From SpiritualFamily.net Revelation Papers

  ^157:4.4 After they had partaken of their meal and were engaged in discussing plans for the forthcoming tour of the Decapolis, Jesus suddenly looked up into their faces and said: "Now that a full day has passed since you assented to Simon Peter's declaration regarding the identity of the Son of Man, I would ask if you still hold to your decision?" On hearing this, the twelve stood upon their feet, and Simon Peter, stepping a few paces forward toward Jesus, said: "Yes, Master, we do. We believe that you are the Son of the living God." And Peter sat down with his brethren.

  ^157:4.5 Jesus, still standing, then said to the twelve: "You are my chosen ambassadors, but I know that, in the circumstances, you could not entertain this belief as a result of mere human knowledge. This is a revelation of the spirit of my Father to your inmost souls. And when, therefore, you make this confession by the insight of the spirit of my Father which dwells within you, I am led to declare that upon this foundation will I build the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. Upon this rock of spiritual reality will I build the living temple of spiritual fellowship in the eternal realities of my Father's kingdom. All the forces of evil and the hosts of sin shall not prevail against this human fraternity of the divine spirit. And while my Father's spirit shall ever be the divine guide and mentor of all who enter the bonds of this spirit fellowship, to you and your successors I now deliver the keys of the outward kingdom -- the authority over things temporal -- the social and economic features of this association of men and women as fellows of the kingdom." And again he charged them, for the time being, that they should tell no man that he was the Son of God.

6. THE MAINTENANCE OF CIVILIZATION

  ^81:6.1 While biologic evolution has proceeded ever upward, much of cultural evolution went out from the Euphrates valley in waves, which successively weakened as time passed until finally the whole of the pure-line Adamic posterity had gone forth to enrich the civilizations of Asia and Europe. The races did not fully blend, but their civilizations did to a considerable extent mix. Culture did slowly spread throughout the world. And this civilization must be maintained and fostered, for there exist today no new sources of culture, no Andites to invigorate and stimulate the slow progress of the evolution of civilization.

  ^81:6.2 The civilization which is now evolving on Urantia grew out of, and is predicated on, the following factors:

  ^81:6.3 1. Natural circumstances. The nature and extent of a material civilization is in large measure determined by the natural resources available. Climate, weather, and numerous physical conditions are factors in the evolution of culture.

  ^81:6.4 At the opening of the Andite era there were only two extensive and fertile open hunting areas in all the world. One was in North America and was overspread by the Amerinds; the other was to the north of Turkestan and was partly occupied by an Andonic-yellow race. The decisive factors in the evolution of a superior culture in southwestern Asia were race and climate. The Andites were a great people, but the crucial factor in determining the course of their civilization was the increasing aridity of Iran, Turkestan, and Sinkiang, which forced them to invent and adopt new and advanced methods of wresting a livelihood from their decreasingly fertile lands.

  ^81:6.5 The configuration of continents and other land-arrangement situations are very influential in determining peace or war. Very few Urantians have ever had such a favorable opportunity for continuous and unmolested development as has been enjoyed by the peoples of North America -- protected on practically all sides by vast oceans.

  ^81:6.6 2. Capital goods. Culture is never developed under conditions of poverty; leisure is essential to the progress of civilization. Individual character of moral and spiritual value may be acquired in the absence of material wealth, but a cultural civilization is only derived from those conditions of material prosperity which foster leisure combined with ambition.

  ^81:6.7 During primitive times life on Urantia was a serious and sober business. And it was to escape this incessant struggle and interminable toil that mankind constantly tended to drift toward the salubrious climate of the tropics. While these warmer zones of habitation afforded some remission from the intense struggle for existence, the races and tribes who thus sought ease seldom utilized their unearned leisure for the advancement of civilization. Social progress has invariably come from the thoughts and plans of those races that have, by their intelligent toil, learned how to wrest a living from the land with lessened effort and shortened days of labor and thus have been able to enjoy a well-earned and profitable margin of leisure.

  ^81:6.8 3. Scientific knowledge. The material aspects of civilization must always await the accumulation of scientific data. It was a long time after the discovery of the bow and arrow and the utilization of animals for power purposes before man learned how to harness wind and water, to be followed by the employment of steam and electricity. But slowly the tools of civilization improved. Weaving, pottery, the domestication of animals, and metalworking were followed by an age of writing and printing.

  ^81:6.9 Knowledge is power. Invention always precedes the acceleration of cultural development on a world-wide scale. Science and invention benefited most of all from the printing press, and the interaction of all these cultural and inventive activities has enormously accelerated the rate of cultural advancement.

  ^81:6.10 Science teaches man to speak the new language of mathematics and trains his thoughts along lines of exacting precision. And science also stabilizes philosophy through the elimination of error, while it purifies religion by the destruction of superstition.

  ^81:6.11 4. Human resources. Man power is indispensable to the spread of civilization. All things equal, a numerous people will dominate the civilization of a smaller race. Hence failure to increase in numbers up to a certain point prevents the full realization of national destiny, but there comes a point in population increase where further growth is suicidal. Multiplication of numbers beyond the optimum of the normal man-land ratio means either a lowering of the standards of living or an immediate expansion of territorial boundaries by peaceful penetration or by military conquest, forcible occupation.

  ^81:6.12 You are sometimes shocked at the ravages of war, but you should recognize the necessity for producing large numbers of mortals so as to afford ample opportunity for social and moral development; with such planetary fertility there soon occurs the serious problem of overpopulation. Most of the inhabited worlds are small. Urantia is average, perhaps a trifle undersized. The optimum stabilization of national population enhances culture and prevents war. And it is a wise nation which knows when to cease growing.

  ^81:6.13 But the continent richest in natural deposits and the most advanced mechanical equipment will make little progress if the intelligence of its people is on the decline. Knowledge can be had by education, but wisdom, which is indispensable to true culture, can be secured only through experience and by men and women who are innately intelligent. Such a people are able to learn from experience; they may become truly wise.

  ^81:6.14 5. Effectiveness of material resources. Much depends on the wisdom displayed in the utilization of natural resources, scientific knowledge, capital goods, and human potentials. The chief factor in early civilization was the force exerted by wise social masters; primitive man had civilization literally thrust upon him by his superior contemporaries. Well-organized and superior minorities have largely ruled this world.

  ^81:6.15 Might does not make right, but might does make what is and what has been in history. Only recently has Urantia reached that point where society is willing to debate the ethics of might and right.

  ^81:6.16 6. Effectiveness of language. The spread of civilization must wait upon language. Live and growing languages insure the expansion of civilized thinking and planning. During the early ages important advances were made in language. Today, there is great need for further linguistic development to facilitate the expression of evolving thought.

  ^81:6.17 Language evolved out of group associations, each local group developing its own system of word exchange. Language grew up through gestures, signs, cries, imitative sounds, intonation, and accent to the vocalization of subsequent alphabets. Language is man's greatest and most serviceable thinking tool, but it never flourished until social groups acquired some leisure. The tendency to play with language develops new words -- slang. If the majority adopt the slang, then usage constitutes it language. The origin of dialects is illustrated by the indulgence in "baby talk" in a family group.

  ^81:6.18 Language differences have ever been the great barrier to the extension of peace. The conquest of dialects must precede the spread of a culture throughout a race, over a continent, or to a whole world. A universal language promotes peace, insures culture, and augments happiness. Even when the tongues of a world are reduced to a few, the mastery of these by the leading cultural peoples mightily influences the achievement of world-wide peace and prosperity.

  ^81:6.19 While very little progress has been made on Urantia toward developing an international language, much has been accomplished by the establishment of international commercial exchange. And all these international relations should be fostered, whether they involve language, trade, art, science, competitive play, or religion.

  ^81:6.20 7. Effectiveness of mechanical devices. The progress of civilization is directly related to the development and possession of tools, machines, and channels of distribution. Improved tools, ingenious and efficient machines, determine the survival of contending groups in the arena of advancing civilization.

  ^81:6.21 In the early days the only energy applied to land cultivation was man power. It was a long struggle to substitute oxen for men since this threw men out of employment. Latterly, machines have begun to displace men, and every such advance is directly contributory to the progress of society because it liberates man power for the accomplishment of more valuable tasks.

  ^81:6.22 Science, guided by wisdom, may become man's great social liberator. A mechanical age can prove disastrous only to a nation whose intellectual level is too low to discover those wise methods and sound techniques for successfully adjusting to the transition difficulties arising from the sudden loss of employment by large numbers consequent upon the too rapid invention of new types of laborsaving machinery.

  ^81:6.23 8. Character of torchbearers. Social inheritance enables man to stand on the shoulders of all who have preceded him, and who have contributed aught to the sum of culture and knowledge. In this work of passing on the cultural torch to the next generation, the home will ever be the basic institution. The play and social life comes next, with the school last but equally indispensable in a complex and highly organized society.

  ^81:6.24 Insects are born fully educated and equipped for life -- indeed, a very narrow and purely instinctive existence. The human baby is born without an education; therefore man possesses the power, by controlling the educational training of the younger generation, greatly to modify the evolutionary course of civilization.

  ^81:6.25 The greatest twentieth-century influences contributing to the furtherance of civilization and the advancement of culture are the marked increase in world travel and the unparalleled improvements in methods of communication. But the improvement in education has not kept pace with the expanding social structure; neither has the modern appreciation of ethics developed in correspondence with growth along more purely intellectual and scientific lines. And modern civilization is at a standstill in spiritual development and the safeguarding of the home institution.

  ^81:6.26 9. The racial ideals. The ideals of one generation carve out the channels of destiny for immediate posterity. The quality of the social torchbearers will determine whether civilization goes forward or backward. The homes, churches, and schools of one generation predetermine the character trend of the succeeding generation. The moral and spiritual momentum of a race or a nation largely determines the cultural velocity of that civilization.

  ^81:6.27 Ideals elevate the source of the social stream. And no stream will rise any higher than its source no matter what technique of pressure or directional control may be employed. The driving power of even the most material aspects of a cultural civilization is resident in the least material of society's achievements. Intelligence may control the mechanism of civilization, wisdom may direct it, but spiritual idealism is the energy which really uplifts and advances human culture from one level of attainment to another.

  ^81:6.28 At first life was a struggle for existence; now, for a standard of living; next it will be for quality of thinking, the coming earthly goal of human existence.

  ^81:6.29 10. Co-ordination of specialists. Civilization has been enormously advanced by the early division of labor and by its later corollary of specialization. Civilization is now dependent on the effective co-ordination of specialists. As society expands, some method of drawing together the various specialists must be found.

  ^81:6.30 Social, artistic, technical, and industrial specialists will continue to multiply and increase in skill and dexterity. And this diversification of ability and dissimilarity of employment will eventually weaken and disintegrate human society if effective means of co-ordination and co-operation are not developed. But the intelligence which is capable of such inventiveness and such specialization should be wholly competent to devise adequate methods of control and adjustment for all problems resulting from the rapid growth of invention and the accelerated pace of cultural expansion.

  ^81:6.31 11. Place-finding devices. The next age of social development will be embodied in a better and more effective co-operation and co-ordination of ever-increasing and expanding specialization. And as labor more and more diversifies, some technique for directing individuals to suitable employment must be devised. Machinery is not the only cause for unemployment among the civilized peoples of Urantia. Economic complexity and the steady increase of industrial and professional specialism add to the problems of labor placement.

  ^81:6.32 It is not enough to train men for work; in a complex society there must also be provided efficient methods of place finding. Before training citizens in the highly specialized techniques of earning a living, they should be trained in one or more methods of commonplace labor, trades or callings which could be utilized when they were transiently unemployed in their specialized work. No civilization can survive the long-time harboring of large classes of unemployed. In time, even the best of citizens will become distorted and demoralized by accepting support from the public treasury. Even private charity becomes pernicious when long extended to able-bodied citizens.

  ^81:6.33 Such a highly specialized society will not take kindly to the ancient communal and feudal practices of olden peoples. True, many common services can be acceptably and profitably socialized, but highly trained and ultraspecialized human beings can best be managed by some technique of intelligent co-operation. Modernized co-ordination and fraternal regulation will be productive of longer-lived co-operation than will the older and more primitive methods of communism or dictatorial regulative institutions based on force.

  ^81:6.34 12. The willingness to co-operate. One of the great hindrances to the progress of human society is the conflict between the interests and welfare of the larger, more socialized human groups and of the smaller, contrary-minded asocial associations of mankind, not to mention antisocially-minded single individuals.

  ^81:6.35 No national civilization long endures unless its educational methods and religious ideals inspire a high type of intelligent patriotism and national devotion. Without this sort of intelligent patriotism and cultural solidarity, all nations tend to disintegrate as a result of provincial jealousies and local self-interests.

  ^81:6.36 The maintenance of world-wide civilization is dependent on human beings learning how to live together in peace and fraternity. Without effective co-ordination, industrial civilization is jeopardized by the dangers of ultraspecialization: monotony, narrowness, and the tendency to breed distrust and jealousy.

  ^81:6.37 13. Effective and wise leadership. In civilization much, very much, depends on an enthusiastic and effective load-pulling spirit. Ten men are of little more value than one in lifting a great load unless they lift together -- all at the same moment. And such teamwork -- social co-operation -- is dependent on leadership. The cultural civilizations of the past and the present have been based upon the intelligent co-operation of the citizenry with wise and progressive leaders; and until man evolves to higher levels, civilization will continue to be dependent on wise and vigorous leadership.

  ^81:6.38 High civilizations are born of the sagacious correlation of material wealth, intellectual greatness, moral worth, social cleverness, and cosmic insight.

  ^81:6.39 14. Social changes. Society is not a divine institution; it is a phenomenon of progressive evolution; and advancing civilization is always delayed when its leaders are slow in making those changes in the social organization which are essential to keeping pace with the scientific developments of the age. For all that, things must not be despised just because they are old, neither should an idea be unconditionally embraced just because it is novel and new.

  ^81:6.40 Man should be unafraid to experiment with the mechanisms of society. But always should these adventures in cultural adjustment be controlled by those who are fully conversant with the history of social evolution; and always should these innovators be counseled by the wisdom of those who have had practical experience in the domains of contemplated social or economic experiment. No great social or economic change should be attempted suddenly. Time is essential to all types of human adjustment -- physical, social, or economic. Only moral and spiritual adjustments can be made on the spur of the moment, and even these require the passing of time for the full outworking of their material and social repercussions. The ideals of the race are the chief support and assurance during the critical times when civilization is in transit from one level to another.

  ^81:6.41 15. The prevention of transitional breakdown. Society is the offspring of age upon age of trial and error; it is what survived the selective adjustments and readjustments in the successive stages of mankind's agelong rise from animal to human levels of planetary status. The great danger to any civilization -- at any one moment -- is the threat of breakdown during the time of transition from the established methods of the past to those new and better, but untried, procedures of the future.

  ^81:6.42 Leadership is vital to progress. Wisdom, insight, and foresight are indispensable to the endurance of nations. Civilization is never really jeopardized until able leadership begins to vanish. And the quantity of such wise leadership has never exceeded one per cent of the population.

  ^81:6.43 And it was by these rungs on the evolutionary ladder that civilization climbed to that place where those mighty influences could be initiated which have culminated in the rapidly expanding culture of the twentieth century. And only by adherence to these essentials can man hope to maintain his present-day civilizations while providing for their continued development and certain survival.

  ^81:6.44 This is the gist of the long, long struggle of the peoples of earth to establish civilization since the age of Adam. Present-day culture is the net result of this strenuous evolution. Before the discovery of printing, progress was relatively slow since one generation could not so rapidly benefit from the achievements of its predecessors. But now human society is plunging forward under the force of the accumulated momentum of all the ages through which civilization has struggled.

  ^{81:6.45Sponsored by an Archangel of Nebadon.}

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  ^176:3.7 In accordance with the truth committed to your hands will the Master of truth require a reckoning.

  ^176:3.8 In the next world you will be asked to give an account of the endowments and stewardships of this world. Whether inherent talents are few or many, a just and merciful reckoning must be faced. If endowments are used only in selfish pursuits and no thought is bestowed upon the higher duty of obtaining increased yield of the fruits of the spirit, as they are manifested in the ever-expanding service of men and the worship of God, such selfish stewards must accept the consequences of their deliberate choosing.

^48:6.26 You will learn that you increase your burdens and decrease the likelihood of success by taking yourself too seriously. Nothing can take precedence over the work of your status sphere -- this world or the next. Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere, but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you are actually living. But though the work is important, the self is not. 

  ^165:5.3 "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is cut down and cast into the fire, how much more shall he clothe you, the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. O you of little faith! When you wholeheartedly devote yourselves to the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, you should not be of doubtful minds concerning the support of yourselves or the families you have forsaken. If you give your lives truly to the gospel, you shall live by the gospel. If you are only believing disciples, you must earn your own bread and contribute to the sustenance of all who teach and preach and heal. If you are anxious about your bread and water, wherein are you different from the nations of the world who so diligently seek such necessities? Devote yourselves to your work, believing that both the Father and I know that you have need of all these things. Let me assure you, once and for all, that, if you dedicate your lives to the work of the kingdom, all your real needs shall be supplied. Seek the greater thing, and the lesser will be found therein; ask for the heavenly, and the earthly shall be included. The shadow is certain to follow the substance.

Loliad's Vision of The Future of this World

"But I have many other sheep not of this fold, and these words are true not only of this world. These other sheep also hear and know my voice, and I have promised the Father that they shall all be brought into one fold, one brotherhood of the sons of God. And then shall you all know the voice of one shepherd, the true shepherd, and shall all acknowledge the fatherhood of God."

LOLIAD HAS A VISION

The few distant tribes who partially survived the downfall of Atlantis (the legends of the 1st Garden of Eden & Dalmatia and the 2nd Garden who migrated into Egypt) each had their original cultural roots in that civilization. Their progeny, and so Atlantean thinking, still affects the lives of many present day Earth-dwellers. The world floats on a sea of fire which is gradually dying down, and will become extinguished in a few more million years . . . unless in the meantime mankind probes too deeply into Nature. Is such a state of affairs building up on Earth today?

A study of history is the looking backward to events and conditions as they were and comparing them with the present era. Time, in terms of years is important only in the sense that man, unable to visualize very far ahead, can best assess human advancement in retrospect. This does not mean that in any generation man can afford not to envision human progress in the millions of generations yet to come.

Life's purpose can only be for the future. Each generation forms the foundation for the progress of those yet unborn. In terms of the human race, retrogression looms ahead unless the course is altered. Warnings have come from all sides.

110:4.6 For many thousands of years, so the records of Jerusem show, in each generation there have lived fewer and fewer beings who could function safely with self-acting Adjusters. This is an alarming picture, and the supervising personalities of Satania look with favor upon the proposals of some of your more immediate planetary supervisors who advocate the inauguration of measures designed to foster and conserve the higher spiritual types of the Urantia races.

Yet Ego has prevented this stream of heavenly guidance from having much effect. "Not always shall my spirit strive with man", He has said.

If the life expectancy of the sun is another 48,000,000,000 years it is reasonable to suppose that Earth's life expectancy is at least half of that number of years. However, taking into consideration density, helium content, and rate of usage in comparison to the sun, we might find that the life expectancy Earth is about equal to that of the sun.

The point for questions is; how does the life expectancy of homo-sapiens compare with Earth's life expectancy? At the present rate of deterioration, fostered by illogical breeding habits, mechanization and luxury, led by the lighter skinned races, a further separation of human thought will occur. The dark skinned races will rise to power and shortly afterwards decline when swiftly overtaken by Ego. Through the specialization rule and mass psychology as is still practiced today, the bulk of the human race will degenerate to comfortable slavery status, having all their thinking done for them, and completely dominated by mechanized instruction, to finally lose all power of independent thought or personal drive. They will sink to a low mental level which concentrates only on fleshy comfort and social security.

But for Spirit. Ever and anon, Spiritual Promise is inviolable, He will send messengers, channels for the expression of Divine Wisdom to guide humanity. These will be fully apparent to those with integrity, easily recognizable to the non-egotistical seeker. They will illuminate and lead, helping to maintain the essential balance of nature and spirit. Regardless of nationality, their cities will rise on Earth, first one and then another, to form the nucleus of a new, single Earth-race. Such a city has He shown to me in a vision. The huge structure was formed like a bubble; seamless; having the appearance of plexiglass; of tensile strength beyond anything yet devised on Earth - even impervious to Black Light vibrations.

Inside the outer dome was a second, similar "bubble", with about ten feet of space in between the two shells. Those walking in the intervening space between the shells are able to observe all that goes on beyond the outer shell. But they cannot see into the inner shell, the structural molecules being so balanced that they shift to adjust to light rays either from within or without. A warm hand placed on any part of this shell will immediately feel cold. Showered with any cold substance, the shell will cause that substance to react as though to heat. No air, sunlight, rain, dust, germs or radiation can pierce the outer "bubble". High above and in between the two shells is a form of manufactured daylight, sunlight, and even clouds to fill any psychological requirements of the inhabitants. The air is constantly purified.

Inside the second shell, the dwellings compare with those of the twentieth century, but are built in softer, more curved lines, and are all of the same glass-like material. Gardens bloom in profusion. Flowers, shrubs, trees and individual vegetable gardens are far more in evidence than today. The foliage is far more prominent to the eye of the observer than the actual homes of the people who live there.

Entrance to the City is made through an outer door of the same plexiglass-like material. This door leads onto a ten-foot driveway between the two shells. However, at the entrance a tunnel-like arrangement with three doors greets a visitor. By taking the door to the left of the entrance it would be possible to drive around the entire city and emerge where you started, coming out of the door on the right hand side of the entrance. The centre door gives access to the City proper. But before entering from the outer atmosphere, all are subjected to extensive scrutiny. Possessions, including conveyance, are tested with metal detection and radioactive devices. If the people wishing to enter the city are non-resident, all possessions are left at the entrance, and the visitor is supplied with every requirement for the duration of his visit.

Permanent residents wishing to leave (a rare circumstance) may only do so with a special permit. These people are specially outfitted for the trip into the outerworld, including their "conveyance"; a one piece, completely plastic-like vehicle with no visible working parts.

Nothing but the de-contaminated human body may enter through the inner door, and nothing but a person and their conveyance may leave.

Permission is frequently given for those from the outside world to take a grand circular tour around the driveway which circles the city. At this time none of the previously mentioned precautions apply.

About one mile in a geometrically straight line from the entrance, we find the Administration Building, known locally as The House. From the City's gateway, the main centre driveway is uncluttered by any buildings. It is landscaped to some depth with a glorious array of multi-coloured flora, so artistically designed that it never becomes overbearing or distracting to the senses.

The House, like all others, is of the same material as the shell. It shows only one storey above ground level, and is almost half a mile square, though not actually square in shape.

A long wide terrace, reached by five wide, stone-like steps, dominates the front elevation of the building. Much of this terrace is landscaped with exotically beautiful gardens, with subdued aquariums here and there, glittering from the rays of rare, tropical-like fish. A central fountain of crystal clear water plays its way high into the air.

The terrace is usually occupied by a quiet female figure, who dispenses the colony's needs with exact impartiality. High up, and out of sight to all but the initiated, are a number of instruments similar to today's television sets. They are indeed a form of television which may be tuned into the required channel by pressure on a small button close to the woman's hand. When the image of the required person appeared on the screen, a whispered instruction to that technician could tune in both the image and words of any person living in the world. When required this machine could also relay the image and speech of certain persons from other occupied planets in the Universe. Beneath the main structure of this building are fifteen lower floors which constitute the heart and pulse of the entire city. Here is machinery, refineries, air and water pumps purifiers, smelters, offices . . . everything that is required to sustain life. The whole place is illuminated by an everlasting daylight that creates no shadow and is without visible source

Surprisingly enough from the fifth sub-floor downwards there is no light. Total blackness greets the eye. The workers here, who are not native Earthlings are ebony in colour. They are shaped along somewhat different lines to those of the human form, the main difference being in the head and extremities. These people have developed far beyond man's meager mental capabilities. They are particularly adept at reading magnetic vibrations and keep records of the sayings, schemings and doings of the now decadent outside world. All thought vibrations are monitored within a radius of 300 square miles.

Another innovation is a tubular-type launching pad situated some distance from The House (as the main building is called). This double rocket launching site can be reached by twin tunnels from the fifteenth sub floor and connects to the fifth sub-floor by a chute made up of an endless chain belt conveyance with seats large enough for two passengers. These travel at such a speed that one and a half seconds is all the time required to travel the 165 feet downwards.

From the fifth sub-floor downwards is the domain of the "Ebonites". The temperature in this working area is necessarily maintained at a constant 80° Fahrenheit; one route to the launching site likewise.

Native earthlings rarely visit this area of heat and total darkness, in spite of ample connections between all floors.

The second launching tube is cool and brightly lit, manned by deeply bronzed human operators. The space-ships coming and going from the dual launch site are however, identical. Only the functional interiors differ for the convenience of Passengers.

Space Ships leave and arrive regularly. The "Ebonites" to return to their home planet, the earthlings to tour the accessible parts of the Universe. Interplanetary exchange has long since been established, whereby an Earth-ship might reach a planet carrying a visitor for a further destination whose journey would then be completed by stages, utilizing craft from other worlds.

Visitors would stay at earth-conditioned accommodations through their trip.

But such traveling would be rare, for any human in this period who ventured on such a voyage would have to spend whole lifetime away from his home planet.

To better understand the population of the colony a closer description of its inhabitants might be in order. The earthlings, by intermarriage, had all achieved various bronze skin shading with medium hair colouring.

Interplanetary technician exchange, which insofar as earth was concerned applied only to these "Bubble-Colonies", supplied the "Ebonite" technicians whose skill was foreign to earthlings. In return selected earthlings went to other planets to develop skills peculiar to earthlings. This system was largely responsible for the rapid progress in either place.

The "Ebonites" had quite a large head in comparison with their body. The ears were set high; the eyes were five to six times larger than human eyes with a feline translucence. The nose, as a protuberance did not show, but the mouth was quite large and prominent - similar to the mouths of vegetarian animals on earth, for these people were strict vegetarians. They had no chin. Being accustomed to a home planet where three earth years was as one of their own, each "Ebonite" contracted to spend three years on Earth. This arrangement was absolutely essential, as among this race both the male and female experienced a "heat" period only once every three earth-years. At this time it was necessary that mating take place or the health of the "Ebonite" would be seriously impaired. Very strict records were kept for this purpose; the mating season could be predicted to almost the minute of its commencement and took several hours for completion. Although both male and female workers came to Earth no mating ever took place away from the home planet. No genital organs were normally in evidence. The female breast enlarged only during the nine to ten weeks of her gestation period, and weaning became automatic as they shortly retracted to the normal size of any well developed male. Earthlings found it almost impossible to differentiate between the sexes of the "Ebonites", but between themselves the odour vibrations emitted by the body were quite distinguishable. The "Ebonites" were also very conscious of human odour vibrations and found them not only most distasteful but very loud, so that they would politely contrive to cover both the nose and ears if an earthling was nearby. A great deal of thought and preparation had gone in the foundation of this enclosed city. Conceived by a handful of early pioneers, it is now peopled by a relatively small percentage of the human race, who, through spiritual guidance have elected to live in seclusion.

The state of the outside world has deteriorated to the point where 90% of the population live in an abject state of servitude, dominated by one hundredth of one percent of their total. The remainder live on a somewhat higher plane of thought, but are completely restricted as to freedom of choice These are the essential intellects required by the rulers for scientific knowledge.

Vast amounts of time and energy are spent in bickering between the rulers. This argument is usually termed "Conferences" and "Committees". Territorial zones are set and reset as each group strives for supremacy.

Those within the enclosure, metaphysically minded, and heedful of the future of the whole human race, had tired of such wastage of time, talent and human potential. Having seen the writing on the wall they had chosen to build impregnable cities to which all sincerely peaceful and humble people were welcome. Here alone was it possible to survive the onslaught of mass psychology and warfare. Herein the nucleus of humanity which would survive to Father A GLORIOUS RACE.

Here they waited out the seemingly interminable years. Although the "outsiders" bred in droves they suffered strange new diseases and once in a while held mass war drives to cut down on their numbers. Suicide was also common, both on individual and mass scales. Often after such outbreaks thousands would approach the "Bubble Cities" seeking entrance.

I see this picture in far greater detail than herein described. The characters in my vision actually live, talk and act. Their days are spent in concentrated effort to teach the 'outsiders" peace and love. As their adherents grow in number new cities are formed all over the Earth to accommodate all who wish to participate. Their wisdom is such that any error among themselves is instantly apparent and is given immediate attention.

110:4.6 For many thousands of years, so the records of Jerusem show, in each generation there have lived fewer and fewer beings who could function safely with self-acting Adjusters. This is an alarming picture, and the supervising personalities of Satania look with favor upon the proposals of some of your more immediate planetary supervisors who advocate the inauguration of measures designed to foster and conserve the higher spiritual types of the Urantia races.

As Jesus and the twelve visited with the messengers of the kingdom at Gerasa, one of the Pharisees who believed in him asked this question: "Lord, will there be few or many really saved?" And Jesus, answering, said:

"You have been taught that only the children of Abraham will be saved; that only the gentiles of adoption can hope for salvation. Some of you have reasoned that, since the Scriptures record that only Caleb and Joshua from among all the hosts that went out of Egypt lived to enter the promised land, only a comparatively few of those who seek the kingdom of heaven shall find entrance thereto.

"You also have another saying among you, and one that contains much truth: That the way which leads to eternal life is straight and narrow, that the door which leads thereto is likewise narrow so that, of those who seek salvation, few can find entrance through this door. You also have a teaching that the way which leads to destruction is broad, that the entrance thereto is wide, and that there are many who choose to go this way. And this proverb is not without its meaning. But I declare that salvation is first a matter of your personal choosing. Even if the door to the way of life is narrow, it is wide enough to admit all who sincerely seek to enter, for I am that door. And the Son will never refuse entrance to any child of the universe who, by faith, seeks to find the Father through the Son.

"But herein is the danger to all who would postpone their entrance into the kingdom while they continue to pursue the pleasures of immaturity and indulge the satisfactions of selfishness: Having refused to enter the kingdom as a spiritual experience, they may subsequently seek entrance thereto when the glory of the better way becomes revealed in the age to come. (See Loliad's Vision above) And when, therefore, those who spurned the kingdom when I came in the likeness of humanity seek to find an entrance when it is revealed in the likeness of divinity, then will I say to all such selfish ones: I know not whence you are. You had your chance to prepare for this heavenly citizenship, but you refused all such proffers of mercy; you rejected all invitations to come while the door was open. Now, to you who have refused salvation, the door is shut. This door is not open to those who would enter the kingdom for selfish glory. Salvation is not for those who are unwilling to pay the price of wholehearted dedication to doing my Father's will.

When in and  you have turned your backs upon the Father's kingdom, it is useless in  and  to stand before this door and knock, saying, 'Lord, open to us; we would also be great in the kingdom.' Then will I declare that you are not of my fold. I will not receive you to be among those who have fought the good fight of faith and won the reward of unselfish service in the kingdom on earth.

And when you say, 'Did we not eat and drink with you, and did you not teach in our streets?' then shall I again declare that you are spiritual strangers; that we were not fellow servants in the Father's ministry of mercy on earth; that I do not know you; and then shall the Judge of all the earth say to you: 'Depart from us, all you who have taken delight in the works of iniquity.'

"But fear not; every one who sincerely desires to find eternal life by entrance into the kingdom of God shall certainly find such everlasting salvation. But you who refuse this salvation will some day see the prophets of the seed of Abraham sit down with the believers of the gentile nations in this glorified kingdom to partake of the bread of life and to refresh themselves with the water thereof. And they who shall thus take the kingdom in spiritual power and by the persistent assaults of living faith will come from the north and the south and from the east and the west. And, behold, many who are first will be last, and those who are last will many times be first."

This was indeed a new and strange version of the old and familiar proverb of the straight and narrow way.

 151:4.1 The next day Jesus again taught the people from the boat, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while he slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and hastened away. And so when the young blades sprang up and later were about to bring forth fruit, there appeared also the weeds. Then the servants of this householder came and said to him: `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Whence then come these weeds?' And he replied to his servants, `An enemy has done this.' The servants then asked their master, `Would you have us go out and pluck up these weeds?' But he answered them and said: `No, lest while you are gathering them up, you uproot the wheat also. Rather let them both grow together until the time of the harvest, when I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn and then gather up the wheat to be stored in my barn.'"

151:4.2 After the people had asked a few questions, Jesus spoke another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man sowed in his field. Now a mustard seed is the least of seeds, but when it is full grown, it becomes the greatest of all herbs and is like a tree so that the birds of heaven are able to come and rest in the branches thereof."

 151:4.3 "The kingdom of heaven is also like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, and in this way it came about that all of the meal was leavened."

 151:4.4 "The kingdom of heaven is also like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man discovered. In his joy he went forth to sell all he had that he might have the money to buy the field."

 151:4.5 "The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant seeking goodly pearls; and having found one pearl of great price, he went out and sold everything he possessed that he might be able to buy the extraordinary pearl."

 151:4.6 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a sweep net which was cast into the sea, and it gathered up every kind of fish. Now, when the net was filled, the fishermen drew it up on the beach, where they sat down and sorted out the fish, gathering the good into vessels while the bad they threw away."

 151:4.7 Many other parables spoke Jesus to the multitudes. In fact, from this time forward he seldom taught the masses except by this means. After speaking to a public audience in parables, he would, during the evening classes, more fully and explicitly expound his teachings to the apostles and the evangelists.

Dear Eden International brothers and sisters,

It makes sense for the international permaculture movement, the WWOOF movement and the Fifth Epochal Revelation to join to develop properties along Edenic education principles.  Permaculture was developed by Bill Mollison in Australia (one of his consultants was Arthur Sappington!), and it is now a worldwide movement with tremendous teachers like Geoff Lawton and Andrew Millison.  Watch Andrew Millison's videos online, especially the water stories videos where he draws water flows and plantings on a see-through panel.  He is a GREAT TEACHER!  

Permaculture design principles were developed in warm climate drylands, so the frontier of permaculture is in arctic and subarctic maritime climates like yours.  I had some success doing subarctic permaculture on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, latitude 59.  One of the keys is greenhousing combined with poultry.  We attached a greenhouse to the chicken house, and in the winter let the chickens into the greenhouse.  They prepared the soil for us and had a ball eating worms and slugs and grubs.  In the spring we just shoveled out some paths, shoveled up the raised beds, and planted.  The crops we grew in that greenhouse were amazing!!!!  It is worthwhile to cover your greenhouse with hard durable stuff, Lexan is wavy durable stuff that comes in 2 x 10' panels, it is so tough you can bounce an axe off it.  (Plastic sheeting just falls to pieces.)

Once you get Bill Mollison's book I will teach you the permaculture design principles from afar.  Can't come hold your hand but studying permaculture together is almost as good!  Mention permaculture in your WWOOF material and you will attract some great thoughtful WWOOFers.  If you start this process now you will have a good workable plan by the time the WWOOFers arrive in the spring.

You will do fine if you cast yourselves as lifelong learners just starting the permaculture process. 

Get hold of Bill Mollison's book Permaculture: A Designers' Manual.  This book is worth whatever you have to pay to get it.  Dig into the book to start to understand what permaculture is.  

First step is to print a map of your land, probably from satellite photos, and then make six or seven plastic see-through overlays.  Each overlay is a different vector:  sun arc, water flows, animal paths, human paths and vehicle roads, wind flows, contours of elevation (unless it is dead flat), main buildings, outbuildings.  Start getting data onto your overlays.  You must make maps to evolve workable design plan for your property. 

This process will help you develop a masterful understanding of your land.  

Find out if there are permaculturists in your region and link with them. 

Love and blessings,
Lindianne

The authors evaluated political, economic, and cultural ties and offered a roadmap for closer cooperation.

Moscow should come up with a comprehensive roadmap for boosting ties with Africa, after previous efforts to improve cooperation fell through due to external factors, experts at the Valdai International Discussion club said in a new report on Tuesday.

In a document entitled “Russia and Africa: An Audit of Relations,” which was published on the Valdai website ahead of the Russia-Africa summit set to be held in St. Petersburg on July 27, the authors conclude that urgent, systemic work needs to be done to address the interests of the developing continent.

According to the report, Moscow has failed to thoroughly implement the 47 points of cooperation that were outlined in the 2019 summit – at first due to the Coronavirus pandemic and later due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the subsequent reshaping of the world order.

The experts note that despite the push for more Russian businesses to enter the African market, most of them have yet to understand where the entry points are and who their potential partners might be.

However, the report states that many African countries remain interested in cooperation with Moscow, evidenced by the fact that many of them have refused to endorse international political resolutions aimed against Russia.

Russia, according to the authors, still has much to offer the African continent, which continues to experience a number of problems, including insufficient food, energy security, lack of a developed energy system and energy logistics, an infrastructural and technological vacuum, constant population growth and job shortages.

Russia will sign security agreements with African states – media
Read more Russia will sign security agreements with African states – media
During the upcoming Russia-Africa summit, a detailed roadmap will have to be developed for further interaction between Moscow and the nations of the continent, the report concludes, noting that Russia needs a comprehensive and competitive Africa strategy which encompasses the political, economic, and humanitarian spheres.

“Understanding the deep foundations of Russian-African cooperation, knowledge of the problems Africans face, [and] understanding the essence of their ‘request’ for cooperation could become a serious competitive advantage for Russia in the current geopolitical conditions,” the report surmised.

April 18, 2023 by A Growing Culture 3 Comments

Citizens In Motion towards the ideals of True Representative Government

DISCUSSION RESOURCES

• CONSTITUTION OF UGANDA
• GLOBAL GOVERNMENT One World Family
• The Politics of Constitution Making in Uganda | Aili Mari Tripp
• LAW, LIBERTY, AND SOVEREIGNTY - THE RULE OF LAW

.If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus' religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.

 

A Modest Proposal

by Fred Harris

Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water
After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water
Zen proverb

The Urantia Book encourages us to spread the “good news.” How that is accomplished has been a debate over the years. Some have been proponents of reader groups and slow growth. Others have wanted to publicize it to advise the world of this epochal revelation. More recently social media has been employed, and also The Urantia Book is now available for free, in multiple languages, over the internet.

But people crave community as well.

There has been some talk about starting a Urantia church and creating Urantia housing enclaves. But there is a substantial upfront capital cost as well as a history of failure to accomplish these goals.

Currently, in most communities, there are far too few Urantia Book readers to support a church or separate housing development. Even in the places where there are more Urantia Book readers, such as Boulder, Colorado, or San Francisco, California, the logistics of such efforts are difficult and expensive.

At the same time, the membership in most mainstream Christian churches is shrinking. My proposal is simple, effective, and low cost. Join a Christian church (actually, any church or spiritual community will work, but for this proposal, I’m suggesting a Christian church). I joined one and the following is informed by my experiences with the Presbyterian Church of Quincy, Florida, of which I am a member and a deacon.

First, go to several Christian churches in your area to see which one has a preacher whose message is most consistent with The Urantia Book. Then, attend that church as a visitor. You will be noticed and approached by people in the congregation, as they want to welcome visitors and encourage them to join the church.

After a few weeks of visiting, if you are interested in joining, go to the minister and tell him that you are interested, but let the minister know that you are a Urantia Book reader so that you won’t be joining under false pretenses. If the elders of the church (who will be told about your beliefs) vote to admit you, then the chance that you will be asked to leave as a result of your Urantia Book beliefs will be diminished significantly.

Once you become a member, be friendly and get to know the people who are members of the church. Volunteer for service projects. We build ramps for the elderly, have a food bank, and have a clothes closet. Go to Sunday school, which is a good place to discuss Urantia Book concepts. If possible don’t mention that The Urantia Book is where you are getting your ideas. If pushed, by all means, fess up, but don’t become overbearing about your Urantia Book beliefs. It is best to demonstrate them.

Once you show yourself to be friendly and a part of that church community, your ability to influence people will be expanded. Plus, you will find yourself in a spiritual community.

This proposal does not require a large capital investment (although you will be expected to financially support your church, just as you would if it was a Urantia Book church). All parties are benefited. The Christian churches add members. Urantia Book readers get to join a spiritual community and are able to assist in adding Urantia Book concepts to the theology of the church. The “good news” can be spread.

The Urantia Book basically tells us that this will work when it says:

This [Christian] church is only the larval stage of the thwarted spiritual kingdom, which will carry it through this material age and over into a more spiritual dispensation where the Master’s teachings may enjoy a fuller opportunity for development. Thus does the so-called Christian church become the cocoon in which the kingdom of Jesus’ concept now slumbers (170:5.21 [1866.4]).

Hold high the mission! Lighten life!

[embed title="The Living Water" url="https://spiritualfamily.net/file/view/54459/the-living-water" guid="54459"]

Why Jesus Loved Friendship        Peter Wehner 

The enduring significance of Christmas is that it represents perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Christian faith — the concept of the incarnation, the belief that God took human form in Jesus. Theologians refer to the “hypostatic union” of Jesus, meaning the mysterious fusion of his divinity and his humanity.

The humanity of Jesus manifests itself in his moments of grief, agony, anger, frustration, joy and compassion. But one particular aspect of that humanity that has long intrigued me is his professed friendship with the rest of us.

In the New Testament, this point is made emphatically in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John. The context is Jesus’ discourse with his disciples, in which he tells them that as God the father has loved him, so he loves them. His command to his disciples is that they love one another. Jesus then says this: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.”

John Swinton, an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland and a professor at the University of Aberdeen, calls this shift from servant to friend a “profound act of renaming.”

I understand why the relationship between an all-powerful deity and less than all-powerful human beings — between the creator and the created, the perfect and the imperfect — would be defined by the latter’s awe, reverence and obedience. But a relationship between God and us — between God and me, between God and you — that is defined by true friendship is startling. Why would a divine, transcendent entity, referred to in the Scriptures as the everlasting God, the Lord Most High, not only condescend to become human but also initiate a relationship with us that is defined by mutual affection, intimacy and self-revelation? So I reached out to ministers and theologians to ask: What does it mean for Jesus to call us his friends?

The thread of friendship can be traced back to the Old Testament, to the book of Isaiah, where the prophet conveys God’s description of Abraham as “my friend.” The concept of God as a friend is not foreign to the Hebrew Scripture, then, though it seems to have been limited to Abraham and, in a somewhat different way, to Moses, “as if they have an especially intimate relationship with God in distinction from others,” in the words of the Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III. “But there is an intensification and expansion of intimacy as we move to John 15.”

Several people I heard from mentioned how revolutionary this concept of friendship was, pointing out that it would have been almost unheard-of for an ancient king, let alone God, to refer to his subjects as friends in the way Jesus did. An earthly king would certainly not have walked and lived among them in the way Jesus did. In ancient times people of unequal wealth and status were very unlikely to be friends. But Jesus shattered those expectations and the hierarchical relationship between God and human beings.

“Jesus is elevating his listeners,” the philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff told me, “treating them as on a level with him.” Jesus is recognizing the intrinsic worth of human beings, who are not only made in the divine image but also are his confidants and companions.

Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Wash., pointed out to me that the exchange in John revealed God’s radical love and grace. “You would expect God to befriend worthy people, educated people, brave people, or, at bare minimum, moral people,” he told me. But instead, Jesus chose to be his followers the uneducated (several fishermen), the reviled (Matthew, a tax collector for the hated Roman regime), a person who would deny him (Peter) and even betray him (Judas). Access to the divine is no longer the province of a special caste of influential, privileged people. And what Jesus did in the process is profoundly alter the understanding of the power dynamic between God and mortals.

“Power cannot generate love,” Pastor Dudley told me. “Power can generate obedience, fear, awe, grudging submission — but not love. The God who comes to us in Jesus doesn’t want grudging submission; he wants us to love him and be loved by him. He wants relationship, including friendship, and so he came in vulnerability, not in power.”

The concept of a vulnerable God, meek and lowly in heart, was almost unfathomable to many at the time, and for many people it still is. But a vulnerable God is an essential part of the Christian story. We see it in Jesus’ life, from his birth in a manger to his weeping over the death of his friend Lazarus to the anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was betrayed on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus was accompanied by three of his closest friends — Peter, John and James — whom he asked to stay awake and pray with him. (They failed, with Jesus finding them sleeping, “exhausted from sorrow.”)

Renée Notkin, a co-pastor of Union Church in Seattle, in explaining the friendship verses in John, told me that Jesus’ words “Love one another as I have loved you” are essential to understanding what Jesus meant. Among other things, a proper understanding of friendship radically changes our perspective on how we are to live in community.

“Our witness is not right doctrine; it is our relational orientation,” Pastor Notkin told me. “As friends of Jesus, we love one another — and that includes people different from us. In fact, no one can be an ‘other’, because in Christ we belong to one another.” We are called to love one another, honor one another, welcome one another, encourage one another and bear one another’s burdens. “Instead of being people who stink with judgment and criticism,” she told me, “we are to be an aroma of blessing, hope, joy, peace and love.”

John Swinton contrasts friendship as understood in contemporary Western society with what Jesus had in mind: “The friendship modeled by Jesus is for ‘the outsider,’ the socially marginalized, the stigmatized, the outcast, the prostitute, the sinner.”

“If the church claims to be the community of the friends of Jesus,” he adds, “it must engage in Christ-like friendships toward all people, particularly those who have been and are marginalized. The gift of friendship shows and reminds people that they are valued and indeed valuable individuals. That is a gift the church must offer all people.”

The theologian Curtis Chang told me that in the lives of Christians, friendship with Jesus doesn’t replace the call to be obedient to him or his authority. Mr. Chang compared it to an employer-employee relationship that has moved to a deeper level of trust and shared knowledge. In this reading, we must still submit to the authority of our employer, but the relationship has expanded to include much more than just that. Jesus does not relinquish his role as Lord and teacher; he has added new dimensions to it.

“In true friendship, there is mutuality,” Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, told me. “When Jesus called his disciples his friends, he both elevated them and brought them closer.” Their worlds merged.

When Jesus told his disciples he would call them friends rather than servants, he was expressing in words what he showed during his life, which is that God is seeking above all else to be in a meaningful relationship with us. Jesus modeled what it means to take us into his confidence, to self-disclose, to encourage and correct us, to weep with us, to love us, even to die for us.

Those are the qualities — more than God’s power, more than his perfection — that ultimately won the affections of my heart as a person of the Christian faith. It is the knowledge that we can be seen and known by God, and that we can see and know God. That we need him, but that also, in some essential way, he needs us.

But the friendship Jesus speaks of comes with a condition attached. In articulating what Gail R. O’Day calls his “theology of friendship,” Jesus says if we are his friends, we will do what he commands, and several times in John 15 he is specific about what that means: Love each other as I have loved you. There are countless ways to love others, based on our talents and life circumstances, but the command is clear enough. We are not only to experience love; we are to extend it to others.

So often throughout history, and certainly in the present day, Christians have fallen short, far short, of Jesus’ command; in so many cases the Christian faith has been shorn of love. When that happens, Christianity becomes a religion characterized by hard edges and judgmentalism, by brittleness and moral arrogance, by mercilessness and gracelessness. Those who claim to be followers of Jesus but behave in this way become not his friends but his enemies.

For 2,000 years, despite the failures, there has always been at least a remnant who patterned their lives in the way Jesus asked them to — men and women whose lives have been touched and transformed by the grace and love of God. I know such people. For me, when my own faith was jumbled, uncertain and abstract, when I had more questions than answers, when God seemed a million miles away, they have been reflections of the divine.

These people have shared in the joys of my life and helped sustain me through times of grief and loss. They have loved me, as Jesus loved them. They are friends of Jesus; they are also, friends of mine. And that has made all the difference.

This interesting prayer was by Joe Wright given in Kansas, USA, at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people. 

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, 

but this is what they heard: 

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: "Woe to those who call evil good", but that is exactly what we have done. 

1. * We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. 
2. * We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism. 
3. * We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. 
4. * We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle. 
5. * We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. 
6. * We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. 
7. * We have killed our unborn and called it choice. 
8. * We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. 
9. * We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. 
10. * We have abused power and called it politics. 
11. * We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses. 
12. * We have insitutionalised bribery and called it sweets of office. 
13. * We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. 
14. *We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. 
15. * We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. 

Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!" 

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. 

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.   

The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea. 

With the LORD'S help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and WHOLEHEARTEDLY become our desire so that we again can be called "ONE NATION UNDER GOD.”

The Urantia Book Library

Dear friend! 

We are thrilled to share some wonderful news with you!  

By Soren K Vestergaard
 

We are thrilled to share some wonderful news with you! Three wise men from Oman have generously pledged a significant sum of money to the Urantia Library Printing Fund to support the translation of the Urantia Book into three or four additional languages, which will be made available in the Public Domain. The Urantia Library has a long-standing reputation for producing some of the best translations on this planet, and we are honored to be involved in this endeavor.

These remarkable individuals were inspired by the exceptional Portuguese translation by linguistic expert Carlos Leite da Silva (OS DOCUMENTOS DE URÂNTIA), which was funded by the Urantia Library, as well as the equally impressive Spanish translation (LOS ESCRITOS DE URANTIA) by Ángel F. Sánchez Escobar, which received partial support from our organization. The Portuguese translation is already available in the Public Domain, and we anticipate that the Spanish translation will be as well. 

To accomplish our goal, we are actively seeking the assistance of skilled linguistic experts to assist us with the next three or four translations. Additionally, we warmly welcome your suggestions on languages that you believe would be valuable to translate. Please send your comments to skvestergaard@gmail.com, and we will thoughtfully consider your recommendations.

We are eagerly anticipating your involvement, and we will provide updates on this project as they become available.

Aarhus, February 22, 2023

Reactions to this post (soon to be updated) here:
 

Did you know? My previous post, “Jesus would never use Facebook“, has been commented by some of the most fine minds in the universe, one among other is Sue Snider Seccombe, President of the Urantia Book Fellowship. Read all new comments here.

We talk the Canadian Fertilizer Ban, #biofuels , #agriculture , #farming , #oilandgas and much more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMG4kuEN_kM

 Mbira - Thumb Piano of Africa Our Children Should Learn About This Instrument 

 Mbira - Thumb Piano of Africa

The thumb piano, or mbira – a name derived from Shona language of Zimbabwe - is uniquely African percussion instrument. In the distant past it was made entirely of wood or bamboo and could have been used for a few thousand years. Thumb piano with metal “keys” appeared some 1,300 years ago along the Zambezi River in what is now Zimbabwe and Malawi. This instrument spread widely throughout Africa, and in 2020 mbira music was endorsed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Mbira consists of a row of metal strips, used as key, attached to an open-ended wooden gourd or hollow resonator. They keys vary in length, with the longer ones placed in the centre, and each length determines the key’s pitch. The shorter the key, the higher the sound, and the longer the key, the lower it will be. The keys are made from a variety of different metals such as spring wire, and for more contemporary home-made versions, spoon handles, bicycle spokes and other recycled metal objects.

To play the instrument, the performer holds the resonator with his fingers placed underneath and uses his thumbs to pluck the keys. It produces delightfully pleasant and tranquil sounds. Harmonic or rhythmic sounds can be achieved by either plucking the keys simultaneously, or alternating plucks. Tones can be overlapped to make the effect similar to that of an orchestra - full and rich in quality and sound.

Mbira was used in ceremonial functions such as weddings, funerals, and in honour of significant people, as well as for religious purposes, to call on spirits and seek their advice. When calling on spiritual ancestors, the tribe would perform a religious ceremony which involved continuous singing, dancing, and playing music until the spirits appeared. The ritual would temporarily stop in the presence of the spirit, and begin again once it departed. Thus it was necessary for the mbira to produce a sound that would 'project into the heavens' and attract the spirits to earth.

Over hundreds of years, different people across the continent have created variations of the mbira by altering the style and name, but the general design remains consistent. The Australian Museum has a small collection of thumb pianos from several cultural groups, showing diversity in size, material and designs. They include thumb pianos such as likembe and sanza from Congo, kadongo and akogo from Uganda, kalimba from Kenya as well as examples from Zambia.

In the second half of the 20th century the African thumb piano was adopted by contemporary musicians, especially in Europe and both Americas. It not only has a long history, but also a promising future.

Researched by Natalie Cassaniti

Reference
Paul Berliner. 1992. The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe. Chicago - London. University of Chicago Press.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfYqq1RatuY&t=107s

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This covenant of Melchizedek with Abraham represents the great Urantian agreement between divinity and humanity whereby God agrees to do everything; man only agrees to believe God's promises and follow his instructions. 

Promise of Jesus: "All the forces of evil and the hosts of sin shall not prevail against this human fraternity of the divine spirit. And while my Father's spirit shall ever be the divine guide and mentor of all who enter the bonds of this spirit fellowship, to you and your successors I now deliver the keys of the outward kingdom -- the authority over things temporal -- the social and economic features of this association of men and women as fellows of the kingdom."

A certain rich man, a Roman citizen and a Stoic, became greatly interested in Jesus' teaching, having been introduced by Angamon. After many intimate conferences this wealthy citizen asked Jesus what he would do with wealth if he had it, and Jesus answered him: "I would bestow material wealth for the enhancement of material life, even as I would minister knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual service for the enrichment of the intellectual life, the ennoblement of the social life, and the advancement of the spiritual life. I would administer material wealth as a wise and effective trustee of the resources of one generation for the benefit and ennoblement of the next and succeeding generations."

But the rich man was not fully satisfied with Jesus' answer. He made bold to ask again: "But what do you think a man in my position should do with his wealth? Should I keep it, or should I give it away?" And when Jesus perceived that he really desired to know more of the truth about his loyalty to God and his duty to men, he further answered: "My good friend, I discern that you are a sincere seeker after wisdom and an honest lover of truth; therefore am I minded to lay before you my view of the solution of your problems having to do with the responsibilities of wealth. I do this because you have asked for my counsel, and in giving you this advice, I am not concerned with the wealth of any other rich man; I am offering advice only to you and for your personal guidance. If you honestly desire to regard your wealth as a trust, if you really wish to become a wise and efficient steward of your accumulated wealth, then would I counsel you to make the following analysis of the sources of your riches: Ask yourself, and do your best to find the honest answer, whence came this wealth? And as a help in the study of the sources of your great fortune, I would suggest that you bear in mind the following ten different methods of amassing material wealth:

"1. Inherited wealth--riches derived from parents and other ancestors.

"2. Discovered wealth--riches derived from the uncultivated resources of mother earth.

"3. Trade wealth--riches obtained as a fair profit in the exchange and barter of material goods.

"4. Unfair wealth--riches derived from the unfair exploitation or the enslavement of one's fellows.

"5. Interest wealth--income derived from the fair and just earning possibilities of invested capital.

"6. Genius wealth--riches accruing from the rewards of the creative and inventive endowments of the human mind.

"7. Accidental wealth--riches derived from the generosity of one's fellows or taking origin in the circumstances of life.

"8. Stolen wealth--riches secured by unfairness, dishonesty, theft, or fraud.

"9. Trust funds--wealth lodged in your hands by your fellows for some specific use, now or in the future.

"10. Earned wealth--riches derived directly from your own personal labor, the fair and just reward of your own daily efforts of mind and body.



And so, my friend, if you would be a faithful and just steward of your large fortune, before God and in service to men, you must approximately divide your wealth into these ten grand divisions, and then proceed to administer each portion in accordance with the wise and honest interpretation of the laws of justice, equity, fairness, and true efficiency; albeit, the God of heaven would not condemn you if sometimes you erred, in doubtful situations, on the side of merciful and unselfish regard for the distress of the suffering victims of the unfortunate circumstances of mortal life. When in honest doubt about the equity and justice of material situations, let your decisions favor those who are in need, favor those who suffer the misfortune of undeserved hardships."


After discussing these matters for several hours and in response to the rich man's request for further and more detailed instruction, Jesus went on to amplify his advice, in substance saying: "While I offer further suggestions concerning your attitude toward wealth, I would admonish you to receive my counsel as given only to you and for your personal guidance. I speak only for myself and to you as an inquiring friend. I adjure you not to become a dictator as to how other rich men shall regard their wealth. I would advise you:

"1. As steward of inherited wealth you should consider its sources. You are under moral obligation to represent the past generation in the honest transmittal of legitimate wealth to succeeding generations after subtracting a fair toll for the benefit of the present generation. But you are not obligated to perpetuate any dishonesty or injustice involved in the unfair accumulation of wealth by your ancestors. Any portion of your inherited wealth which turns out to have been derived through fraud or unfairness, you may disburse in accordance with your convictions of justice, generosity, and restitution. The remainder of your legitimate inherited wealth you may use in equity and transmit in security as the trustee of one generation for another. Wise discrimination and sound judgment should dictate your decisions regarding the bequest of riches to your successors.

"2. Everyone who enjoys wealth as a result of discovery should remember that one individual can live on earth but a short season and should, therefore, make adequate provision for the sharing of these discoveries in helpful ways by the largest possible number of his fellow men. While the discoverer should not be denied all reward for efforts of discovery, neither should he selfishly presume to lay claim to all of the advantages and blessings to be derived from the uncovering of nature's hoarded resources.


"3. As long as men choose to conduct the world's business by trade and barter, they are entitled to a fair and legitimate profit. Every tradesman deserves wages for his services; the merchant is entitled to his hire. The fairness of trade and the honest treatment accorded one's fellows in the organized business of the world create many different sorts of profit wealth, and all these sources of wealth must be judged by the highest principles of justice, honesty, and fairness. The honest trader should not hesitate to take the same profit which he would gladly accord his fellow trader in a similar transaction. While this sort of wealth is not identical with individually earned income when business dealings are conducted on a large scale, at the same time, such honestly accumulated wealth endows its possessor with a considerable equity as regards a voice in its subsequent distribution.


"4. No mortal who knows God and seeks to do the divine will can stoop to engage in the oppressions of wealth. No noble man will strive to accumulate riches and amass wealth-power by the enslavement or unfair exploitation of his brothers in the flesh. Riches are a moral curse and a spiritual stigma when they are derived from the sweat of oppressed mortal man. All such wealth should be restored to those who have thus been robbed or to their children and their children's children. An enduring civilization cannot be built upon the practice of defrauding the laborer of his hire.


"5. Honest wealth is entitled to interest. As long as men borrow and lend, that which is fair interest may be collected provided the capital lent was legitimate wealth. First cleanse your capital before you lay claim to the interest. Do not become so small and grasping that you would stoop to the practice of usury. Never permit yourself to be so selfish as to employ money-power to gain unfair advantage over your struggling fellows. Yield not to the temptation to take usury from your brother in financial distress.


"6. If you chance to secure wealth by flights of genius, if your riches are derived from the rewards of inventive endowment, do not lay claim to an unfair portion of such rewards. The genius owes something to both his ancestors and his progeny; likewise is he under obligation to the race, nation, and circumstances of his inventive discoveries; he should also remember that it was as man among men that he labored and wrought out his inventions. It would be equally unjust to deprive the genius of all his increment of wealth. And it will ever be impossible for men to establish rules and regulations applicable equally to all these problems of the equitable distribution of wealth. You must first recognize man as your brother, and if you honestly desire to do by him as you would have him do by you, the commonplace dictates of justice, honesty, and fairness will guide you in the just and impartial settlement of every recurring problem of economic rewards and social justice.


"7. Except for the just and legitimate fees earned in administration, no man should lay personal claim to that wealth which time and chance may cause to fall into his hands. Accidental riches should be regarded somewhat in the light of a trust to be expended for the benefit of one's social or economic group. The possessors of such wealth should be accorded the major voice in the determination of the wise and effective distribution of such unearned resources. Civilized man will not always look upon all that he controls as his personal and private possession.


"8. If any portion of your fortune has been knowingly derived from fraud; if aught of your wealth has been accumulated by dishonest practices or unfair methods; if your riches are the product of unjust dealings with your fellows, make haste to restore all these ill-gotten gains to the rightful owners. Make full amends and thus cleanse your fortune of all dishonest riches.


"9. The trusteeship of the wealth of one person for the benefit of others is a solemn and sacred responsibility. Do not hazard or jeopardize such a trust. Take for yourself of any trust only that which all honest men would allow.


"10. That part of your fortune which represents the earnings of your own mental and physical efforts--if your work has been done in fairness and equity-- is truly your own. No man can gainsay your right to hold and use such wealth as you may see fit provided your exercise of this right does not work harm upon your fellows."


When Jesus had finished counseling him, this wealthy Roman arose from his couch and, in saying farewell for the night, delivered himself of this promise: "My good friend, I perceive you are a man of great wisdom and goodness, and tomorrow I will begin the administration of all my wealth in accordance with your counsel."



 

UB

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death." It is altogether possible to fall victim to the peaceful deception of pleasant adjustment to the paths of sin and death".

Over the past several years study groups have been forming up especially in Uganda and are now spreading into the D.R. of Congo. By clicking the images on this Discussion will load the Groups they have formed which show the revelation outreach and study activities for each of these Groups. 

1. INDWELLING THE MORTAL MIND

 

  ^110:1.1 Adjusters should not be thought of as living in the material brains of human beings. They are not organic parts of the physical creatures of the realms. The Thought Adjuster may more properly be envisaged as indwelling the mortal mind of man rather than as existing within the confines of a single physical organ. And indirectly and unrecognized the Adjuster is constantly communicating with the human subject, especially during those sublime experiences of the worshipful contact of mind with spirit in the superconsciousness.

  ^110:1.2 I wish it were possible for me to help evolving mortals to achieve a better understanding and attain a fuller appreciation of the unselfish and superb work of the Adjusters living within them, who are so devoutly faithful to the task of fostering man's spiritual welfare. These Monitors are efficient ministers to the higher phases of men's minds; they are wise and experienced manipulators of the spiritual potential of the human intellect. These heavenly helpers are dedicated to the stupendous task of guiding you safely inward and upward to the celestial haven of happiness. These tireless toilers are consecrated to the future personification of the triumph of divine truth in your life everlasting. They are the watchful workers who pilot the God-conscious human mind away from the shoals of evil while expertly guiding the evolving soul of man toward the divine harbors of perfection on far-distant and eternal shores. The Adjusters are loving leaders, your safe and sure guides through the dark and uncertain mazes of your short earthly career; they are the patient teachers who so constantly urge their subjects forward in the paths of progressive perfection. They are the careful custodians of the sublime values of creature character. I wish you could love them more, co-operate with them more fully, and cherish them more affectionately.

  ^110:1.3 Although the divine indwellers are chiefly concerned with your spiritual preparation for the next stage of the never-ending existence, they are also deeply interested in your temporal welfare and in your real achievements on earth. They are delighted to contribute to your health, happiness, and true prosperity. They are not indifferent to your success in all matters of planetary advancement which are not inimical to your future life of eternal progress.

 

  ^110:1.4 Adjusters are interested in, and concerned with, your daily doings and the manifold details of your life just to the extent that these are influential in the determination of your significant temporal choices and vital spiritual decisions and, hence, are factors in the solution of your problem of soul survival and eternal progress. The Adjuster, while passive regarding purely temporal welfare, is divinely active concerning all the affairs of your eternal future.

  ^110:1.5 The Adjuster remains with you in all disaster and through every sickness which does not wholly destroy the mentality. But how unkind knowingly to defile or otherwise deliberately to pollute the physical body, which must serve as the earthly tabernacle of this marvelous gift from God. All physical poisons greatly retard the efforts of the Adjuster to exalt the material mind, while the mental poisons of fear, anger, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and intolerance likewise tremendously interfere with the spiritual progress of the evolving soul.

 

  ^110:1.6 Today you are passing through the period of the courtship of your Adjuster; and if you only prove faithful to the trust reposed in you by the divine spirit who seeks your mind and soul in eternal union, there will eventually ensue that morontia oneness, that supernal harmony, that cosmic co-ordination, that divine attunement, that celestial fusion, that never-ending blending of identity, that oneness of being which is so perfect and final that even the most experienced personalities can never segregate or recognize as separate identities the fusion partners -- mortal man and divine Adjuster.

"Jesus understood the minds of men. He knew what was in the heart of man, and had his teachings been left as he presented them, the only commentary being the inspired interpretation afforded by his earth life, all nations and all religions of the world would speedily have embraced the gospel of the kingdom. The well-meant efforts of Jesus’ early followers to restate his teachings so as to make them the more acceptable to certain nations, races, and religions, only resulted in making such teachings the less acceptable to all other nations, races, and religions."

These discussions are about these truth postulates. In view of the fact that Jesus declared "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" what is the value and the meaning of this quotation from the pages of the 5th Epochal Revelation?

Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. 196:1.3