Book of Divinity
Chapter VIII
1. THE Diva met thrice every year in Mouru, and enacted many acts, after the manner herein before related; and the number was so great that all the spirits in heaven and mortals on earth, were fore-planned, from before birth until they became Brides and Bridegrooms in heaven.
2. And heaven and earth became as one country, with one king, who was God; and his word ruled over all. And the Lords' kingdoms prospered, and the kingdoms of the sub-Gods and Goddesses; the like of which glory had not been since the earth was created. And there were rites and ceremonies, and recreations, and games, and pageantry on earth and in heaven, so great that one might write a thousand books thereon, and yet not have told the tenth part.
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3. So, after God had reigned one hundred and ninety years, he descended from his heavenly place, and went about in all the Lords' dominions, and the sub-Gods' dominions in the lower heavens, that he might rejoice before Jehovih in the great good works he had done.
4. And in all the heavenly places there was great rejoicing before God; and the singers made and sang hymns of rejoicing; and trumpeters and harpists proclaimed the glory of Jehovih's Presence.
5. So God had the people numbered, that the Gods of the etherean worlds might send in dan for the great resurrection. And the number of Brides and Bridegrooms to Jehovih would be sixteen thousand millions!
6. After that, God directed his fire-ship to run close to the earth, that he might survey mortals and their kingdoms. And he visited all the great nations of earth, to the south, and north, and east, and west. And now his soul cried out with great sorrow! The great peoples of the earth were turning celibates!
7. And the Voice of Jehovih came to him, saying: God, My Son, Hoab, why sorrowest thou? And God answered, saying: Behold, the earth is not peopled over; the plains and mountains are not subdued; the wilderness is filled with beasts of prey; the Zarathustrians are running into the same line as the I'hins; they kill nothing; they live for the soul only. And since they have learned the bondage of the lower heavens, they will not marry and beget offspring.
8. Again Jehovih spake to God, saying: Call not down a'ji nor ji'ay, My Son! Fear not. In ten years, behold, I will bring the earth into dan, and thou shalt bring thy harvest into My emancipated worlds.
9. So God sorrowed no more; and on his return to Mouru, and in the next following meeting of the Diva, he propounded: If a husband and wife have a child born unto them, they both being Zarathustrians: What then? When the members had spoken,--
10. Div decreed: They shall have rites and ceremonies, that the ashars of the order of Zarathustra may be appointed unto it. What the ashars do in spirit shall the corporeans do in corpor. And this was the first supplemental Divan law.
11. Through the commandment of the different Lords, the ashars assembled in the house of a Zarathustrian at the time of the birth of a child, and these spirits baptized the child with a rod, sprinkling water on its head, after the manner of selecting victims who have been delivered out of hell. And by inspiration the angels induced the mortals to go through the same ceremony, having a priest to perform with the rod, which had been dipped in water.
12. Div decreed: A baptized child showeth it hath sprung from the Zarathustrians, and it hath inherent in it high possibilities. And if it die in infancy, it shall be received not with the children of druks in heaven, but in such place as will enable the parents, after death, to visit it with delight. This was the second supplemental Divan law.
13. So it became common on the earth for mortals to have their children baptized in infancy, that in case of death they should be taken to a place of delight, and not fall into the power of drujas, the evil spirits.
14. Div propounded: If a young man, who is a Zarathustrian, and a young woman, who is also a Zarathustrian, and both every way obedient to the Ormazdian law, and to the I'hua'Mazdian law, what shall be the rites and ceremonies of marriage for them? On the all the members spake, and after that,--
15. Div decreed: They shall be married by a rab'bah, with kin and friends present. The rab'bah shall say: Ormazd hath united you forever; live ye in peace and love on earth, and ye shall dwell together in a heavenly place of delight after death. What Ormazd hath joined, no man can separate forever. And whilst the mortal ceremony is being performed, the ashars and spirits akin shall have rites and ceremonies in the same house, and this shall be called the beginning of a new heavenly kingdom. This was the third supplemental Divan law.
16. Besides these, there were passed a hundred and eight supplemental Divan laws; and they comprehended all things in life and death of mortals, and all things pertaining to the resurrection after death. And so great was the power of the Zarathustrian religion on earth that war ceased, and the tribes and nations dwelt together in peace. The people ceased to build large cities, and ceased striving for the things of earth.
17. But they learned little, save rites and ceremonies, and prayers, and singing hymns of praise unto Ormazd, and to his Gods and Lords, and to Zarathustra, the All Pure. Thus ended the dominion of Hoab's reign
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in heaven and earth, the like of whose greatness had never been surpassed.
18. So Jehovih brought the regions of dan, and sent seven ships, and delivered God and his harvest of sixteen thousand million angels into places of delight, the Nirvanian fields of Niscrossawotcha, in etherea.
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Urantia Book, 44:0.11 - The Celestial Artisans
Never in your long ascendancy will you lose the power to recognize your associates of former existences. Always, as you ascend inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of experience. Each new translation or resurrection will add one more group of spirit beings to your vision range without in the least depriving you of the ability to recognize your friends and fellows of former estates.
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Princess Bride 1987 Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) and Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya)
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. -
Urantia Book, 117:4.14 - The Finite God
And here is mystery: The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality -- actuality -- of that man. The more man withdraws from God, the more nearly he approaches nonreality -- cessation of existence. When man consecrates his will to the doing of the Father's will, when man gives God all that he has, then does God make that man more than he is.
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Urantia Book, 167:7.4 - The Talk About Angels
"And do you not remember that I said to you once before that, if you had your spiritual eyes anointed, you would then see the heavens opened and behold the angels of God ascending and descending? It is by the ministry of the angels that one world may be kept in touch with other worlds, for have I not repeatedly told you that I have other sheep not of this fold?"
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Urantia Book, Foreword - 0:12.12 - The Trinities
But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings. But even more certainly we know that these spirits of the Divine Presence are able to assist man in the spiritual appropriation of all truth contributory to the enhancement of the ever-progressing reality of personal religious experience—God-consciousness.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.3 - The Mystery Of God
When you are through down here, when your course has been run in temporary form on earth, when your trial trip in the flesh is finished, when the dust that composes the mortal tabernacle "returns to the earth whence it came"; then, it is revealed, the indwelling "Spirit shall return to God who gave it." There sojourns within each moral being of this planet a fragment of God, a part and parcel of divinity. It is not yet yours by right of possession, but it is designedly intended to be one with you if you survive the mortal existence.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.1 - The Mystery Of God
And the greatest of all the unfathomable mysteries of God is the phenomenon of the divine indwelling of mortal minds. The manner in which the Universal Father sojourns with the creatures of time is the most profound of all universe mysteries; the divine presence in the mind of man is the mystery of mysteries.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.6 - The Mystery Of God
To every spirit being and to every mortal creature in every sphere and on every world of the universe of universes, the Universal Father reveals all of his gracious and divine self that can be discerned or comprehended by such spirit beings and by such mortal creatures. God is no respecter of persons, either spiritual or material. The divine presence which any child of the universe enjoys at any given moment is limited only by the capacity of such a creature to receive and to discern the spirit actualities of the supermaterial world.
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Urantia Book, 11:0.1 - The Eternal Isle Of Paradise
Paradise is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe. Paradise is a material sphere as well as a spiritual abode. All of the intelligent creation of the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes; hence must the absolute controlling center also be material, literal. And again it should be reiterated that spirit things and spiritual beings are real.
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Urantia Book, 50:6.4 - Planetary Culture
Culture presupposes quality of mind; culture cannot be enhanced unless mind is elevated. Superior intellect will seek a noble culture and find some way to attain such a goal. Inferior minds will spurn the highest culture even when presented to them ready-made.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.6 - True And False Liberty
True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration. True liberty is the fruit of self-control; false liberty, the assumption of self-assertion. Self-control leads to altruistic service; self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.9 - True And False Liberty
How dare the self-willed creature encroach upon the rights of his fellows in the name of personal liberty when the Supreme Rulers of the universe stand back in merciful respect for these prerogatives of will and potentials of personality! No being, in the exercise of his supposed personal liberty, has a right to deprive any other being of those privileges of existence conferred by the Creators and duly respected by all their loyal associates, subordinates, and subjects.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.8 - True And False Liberty
There is no error greater than that species of self-deception which leads intelligent beings to crave the exercise of power over other beings for the purpose of depriving these persons of their natural liberties. The golden rule of human fairness cries out against all such fraud, unfairness, selfishness, and unrighteousness.