Book of Discipline
Chapter II
GOD EXPLAINETH THE FIRST AND SECOND RESURRECTION, AND THE DIFFERENCE IN MANIFESTATIONS FROM THEM.
1. HEAR me, O man, and consider the weight of the arguments of thy God. Thou hast communed with the spirits of the dead; thy father and mother and sister and brother who are gone from mortality have spoken to thee in spirit, and thou art convinced.
2. And thy kin and thy neighbor have done so likewise; yea, from east to west, and north to south the communion of angels and a multitude of miracles have stirred up thousands and millions--to know that the souls of the dead do live.
3. Moreover thou wert taught in thy youth to say: I believe in the holy communion of angels.
4. And of a truth this hath come to pass. And thou rejoicest with all thy heart and soul. Thou puttest aside the ancient scriptures, saying: Why shall I read them? Do I not converse with heaven itself? Behold, I have seen my father and mother and brother and sister who were dead;
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they have spoken to me; there is no devil nor place of hell.
5. For a season thy God hath suffered this also to come to pass--that the spirits say there is no God; that there is no higher heaven than to dwell upon the earth, to enjoy the things thereof; to be reincarnated, and to live over and over in mortality.
6. That the evidence of my words might be substantiated by thy experience, and thou be led to consider the testimonies, present and past, in order to comprehend the plan of Jehovih's works, and the glory and completeness thereof.
7. Consider then the result of angel communion as thou hast found it, and bear witness that Jehovih was wise in providing comfort to both the dead and the living by this proximity of spirit unto them, rather than a heaven far remote.
8. Nevertheless, this also hath been proved unto thee--that there are false angels and wise angels, as well as false seers and wise seers, and that out of the multitude of revelations from them, there hath come neither harmony nor good works.
9. They have been pullers down and clearers away of the ancient revelations, doctrines and religions; but they have built not an edifice of unity and glory to the Almighty.
10. And it hath been shown thee that not only the seer, prophet, su'is, and miracle worker, but that all people are subject to the influence of the spirits of the dead, even though unconsciously to themselves.
11. And it hath been shown that the spirits of the dead possess for a long period of time the same characteristics and prejudices as when in mortality; and since there is neither harmony nor community of life amongst mortals, neither is there harmony nor community of life nor of teaching amongst the angels who manifest unto them.
12. For the angels through one prophet teach one doctrine, and through another prophet another doctrine, after the manner of the doctrines of the prophets themselves.
13. Consider also the multitude of infants, that die without any knowledge of either earth or heaven. And the multitude of unlearned, and foolish, and depraved; for all of these as well as the wise and good enter the first resurrection.
14. And of the wise and good, who strive for continual elevation--how few, compared to the whole! Yet such is the relative proportions of angels of light and angels of darkness in proximity to mortals.
15. Thus hath it ever been. Nevertheless, in time long past, the minority, who were wise and good were moved by the spirit of Jehovih upon them, saying:
16. Come ye together, O all ye who desire to rise to a higher heaven; my heavens are for raising the soul upward for ever and ever.
17. And thy God gathered them together, and said unto them:
18. Behold, this darkness is more than we can bear; let us hence and inhabit a heaven by ourselves, where there shall be no wrangling, or falsehood, or malice, or blasphemy against our Creator.
19. And they responded: Yea, let us hence. And we will covenant ourselves unto Jehovih to return no more to these regions, nor to mortals on earth. For doth not the behavior of mortals invite darkness rather than light? Do they not want us for servants--to find lost treasures or riches, or social indulgence? or to entertain them with miracles?
20. Thus it came to pass that the wisest and best angels departed away from the earth; away from mortals, and away from the inharmonious presence of the legions of the spirits of the dead, and they inhabited a heavenly region by themselves.
21. And they covenanted themselves unto Jehovih not to return again single-handed to minister unto mortals; neither to return again to mortals save they came in phalanxes, and only when duly authorized and directed by their most Holy Council, and their chief, who was God.
22. Such then was the beginning of the second resurrection; and the condition of membership required the renunciation of all associations and conditions below it. And the rank of all such angels was, ANGELS OF GOD, or ANGELS OF JEHOVIH, in contradistinction from the angels of the first resurrection, who know no organization for righteousness' sake.
23. But that mortals be not left in darkness, behold thy God and his holy council prepared certain rules of discipline and conduct and commandments, whereby the angels of the second resurrection should be as a unit in their duties and teachings thereafter.
24. Chief of which rules was, that the angels of Jehovih should never manifest themselves as individuals unto mortals, lest mortals become servants to, and worshippers of the spirits instead of the All Highest, Jehovih.
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25. Second to this--that when the angels of Jehovih should be appointed to mortals, it should be as guardians over infants, to inspire them by way of the natural consciousness within, as to what was right and good in reference to eternal life. And that such guardian angels be in phalanxes of millions and tens of millions (but still in close membership with thy God and his Holy Council) in order to relieve one another on guard.
26. For, by the inspirations of the angels of thy God, the individual entity of a mortal is directed in its normal growth; but by the angels of the first resurrection, mortals are used abnormally, by entrancement, by miracles, or by sar'gis, oracles or otherwise.
27. That the angels of God might inspire mortals with the same inspiration, behold, he and his Holy Council prepared certain instruction with rules, words and commandments adapted to the understanding of mortals for the good of their souls, pandering not to their earthly desires. Such words being designated as sacred writings in the original, though for the most part perverted or lost sight of afterward.
28. Chief angels over these phalanxes being Lords, Marshals, Captains, and so on, the second resurrection being orderly, disciplined and organized in its glorious work.
29. Thus my Lords have angels under them who are authorized and ordained in my name, and in the name of Jehovih to abide for times and seasons with mortals as guardians and inspirers; to provide dreams, thoughts and visions in the minds of mortals, and to otherwise labor in elevating them in purity, love and wisdom.
30. Such then are the angels of God and of Jehovih. And their teachings are the same as my Lord's and thy God's; nor doth one of them teach a matter in one way, and another teach it differently; howbeit there are different grades and systems adapted to the different degrees of intelligence of the different peoples on earth.
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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.