Uranta Book 65. On a normal planet, the idea of tribal rule gives way to the dual concept of national life and family life. On a normal planet there is equality between the sexes. Agriculture replaces hunting for food. People settle in one location. The races are purified and brought up to a high state of physical perfection and intellectual strength before the end of this era. The higher types of mortals are promoted while the lower types are curtailed. Urantia is criticized because our early people didn’t discriminate the lower types which now account for so many defective and degenerate individuals among the present day Urantia races. Most worlds seriously address themselves to the tasks of race purification, something which the Urantia people have not even yet seriously undertaken. And probably won’t. Urantia/Earth gets criticized a lot in the UB it seems about everything.****** At Philadelphia, where James was preaching, Jesus taught the disciples about the positive nature of the gospel of the kingdom. When, in the course of his remarks, he intimated that some parts of Scripture were more truth-containing than others, and admonished his hearers to feed their souls on the best of the spiritual food, James interrupted the Master, asking: “Would you be good enough, Master, to suggest to us how we may choose the better passages from the Scriptures for our edification?” And Jesus replied: “Yes, James, when you read the Scriptures look for those eternally true and divinely beautiful teachings, such as: “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord.”***** “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”*********************************** “You should love your neighbor as yourself.”******************************** “Neither shall the nations learn war any-more.”***********************************And this illustrates the way Jesus, day by day, appropriated the Hebrew Scriptures for the instruction of his followers and for inclusion in the teaching of the new gospel of the kingdom. Other religions suggest the nearness of God to man, but Jesus made the care of God for humanity like the solicitude of a loving Father for the welfare of his dependent children and then made this teaching the cornerstone of his religion.(I am reading the 4 gospels, 1 chapter from each to see how much they refer to the kingdom, because that’s all Jesus talks about–let me say, its very disappointing. There is not much, except the comparisons, like the kingdom is like a mustard seed. In general the gospels don’t portray Jesus the same as the Urantia Book.) And thus did the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God make imperative the practice of the brotherhood of homo sapiens sapiens. The worship of God and the service of women became the sum and substance of his religion. Jesus took the best of the Jewish religion and translated it to a worthy setting in the new teachings of the gospel of the kingdom. In the place of negative compliance with ceremonial requirements, Jesus enjoined the positive doing of that which his new religion required of those who accepted it. Jesus’ religion consisted in not merely believing, but in actually doing, those things which the gospel required. He did not teach that the essence of his religion was social service, but rather that social service was one of the effects of the possession of true religion.*************** Jesus also talked about nonresistance. He opposed negative or purely passive nonresistance. He said: “When an enemy smites you on one cheek, do not stand there dumb and passive but in positive attitude, turn the other; that is, do the best thing possible actively to lead your brother in error away from the evil paths into the better ways of righteous living.” Jesus required his followers to react positively and aggressively to every life situation. The turning the other cheek or whatever act that may typify, demands initiative, necessitates vigorous, active, courageous expression of the believer’s personality. Jesus did not advocate the practice of negative submission to the indignities of those who might purposely seek to impose upon the practitioners of nonresistance to evil, but rather that his followers should be wise and alert in the quick and positive reaction of good to evil to the end that they may overcome evil with good. Forget not, the truly good is invariably more powerful than the most malignant evil. Jesus never exhorted his followers patiently to bear their obligations, but rather with energy and enthusiasm to live up to the full measure of their human responsibilities and divine privileges in the kingdom of God. Jesus abhorred the idea of either retaliation or of becoming a passive sufferer or victim of injustice. He told them there were three ways of resisting evil: 1. to return evil for evil–the positive but unrighteous method. 2. To suffer evil without complaint and without resistance–the purely negative method. 3. To return good for evil, to assert the will, so to become master of the situation, to overcome evil with good–the positive and righteous method. One of the apostles asked: “Master, what should I do if a stranger forced me to carry his pack for a mile?” Jesus replied: “Carry it two miles. That will confuse the unrighteous and ungodly stranger, and confusion is a good state for you to work with him.” In all his teaching Jesus unfailingly avoided distracting details. He shunned flowery language and avoided the poetic imagery of a play on words. He always put large meanings into small expressions. The greatest strength of his teaching was its naturalness. Jesus brought the philosophy of religion from heaven down to earth (159.5.1-14).****************************** The mission of four weeks in the Decapolis was moderately successful. Hundreds of souls were won for the kingdom and the apostles and evangelists had a valuable experience. I believe they had a bad experience the first time they went to the Decapolis. They were going to rest for a week before going to Jerusalem and the remainder of Jesus’ mission on Urantia. Most went home, but Nathaniel and Thomas stayed and hosted a philosopher named Rodan from Alexandria, who had become a believer when one of John’s disciples came to Alexandria. On Monday morning Rodan began a series of lectures to believers and the two apostles. In his Greek philosophy, strong character is only acquired by converting the natural urge of life into the social art of living, by transforming present desires into those higher longings which are capable of lasting attainment, while the commonplace lure of existence must be transferred from one’s conventional and established ideas to the higher realms of unexplored ideas and undiscovered ideals. The more complex civilization becomes, the more difficult will become the art of living. The more rapid the change in social usage, the more complicated will become the task of character development. Every ten generations mankind must learn anew the art of living if progress is to continue. And if mankind becomes so ingenious that he more rapidly adds to the complexities of societies, the art of living will need to be remastered in less time, perhaps every single generation. If the evolution of the art of living fails to keep pace with the technique of existence, humanity will quickly revert to the simple urge of living–the attainment of the satisfaction of present desires. Thus will humanity remain immature; society will fail to grow up to full maturity.(I don’t know if another reader caught this, but this is a fairly good description of 21st Century society.) ************************ Rodan says suicide exists among humans but not animals. Suicide happens among humans when their exploratory efforts have failed to attain the artistic level of mortal experience. Also, according to Rodan, man does not only possess capacity for recognition of values and comprehension of meanings, but he is also conscious of the meaning of meanings–he is self-conscious of insight. Human society is confronted with two problems: attainment of maturity of the individual and attainment of maturity of the race. The mature human being soon begins to look upon all other mortals with feelings of tolerance and tenderness. Successful living is nothing more or less than the mastery of techniques for solving common problems. The first step in solving a problem is to locate the difficulty, isolate the problem and to recognize its nature and gravity. Our worst problem is when we are afraid to acknowledge our problems and stay in the illusion of safety. The solution to life’s problems requires courage and sincerity. Rodan said that Jesus inspired him to go to a quiet place and meditate, and that has enriched his spiritual life. He said: “One can seek for wisdom and energy for meeting the manifold demands of social service; to quicken and deepen the supreme purpose of living by actually subjecting the total personality to the consciousness of contacting divinity; to grasp for possession of new and better methods to the ever changing situations of living existence; and to do this with an eye single to the glory of God–to breathe in sincerity your Master’s favorite prayer, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” (160.1.1-11).