Episode:Consequences of the Betrayal (Part 2)
The free will of evolving man or exquisite angel is not a mere philosophic concept, a symbolic ideal. Man's ability to choose good or evil is a universe reality. In such matters, supreme justice can act instantly when not restrained by divine mercy. Justice is restrained by mercy because God is love.
Keywords: Urantia, Free Will, Mercy, Time, Justice
Summary by Kermit
3. The Time Lag of Justice
Why does God permit evil and sin? As was mentioned last week, the endowment of immature spiritually conscious creatures with free will, makes the creature choice of evil and sin an inevitability. While conscious and wholehearted identification with evil (sin) is tantamount to iniquity leading to annihilation, there intervenes between the creature’s identification with sin and the execution of the penalty, a sufficient length of time for the creature’s adjudication as to satisfy all related personalities including the sinner of a fair and just judgement.
Should the rebel fail to approve the verdict, and if the guilty one knows in his heart (i.e. still has a heart domain) the justice of his condemnation, then execution is delayed at the discretion of the Ancients of Days, who refuse to annihilate any being until all moral values and all spiritual realities are extinct.
Commentary: Only recently in our history are we sufficiently sophisticated to begin to recognize the two sides of the Lucifer Rebellion argument: the ideas of God the Sevenfold v. the ideas of the God of Liberty. Even so, it is sad to record that many of our brethren are still unthinking and therefore can’t even make an informed, free will choice in such matters.
The history of our religion is characterized by a combination of goodness and figment. What of course we need is religion founded on spirit facts instead of figment.
4. The Mercy Time Lag
Another problem difficult of explanation is why the wrongdoers were not apprehended, interned, and adjudicated sooner. A simple answer is that the free-willness demonstrated by a creature choosing sin, justifies any delay in the execution of justice, provided such mercy might lead to repentance and rehabilitation. Such restraint of justice by mercy proves that God is love.
Discussion: It is important to note that the administration of Justice derives from the Paradise Trinity via the Ancients of Days, while the extension of Mercy derives from the Father via the Creator Sons.
The root of Lucifer’s disastrous actions can be traced to something with which we humans are most familiar—IMPATIENCE. Thus, the impatience of the spiritual idealist to realize his spiritual ideals leads to disaster. Note that without the ideal born in the spiritual consciousness, that doesn’t reckon time, and the zeal of impatience, such calamity doesn’t happen.
While good can not come of evil to the one who so contemplates and performs it, all things (including evil, potential and manifest) work together for good to all beings who know God, love to do his will, and are ascending Paradiseward according to his eternal plan and divine purpose.
These mercy restraints on justice are not without limit. The revelators tell us that the first hearing in the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer was held on Uversa during the time of effecting these Urantia revelations. Shortly following this, Satan was confined to the prison world with Lucifer, depriving him (Satan), of the ability to visit any of the fallen worlds of Satania. Justice in a mercy-dominated universe may be slow, but it is certain.
5. The Wisdom of Delay
Our author provides twelve reasons why Lucifer and his confederates were not sooner interned or adjudicated. We covered the first nine on the last show.
Discussion: An illuminating view of these three sections on “delay” or “time lag” was given in relation to the levels of meaning, often cited on this show.
Another interesting cross reference describing the “resurrection of the unjust” was brought in to show the literality of these transactions, such that all related beings and observers can appreciate the administration of mercy and justice in the universe affairs concerning eternal life.
I strongly recommend that serious students go back to the archive of this show. I found considerable clarification in my understanding of this material in my review of the program.
