Episode:Religion in Depth—Foundations of Faith (Part 7)
Of God, the most inescapable of all presences, the most real of all facts, the most living of all truths, the most loving of all friends, and the most divine of all values, we have the right to be the most certain of all universe experiences.
Keywords: Urantia, Religion, Prophets, Dogma, Miracles
Summary by Kermit
Commentary on Review
We revisited [102:7.4] for clarification of the two references; first to the nonreligious roots of apparently religious fruits, and lastly to the roots of original divine endowment of mind and spirit. The author challenges us to make the all-important distinction between spiritual and religious. The genuine engagement of personality is what distinguishes the spiritual from the religious.
102:7.7
Picking up with our reading, the point is made again that faith certainty--god-knowingness--is the greatest technique for dealing with the superficial contentions concerning the reality of God. Such contentions usually consist of temporal concerns and are transcended by application of an eternal viewpoint. Faith certainty gains the upper hand over belief-conviction by being anchored in eternity and coming down into time. We are to be sophistry proof. Neither scientific nor even moral consciousness can carry you to eternity, only religious consciousness provides the eternal perspective in which scientific and moral endeavors find cosmic meaning.
The unwarranted dogma brought to bear by science, philosophy, or sociology in contending with the true prophets of religion can be vanquished by the more farseeing dogma of faith certainty. Consistency demands the dogmatist to eventually be confronted by the Absolute of energy, the Universal of truth, and the Infinite of love. Note the authors’ boldness in using these historically baggage laden terms as dogma and prophet in their higher and true sense.
To the challenge that faith offers no objective proof to the unbeliever, the faither can likewise respond that all three modes of proof of science, philosophy, and religion--those being reason, logic, and faith--are all experienced in the realm of mind. Reflectively derived Insight is the faculty that helps objectify the otherwise subjective nature of such conscious activities. Personality-managed reflection constitutes the human up reach meeting the divine down reach resulting in the growth of your soul.
The final paragraph of the section is a powerful statement of the faith certainty and God-knowing recognition of the incontrovertible fact of the reality of the experience of God’s existence—the certitude of the divine.
102:8. The Evidences of Religion
The driving force for human beings’ willingness to fully trust their present and future interests to the keeping of their version of God notwithstanding their animal-origin proclivities of fear, suspicion, instinct for self-preservation, and craving for survival after death is the superconscious faith possessed by grace. Our challenge is to supply the favorable conditions which enhance making conscious this superconscious possession. Of course in supplying these favorable conditions, beware of thinking you can grow yourself through your own efforts. Be the loyal, humble, sincere, just, and patient tadpole.
While the status of religion in the evolutionary scale is best judged by its moral judgments and ethical standards, the accompanying civilizations are best judged by the purity and nobility of their religion. Civilization is a choice which stems from the inner life of the individual.
Religion is dependent upon a recognition and realization of the three-fold nature of reality. Religions of various ages manifest differently. Don’t make the mistake of judging the religion of our ancestors by the standards of today. In the narration of the truth teachers of old note that their practices may have been primitive, but their religion was real. Much that passes for the religion of modern man is not nearly as primitive, yet neither is it so real.
Ethics faithfully reflects the progress of internal spiritual and religious developments. Man has always ascribed to God his deepest ideas and highest ideals. We noted the correction of the word eternal to the word external in the text of the opening sentence of this paragraph.
Personal religion leads the evolution of human morals, but institutional religion has been conservatively tardy in carrying the bring the fruits of personal religion forward. Prophets lead and theologians retard religious development. We noted the revelators’ use of the word prophet in the sense that their religious illumination is a conscious illumination synchronized with the facts of the present.
Finally, we are given the admonition that revealed religion never point to miracles as proof of authority and true religion has nothing to do with alleged miracles. Such associations harken back to primitive religions of magic. While we can approach the miracle through Jesus in his public role as Son of God, we are warned against pursuing Jesus through his so-called miracles.
Notes by Brad
- A mere child of God is easily confused by truth and error. Both feel rather holistic and similar on the surface.
- When something comes naturally, it's borne not of your personality but of the Supreme.
- Three modes of proof: reason, logic, and faith.
- Don't be befogged by overmuch thinking. Find the mustard seed.
- What is a prophet? Something more than a fortune teller. It's about being touched by something beyond oneself, sure.
- But it's had a special meaning here because of the rebellion and default. People were more directly engaged from time to time to "keep the flame alive" until the next epochal revelation came along. A certain form of Old Testament notion.
- But in the last 2000 years we aren't in an Old Testament mode so much anymore (with occasional exceptions). It's more about a living personal spiritual experience.
- Every sentence here has words that are suggestions of a truth, a truth that can be put into words because truth is living. Truth cannot be directly expressed in words; words are just facts on a page.
- Can you let your mind be... adjusted... by the words on the page, to lead you to the knowledge the revelators were trying to give you?
