God is inherently
kind, naturally compassionate, and everlastingly merciful. And never is it necessary
that any influence be brought to bear upon the Father to call forth his
loving-kindness. The creature's need is wholly sufficient to insure the full
flow of the Father's tender mercies and his saving grace. Since God knows all
about his children, it is easy for him to forgive. The better man understands
his neighbor, the easier it will be to forgive him, even to love him.
P.38
Mercy is the
natural and inevitable offspring of goodness and love. The good nature of a
loving Father could not possibly withold the wise ministry of mercy to each
member of every group of his universe children. Eternal justice and divine
mercy together constitute what in human experience would be called
fairness. P.38
"God is
love"; therefore his only personal attitude towards the affairs of the
universe is always a reaction of divine affection. The Father loves us
sufficiently. P.38
God is divinely
kind to sinners. When rebels return to righteousness, they are mercifully
received, "for our God will abundantly pardon." "I am he who
blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your
sins." "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God." P.39
I find it easy and
pleasant to worship one who is so great and at the same time so affectionately
devoted to the uplifting ministry of his lowly creatures. I naturally love one
who is so powerful in creation and in the control thereof, and yet who is so
perfect in goodness and so faithful in the loving-kindness which constantly
overshadows us. I think I would love God just as much if he were not so great
and powerful, as long as he is so good and merciful. We all love the Father
more because of his nature than in recognition of his amazing attributes.
P.39
The Father's love
follows us now and throughout the endless circle of the eternal ages. As you
ponder the loving nature of God, there is only one reasonable and natural
personality reaction thereto: You will increasingly love your Maker; you will
yield to God an affection analogous to that given by a child to an earthly
parent; for, as a father, a real father, a true father, loves his children, so
the Universal Father loves and forever seeks the welfare of his created sons
and daughters. P.40
When man loses
sight of the love of a personal God, the kingdom of God becomes merely the
kingdom of good. Notwithstanding the infinite unity of the divine nature, love
is the dominant characteristic of all God's personal dealings with his
creatures. P.40
The concept of God
as a king-judge, although it fostered a high moral standard and created a
law-respecting people as a group, left the individual believer in a sad
position of insecurity respecting his status in time and in eternity. The later
Hebrew prophets proclaimed God to be a Father to Israel; Jesus revealed God as
the Father of each human being. The entire mortal concept of God is
transcendently illuminated by the life of Jesus. Selflessness is inherent in
parental love. God loves not like a father, but as a father. He is the Paradise
Father of every universe personality. P.41
Righteousness
implies that God is the source of the moral law of the universe. Truth exhibits
God as a revealer, as a teacher. But love gives and craves affection, seeks
understanding fellowship such as exists between parent and child. Righteousness
may be the divine thought, but love is a father's attitude. The erroneous
supposition that the righteousness of God was irreconcilable with the selfless
love of the heavenly Father, presupposed absence of unity in the nature of
Deity and led directly to the elaboration of the atonement doctrine, which is a
philosophic assault upon both the unity and the free-willness of God. P.41
Facing the world of
personality, God is discovered to be a loving person; facing the spiritual
world, he is a personal love; in religious experience he is both. Love
identifies the volitional will of God. The goodness of God rests at the bottom
of the divine free-willness--the universal tendency to love, show mercy,
manifest patience, and minister forgiveness. P.42
The religious
challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women
of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy
of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of
cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. Such a new and righteous
vision of morality will attract all that is good in the mind of man and
challenge that which is best in the human soul. Truth, beauty, and goodness are
divine realities, and as man ascends the scale of spiritual living, these
supreme qualities of the Eternal become increasingly co-ordinated and unified
in God, who is love. P.43
Mortal man cannot
possibly know the infinitude of the heavenly Father. Finite mind cannot think
through such an absolute truth or fact. But this same finite human being can
actually feel--literally experience--the full and undiminished impact of such
an infinite Father's LOVE. Such a love can be truly experienced, albeit while
quality of experience is unlimited, quantity of such an experience is strictly
limited by the human capacity for spiritual receptivity and by the associated
capacity to love the Father in return. P.50
In the affairs of
men's hearts the Universal Father may not always have his way; but in the
conduct and destiny of a planet the divine plan prevails; the eternal purpose
of wisdom and love triumphs. P.51
The Hebrews based
their religion on goodness; the Greeks on beauty; both religions sought truth.
Jesus revealed a God of love, and love is all-embracing of truth, beauty, and
goodness. P.67
In the study of the
religious life of Jesus, view him positively. Think not so much of his
sinlessness as of his righteousness, his loving service. Jesus upstepped the
passive love disclosed in the Hebrew concept of the heavenly Father to the
higher active and creature-loving affection of a God who is the Father of every
individual, even of the wrongdoer. P.68
The consciousness
of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing
exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a
spirit-led mortal, "for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekenss, and temperance."
Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the
lowly paths of toil and human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly
assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they
glimmer on the faraway shores of another world, already have they begun to
comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth, "The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the
Holy Spirit." And throughout every trial and in the presence of every
hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends all
fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence of the
divine Spirit. P.381
Love is the desire
to do good to others. P.648
One of the most
amazing earmarks of religious living is that dynamic and sublime peace, that
peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the
absence of all doubt and turmoil. Such levels of spiritual stability are immune
to disappointment. Such religionists are like the Apostle Paul, who said:
"I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor anything else shall be able to separate us from the love of
God." P.1101
Jesus' originality
was unstifled. He was not bound by tradition or handicapped by enslavement to
narrow conventionality. He spoke with undoubted confidence and taught with
absolute authority. But this superb originality did not cause him to overlook
the gems of truth in the teachings of his predecessors and contemporaries. And
the most original of his teachings was the emphasis of love and mercy in the
place of fear and sacrifice. P.1102
He was candid, but
always kind. Said he, "If it were not so, I would have told you." He
was frank, but always friendly. He was outspoken in his love for the sinner and
in his hatred for sin. But throughout all this amazing frankness he was
unerringly fair. P.1102
Belief may not be
able to resist doubt and withstand fear, but faith is always triumphant over
doubting, for faith is both positive and living. The positive always has the
advantage over the negative, truth over error, experience over theory,
spiritual realities over the isolated facts of time and space. The convincing
evidence of this spiritual certainty consists in the social fruits of the
spirit which such believers, faithers, yield as a result of this genuine
spiritual experience. Said Jesus: "If you love your fellows as I have
loved you, then shall all men know that you are my disciples." P1125
The intellectual
earmark of religion is certainty; the philosophical characteristic is
consistency; the social fruits are love and service. P1126
God the Father
deals with man his child on the basis, not of actual virtue or worthiness, but
in recognition of the child's motivation--the creature purpose and intent. The
relationship is one of parent-child association and is actuated by divine
love. P.1133
The brotherhood of
men is founded on the fatherhood of God. The family of God is derived from the
love of God--God is love. God the Father divinely loves his children, all of
them. P1486
"I say to you:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
and pray for those who despitefully use you. And whatsoever you believe that I
would do to men, do you also to them. P1572
Strong characters
are not derived from not doing wrong but rather from actually doing right.
Unselfishnes is the badge of human greatness. The highest levels of
self-realization are attained by worship and service. The happy and effective
person is motivated, not by fear of wrongdoing, but by love of right doing.
P.1572
From the Sermon on
the Mount to the discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus taught his followers to
manifest fatherly love rather than brotherly love. Brotherly love would love
your neighbor as you love yourself, and that would be adequate fulfillment of
the "golden rule." But fatherly affection would require that you
should love your fellow mortals as Jesus loves you. P1573
Jesus loves mankind
with a dual affection. He lived on earth as a twofold personality--human and
divine. As the Son of God he loves man with a fatherly love--he is man's
Creator, his universe Father. As the Son of Man, Jesus loves mortals as a
brother--he was truly a man among men. P.1573
Jesus did not
expect his followers to achieve an impossible manifestation of brotherly love,
but he did expect them to so strive to be like God--to be perfect even as the
Father in heaven is perfect--that they could begin to look upon man as God
looks upon his creatures and therefore could begin to love men as God loves
them--to show forth the beginnings of a fatherly affection. In the course of
these exhortations to the twelve apostles, Jesus sought to reveal this new
concept of fatherly love as it is related to certain emotional attitudes
concerned in making numerous environmental social adjustments. P.1573
He first talked
about those who were poor in spirit, hungered after righteousness, endured
meekness, and who were pure in heart. Such spirit-discerning mortals could be
expected to attain such levels of divine selflessness as to be able to attempt
the amazing exercise of fatherly affection, that even as mourners they would be
empowered to show mercy, promote peace, and endure persecutions, and throughout
all of these trying situations to love even unlovely mankind with a fatherly
love. A father's affection can attain levels of devotion that immeasurably
transcend a brother's affection. P.1573
The faith and the
love of these beatitudes strengthen moral character and create happiness. Fear
and anger weaken character and destroy happiness. This momentous sermon started
out upon the note of happiness. P.1573
Experiential
righteousness is a pleasure, not a duty. Jesus' righteousness is a dynamic
love--fatherly--brotherly affection. It is not the negative or thou-shalt-not
type of righteousness. How could one ever hunger for something
negative--something "not to do"? P.1574
And then Jesus went
on to instruct his followers in the realization of the chief purpose of all
human struggling--perfection--even divine attainment. Always he admonished
them; "Be you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." He
did not exhort the twelve to love their neighbors as they loved themselves.
That would have been a worthy achievement; it would have indicated the
achievement of brotherly love. He rather admonished his apostles to love men as
he had loved them--to love with a fatherly as well as a brotherly
affection. P.1574
"Greater love
has no man than to lay down his life for his friends." And a fatherly love
can freely do all these things--things which brotherly love can hardly
encompass. And progress has always been the final harvest of persecution.
P.1575
And so it is
revealed that the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount are based on faith and
love and not on law--ethics and duty. P.1575
Fatherly love
delights in returning good for evil--doing good in retaliation for
injustice. P.1575
"I demand of
you a righteousness that shall exceed the righteousness of those who seek to
obtain the Father's favor by almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. If you would
enter the kingdom, you must have a righteousness that consists in love, mercy,
and truth--the sincere desire to do the will of my Father in heaven."
P.1576
Love your
enemies--remember the moral claims of human brotherhood. P.1580
The Master offered
no solutions for the nonreligious problems of his own age nor for any
subsequent age. Jesus wished to develop spiritual insight into eternal
realities and to stimulate initiative in the originality of living; he
concerned himself exclusively with the underlying and permanent spiritual needs
of the human race. He revealed a goodness equal to God. He exalted love--truth,
beauty, and goodness--as the divine ideal and the eternal reality. P.1583
Thomas asked Jesus:
"Master, you say that we must become as little children before we can gain
entrance to the Father's kingdom, and yet you have warned us not to be deceived
by false prophets nor to become guilty of casting our pearls before swine. Now,
I am honestly puzzled. I cannot understand your teaching." Jesus replied
to Thomas: "How long shall I bear with you! Ever you insist on making
literal all that I teach. When I asked you to become as little children as the
price of entering the kingdom, I referred not to ease of deception, mere
willingness to believe, or to quickness to trust pleasing strangers. What I did
desire that you should gather from the illustration was the child-father
relationship. You are the child, and it is your Father's kingdom you seek to
enter. There is present that natural affection between every normal child and
its father which insures an understanding and loving relationship. And which
forever precludes all disposition to bargain for the Father's love and mercy.
And the gospel you are going forth to preach has to do with a salvation growing
out of the faith-realization of this very and eternal child-father
relationship." P.1585
"Jacob, you
have well stated the teachings of the olden prophets who taught the children of
their generation in accordance with the light of their day. Our Father in
Paradise is changeless. But the concept of his nature has enlarged and grown
from the days of Moses down through the times of Amos and even to the
generation of the prophet Isaiah. And now have I come in the flesh to reveal
the Father in new glory and to show forth his love and mercy to all men on all
worlds. As the gospel of this kingdom shall spread over the world with its
message of good cheer and good will to all men, there will grow up improved and
better relations among the families of all nations. As time passes, fathers and
their children will love each other more, and thus will be brought about a
better understanding of the love of the Father in heaven for his children on
earth. Remember, Jacob, that a good and true father not only loves his family
as a whole--as a family--but he also truly loves and affectionately cares for
each individual member." P.1597
After considerable
discussion of the heavenly Father's character, Jesus paused to say: "You,
Jacob, being a father of many, know well the truth of my words." And Jacob
said: "But, Master, who told you I was the father of six children? How did
you know this about me?" And the Master replied: "Suffice it to say
that the Father and the Son know all things, for indeed they see all. Loving
your children as a father on earth, you must now accept as a reality the love
of the heavenly Father for you--not just for all the children of Abraham, but
for you, your individual soul." P.1597
Then Jesus went on
to say: "When your children are very young and immature, and when you must
chastise them, they may reflect that their father is angry and filled with
resentful wrath. Their immaturity cannot penetrate beyond the punishment to
discern the father's farseeing and corrective affection. But when these same
children become grown-up men and women, would it not be folly for them to cling
to these earlier and misconceived notions regarding their father? As men and
women they should now discern their father's love in all these disciplines. And
should not mankind, as the centuries pass, come the better to understand the
true nature and loving character of the Father in heaven? What profit have you
from successive generations of spiritual illumination if you persist in viewing
God as Moses and the prophets saw him? I say to you. Jacob, under the bright
light of this hour you should see the Father as none of those who have gone
before ever beheld him. And thus seeing him, you should rejoice to enter the
kingdom wherein such a merciful Father rules, and you should seek to have his
will of love dominate your life henceforth." P.1597
And then will you
remember that once again--in the greater spiritual enlightenment of Isaiah's
day--these ten negative commandments were changed into the great and positive
law of love, the injunction to love God supremely and your neighbor as
yourself. And it is this supreme law of love for God and for man that I also
declare to you as constituting the whole duty of man." P.1599
"As to my message and the teaching of my disciples, you should judge them by their fruits. If we proclaim to you the truths of the spirit, the spirit will witness in your hearts that our message is genuine. Concerning the kingdom and your assurance of acceptance by the heavenly Father, let me ask what father among you who is a worthy and kindhearted father would keep his son in anxiety or suspense regarding his status in the family or his place of security in the affections of his father's heart? Do you earth fathers take pleasure in torturing your children with uncertainty about their place of abiding love in your human hearts? Neither does your Father in heaven leave his faith children of the spirit in doubtful uncertainty as to their position in the kingdom. If you receive God as your Father, then indeed and in truth are you the sons of God. And if you are sons, then are you secure in the position and standing of all that concerns eternal and divine sonship. If you believe my words, you thereby believe in Him who sent me, and by thus believing in the Father, you have made your status in heavenly citizenship sure. If you do the will of the Father in heaven, you shall never fail in the attainment of the eternal life of progress in the divine kingdom. P.1601
The above quotes are from the Urantia Book.