Slide show presented at Annual reader Conference in Sydney 3-6 October 1997
The creation of the human Jesus was not an accidental process:
After a study of the special report on the status of segregated worlds prepared by the Melchizedeks, in counsel with Gabriel, Michael finally chose Urantia as the planet whereon to enact his final bestowal. Subsequent to this decision Gabriel made a personal visit to Urantia, and, as a result of his study of human groups and his survey of the spiritual, intellectual, racial, and geographic features of the world and its peoples, he decided that the Hebrews possessed those relative advantages which warranted their selection as the bestowal race. 122:0.2 (1344.2)
Yes! The powers-to-be looked carefully to choose in which race and couple they would install Christ Michael’s mind.
Jesus derived much of his unusual gentleness and marvellous sympathetic understanding of human nature from his father; he inherited his gift as a great teacher and his tremendous capacity for righteous indignation from his mother. In emotional reactions to his adult-life environment, Jesus was at one time like his father, meditative and worshipful, sometimes characterized by apparent sadness; but more often he drove forward in the manner of his mother’s optimistic and determined disposition. All in all, Mary’s temperament tended to dominate the career of the divine Son as he grew up and swung into the momentous strides of his adult life. In some particulars Jesus was a blending of his parents’ traits; in other respects he exhibited the traits of one in contrast with those of the other. 122:5.3 (1348.3)
Jesus also had the advantage of parents who believed in a strong educational base for their children and also included a strong spiritual training in their upbringing (in such a society the existence of God was an accepted fact, no doubts nor scientific debates).
From Joseph Jesus secured his strict training in the usages of the Jewish ceremonials and his unusual acquaintance with the Hebrew scriptures; from Mary he derived a broader viewpoint of religious life and a more liberal concept of personal spiritual freedom.
122:5.4 (1348.4)
The families of both Joseph and Mary were well educated for their time. Joseph and Mary were educated far above the average for their day and station in life. He was a thinker; she was a planner, expert in adaptation and practical in immediate execution. 122:5.5 (1349.1)
And this is just the human part of Jesus!! We, on the other hand, just have to accept and live with, what evolution gives us. Genetic chance means that we are either smart or dumb, be adept socially or perhaps may not like mixing at all. We may be calm and patient, or perhaps nervous or even have an uncontrollable temper or weird tendencies. It is true that we can moderate this factors to a certain degree, but for the most part we just have to live with them. Furthermore even our upbringing plays a significant role in our development ; we are influenced by parental instruction, how much love and encouragement we are shown and even the socio-economic circumstances into which we are born. It is clear, that we are not equal and that we should not even try and pretend that we are.
Do we then, ‘Dare to be God Like’? Can we even aspire to even the human part of Jesus?
The answer is of course, yes, we can! Our disabilities may limit us in the actual material or physical amount that we might be able to contribute as individuals to the Supreme Being, but….the teachings of Jesus however make it clear that our contributions are measured against our ability to contribute, and this is most clearly emphasises when Jesus points out the o ld woman making a contribution in the temple:
And now, as the evening drew on and the crowds went in quest of nourishment, Jesus and his immediate followers were left alone. What a strange day it had been! The apostles were thoughtful, but speechless. Never, in their years of association with Jesus, had they seen such a day. For a moment they sat down by the treasury, watching the people drop in their contributions: the rich putting much in the receiving box and all giving something in accordance with the extent of their possessions. At last there came along a poor widow, scantily attired, and they observed as she cast two mites (small coppers) into the trumpet. And then said Jesus, calling the attention of the apostles to the widow: “Heed well what you have just seen. This poor widow cast in more than all the others, for all these others, from their superfluity, cast in some trifle as a gift, but this poor woman, even though she is in want, gave all that she had, even her living.”172:4.2 (1883.4)
Stating this using a simple mathematical principal; our individual contribution to the Supreme Being is compared to our capability to contribute based on our spiritual receptivity, intelligence, resources influence and our earthly responsibilities. This is regarded by God, the supreme statistician, as a percentage, just as the amount of tax we are asked to pay is considered as a percentage of our income (say 20%). In fact just like tax, those in the privileged position of having more faculties are probably asked to pay more (say 50%). The poor old widow contributed 100% of what she had and was undoubtedly rewarded in the fullness of time for her contribution.
The hurdles that we are expected to climb over in our lives are our ‘Challenge to be God Like’. The height of everyone’s hurdle is different, in fact some may be so small that they might appear insignificant to the majority of us but the relative effort required by each individual for their respective hurdles is equal.
And what exactly is our challenge? One of the last paragraphs in The Urantia Book sums it up very nicely for us:
The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind. Man’s greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well-balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness — contact with the divine presence. Such an experience constitutes God-consciousness, an experience mightily confirmative of the pre-existent truth of the religious experience of knowing God. Such spirit-consciousness is the equivalent of the knowledge of the actuality of sonship with God. Otherwise, the assurance of sonship is the experience of faith.196:3.34 (2097.2)
And God-consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest levels of spiritual reality. Only the spirit content of any value is imperishable. 196.3.35 (2097.3)
We must rise to this challenge just as the disciples rose to the challenge. In doing so we can take comfort in the knowledge that the disciples were not special. No special criteria were applied to their selection. The first six essentially chose themselves, enthusiastically choosing to follow the ideal that they thought Jesus represented. The second six were selected by the first.
Before they began this first two weeks of service, Jesus announced to them that he desired to ordain twelve apostles to continue the work of the kingdom after his departure and authorized each of them to choose one man from among his early converts for membership in the projected corps of apostles. John spoke up, asking: “But, Master, will these six men come into our midst and share all things equally with us who have been with you since the Jordan and have heard all your teaching in preparation for this, our first labour for the kingdom?” And Jesus replied: “Yes, John, the men you choose shall become one with us, and you will teach them all that pertains to the kingdom, even as I have taught you.” After thus speaking, Jesus left them. 138:1.2 (1538.4)
The six did not separate to go to their work until they had exchanged many words in discussion of Jesus’ instruction that each of them should choose a new apostle. Andrew’s counsel finally prevailed, and they went forth to their labours. In substance Andrew said: “The Master is right; we are too few to encompass this work. There is need for more teachers, and the Master has manifested great confidence in us inasmuch as he has entrusted us with the choosing of these six new apostles.” 138:1.3 (1539.1)
The twelve were not genetically selected as ideal for the work that Jesus had in mind for them to do. Imagine if they were though, imagine how rapidly and perfectly Jesus’ gospel would have spread! However, the celestial powers do not work in that way; time is of no importance in the scheme of eternity. What is of importance is the example that we are being given to follow. Jesus is our human example of what should be our ultimate aspirations. We can’t visualise God otherwise. The disciples have been given to us to help us understand that absolutely anyone can follow in the footsteps of Jesus and ‘Dare to be God Like’ regardless of any disadvantages that they may have or believe that they may have.
Let us now look at each disciple as ordinary human being , with strengths and weaknesses just like ourselves. (Extracts from The Urantia Book about the Apostles are summarised in table form by Ruth Renn in her ‘Study Aids for Part IV of The Urantia Book)