This sad world is due very soon to become the rare beneficiary of a Rescue Mission.  Such missions are accorded only to those planet-worlds that are deemed as virtually hopeless in its entrenchment in evil, wherein evil is out-of-control and in control, and wherein the good are rendered utterly powerless.

This Rescue Mission will rescue and deliver Urantia in every which way imaginable.  It will utterly rescue and deliver Urantia

from evil,
from violence,
from misery,
from weakness,
from hunger,
from poverty,
from disease,
from pestilence,
from deformity,
from injustice,
from cruelty,
from ignorance,
from confusion,
from deception,
from false teachers,
from heavy burdens,
from tyranny,
from contention,
from pain,
from isolation,
from natural catastrophes,
from the fear of death,
from hopelessness.

This Rescue Mission is necessary to prepare for Jesus Christ Michael, Sovereign of the Universe, a Church, a Bride, which is clean, united, spotless, and beautiful.

Under the Rescue Mission, evil and rebellion will be separated from them who wish to serve God in righteousness.  Under Jesus Christ, the hardened wicked will be vanquished and become His "footstool".

Hmmm.....   LConover, Eventod, and Daniel are gone from the forum membership list. 
( ? ? ? ? ? )

--------------------------------------

Jan 31st - - Looks like Daniel and LConover came back on the membership list.
Welcome back.
It seems a grievous thing to me to lose prominent members of the forum.

                 WHAT IS WORSHIP?

WORSHIP is lovingly adhering to a PERFECT BEING, with Whom one aspires to be in perfect unison, and relishing this virtual unity during every moment and at every step taken during the course of each day.

              THE DIFFICULTIES OF HINDUISM

1)  Hinduism is so complex a religion with its any mega millions of details that a lifetime of study of all these details will not suffice to master all its manifold teachings and traditions.

2)  Of all the great many deities presented in the religion of Hinduism, not a single one has ever to the least degree actually openly evidenced Divinity, very much unlike the Personage of Jesus Christ, and the heavenly Father Whom He represents, Both of Whom have lavishly evidenced Themselves throughout history until this present day in the lives of them who love and seek after righteousness.

3)  To any novice in the study of Hinduism, this religion strikes one as uncomfortably bizarre, and apparently confined only to the land of India.  And it is worthy of note that its adherents have not sent and do not send missionaries throughout the world proclaiming the universal benefits of their religion or showing that it is superior to all the other professions of belief and worthy of being embraced and accepted by all men.

4)  The Urantia Book, although it has detailed an explicit account of the origins and essence of the religion of Hinduism, most certainly does not promote Hinduism as the one true religion and one that ought be universally and eternally embraced.

5)  The Religion of Hinduism stands in sharp contrast to the true and simple religion of the Universal Father, which dates back throughout the eternal ages, depicted as the religion of benevolence and is set forth by our Urantia Book as that religion which , when embraced by all men, will bring all intelligent beings into an eternal unity of loving fellowship and mutual service.

            THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF BAPTISM
                         (Taken from our TM archives)

Roxie: In my Urantia Book study group recently, we've been reading in the Jesus Papers about the baptism of Jesus, and then later how the followers of John continued with the baptism ritual. How important is that in your opinion? I’m not even sure of what comes out of the baptism experience that is helpful, since I have never been baptized. Could you discuss this, please?

MACHIVENTA: Certainly. I would be glad to. Baptism is an event. If you were baptized as an infant, then you do not remember that. It is in the minds of the parents and the witnesses that it becomes important, that they then take on the responsibility of your enculturation and your indoctrination into your base of your faith, those creedal documents and beliefs which support your religious life later on. Baptism from our perspective is not an important event "except" when it is consciously recognized by the individual who is being baptized as "becoming a new person." It is the identification that occurs within this event that is most important, that the individual has made a conscious intention to be baptized and for what purposes: to be baptized to carry on the creedal beliefs of the religion, or the beliefs of "becoming" as Jesus "became," to become a morontial being in this lifetime.

Oftentimes, this is attended with beliefs and thoughts and consciousness by the individual that they have a mystic relationship with God, that they have had a "God experience," a religious experience, which is transpersonal and which brings them into a new awareness of their being-ness. This is truly being baptized "in the spirit" that you have experienced the oneness of knowing God. Oftentimes, this is forgotten by the individual due to the social circumstances of the baptism, that the social activities overcomes this trans-formative inner experience of meeting and knowing God in the spirit. When it is forgotten and lost, it can be renewed in the future through a meditation and through "walking with God." Yes, baptism is important. It is important to us when it is important to you, that it not only signifies a transformation of your being, but that you have actually become a "new being" in the consciousness of the risen Christ.

Roxie: So, how does one become baptized if they don't belong to one of the churches or religious groups on Urantia?

MACHIVENTA: You can baptize yourself, my Dear. You simply invite your guardians, your Thought Adjuster and the midwayers to be with you, to open your mind mechanism to the presence and energy of the Christedness within you. Christedness is synonymous with a spiritual relationship with your Thought Adjuster. You can do this through a retreat of your own. You can do it on a retreat with other people with a similar purpose, but eventually it comes when you "come apart from others" in your consciousness. Even if you are with a group of people, you can come away in your consciousness to be alone and consecrated in your relationship with your Thought Adjuster.

Do you see what I am speaking of?

Roxie: Yes, that is very, very helpful to me. Thank you.

Has anyone pondered the significance of the parable found in Matthew 25:31-46, attributed to Jesus?  It is the parable of the Last Judgment wherein is depicted the separation of the whole human race into "sheep" and "goats".

What is it that differentiates the sheep from the goats?

The difference isn't doctrine.

The difference is charity.

Charity is kind.

I believe the most significant, the most powerful, the most revolutionary portion of the Urantia Book to be that section dealing with the Thought Adjusters (pages 1176-1240; papers 107-112).  Herein, I believe, lies the solution to all the division and confusion amongst pious believers who seek the God of righteousness.

For it is not by the fallible guidance of human leadership that unity among men is to be achieved, nor by their fallible interpretation and understanding of the Bible, but by the infallible guidance of the Universal Father, the FIRST Source and Center, Himself, Who ministers to the very intimacy of our being in Fragment form, that we are directed to tread upon the sure way to union with the Divine, a blessed peaceful existence upon Urantia, and then personality survival.

He who chooses by his own free will to cherish and seek that which is in fact true will readily receive clear guidance from the Father Within.  He who deliberately disdains the truth and cherishes known falsehood, and with full conscientiousness gives himself over to evil ways, selfishness, and hatred, will find himself at some point bereft of the help from the Father (his Thought Adjuster) and left to his own resources.  Such a one will easily and readily descend into a state akin to barabarism, wherein he will despise all those who challenge his selfish and evil ways, and think of nothing but to make life miserable for others, to give himself the satisfaction of influencing and exercising power over others.  Such will face a veritable "hell" of sorts upon arriving at the First Mansion World, where he will be forced to look upon himself in the light of the pure love and truth of God, and thereupon experience an intolerable emotional interior torment because of all the misery he has caused others to suffer, all of which he will be made acutely aware in every painful detail.  Jesus taught that those who have given full consent to their iniquity (fully deliberate habitual sin) will most unlikely opt for personality survival, having become hardened in their heart.

But we who cherish the holy truths and salutary guidance issuing forth from our loving Father Within will regale in finally FUSING with Him, upon arriving at the whereabouts of the Fifth Mansion World, and we will become adorable in the aspect of the created Grand Universe.

Therefore I pray that all souls of good will, who cherish and seek after TRUTH, but are trapped in error, sin, and confusion, listen to the still small voice WITHIN, come to discover and devour the salutary teachings of the Urantia Book, and come to love the Father of ALL and the brotherhood of men.  It was precisely the mission of Jesus Christ Michael of Nebadon to so point to the Father through Him.  And we likewise beg all them who love evil and falsehood, to turn from their miseries and choose light, life, happiness, fruition of joy, altruistic love, transformation of character, the blotting out of all sin, and the secure hope of a heavenly ascension career that will end in Paradise and followed up with the glorious eternal career of the Trinity-embraced Finaliters.  Please choose wisely!  We want to see you and enjoy your company in the blessed hereafter.

Cordially submitted,
Raymond Benjamins

One sure way to prompt me to put out some fresh postings is by asking me questions.  I can't resist them.

I will therefore take this opportunity to reinstall a series of "Questions amd Answers" spawned by brethren from the other forum (mytml), hoping to find occasion to inspire and enlighten.