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is SonIn the
previous Interim-Papers we have reviewed the meanings of the TRUE WORSHIP of
the Paradise Universal Father, the PRAYER SUPPLICATIONS to the realms of the
Paradise Eternal Son and His Spirit of Truth, and qualified PRAYER
REALIZATIONS by the spirit agencies of the Holy Spirit, the Mind of the
Paradise Conjoint Actor.
The following
Interim-Paper is devoted to further enlightenment about the true nature of
God.
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THE URANTIA BOOK—PAPER 11
PAPER
11: THE ETERNAL ISLE OF PARADISE
Audio Version Printer Friendly Synopsis
11:0.1 Paradise is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding place
of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine
co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic organized
body of cosmic reality in all the master universe.
Paradise is a material sphere as well as a spiritual abode.
All of the intelligent creation of the Universal Father is domiciled on
material abodes; hence must the absolute controlling center also be material,
literal. And again it should be reiterated that spirit things and spiritual
beings are real.
11:0.2 The material beauty of
Paradise consists in the magnificence of its physical perfection; the
grandeur of the Isle of God is exhibited in the superb intellectual
accomplishments and mind development of its inhabitants; the glory of the
central Isle is shown forth in the infinite endowment of divine spirit personality—the light of life. But
the depths of the spiritual beauty and the wonders of this magnificent
ensemble are utterly beyond the comprehension of the finite mind of material
creatures. The glory and spiritual splendor of the divine abode are
impossible of mortal comprehension. And Paradise is from eternity; there
are neither records nor traditions respecting the origin of this nuclear Isle
of Light and Life.
11:1 THE DIVINE RESIDENCE
Audio
Version
11:1.1 Paradise serves many purposes in
the administration of the universal realms, but to creature beings it exists
primarily as the dwelling place of Deity. The personal presence
of the Universal Father is resident at the very
center of the upper surface of this well-nigh circular, but not spherical,
abode of the Deities. This Paradise presence of the Universal Father is immediately
surrounded by the personal presence of the Eternal Son, while they are both
invested by the unspeakable glory of the Infinite Spirit.
11:1.2 God dwells, has dwelt,
and everlastingly will dwell in this same central and eternal abode. We have
always found him there and always will. The Universal Father is cosmically
focalized, spiritually personalized, and geographically resident at this
center of the universe of universes.
11:1.3 We all know the direct
course to pursue to find the Universal Father. You are not able to comprehend
much about the divine residence because of its remoteness from you and the
immensity of the intervening space, but those who are able to comprehend the
meaning of these enormous distances know God's location and residence just as
certainly and literally as you know the location of New York, London, Rome,
or Singapore, cities definitely and geographically located on Urantia. If you were an intelligent navigator, equipped
with ship, maps, and compass, you could readily find these cities. Likewise,
if you had the time and means of passage, were spiritually qualified, and had
the necessary guidance, you could be piloted through universe upon universe
and from circuit to circuit, ever journeying inward through the starry
realms, until at last you would stand before the central shining of the
spiritual glory of the Universal Father. Provided with all the necessities
for the journey, it is just as possible to find the personal presence of God at the center of all
things as to find distant cities on your own planet. That you have not
visited these places in no way disproves their reality or actual existence.
That so few of the universe creatures have found God on Paradise in no way
disproves either the reality of his existence or the actuality of his spiritual
person at the center of all things.
11:1.4 The Father is always to
be found at this central location. Did he move, universal pandemonium would
be precipitated, for there converge in him at this residential center the
universal lines of gravity from the ends of creation. Whether we trace the personality circuit back through the
universes or follow the ascending personalities as they journey inward to the
Father; whether we trace the lines of material gravity to nether Paradise or
follow the insurging cycles of cosmic force;
whether we trace the lines of spiritual gravity to the Eternal Son or follow
the inward processional of the Paradise Sons of God; whether we trace out
the mind circuits or follow the trillions
upon trillions of celestial beings who spring from the Infinite Spirit—by any
of these observations or by all of them we are led directly back to the
Father's presence, to his central abode. Here is God personally, literally,
and actually present. And from his infinite being there flow the
flood-streams of life, energy, and personality to all universes.
REFERENCE:
The
Urantia Book, Paper 11, 11:0.1 – 11:1.4
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