Endowed by God

1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,240
Welcome to another wonderful,
wonderful edition of the Urantia

2
00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,080
Radio Podcast.
That's where I get to spend a

3
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,360
little while with you, talking
about my most favorite subject

4
00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,240
in the whole wide world, the
Urantia book Revelation.

5
00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,000
You know, I take walks now, and
I would recommend it for anybody

6
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,240
who's looking for a way to kind
of ease their way back into more

7
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:24,920
physical activity.
And I forgot, I used to walk a

8
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,920
lot when I was a kid.
And now that I'm walking every

9
00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,880
day, I start my day with a nice
walk.

10
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,920
I don't take my Airpods or my
earbuds.

11
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:38,720
I don't listen to the radio.
That's my time with my, my inner

12
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:43,480
attempt to have conversations
and just feel the presence of

13
00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:45,800
God in my in my mind and in my
being.

14
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,280
And often times I come up with a
lot of great ideas on what I

15
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,320
want to talk about on the next
episode of the podcast.

16
00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:54,720
And I actually have two
subjects.

17
00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,560
The 1st is going to be what this
podcast is about, and then the

18
00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,360
next one is going to be about
something that you're hearing

19
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,239
about in the news, especially if
you listen to news about the

20
00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:10,200
astronomy or the James Webb
telescope or space discoveries,

21
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,480
something called a Dyson sphere.
And I'll get into that a little

22
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:16,440
bit.
I think you'll be very

23
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,800
fascinating.
It's going to be the next

24
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,240
podcast.
But for this one, because it's

25
00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,120
the week where Americans and
people around the world

26
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,520
celebrate the independence of
the United States, I thought we

27
00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,920
would take a look at liberty,
liberty, human behavior.

28
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,640
When is liberty good and when is
liberty bad?

29
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,080
And the turns out that the
Urantia book revelators have a

30
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,600
lot to teach about the subject.
That's what we're going to get

31
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,920
into.
Thank you again for stopping by.

32
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:45,920
This is the Urantia Radio
podcast.

33
00:01:45,920 --> 00:02:10,120
Take a quick break.
You know, a lot of us are

34
00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,440
thinking about liberty.
A lot of us are celebrating

35
00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,760
liberty, particularly American
citizens in the United States.

36
00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,440
We celebrate our our liberty
because it is a representation

37
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,000
of the deal that God has made
with man by endowing him with

38
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,120
free will and creative free
will, free moral discernment.

39
00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:34,480
It is because men and women are
able to have moral discernment.

40
00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,560
We can make the decisions, the
right and wrong decisions.

41
00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,200
And it turns out that liberty is
a very valuable thing in, in the

42
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,960
cosmos.
Our, our revelators go to great

43
00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,600
lengths to to talk about what
good is good liberty and what is

44
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,600
bad liberty.
And I've been reading the

45
00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,920
Arrancha book now for, I don't
know, 40 years.

46
00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,080
And it's interesting because you
read, if you've been a long time

47
00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,760
reader, I'll share this
experience with you and I think

48
00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,000
you'll be able to relate.
And if you are a new reader,

49
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,320
then you can look forward to
many, many years of reading the

50
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,560
same passages.
And over time, your

51
00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,160
interpretation of those passages
will change depending on your

52
00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,160
environment.
So for example, when I was

53
00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,520
younger and I read these words
about liberty, I had a whole

54
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,120
different perspective of life.
I was 2122 years old and liberty

55
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,120
meant something completely
different than what it means

56
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,960
today.
Today liberty is self restraint,

57
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:45,240
really, true liberty is control
of self, as the revelators will

58
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,200
explain to us, and false liberty
is typically destructive and

59
00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,360
suicidal.
Now it is 2024, and as I look

60
00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,520
around today, I see a lot more
false liberty than I see true

61
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,120
liberty.
And the distinction is that

62
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,240
what's missing is moral
discernment.

63
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,000
And I write about this in my
book, which I'm almost done

64
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,360
with, which is called Godless,
how secularism will Destroy

65
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,240
civilization.
And it talks about the, the, the

66
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:22,320
chance that God endows human
beings with spirit potential by

67
00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,440
giving him free will is the only
way.

68
00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,760
And they've been debating this,
I think if you go back and

69
00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,960
listen to my interview with
Byron Belezos a few months ago

70
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:37,000
where he talks about the debate
that has been going on among the

71
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,680
church and among theologians.
What is free will?

72
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:46,280
Are we truly given free will or
does God have predestiny plan

73
00:04:46,280 --> 00:04:49,800
for everybody?
How can an all knowing, all

74
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,200
powerful God not know what is in
store for each one of his

75
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,680
children?
In fact, it is quoted many times

76
00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,160
in Scripture and elsewhere that
there is no surprise to God.

77
00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,000
God knows everything.
He can anticipate anything.

78
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,800
And all that may be true, except
for the fact that there are some

79
00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,800
caveats to that.
And that's part of what we're

80
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,800
going to get into here.
Because in the arena of mortal

81
00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:18,680
life, the most important part of
our life experience is the

82
00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:24,840
ability to choose between good
and evil and to pursue good not

83
00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,920
only because it's the right
thing to do, because it's the

84
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,200
godly thing to do.
Godly does all.

85
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,400
God does all things the right
way.

86
00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,720
And the best way is a quote that
comes to mind.

87
00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:39,840
The best way is always the right
way.

88
00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,480
And so as we celebrate the
liberty, the declaration of

89
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,000
liberty of this period and of
our country, what are we really

90
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,680
celebrating?
Are we celebrating the liberty

91
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,120
to do whatever we want?
And that there's no holds barred

92
00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,840
and there's real no restriction
on our moral behavior.

93
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,200
Or are we celebrating the
liberty from an oppressive

94
00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,440
government that would would have
us through compliance, live a

95
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,520
specific kind of life where they
would control all, all aspects

96
00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,200
of it?
That, I think is the liberty

97
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,240
that we are celebrating.
We're, we're celebrating the

98
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:24,240
liberty that comes from being
endowed by our creator, the

99
00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,280
liberty to have moral
discernment.

100
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,760
And you know, it's interesting
because it's been said.

101
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,560
And if you haven't heard it
before, take this to heart.

102
00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,680
But our founding fathers
recognize that only a moral

103
00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:44,960
people could live with freedom.
And immoral people cannot really

104
00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,840
live with freedom because they
would be destructive, because

105
00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:51,440
they have no moral boundaries.
And that's what I think I see

106
00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,960
more often now.
Now, there was a woman,

107
00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,320
sometimes you'll read them
something or hear something on

108
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,720
Instagram or something.
And this was a woman who seemed

109
00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,880
pretty level headed.
And she said she went to a a

110
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:07,920
Pride parade.
We just ended Pride month in the

111
00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,960
United States and she went to a
Pride parade in San Francisco.

112
00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,960
And she said that she had been
to many of them, but this

113
00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,560
particular one seemed to cross
the lines of decency.

114
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,920
And she said there was a lot of
illicit behavior that she'd

115
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,560
never seen before.
And there was such enthusiasm

116
00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,680
and embracement of it.
So, you know, you can have a

117
00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,120
creative imagination and try to
think about what she's

118
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,080
describing, but it's it's pretty
horrific.

119
00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,320
And that's the danger, I think
right now and why I wanted to

120
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,840
bring this up as we contemplate
the importance of liberty, free

121
00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:49,720
will, moral discernment, the
right way, the best way, living

122
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,160
the godly way, and having true
liberty, which is control of

123
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,320
self.
So let's get into 61 or paper

124
00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:01,280
61.
And this is an excerpt from the

125
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,040
part on a talks about Lucifer
and Lucifer's folly and how he

126
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,240
embraced the wrong kind of
liberty when he sought to

127
00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,840
disenfranchise himself from God
and from Christ.

128
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:17,920
And here's some of the
paragraphs.

129
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,960
Liberty is suicidal when
divorced from material justice,

130
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,760
intellectual fairness, social
forbearance, moral duty, and

131
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,360
spiritual values.
Liberty is nonexistent apart

132
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,360
from cosmic reality and all
personality.

133
00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,200
Reality is proportional to its
divine or divinity

134
00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,039
relationships.
And what does that mean?

135
00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:44,600
Well, in one way it expresses
that because we're all socially

136
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,760
obligated to serve one another,
my liberty must coincide with

137
00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,880
your liberty.
We must be fair with each other.

138
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,400
We must have intellectual
fairness, social forbearance,

139
00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,080
and moral duty.
And it's in these circumstances

140
00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,880
when we treat each other with
the same regard for, for

141
00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:07,680
example, the Golden Rule.
That's where true liberty is not

142
00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,680
divorced from material justice,
but is connected to material

143
00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:16,120
justice, intellectual fairness
and social forbearance, moral

144
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,400
duty, divine obligations and
spiritual values.

145
00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,440
And true liberty is expressive
of these things when it's

146
00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,240
connected to our divine
relationships, our cosmic

147
00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:33,560
obligations to be good people,
to be good going on.

148
00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:37,840
It says unbridled self will and
unregulated self-expression

149
00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:42,440
equal unmitigated selfishness,
the Acme of ungodliness.

150
00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,080
Liberty without the associated
and ever increasing conquest of

151
00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:51,200
the self is a figment of
egoistic mortal imagination.

152
00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,360
Self motivated liberty is a
conceptual illusion, a cruel

153
00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,160
deception.
License masquerading in the

154
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:04,640
garments of liberty is the
forerunner of abject bondage.

155
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,680
They're pretty harsh about that.
True liberty is the associate of

156
00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:12,840
genuine self respect.
False liberty is the consort of

157
00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:17,920
self admiration.
True liberty is the fruit of

158
00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,840
self-control, False liberty, the
assumption of self assertion.

159
00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,320
self-control leads to altruistic
service.

160
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,480
Self admiration tends toward the
exploitation of others for the

161
00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,760
selfish aggrandizement of such
mistaken individual as is

162
00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:40,960
willing to sacrifice righteous
attainment for the sake of

163
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,880
possessing unjust power over his
fellow beings.

164
00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,320
Even wisdom is divine and safe
only when it is cosmic in scope

165
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:57,600
and spiritual in motivation.
Lucifer's folly was the attempt

166
00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:03,080
to do the non doable to short
circuit time in an experiential

167
00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,520
universe.
Lucifer's crime was the

168
00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,680
attempted creative
disenfranchisement of every

169
00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:13,240
personality in his domain.
And he of course, was a system

170
00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:18,840
sovereign, so he governed what
was then 600 or so planets just

171
00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,000
like ours, many of whom fell
into rebellion.

172
00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,880
Many of Lucifer's followers,
including the angels and

173
00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,920
certainly Satan and later
Calagastia, had convinced all of

174
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:36,120
these people that the liberty
they saw, it was self assertion,

175
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,120
not the liberty that was coming
from the authority of Michael.

176
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,800
He saw that as not freedom, he
asserted.

177
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,680
Lucifer asserted that true
freedom was doing what you want

178
00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,080
to do, not what others are
telling you to do.

179
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:56,880
Does it sound familiar?
So it writes that Lucifer's

180
00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,520
crime was the attempted creative
disenfranchisement of every

181
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,440
personality, the unrecognized
abridgment of the creature's

182
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:10,080
personal participation, free
will participation in the long

183
00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,840
evolutionary struggle to attain
the status of light and life

184
00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:16,520
both individually and
collectively.

185
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,200
In doing so, this one time
sovereign of your system set the

186
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:26,280
temporal purpose of his own will
directly athwart the eternal

187
00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:31,560
purposes of God's will as it is
revealed in the bestowal of free

188
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:36,600
will upon all personal creatures
going back to we are endowed by

189
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,080
our Creator.
The Lucifer rebellion thus

190
00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,560
threatened the maximum possible
infringement of the free will

191
00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:48,040
choice of the Ascenders and the
servers of the system of his

192
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,040
domain, Satania.
A threat for evermore to deprive

193
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,440
every one of these beings in the
thrilling experience of

194
00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,440
contributing something personal
and unique to the slowly

195
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,880
erecting monument of
experiential wisdom which will

196
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,840
someday exist as the perfected
system of Satania.

197
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,720
This includes all of the world's
coming to that future, a state

198
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,480
of light and life where we
truly, you know, have our own

199
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:16,840
self-control.
Think about the Melchizedeks.

200
00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,680
They're one of the few orders of
sonship that they are completely

201
00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:25,880
self regulatory.
They do not answer to anyone

202
00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,280
else save Michael.
And why is that?

203
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:30,760
Because they're responsible with
their liberty.

204
00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,680
They're not haphazard.
And I would submit that we,

205
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:38,720
because of the urantial
revelation, have a way of

206
00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:43,760
introducing to people the idea,
the notion that this isn't just

207
00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:48,520
one world in, in a sea of stars.
We are part of a greater

208
00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,920
reality.
We are part of a living system,

209
00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:57,520
and we are all endowed by the
same creator to have and possess

210
00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:58,800
free will.
Discernment.

211
00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,680
That's the secret to progress
developing our sense of moral

212
00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:05,000
discernment.
You know, they say that only a

213
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:10,560
moral person could be morally
indignated by seeing an immoral

214
00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:12,880
act.
But when we get to that point

215
00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,560
where we're not even bothered by
immoral behavior, that's when

216
00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:20,320
the danger comes.
Sin must be redefined as

217
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,040
deliberate disloyalty to deity.
There are degrees of loyalty,

218
00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,760
the partial loyalty of
indecision, the divided loyalty

219
00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:32,640
of confliction, the dying
loyalty of indifference, and the

220
00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,400
death of loyalty exhibited in
the devotion to godless ideals.

221
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,240
So that becomes the question and
the challenge for modern man.

222
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:46,400
Can he control himself?
Can he control his urges, his

223
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,080
materialistic tendencies?
Can he truly rise to the

224
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,360
occasion and live up to the
expectations that God gives us

225
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,240
by giving us free will and moral
discernment?

226
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,520
And I guess that would be our
lesson for today on the subject

227
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,040
of liberty and the different
kinds of liberty.

228
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,280
And I hope that you got
something from it and it gives

229
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,800
you something to think about as
we all sort of collectively

230
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,040
celebrate our independence this
week.

231
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,920
Hope you'll join me again soon.
I've got a great topic.

232
00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,480
We're going to talk about
something quite intriguing in

233
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,760
the next episode of the Urantia
Radio Podcast.

234
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:25,560
Don't forget, you can always
reach out to me,

235
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,400
urantiabookradio@gmail.com.
And yet, there's also a comment

236
00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,000
section on the website
urantiaradio.net.

237
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,040
Until the next time, thank you
again for stopping by

238
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:46,520
the
the.