Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Wed, 11 Nov 1992 09:20:52 CST
From:         Michael Million <MM24681@UAFSYSB.BITNET>
Subject:      Jesus tells Thomas about evil and sin

 Brothers and Sisters:  It is my hope that you will take the time to
 listen to Jesus as he explains to Thomas about the various relations
 a child/mortal can have with God the Father.  Also please notice
 Jesus' attempt to get Thomas to realize that even the OT mentions
 information that should lead one to conclude that Adam and Eve were
 *not* the first humans on earth.  This is a very important excerpt;
 it will speak to your heart.       your brother,   Michael Million
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 [p. 1659]              4.  EVIL, SIN, AND INIQUITY
    It was the habit of Jesus two evenings each week to hold special
 converse with individuals who desired to talk with him, in a certain
 secluded and sheltered [p.1660] corner of the Zebedee garden.  At one
 of these evening conversations in private Thomas asked the Master this
 question: "Why is it necessary for men to be born of the spirit in
 order to enter the kingdom?  Is rebirth necessary to escape the
 control of the evil one?  Master, what is evil?" When Jesus heard
 these questions, he said to Thomas:

    "Do not make the mistake of confusing *evil* with the *evil one*,
 more correctly the *iniquitous one*.  He whom you call the evil one
 is the son of self-love, the high administrator who knowingly went
 into deliberate rebellion against the rule of my Father and his loyal
 Sons.  But I have already vanquished these sinful rebels.  Make clear
 in your mind these different attitudes toward the Father and his
 universe.  Never forget these laws of relation to the Father's will:
    "Evil is the unconscious or unintended transgression of the
 divine law, the Father's will.  Evil is likewise the measure of the
 imperfectness of obedience to the Father's will.
    "Sin is the conscious, knowing, and deliberate transgression of
 the divine law, the Father's will.  Sin is the measure of unwillingness
 to be divinely led and spiritually directed.
    "Iniquity is the willful, determined, and persistent transgression
 of the divine law, the Father's will.  Iniquity is the measure of the
 continued rejection of the Father's loving plan of personality survival
 and the Sons' merciful ministry of salvation.
    "By nature, before the rebirth of the spirit, mortal man is subject
 to inherent evil tendencies, but such natural imperfections of behavior
 are neither sin nor iniquity.  Mortal man is just beginning his long
 ascent to the perfection of the Father in Paradise.  To be imperfect or
 partial in natural endowment is not sinful.  Man is indeed subject to
 evil, but he is in no sense the child of the evil one unless he has
 knowingly and deliberately chosen the paths of sin and the life of
 iniquity.  Evil is inherent in the natural order of this world, but sin
 is an attitude of conscious rebellion which was brought to this world
 by those who fell from spiritual light into gross darkness.
    "You are confused, Thomas, by the doctrines of the Greeks and the
 errors of the Persians.  You do not understand the relationships of
 evil and sin because you view mankind as beginning on earth with a
 perfect Adam and rapidly degenerating, through sin, to man's present
 deplorable estate.  But why do you refuse to comprehend the meaning
 of the record which discloses how Cain, the son of Adam, went over
 into the land of Nod and there got himself a wife?  And why do you
 refuse to interpret the meaning of the record which portrays the sons
 of God finding wives for themselves among the daughters of men?
    "Men are, indeed, by nature evil, but not necessarily sinful.  The
 new birth -- the baptism of the spirit -- is essential to deliverance
 from evil and necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but
 none of this detracts from the fact that man is the son of God.
 Neither does this inherent presence of potential evil mean that man is
 in some mysterious way estranged from the Father in heaven so that,
 as a alien, foreigner, or stepchild, he must in some manner seek for
 legal adoption by the Father.  All such notions are born, first, of
 your misunderstanding of the Father and, second, of your ignorance of
 the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
    "The Greeks and others have taught you that man is descending from
 godly perfection steadily down toward oblivion or destruction; I have
 come to show that man, by entrance into the kingdom, is ascending
 certainly and surely up to God and divine perfection.  Any being who
 in any manner falls short of the divine and spiritual ideals of the
 eternal Father's will is potentially evil, but such beings are in no
 sense sinful, much less iniquitous.
   "Thomas, have you not read about this in the Scriptures, where it is
 written: 'You are the children of the Lord your God.' 'I will be his
 Father and he shall be my son.' 'I have chosen him to be my son -- I
 will be his Father.' 'Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the
 ends of the earth; even every one who is called by my name, for I have
 created them for my glory.' 'You are the sons of the living God.' 'They
 who have the spirit of God are indeed the sons of God.'  While there is
 a material part of the human father in the natural child, there is a
 spiritual part of the heavenly Father in every faith son of the
 kingdom."

    All this and much more Jesus said to Thomas, and much of it the
 apostle comprehended, although Jesus admonished him to "speak not to
 the others concerning these matters until after I shall have returned
 to the Father."  And Thomas did not mention this interview until after
 the Master had departed from this world.
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 [Excerpted from _The Urantia Book_, pages 1659-61, copyrighted by the
 Urantia Foundation, Chicago, Illinois USA]
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU