Evil

In school a friend of mine and I decided to start a student newsletter. It would be the voice of the common man ringing out against the injustices of the world. Either that or it would be a collection of whatever nonsense we decided to write at the moment. Anyway, Robert and I plunged into the project with passion and energy. Robert was especially fun to work with. He was driven and focused. Working with him was like riding a fast moving wave into shore. You just jump on your board and let it move you along. He also knew more about publishing than I did. Robert and I produced a great newsletter for about a year. And then it stopped. Robert needed to focus his attention on other matters and I lost my partner. It was weird; it was like being dumped by a girlfriend. All of a sudden this person who was leading a project with energy and vitality was gone. And I wasn’t able to keep the newsletter going without my partner.

When one is in a partnership it is difficult and disappointing when one of the partners does not fulfill his/her obligations. My view of sin is tied to this – a dissolving partnership. Like a marriage on the rocks many people slowly drift away from the loving relationship which God offers to all of his/her children. It is this idea of partnership where I begin to understand the concept of sin. Sin is not a cosmic force or the enforced manipulations of a powerful enemy. Sin is simply one person treating another person badly. Whether we like it or not we are involved in a complicated series of relationships with a world full of people. This relationship with humanity includes an unwritten partnership component. We expect to be treated well by others and therefore we are expected to treat others well. Everyone expects to be treated with dignity and respect. But this is not possible unless everyone is faithful to the partnership. God created a universe full of creatures and lovingly treats everyone with the same dignity and respect. This is the cosmic pattern of the partnership which is the goal of all creatures.

God gave us free will – the ability to share in God’s master design (614.7). God offers to his/her creatures the opportunity to partner with him/her in the experiential growth of the universe. We have been blessed to be made like God – free in our thoughts and actions. Independent self will creatures. This is a great gift but one that has terrible consequences for those who would break the bonds that tie us together under the great partnership that God has created.

For indeed life is a partnership between creatures and creator. We consider ourselves in America to be free, to have liberty, but we don’t. Our concept of freedom is skewed – we think of it as being able to do whatever we want. That is not freedom, it is license. License causes me to believe that I can do anything – kill a person for example – in my convoluted consideration of liberty. But license takes away freedom from other people. License interferes with the wise and just determinations of our loving Father in Heaven. The Urantia Book says that true liberty is tied to “equity, fairness, fraternity, divine obligations” (613.5). “Unrestricted liberty leads to selfish and ungodly behavior” (613.7). True liberty equals self-respect, self-control, and altruistic service. Whereas, false liberty equals self-admiration, self-assertion and exploitation (614.1). Being truly liberated while in the embrace of a loving creator means loving and serving the beings around us in the same way that God loves and even serves us.

The Father of All desires freedom and independence for all of his/her free will creatures. God wants all of us to be able to make our own choices and with a little help grow into strong, independent, self assured, self motivated, altruistic cosmic citizens. But this is impossible if all cosmic citizens are selfish. If we are all fighting each other to get what we want nobody is really free. True liberty works when we all work together for the advancement of all. Lucifer declared freedom and liberty to get what he wanted; power and control. And it is that selfish motivation that caused his insurgency to fail. And so license leads to sin as defined by The Urantia Book.

License or sin is a betrayal of trust, a breaking of the partnership. The Urantia Book says that nothing is “more destructive of personality status than betrayal of trust and disloyalty to one’s confiding friends” (754.4). Sin is disloyalty to the Father and a breaking of the partnership between all universe creatures. The Urantia Book uses four words to divide what we call sin into four distinct categories. First there is error which is called a “misconception or distortion or reality” (754.5).Error is when a person lives in nonconformity with God’s plan but doesn’t know any better. A cave man worships fire but doesn’t know any better because he is a cave man. Evil is “unconscious or unintended transgression of the divine law” (1660.3). Evil occurs when a person acts with good intentions but the action is not in accord with God’s will. The Urantia Book calls Eve’s default evil, because she deviated from the plan but was motivated by a desire to more quickly advance the human race. Sin is the “conscious, knowing, and deliberate transgression of the divine law” (1660.4). Sin is when one makes the decision to turn away from God’s will. I would call Hitler’s actions sinful. He clearly made the decision to turn his face away from God. Iniquity is the “willful, determined, and persistent transgression of the divine law” (1660.5). Iniquity is open rebellion against God. Lucifer is called the iniquitous one in the Urantia Book because he knew the divine way and he rebelled against it.

And so why do I consider these things to be a breaking of the partnership? Because God’s plan is for all of God’s creatures to live in loving, respectful, and supportive relationships. Evil, sin, and iniquity occur when people do not live in loving, respectful, and supportive relationships. Lucifer manipulated his followers by telling them they were free, yet enslaving them to his will. Hitler claimed to be building a greater Germany by eliminated millions of people. Even Eve sought to help humanity but instead destroyed her and Adam’s mission. These things are not community building, relationship strengthening, love generating activities.

I think this is one of the easiest concepts to understand in the Urantia Book. I am certain that all of us have been hurt by someone. All of us have felt the sting of betrayal. And dare I say – all of us have hurt someone? I think we all understand what happened to Lucifer. He wanted to stand above all others. And many of us are tempted by the same desire – though maybe not in such a grand fashion. Well, one thing I know for sure. I am not the only person in the universe. And it’s good to remind myself of that every so often.

God Bless You,

William Whitehead