Is there thought crime in the Urantia Book?

William S. wrote:

My main objection to Christianity is the idea of sinning in your brain. It is a sin to look upon somebody with sexual desire. It is a sin to have hateful thoughts towards somebody. At least that is what I've been taught.

When it comes to sexual desire, the Bible sets us all up to fail. Everybody masturbates. One study I came across on the Internet says EVERYBODY has looked upon pornography. And then there is wet dreams. I cannot speak for women as I am not one.

As for hate; I know the beauty of forgiveness and that holding on to resentment does you no good, but having moments of anger where you have fantasies of violence are but fleeting moments. That should not be held against you where you need to accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus (an idea which the Urantia Book corrects) in order for you to be forgiven.

Thoughts of hate and lust are only temporary for most people and don't overwhelm the mind and translate into actions (violence and rape). So why should having those thoughts be held against you?

Does the Urantia Book teach the concept of thought crime? I understand that the thought adjuster does not attach negative experiences or thoughts with it to the next life. So hate and lust will fall away when you ascend. If you don't accumulate enough positive experiences, thoughts and spiritual awareness in life, your personality will not survive. That was what I picked up in the first five papers somewhere (correct me if I misunderstood). My understanding is that there is no thought crime. The only crime is not accumulating positive thoughts.

William - this is quite a stew of concepts and presumptions that really need a bit of untangling I think. You appear to equate wet dreams, masturbation, sexual desire, lust, and pornography, as if all of these have elements in common or are essentially the same. I suggest a reading of Paper 82 The Evolution of Marriage for a comprehensive discussion on the human sex urge, its origins and its progressive evolution over time into social mores and morality. It is not sexual acts which determine the meaning or value but the motive and intent which manages and controls our expression of sexuality that determines the mastery of self by our will and mind.

Spiritual people are not sexless people. But their physical urges do not control their choices or behaviors either. Sex is not anti-spirit or evil or sin or iniquity. Sex is sex. A knife is a knife, capable of great things or horrible things - it is the motive and intentions and the skills and experience of the hand which holds the knife that determines the knife's work, worth, and morality. Our sexual urges can lead to an affectionate sharing and caring act of expression or it can lead to a beastly taking and imposing of brute force domination of one over another without regard to the wishes and value of another. The difference is rather profound I think to all parties. The question as to how casual sex can be between consenting parties is an interesting question itself. What then is the meaning and value?

As to masturbation....sex with oneself does not cause blindness (as I was warned once upon a time) and many educated people who should have an informed opinion claim it to be quite natural and harmless. Social morals and mores are quite fluid according to the UB and sexual behaviors that are consensual between adults without domination of will do not seem to be critically examined to any determinate degree in the UB so far as I can tell. The sex urge is very real and is created with purpose and function we are taught. But exploitation and domination by one over another to any degree would be evil and sinful as it would always result in a victim and a victimizer....or so I understand. And any mental or behavioral choices which are disloyal or a betrayal of trust or deceitful in any way would also be immature evil and potentially sinful with real repercussions to face.

You make two other interesting points above, fascinating really: First when you say "the Bible sets us all up to fail", you refer to original sin which we know is a falsehood. But, according to the UB, we do have two natures - the material and the spiritual. We are to transfer the very seat of our personal identity from the one to the other. We are to experientially evolve from imperfection to perfection over time during the eternal adventures to come. So we are definitely not born perfect. Nor are we perfected by some mortal beliefs or ceremonies or by death or by resurrection. So in a way, life is about overcoming failure and imperfection by discerning the greater over the lesser and better over the inferior and choosing the greater and the better to learn and grow and improve and perfect. Do you suggest it is okay to embrace the lesser and inferior simply because we can? What then would be the point in life but self amusement and self indulgence and self serving choices like the animal kingdom from which we spring forth as beings who can discern right from wrong and transcend and transform our selves and live forever?

Finally, you seem to infer that our progress and survival is a matter of some ledger or scale where the good must simply outweigh the bad in this life. But this is not true at all. One may be bad, even sinful, for an entire life but if redemption comes by sincere repentance late in life and the mind and heart reach for God in hope and faith, then such a one will survive this life. But if one embraces evil knowingly and this sin becomes sufficiently endearing and enduring to mind, one may become lost beyond recovery by taking survival for granted and turning one's back on the truth and fact that we either progress or we regress by every choice we make. This is not something to trifle with or take lightly. We are motivated by love of God and love of others OR we are motivated by love of self. Which is it? We cannot hide this choice from God. We all make this choice. It is not our behaviors which save us or condemn us but the motives for and the intentions behind our behaviors are what save or condemn us.

Our choices have consequences...either good ones or painful ones. This is the law of the universe. We are free to choose and decide but we are not free from the results of our free will...we will, always, reap what we sow! We cannot deny or excuse the fact and function of the repercussions of motive, intention, priority, choice, and decision. This is precisely how we are measured in our progress in the Spirit and upon the road to Paradise.

Again - Great topic!

Bradly

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