A:

Thanks so much for writing to us here at TruthBook. I am so sorry to hear of your friend’s loss. You don’t mention the child’s age, but I am assuming that the deceased might be a teenager, since the death was from a drug overdose…but then, this can happen at any age. But if this child was over the age of 5 or 6, it is certain that s/he does have a Thought Adjuster. And, even if the child had not yet made that ultimate decision for eternal life, s/he will be given that opportunity.

Your friend is lucky that she has you, as you are evidently a Urantia Book reader/student. As you know, the truths about the afterlife are some of the most inspiring and comforting of all Urantia Book teachings…

I think some of the passages that you are looking for might be these:

47:2.2 …infants of ascending mortals, are always personalized as of their exact physical status at the time of death except for reproductive potential. This awakening occurs at the exact time of the parental arrival on the first mansion world. And then are these children given every opportunity, as they are, to choose the heavenly way just as they would have made such a choice on the worlds where death so untimely terminated their careers.

“All children on the evolving worlds who have Thought Adjusters, but who before death had not made a choice concerning the Paradise career, are also repersonalized on the finaliter world of the system, where they likewise grow up in the families of the Material Sons and their associates as do those little ones who arrived without Adjusters, but who will subsequently receive the Mystery Monitors after attaining the requisite age of moral choice.

“The Adjuster-indwelt children and youths on the finaliter world are also reared in families of five, ranging in ages from six to fourteen; approximately, these families consist of children whose ages are six, eight, ten, twelve, and fourteen. Any time after sixteen, if final choice has been made, they translate to the first mansion world and begin their Paradise ascent. Some make a choice before this age and go on to the ascension spheres, but very few children under sixteen years of age, as reckoned by Urantia standards, will be found on the mansion worlds.

“The guardian seraphim attend these youths in the probationary nursery on the finaliter world just as they spiritually minister to mortals on the evolutionary planets, while the faithful spornagia minister to their physical necessities. And so do these children grow up on the transition world until such time as they make their final choice.

“When material life has run its course, if no choice has been made for the ascendant life, or if these children of time definitely decide against the Havona adventure, death automatically terminates their probationary careers. There is no adjudication of such cases; there is no resurrection from such a second death. They simply become as though they had not been.

“But if they choose the Paradise path of perfection, they are immediately made ready for translation to the first mansion world, where many of them arrive in time to join their parents in the Havona ascent. After passing through Havona and attaining the Deities, these salvaged souls of mortal origin constitute the permanent ascendant citizenship of Paradise.”

Please read the whole of Paper 47, so you can help your friend realize the amazing journey that awaits her loved one-and all of us-on The Seven Mansion Worlds

It also might be helpful to help your friend understand the concepts contained in Paper 112 , too: “Personality Survival.” The paper begins with this comforting fact:

“The evolutionary planets are the spheres of human origin, the initial worlds of the ascending mortal career. Urantia is your starting point; here you and your divine Thought Adjuster are joined in temporary union. You have been endowed with a perfect guide; therefore, if you will sincerely run the race of time and gain the final goal of faith, the reward of the ages shall be yours; you will be eternally united with your indwelling Adjuster. Then will begin your real life, the ascending life, to which your present mortal state is but the vestibule. Then will begin your exalted and progressive mission as finaliters in the eternity which stretches out before you. And throughout all of these successive ages and stages of evolutionary growth, there is one part of you that remains absolutely unaltered, and that is personality —permanence in the presence of change.”

Again, I am so sorry to hear of this sad news. I have grandchildren, too, and it would break my heart if I lost any of them. So, my sympathies are with you, and your friend at this sad time. It is always so difficult to understand when a young person is taken from us like that. But, when we understand that nothing is ever lost in God’s universe, and that he rules his creation by the power of Love, we can be comforted, knowing that we’ll be reunited with our loved ones eventually, and that they are very safe and cared for by the angels and other celestial ministers until that day arrives. This beloved child has a personality that comes from God, as do all of us, and he/she will be given every opportunity for survival in his/her new home.

Thanks so much for writing, and please feel free to write again, anytime!