A:

Thank you for your note to us here at TruthBook. You’ve asked a couple of questions that are similar and then a separate topical question. I will answer all of your concerns in this one reply.

These two are similar. You asked:

What info can you give us about ” those who are born into impoverished countries where torture and starvation are prevalent and places such as U.S. we have been “blessed”. If we do not reincarnate, then where is fairness and justice, someone born blind?

“What does Urantia state about those who are well off, rich perhaps, and others who suffer and starve? If not reincarnation, then why the unfairness?”

The questions you’re asking about the unfairness in the world are age-old concerns. We look around us and see such extremes of poverty and wealth, of health and sickness, of war and peace, of suffering and wellness. these observations can be very troubling to anyone with a heart, or a sense of justice.

You seem to be correlating a belief in reincarnation with these issues, as if reincarnation would somehow right these extremes, and make the world a better place; that somehow, justice and fairness would be better served by our reincarnating back here. Perhaps you feel that reincarnation might insure that wrongdoers would have to atone for their sins by being reborn as a lesser form, thereby experiencing the wrongs that they inflicted upon others in a subsequent life, or that sufferers might experiencing greater blessings by being reborn as a greater being…? That may seem like a form of fairness and justice to you.

You may have read in The Urantia Book that reincarnation is not true; that Jesus himself tried to change this belief in his followers. This may be unsettling to you – and you are not alone. Many people believe in reincarnation. At one time, it was a strong belief of mine, as well. But, if reincarnation is not true, where do issues of justice and fairness finally get sorted out? When do the wicked pay for their transgressions? And why do good people suffer because of evil people?

Affliction of the kinds that you list in your questions – like torture and deliberate starvation – are man-made and man-created. (and don’t forget wars, genocides, rapes, murders and stonings!) God does not cause anyone to inflict these terrible things on another. These terrible things are as a result of man’s inhumanity to man – not God’s. It is not God’s will that people should suffer at the hands of another.

On this world, we are all afflicted in some way because of the effects of our isolation from the spiritual circuits of the universe. Our planetary prince betrayed us and our Adam and Eve defaulted in their mission to correct our physical and spiritual shortcomings. As a result, we grope in the spiritual darkness of sin and evil. It is out of this that so much of our suffering springs…

But:

33:7.8 However unfairly human contentions may sometimes appear to be adjudicated on Urantia, in the universe justice and divine equity do prevail. You are living in a well-ordered universe, and sooner or later you may depend upon being dealt with justly, even mercifully.

There is a mechanism in place that eventually deals with both the oppressed and the oppressor…and that mechanism is the ascension plan, which holds true for all. Rather than hoping for some kind of justice by returning here to this earth for another round of life, we are resurrected on the Father’s mansions, where the problems of both wicked and the good are corrected through celestial ministry, mercy and justice. And once that is accomplished, the soul is free to progress into a life of increasing spiritual, mental, and intellectual growth. But justice does come to all eventually, even if some may escape it while here on earth.

Meanwhile, on our planet, evil is allowed to run its course. And we see the terrible effects, as you point out. But every soul – both good and evil – has the same opportunity to transcend their earthly experience by embracing spiritual truth into their lives. The fact that some do not is not going to be corrected by rebirth back here, but in the realms on high, where we’ll all go at death.

This earth is not our home…it is just the sphere where we live the first of many lives that we will experience and we never come back here. The universe of God is progressive. It does not require us to go backwards, to the same kind of life we lived, but to go on, resurrected as an immortal soul. The decisions we make for truth, beauty and goodness are the only decisions that will add to the growth of our immortal soul. Decisions of greed, power-hunger, injustice, and inflicting pain on another only retard the growth of the soul, requiring more intensive corrections in the afterlife before progress can be continued.

23:2.12 “The Creators are possessed of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but such an Eden would not contribute to the development of those strong, noble, and experienced characters which the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish.”

50:6.3 The initial life of the mortal races is always attended by struggle. Effort and decision are an essential part of the acquirement of survival values.

All people suffer on this world, in some way or another. It is the condition of this world, for the reasons I stated above. Even those who treat others shamefully suffer – maybe even moreso that the innocent, for their lives are filled with negativity and fear and that is a hard burden to bear, and possibly hard to recover from.

You also asked: What does Urantia state regarding “transforming into Christ consciousness”?

I could not find any reference to “Christ consciousness,” but there is quite a bit said about God-consciousness.

Here just a few passages that I found about it:

50:5.11 God-consciousness, as it is experienced by an evolving mortal of the realms, must consist of three varying factors, three differential levels of reality realization. There is first the mind consciousness — the comprehension of the idea of God. Then follows the soul consciousness — the realization of the ideal of God. Last, dawns the spirit consciousness — the realization of the spirit reality of God. By the unification of these factors of the divine realization, no matter how incomplete, the mortal personality at all times overspreads all conscious levels with a realization of the personality of God. In those mortals who have attained the Corps of the Finality all this will in time lead to the realization of the supremacy of God and may subsequently eventuate in the realization of the ultimacy of God, some phase of the absonite superconsciousness of the Paradise Father.

100:3.6 The association of actuals and potentials equals growth, the experiential realization of values. But growth is not mere progress. Progress is always meaningful, but it is relatively valueless without growth. The supreme value of human life consists in growth of values, progress in meanings, and realization of the cosmic interrelatedness of both of these experiences. And such an experience is the equivalent of God-consciousness. Such a mortal, while not supernatural, is truly becoming superhuman; an immortal soul is evolving.

Jesus taught:

193:0.3 “And now you should give ear to my words lest you again make the mistake of hearing my teaching with the mind while in your hearts you fail to comprehend the meaning. From the beginning of my sojourn as one of you, I taught you that my one purpose was to reveal my Father in heaven to his children on earth. I have lived the God-revealing bestowal that you might experience the God-knowing career. I have revealed God as your Father in heaven; I have revealed you as the sons of God on earth. It is a fact that God loves you, his sons. By faith in my word this fact becomes an eternal and living truth in your hearts. When, by living faith, you become divinely God-conscious, you are then born of the spirit as children of light and life, even the eternal life wherewith you shall ascend the universe of universes and attain the experience of finding God the Father on Paradise.”

And God-consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest levels of spiritual reality.

If you go to our search feature at the top of any TruthBook page, just type in “God-conscious” in the “search the Urantia Book” line and press enter. You’ll see many more references.

Thanks so much for these questions, and aI hope that my reply is helpful to you. I hope you’ll write again sometime…