THE UNIVERSAL GOD

Spiritual Value of God’s Personality

CEDOMIL VUGRINCIC, M.D., Ph.D.
January 2005

Interim Paper XXVI
© Copyright

In the previous Interim- Papers we have reviewed the meanings of the TRUE WORSHIP of

the Paradise Universal Father, the PRAYER SUPPLICATIONS to the realms of the Paradise Eternal Son and His Spirit of Truth, and qualified PRAYER REALIZATIONS by the spirit

agencies of the Holy Spirit, the Mind of the Paradise Conjoint Actor.

The following Interim-Paper is devoted to further enlightenment about the true nature of God.

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When Jesus talked about "the living God," he referred to a personal Deity--the Father in heaven.

The concept of the personality of Deity facilitates fellowship; it favors intelligent worship; it promotes refreshing trustfulness. Interactions can be had between nonpersonal things, but not fellowship.

The fellowship relation of father and son, as between God and man, cannot be enjoyed unless both are persons. Only personalities can commune with each other, albeit this personal communion may be greatly facilitated by the presence of just such an impersonal entity as the Thought Adjuster.

Man does not achieve union with God as a drop of water might find unity with the ocean. Man attains divine union by progressive reciprocal spiritual communion, by personality intercourse with the personal God, by increasingly attaining the divine nature through wholehearted and intelligent conformity to the divine will. Such a sublime relationship can exist only between personalities.

The concept of truth might possibly be entertained apart from personality, the concept of beauty may exist without personality, but the concept of divine goodness is understandable only in relation to personality. Only a person can love and be loved. Even beauty and truth would be divorced from survival hope if they were not attributes of a personal God, a loving Father.

We cannot fully understand how God can be primal, changeless, all-powerful, and perfect, and at the same time be surrounded by an ever-changing and apparently law-limited universe, an evolving universe of relative imperfections. But we can know such a truth in our own personal experience since we all maintain identity of personality and unity of will in spite of the constant changing of both ourselves and our environment.

Ultimate universe reality cannot be grasped by mathematics, logic, or philosophy, only by personal experience in progressive conformity to the divine will of a personal God.

Neither science, philosophy, nor theology can validate the personality of God. Only the personal experience of the faith sons of the heavenly Father can effect the actual spiritual realization of the personality of God.

"The Lord God is one."

The higher concepts of universe personality imply: identity, self-consciousness, self-will, and possibility for self-revelation. And these characteristics further imply fellowship with other and equal personalities, such as exists in the personality associations of the Paradise Deities. And the absolute unity of these associations is so perfect that divinity becomes known by indivisibility, by oneness.

This concept of indivisibility in association with the concept of unity implies transcendence of both time and space by the Ultimacy of Deity; therefore neither space nor time can be absolute or infinite. The First Source and Center is that infinity who unqualifiedly transcends all mind, all matter, and all spirit.

The fact of the Paradise Trinity in no manner violates the truth of the divine unity. The three personalities of Paradise Deity are, in all universe reality reactions and in all creature relations, as one. Neither does the existence of these three eternal persons violate the truth of the indivisibility of Deity.

Indivisibility of personality does not interfere with God's bestowing his spirit to live in the hearts of mortal men, nor does indivisibility of a human father's personality prevents the reproduction of mortal sons and daughters.

Reference:

The Urantia Book, Paper 1, Section 7 (edit/modif.)