Universal Family

When we fall from wholehearted loyalty to God through stages of partial loyalty, conflicted loyalty, indifference to his will, and revolt, we see the path of sin.

But like a ping-pong/table tennis player who has just lost one point, we can work harder to win the next point. We can learn to come back into the presence of God to sustain the same personal and wholehearted moral decision that launched us on the way of life.

I propose main points for Jesus' parable of the treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great price. And I invite you to explore the meanings you will discover . . . by living in these parables.

Evangelist Evan reminisces about being moved to tears by reading the portrayal in the gospel According to Matthew of Jesus' beautiful wholeness of righteousness.

Scientist Simon responds that Jesus' beautiful wholeness was not only due to his spiritual living, but also to Jesus' scientific living. Simon quotes illustrations from chapter 3 in Jeffrey Wattles, Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness--the section on "Jesus' down-to-earth understanding of fact."

Philosopher Sophia asks evangelist Evan how to cope with the uncertainty about the appearance of bad planetary trends. Evan's reply includes explaining fruits of the spirit as one of two conditions for the spiritual renaissance. Alicia the artist describes a painting that for her is the perfect image of what Evan has been talking about. And then Sophia concludes by proclaiming a new spiritual fruit in response to uncertainty.

This conversation celebrates our human capacity for spiritual experience in dialogue with three questions. What about the fact that people of different religions tend to experience what their religions tells them they can or should or will experience? Isn't it problematic to judge particular experiences in terms of their spirit or truth content? And what about persons who report no spiritual experiences? Are they lost forever?

Liberation. Some people hear this word and think of social, economic, and political difficulties that need to be worked out in order for the planet to be reorganized. But within those difficulties there are spiritual difficulties; and if these are handled well, then we will be transformed in our ability to confront the social, economic, and political difficulties.

Spiritual difficulties may be inner resistance to the new life in God--anxieties, addictions, getting caught up in the self-centered and materialistic craziness about money, power, and sex. They may also involve our being overwhelmed by external obstacles over which we may have very little control, for example, a physical condition, for example.

In order to break through into the new life with God, we need spiritual force. Where shall we get that? Two ways. One way is to realize that as children of God our gift of faith comes with power to overcome all kinds of obstacles--so we simply need to use what we have. The other way is to do like the girl next door--lift her arms up to her very tall daddy and get picked up. So God picks us up if we stretch our our arms to him.

Spiritual teacher Evan and philosopher Sophia discuss dimensions of fact and value in spiritual truth--and in daily life.

In this dialogue, Sophia the philosopher and Evan the evangelist begin to clarify the overlap and difference between philosophical and religious responses to the question about knowing for sure about God. The overlap has to do with strengthening our intuitive spiritual experience. Evan's response emphasizes that if you receive God as your Father, you are a son or daughter of God, born of the spirit, with the power to overcome doubt—a victory that is your faith.

Seven friends, some leaning in a conservative direction, some in a liberal direction, discuss (in 12 minutes) whether Jesus taught that people had to believe in him to be saved, and how to reconcile apparent discrepancies that we find in Scripture on this topic.

Meet Sophia the philosopher and Evan the evangelist, as they discuss the possibility and implications of an idea about the meaning of the Biblical idea of "the heaven of heavens" or Jesus word that "In the Father's house are many mansions" or Paul in 2nd Corinthians referring to a man [probably himself] who was "caught up to the third heaven." Will those places be our homes as we accomplish stages of growth on the way to Paradise perfection?