GOD THE FATHER We are most fortunate that the authors of The Urantia Book describe our master universe from earth to Paradise, the residence of God the Father. [Paradise is also the residence of God the Son, God the Spirit, and their divine associates.]
However, I have often wondered: What exists beyond Paradise? Are there universes far larger than our master universe? The existence of universes greater than our master universe was not revealed to us, but this does not mean they do not exist. Perhaps our master universe is a segment of a much larger universe, just as our local universe is a segment of our master universe. The authors of The Urantia Book emphasize that they were greatly limited as to what facts they could reveal. It seems implausible to believe that after countless eons we are the only universe in existence. If there are other master universes similar to ours in existence, then we surmise that each is ruled by a God the Father.
Has God existed eternally, or was he created at a specific moment in the eternal past? We are taught that God is eternal, universal, absolute, infinite . . . All Knowing, All Powerful . . . But if knowledge is infinite, how can God know everything? Regardless of much he knows, there is always more to learn.
Let us assume that the term infinity can be defined as a specific unit of time, just as one day equals 24 hours, ten years equal one decade, one hundred years equal one century, etc. Now we can ask: How many infinities ago was God created?
Suppose we use Jesus as an example. Jesus was created by God the Father and God the Son. This means that Jesus was created at a specific moment in time as a Creator Son of the Order of Michael. [The Paradise Creator Sons, of which Jesus is one, are the makers and rulers of the local universes of time and space.] About 400,000,000,000 years ago, Jesus selected our site as his local universe. Given this information, we know that Jesus has been in existence at least 400,000,000,000 years.
"But before he may begin even the physical organization of his universe, he must spend a long period of observation devoted to the study of the efforts of his older brothers in various creations located in the superuniverse of his projected action. And prior to all this, the Michael Son will have completed his long and unique experience of Paradise observation and Havona training."
How many billions of years were required to complete this initial training we are not told. However, we are told that the billion perfect worlds of Havona that revolve around Paradise are the educational training ground where the Paradise Michaels are prepared for their subsequent adventures in universe creation. There are numerous lessons to be learned on each world. How many years are required to learn the lessons on each world? Millions? Billions?
A billion infinities in the future, will mortals be taught that Jesus has always existed?Jesus was created by God the Father and God the Son. Therefore, we know that God the Father has been in existence far longer than Jesus. We are told that the size of the master universe is beyond mortal comprehension. No doubt the length of time that God the Father has been in existence is also beyond mortal comprehension. If infinity is defined as a specific unit of time, then we can say that God has been in existence multiple infinities.
Does mathematics offer any suggestions that an infinity can be viewed as a specific unit of time? The following information was received from Bud Bromley, a fellow student of The Urantia Book and a former teacher of mathematics.
Every number that can be written in our base-ten system can also be written in a base-two system, the binary system, which contains only two symbols, 0 and 1.
1 = 1
2 = 10
3 = 11 (1 + 2)
4 = 100
5 = 101 (4 + 1)
6 = 110 (4 + 2)
7 = 111 (4 + 2 + 1)
8 = 1000 and so onNow I want to postulate a table, in binary, of every possible number, to infinity. It will have to extend to the right to infinity, and it will have to keep going down to infinity. It will contain every possible number, and fraction, rational and irrational, positive and negative.
When, in binary, we speak of flipping a digit, we mean to change it: if zero, make it 1, if 1, make it zero.
Now, in our binary table of all possible numbers, I want to flip the first digit in the first (top) number, flip the second digit in the second number down, flip the third digit in the third number down, and so on down through the whole table.
Let us line up all these flips into one number. It will differ from every number in the original (unflipped) table by at least one flip. But since the original table contained all possible numbers to infinity, this new number is one number past infinity! This implies that there is indeed an infinity beyond our first infinity.
(Mathematicians call that first infinity "denumerable infinity".)I don't know, Lee, that this mathematical superinfinity necessarily implies a supereternity, or a superinfinity of space, but surely you are free to speculate. My knowledge of advanced mathematics is somewhat limited, so I don't quite comprehend if finding one number beyond denumerable infinity implies a whole infinity beyond denumerable infinity, but I've heard that it does.
Here is another brain-teaser from Bud for non-mathematicians.
From the entire set of all whole numbers, let me pick out a set of numbers consisting of one trillion, two trillion, three trillion, and so on. (One trillion is 1,000,000,000,000.) But if the set of numbers, 1, 2, 3 . . . is infinite, then the set, 1 trillion, 2 trillion, 3 trillion, must also be infinite. That is, out of the infinite set of whole numbers, I have picked a VERY small fragment of that set, yet that fragment is infinite!
Now note the implication. God is infinite. He gives a small fragment of Himself to each one of us, our Thought Adjusters [called the Indwelling Spirit by Christians]. Each one being a fragment of an infinity, they too must be infinite! Consider that for a while.
It' fun, knowing a little mathematics.Based upon Bud's explanation, it seems reasonable to believe that an infinity can be defined as a specific unit of time.
Let's return to the questions: Has God the Father existed eternally, or was he created at a definite point in the eternal past? I believe it is plausible to conjecture that God was created at a specific moment in time, and that he has been in existence for many infinities.
Does God the Father know everything? For example, we might say that God the Father has mastered the lessons in the first one trillion infinities, but there are an infinite number of infinities yet to be mastered. Therefore, he is All Knowing and All Powerful only in the infinities that he has mastered.It seems plausible to assume that God the Father came down from a larger [greater] universe to select this site as the arena for creating his master universe just as Jesus, a Paradise Son of God, came from Paradise to select our area for his local universe.
Although Jesus is now the Sole Sovereign of our local universe of Nebadon, he answers to God the Father. We are told in the beginning papers of The Urantia Book that God the Father is the Sole Sovereign of our master universe. However, as we read we note that every celestial personality--high or low--always has a superior to whom he answers. Therefore, we postulate: God the Father answers to a superior in a much larger universe of which we are a part.
The authors of The Urantia Book state that progress from one level to a higher level of intellectual and spiritual achievement must be earned.
We are not told who created God the Father. Perhaps he also began his existence as a Creator Son. If so, he too was created by a God the Father and a God the Son. But I believe we can surely conjecture that over a period of untold infinities God earned the right to select the area in which he would create our master universe.Our master universe is administered by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. We know that the watchword of the universe is progress. At some point in the eternal future, will God the Son ascend to the status of a God the Father? Will God the Spirit ascend to the status of a God the Son? To what new status will God the Father ascend?
No doubt in the eternal future we mortals will measure our existence in terms of one infinity, two infinities, etc.
To what glorious heights can we lowly mortals aspire? Can we cast our imagination forward to that day when our age is twenty infinities?Source: The Urantia Book, published by Uversa Press, a subsidiary of Urantia Book Fellowship. [14:6:24] [20:1] [Paper 21] [21:2:1] [33:1, 2, 3] [57:3:7,8] [119:0:7] [119:8:2]
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fellowship@urantiabook.org.Revised April 10 2005