1. Jesus traveled to Rome and around the Mediterranean Sea with the father and son from India, named Gonod and Ganid. This trip lasted for almost two years, from April 26, A.D. 22 until December 10, A.D. 23.
2. At Joppa Jesus talked to a lad named Gadiah about Jonah. In part Jesus said we are all Jonahs, and that the whale was Jonah’s own selfishness. Only by turning back to God was Jonah saved from death and darkness in the belly of the beast.
3. Jesus told Gadiah that evil wasn’t real, it was the error present in anything not yet perfect with God. Evil represents holes in the fabric of truth, beauty, and goodness. Evil becomes sin when it is done with deliberate intent against the will of God.
4. A lad disagreed when Jesus said that God cared for his children because the lad was suffering under an unjust foreman. Jesus told him that maybe the foreman had been put there to learn from the young man’s knowledge of living a just life. Shine your light on those in darkness.
5. Ganid asked Jesus why he wanted to talk to strangers. Jesus said that for those who know God, no man is a stranger. Learning to know and then love other people is one of the greatest experiences of our time on Earth.
6. Ganid asked the difference between God’s will and man’s free will. Jesus said God’s will is the base of all being, the essence of nonduality. Man’s will is confined to the person and shows the sum and substance of what the person chooses to be.
7. Ganid asked if animals could have souls. Jesus said no. People are conscious of being conscious, which makes us moral. Animals are not. They can know man, but not God. Also, that transmigration of souls is a false belief.
8. Those who use their will to only satisfy material pleasures eventually lose spiritual value and cease to exist. Those who base their decisions on spiritual values move closer to God and eventually become one with God.
9. At the library in Alexandria, Ganid told Jesus he knew more than the professors there, and that he should teach them. Jesus said no, they had too much pride in what they knew to learn more. A true teacher stayed open to learning more no matter how much they already knew.
Okay, folks, that’s it for Son of Man: Urantia, the highlights for Chapter 9, “On the Way to Rome,” part 1.
This week we continue with Chapter 9, “On the Way to Rome,” part 2.
Have a fantastic week out there.
Bob