Section 1. The Father’s Name

^1:1.1 Of all the names by which  Godˆ the Fatherˆ is known throughout the universesˆ, those which designate him as the First Source and the Universeˆ Center are most often encountered. The First Father is known by various names in different universesˆ and in different sectors of the same universeˆ. The names which the creature assigns to the Creatorˆ are much dependent on the creature’s concept of the Creatorˆ. The First Source and Universeˆ Center has never revealed himself by name, only by nature. If we believe that we are the children of this Creatorˆ, it is only natural that we should eventually call him Father. But this is the name of our own choosing, and it grows out of the recognition of our personal relationship with the First Source and Centerˆ.

^1:1.2 The Universal Fatherˆ never imposes any form of arbitrary recognition, formal worship, or slavish service upon the intelligent will creatures of the universesˆ. The evolutionaryˆ inhabitants of the worlds of time and spaceˆ must of themselves — in their own hearts — recognize, love, and voluntarily worship him. The Creatorˆ refuses to coerce or compel the submission of the spiritˆual free wills of his material creatures. The affectionate dedication of the human will to the doing of the Father’s will is man’s choicest gift to God; in fact, such a consecration of creature will constitutes man’s only possible gift of true value to the  Paradiseˆ Fatherˆ. In Godˆ, man lives, moves, and has his being; there is nothing which man can give to Godˆ except this choosing to abide by the Father’s will, and such decisions, effected by the intelligent will creatures of the universesˆ, constitute the reality of that true worship which is so satisfying to the love-dominated nature of the Creatorˆ Father.

^1:1.3 When you have once become truly God-conscious, after you really discover the majestic Creatorˆ and begin to experience the realization of the indwellˆing presence of the divineˆ controller, then, in accordance with your enlightenment and in accordance with the manner and method by which the divineˆ Sons reveal Godˆ, you will find a name for the Universal Fatherˆ which will be adequately expressive of your concept of the First Great Source and Center. And so, on different worlds and in various universesˆ, the Creatorˆ becomes known by numerous appellations, in spiritˆ of relationship all meaning the same but, in words and symbols, each name standing for the degree, the depth, of his enthronement in the hearts of his creatures of any given realm.

^1:1.4 Near the center of the  universeˆ of universesˆ, the Universal Fatherˆ is generally known by names which may be regarded as meaning the First Source. Farther out in the universesˆ of spaceˆ, the terms employed to designate the Universal Fatherˆ more often mean the Universal Center. Still farther out in the starry creation, he is known, as on the headquarters world of your local universeˆˆ, as the First Creative Source and Divineˆ Center. In one near-by constellationˆ Godˆ is called the Father of Universesˆ. In another, the Infinite Upholder, and to the east, the Divineˆ Controller. He has also been designated the Father of Lights, the Gift of Life, and the All-powerful One.

^1:1.5 On those worlds where a Paradiseˆ Son has lived a bestowalˆ life, Godˆ is generally known by some name indicative of personal relationship, tender affection, and fatherly devotion. On your constellationˆ headquarters Godˆ is referred to as the Universal Fatherˆ, and on different planets in your local systemˆ of inhabited worlds he is variously known as the Father of Fathers, the  Paradiseˆ Fatherˆ, the Havonaˆ Father, and the Spiritˆ Father. Those who know Godˆ through the revelations of the bestowalsˆ of the Paradiseˆ Sons, eventually yield to the sentimental appeal of the touching relationship of the creature-Creator association and refer to Godˆ as “our Father.”

^1:1.6 On a planet of sex creatures, in a world where the impulses of parental emotion are inherent in the hearts of its intelligent beings, the term Father becomes a very expressive and appropriate name for the eternalˆ Godˆ. He is best known, most universally acknowledged, on your planet, Urantiaˆ, by the name  Godˆ. The name he is given is of little importance; the significant thing is that you should know him and aspire to be like him. Your prophets of old truly called him “the everlasting God” and referred to him as the one who “inhabits eternityˆ.”

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