Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 177 -
FURTHER CLARIFICATION BY PETER OF THE QUESTION OF FILIAL RELATIONSHIP TO GOD. HIS CRITICISM OF THE INCEST AMONG THE SUN-DWELLERS.
1
(Says Peter): "Dear friend, you have basically misunderstood my explanation. The question runs thus: 'Do you or don't you desire to become children of God like us?' You would retain all your privileges as far as they are not curtailed by laws inviting you to voluntarily renounce them for the sake of the Kingdom of God. (Naturally this applies only to those privileges which are not an essential part of life.) Speaking of retention of your privileges, I, of course, assume that you comprehend this as explained.
2
Believe me, friend, that we in the Kingdom of God are wise enough to know that a sun cannot be turned into an ordinary planet if a once-established order of the entire universe is not to be disturbed. Also, that the nature of sun-dwellers differs considerably from that of the inhabitants of a small planet. Surely we know all that quite as well as you do!
3
However, you have certain laws here which you gave yourselves and which actually cannot be considered laws at all, since they demand nothing but unrestrained liberty in everything. According to these laws, you are even allowed to discard your ancient and wise original laws and replace them with empty new ones. Now the question is: 'Do you consider that kind of liberty as one of the actual privileges of your life?'
4
Angels from heaven have given you directions for matrimony - that is, the proper union between a man and a woman. They have also instructed you in the proper spiritual procreation of children, which you have preserved so far. How is it possible that now fathers sleep with their daughters in a bestial way, whereas they have a commandment forbidding under penalty that a father performs even a spiritual procreation with his daughter?
5
Tell me, do you consider that one of the indispensable privileges of your life on the sun? Give me your opinion."
6
(Says the sage): "Oh friend, that is not one of the privileges of our life; on the contrary, it has been most detrimental, both to our natural and to our spiritual lives. In view of this, we can, naturally, renounce such true drawbacks. The 'privileges' I was thinking of mainly consist in our specific nature that makes us to a great extent lords over the nature and substance of our world.
7
One of these privileges is that we can draw from the soil of this earth whatever we want - innumerable and unlimited splendors, as well as all imaginable necessities for the maintenance of our bodies.
8
I am sure that our plea for retention of such privileges will not be a sin in the eyes of the Lord, nor a reason to refuse us acceptance into His sonship.
9
But should He consider such a request a sin, then we would have to insist that we be permitted to stay as we are, rather than exchange this security for something most insecure and difficult to attain.
10
This is how I think about it, friend! If you agree, all of us will accept your proposition; if you do not, we shall refuse it. The Lord cannot ask us to do the impossible, unless He changes us completely, endowing us with properties and abilities as yet totally unknown to us. But no being can oppose the Lord's omnipotence, and this applies also to us."