The time came when they became adolescents; my wife and I fell from our pedestal with a thud!  To their credit, there wasn’t much blame during those years.  We remained a loving and tight-knit family.  They would freely talk with us about their friends.  From them I learned that other teens could be a handful.  Thanks to them I discarded the idyllic picture of my own teen years, back in Egypt, back in the 1950s.  This was a different time and a very different place.  Most important I learned from them that a blaming game took place in numerous other families.  “I am not accepted by my friends because you’re not buying me the proper clothing.”  “My boyfriend broke up with me because you didn’t make him feel welcome when he came to visit.”  Never mind that the boyfriend in question looked like an escaped convict!

Now to a basic question:  Are we wired for blame, is it learned behavior, or is it both?  I believe it is both.  My arguments follow.

With many unfortunate exceptions, our childhood is the best time of our lives.  Two adults, our parents, are in charge.  They take care of everything.  They earn a living; pay the bills; plan and prepare the meals; and best of all, at a young age, entertain us, play with us, and simply love us.  When was the last time you saw a 7-year-old shopping for a better mortgage, or planning a vacation?!

For the rest of our lives we will seek that sheltered environment.  But, alas, it is gone for good.  Nevertheless, we continue to assume that other parties are responsible for our welfare.  We are right to a certain extent.  For example, when a dangerous disease (example the birdflu) affect other nations, we expect our government to plan properly in case it reaches our shores.  If we are in a crisis, we expect our parents, siblings, and friends to help out.  Any of these parties can be blamed if they do not deliver.  These are cases when blame is a healthy reaction provided we learn to blame and move on.
 
The above is the nurture part of the equation.  What about the nature part?  A child is completely pliant and is willing to accept authority.  This is absolutely necessary, for the parents can be goat-herders on the plains of Africa, or two Cambridge professors.  No matter, the child will adapt, but the parents have an important role to play.  In the first instance, the child should be taught what to do if attacked by a dangerous animal.  He should also be provided with the proper weapons and reliable dogs.  In the second instance, the child should be prepared for the complex intellectual world awaiting him.  Perhaps a more onerous task than the one the first parents have.

If the parents discharge their responsibilities properly, all is well.  If not, and if harm results, the child will blame his parents.  If the situation persists, he will gradually lose his trust in them and indeed in all adults.  Together with the power to adapt and accept authority, nature has equipped us with the power to react when expectations are not met.  We begin by blaming and in time we may realize we have placed our safety and welfare in the wrong hands.  We are no longer willing to accept authority blindly.  In other words, blame is a defense mechanism.  It should be triggered for a good reason.  Unfortunately, as I will discuss in my subsequent sections, it doesn’t work this way at all.

When a heinous crime is committed in a community, there is
an expectation that the perpetrator will be found quickly and
made to pay for his crime.  But the police rarely arrives at the
scene of a crime and find a person with a smoking gun standing
over a body.  It takes time to solve a crime.  The prosecutor
needs solid evidence before she can go to trial.  Sometimes a
crime is never solved.  But people need justice done, or put in a
more candid way they need to blame.  Under these conditions, the
system (police, prosecutors, and legislators) looks for a
shortcut.  I am aware of two ways to do so.

If a disturbing crime is committed by a minor, i.e. a child,
by common agreement, we can decide to play a game of pretend.  We
can pretend he is an adult and punish him accordingly.  What that
means is that he will be tried as an adult, receive a long
sentence, and perhaps be jailed with adult criminals.

Neurobiologists tell us that in adolescence, the brain is
still developing.  Many connections are still being made in the
brain.  It’s a carryover from childhood, but the work is going on
in a big way.  Remember the body is exploding and that includes
the brain.  One is tempted to write on the forehead of every
adolescent:  “Brain Under Construction!”  An adolescent doesn’t
think like an adult, he is still a child.  However, when the
process is completed, he will have a fully developed cerebral
cortex with the proper controls, the ability to exercise sound
judgment, and the capacity to evaluate the consequences of his
actions.We understand all that of course, but sometimes we look the
other way.  Perhaps the system have no choice.  The lynching mob
is out there.  Ignoring it may impact our career or cost us the
next election.  So what do we do?  We jail a child!  We
substitute one crime for another and in the process satisfy our
appetite for blame.

This in an advanced society!  This in the 21st century!

The other shortcut involve an adult suspect.  Again we are
faced with a revolting act.  People are aghast.  How can anybody
commit such a crime?  Payment has to be exacted.  Blame should be
allocated.  The players involved have to, by hook or crook, find
the perpetrator.  But they cannot.  There is a silent question
out there.  Does it have to be a perfect fit?  Perhaps a neighbor
has committed the crime.  More commonly it’s a person that has a
criminal record; it could be for petty crimes committed a long
time ago.  No matter, a case can be made; it need not be a
perfect fit!

I want to provide you with an actual example.  My problem
is that, sadly, I have many cases to choose from.  Ultimately, I
picked the case of Guy Paul Morin since it profoundly disturbs my
sense of justice.

On October 3, 1984, in Queensville Ontario, the parents of
9-year-old, Christine Jessop, arrived home and found the backpack
of their daughter on the kitchen counter.  The mail and flyers
had been brought into the house; in other words, Christine had
arrived home safely, however, there was no sign of her. 

A search was undertaken, but Christine was never found.
Christine’s body was eventually found on December 31, 1984.

The Morins were the next door neighbor.  Guy Paul Morin was
a suspect early in the investigation; this despite the fact that
there was never any solid evidence against him.  Essentially, it
was found that his behavior was suspicious.

Guy was 23 at the time.  He worked for a furniture
manufacturer, lived with his parents, and played the clarinet and
the saxophone.  He was generally happy and looked forward to a
bright future.  Alas, it was not to be.    

Guy was arrested and charged on April 22, 1985.  On January
7, 1986, he was acquitted.  The Crown appealed (there is no
double jeopardy rule in Canada), and on his retrial, on July 23,
1992, he was found guilty.

Throughout this whole process, Morin maintained his
innocence.  Indeed, many believed he was innocent.  Unlike others
convicted of murdering children after sexually abusing them,
during his incarceration, he was kept in the general prison
population without being a victim of violence.

Improvements in DNA testing led to a test in 1995 which
excluded Morin as the murderer.  A hell that has lasted for 11
years had finally come to an end.

A subsequent inquiry revealed that there was evidence of
police and prosecutorial misconduct, and of misrepresentation of
forensic evidence by the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences.

The matter becomes more involved when I bring blame into the
picture.  An individual can be held responsible, but may or may
not be blamed for her actions.  How so?  Let’s look at an
example.  Tamara (a fictitious person) starts a technology
company in 1996.  In 1998, she goes public and the price of her
shares is climbing steadily.  Investors do well until 2000 when
the technology sector goes down the drain.  As a result, the
company goes out of business and the investors lose substantial
amounts of money.  When the books of the company are audited, it
turns out that Tamara has always been honest in her business
dealings.  There was no revenue pulled out of nowhere.  This is a
case where Tamara can be held accountable (since she managed the
business) for the losses incurred but cannot be blamed.  She
could not control what happened and she never inflated her
revenue artificially to jack-up the shares’ price.

Compare and contrast the above fictional example with
existing companies who engaged in doubtful accounting practices,
and in the process ruined the lives of many of their employees
and shareholders.  Not only do we blame the managers who run
these companies, but we consider their actions criminal.  Indeed,
some of them are now in jail.

Often, it is not that simple to separate accountability from
blame.  They tend to go together.

Some 60 years ago, President Harry Truman took the most
difficult decision a president has taken before or since.  He
dropped the atom bomb on two cities in Japan.  President Truman
had a sign on his desk:  “The Buck Stops Here.”  In other words,
the final decision was his to make.  But he was certainly not
alone.  Rest assured that he consulted with his cabinet, members
of Congress, staff, military men, and above all the scientists
who developed this frightful weapon.  Japan was told what to
expect and was given a chance to sign a peace accord.  The offer
was reiterated before the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki; to
no avail.

Today the U.S. and Japan are good friends, and standing at a
distance of 60 years, we can ask our questions:  Was President
Truman accountable (responsible) for this horror?  Could he be
blamed?  I will say with absolute certainty that he was neither
accountable nor could he be blamed.  The war in the Pacific was
costing many lives, both American and Japanese.  The world was
exhausted after a long war; and the U.S. had a weapon that could
end the conflict.  It should have never come to that.  The
military in Japan should have understood that the game was up.
When they didn’t, the Americans had no other choice left.  The
decision was a common decision taken not by one man only, but
many other people both in the U.S. and Japan.

Only God can say:  “The Buck Stops Here.”  Humans can use it
if they wish.  But it is meaningless.  So many things are not
under their control.

In the early ’70s, the U.S. was rocked by the Watergate
scandal.  Put simply, President Richard Nixon and many members of
his staff has engineered a plot to ensure he will be reelected
for a second term.  For some 3 years, government, Congress, the
media, and the judiciary were busy sorting out this sordid
affair.  When the President resigned and was replaced by
President Ford, it was time to take a tally.  Many brilliant
people around Nixon were jailed.  The business of government came
to a standstill.  President Nixon was pardoned by President Ford,
probably more out of respect for the institution of the
presidency than for the man himself.  For many years thereafter,
the stench of the scandal pervaded Washington.

President Nixon earned the nickname of “Tricky Dick.”  For
example, he used to say that he was serving the silent majority.
He was serving the majority of Americans who went about their
business quietly.  Any protest therefore was the work of
hooligans, not hard-working people.  How convenient!  Since they
were silent, Nixon’s administration could make them say what they
want.  Since they were silent, we don’t know their numbers and
they can be misrepresented as the majority.  Put another way, he
equated the American people to puppets.  What they say or do is
under the control of the puppeteer.  But it didn’t work this way
at all, the American people caught up with him and his career
ended up in disgrace.

I think we have an easy verdict here.  Nixon was accountable
because it was proved that from the beginning he knew what was
going on.  He was to blame for the pain he has caused,
specifically to the people around him, and in general to the
American people.

That’s when it gets really ugly.  I have met some (mercifully, not many) of these predators in the course of my working life.  At least one of them was downright incompetent and could not discharge his present duties, let alone occupy a higher position.  But he did reach his goal!  How does such a person do it?  He uses what I call malicious ambition.  He creates dissension between superiors, subordinates, and everybody  in between.  He uses blame very intelligently blaming other
people for his own errors.  The blame does not stop there; when
the opportunity presents itself, he plays one colleague against
the other.  He tells Peter “you’re in this predicament because of
Paul.  However, Paul is getting better at what he is doing.  All
in all he is a good chap.”  It’s a bad cop, good cop tactic
except that he plays both roles.

There has always been people who have been endowed with this
low trait.  Not a gift from nature, but rather a curse.

Malicious ambition in our modern democracies is routinely
used.  A government in power will blame its predecessors for the
problems the nation is encountering.  But not to worry, we will
save the day.  Even better, if you elect us again, we will work
hard and our country will be the envy of the whole world.
Another scenario:  our province is in its present predicament
because the federal government is not giving us our fair share of
taxation.

You get the idea; one party blames the other, the province
blames the federal government, and the municipality blames the
federal and provincial governments.  It’s a blaming game.  The
game of politics.  It’s a form of malicious ambition that, while
not benign, is accepted until we find a better way to govern
ourselves.

 The Jones live on a quiet street.  Their 6-year-old boy, Jonah, often goes bicycling near the house.  The parents keep an eye on him and there have never been any incidents.  On that unfortunate day, a car goes down the street just as Jonah is turning a corner.  The parents hear the terrifying sound of a collision and the squeal of brakes.  Jonah is killed instantly. What happens in this case is fairly typical.  The parents will be devastated.  They will grieve for a long time; really forever for you never get over the death of a child.  Then a process that shouldn’t be part of human nature, but unfortunately is, begins. They begin blaming each other:  “Had we gone to visit my parents like we planned…”  “If you didn’t teach Jonah to be so daring, really reckless…”

None of them is really responsible for what happened. Nothing will ever bring their little boy back.  Blame, if it continues, will wreck their marriage.  Yet, this is the time to come together, not to split!

 Emily gets pregnant at 19.  Her boyfriend, Amos, is willing to assume responsibility.  He marries her a year after the baby is born.  A marriage at such a young age will not survive?  Not necessarily.  If they love each other, and if they get the necessary support from their parents, it can thrive.  There is a major advantage here.  They are so very young and are capable of doing things they will no longer be able to do even 10 years from now.  Never again will they have an inexhaustible store of energy like now.  Never again will passion bring them together so powerfully.  They have an edge over a couple that, say, married in their thirties.  So what can possibly break such a strong bond?  Blame.

 Amos:  “I was going to study to be a meteorologist.  Look at me now, I am spoonfeeding the little brat and changing his diapers.”

 Emily:  “When you got me pregnant, I was in my first year of college studying to be a chef.  I love cooking.  But for all of last year I cooked for a man who considers hamburger, pizza, and fried chicken as gourmet food.  What a waste of my talent.

” “I got you pregnant?  Wasn’t it…”

 ”It didn’t happen by itself you know, and…”

On and on the blame goes on.  Slowly but surely they are destroying their marriage.  It need not be this way.  Today, there is a lot of support in our society.  If they really want, they can conceivably complete their studies and achieve their dreams.  But first they have to be positive and work together. Blame can be defined in this case as two people working against each other.

 Destructive blame exists in society as a whole.  Divorce, the right to die, gay marriage, abortion, and countless other contentious issues pit one segment of society against the other. The media whips the crowd into a frenzy.  It spurs us into meddling into other people’s business.

 The media when I was growing up was a 10 to 15 pages newspaper that occasionally offered commentaries, some of them provocative.  Today it is the radio, television with 24-hours news channels, newspapers, and of course the internet.  Let’s not forget the call-in shows where every Joe and Jill offer their views.  Everybody is a pop psychologist; we all know what our politicians ought to do.

 In an advanced society, we don’t meddle into the business of a family who has to decide whether to pull the plug on a very sick relative.  We don’t tell a woman we don’t even know to keep her baby.  In an advanced society we …  Well, never mind.  We are not an advanced society.  We still enjoy meddling into other people business and blaming them for a situation we are not even acquainted with!

The Jewish people should be celebrated, not persecuted. There are three main reasons:

1. They brought monotheism to this planet.  This, at the time, was an extraordinary achievement.  When Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, people worshipped idols.  There were gods for everything.  Gods for the rain, trees, river, sun, moon, fertility, and war.  You name it, there was a god for it.  Every house had stone and clay idols.  The people could see them, touch them, talk to them, and solicit their help.  The Torah enjoined the Jews to worship one God only.  They could not fashion any image of Him.  Moreover, their God was invisible.  This was asking for the impossible.  The bible informs us that the people often worshipped false gods.  Yet, with the help of the prophets who at times cajoled, at times threatened, the true God prevailed among the Israelites.  And from Judaism first Christianity and then Islam sprung.

When Divinity walked the earth, there was only one people amongst whom He could be born:  The Jewish people.  It would have been unthinkable to have Jesus born among the heathen!

2. Of all the people of antiquity, only the Jews come to us in one unbroken line as a people.  Where are the Babylonians and the Assyrians?  Are today Greeks and Egyptians the same people that existed thousand of years ago?  To a point only; for they have mixed with so many other nations over the centuries.  The modern Jews (as a people and as a religion) are the descendants of the Jews  (with one important qualification discussed below) that traversed the Sinai desert and settled in the promised land.

In 722 BCE the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed its capital Samaria, and deported the Israelites.  The conquered kingdom included what we call today the Ten Lost Tribes (Reuven, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh).  Today, we look in vain for these lost  tribes.  I believe they have long been absorbed by other people.

Judah, the Southern Kingdom had Jerusalem as its capital.  It was populated by the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi (This tribe was assigned hereditary religious duties).  All modern  Jews are their descendants.

Why is that important?  I don’t know about you, but I find it reassuring to have a people from antiquity still dwelling among us.  After all, there is so little stability on this confused planet.   

3. The Jews do not proselytize.  I am not aware of all the reasons for that, but I believe the three most important ones are:

A. As already stated, Judaism came about at a time when people worshipped idols.  To tell your neighbors to convert to a religion with one God, and an invisible one at that, would have been not only futile, but dangerous since it would have antagonized them.

B. Judaism is an incredibly complex religion.  There are 613 commandments in the bible.  The commandments are further explained and expanded in the Talmud; all of its volumes can fill a large shelve on your bookcase.  If you’re born a Jew, you do the best you can.  Even an Orthodox Jew cannot follow everything, more so since he has to adjust the commandments to the requirements of time and place by using the Oral Torah (tradition).  I do not profess to fully understand this last statement.  I included it to give you an idea why Judaism does not ask you to join its ranks.

C. The third reason is the most important one.  The Talmud refers to the Righteous Jew.  He/she believes in God, is fair and kind to fellow humans, and follow the commandments to the best of his/her ability.  The Talmud also refers to the Righteous Gentile.  He/she is equivalent to a Righteous Jew.  Both will have a share in the world to come.  You get no special privileges in God’s eyes just because you’re a Jew!

By the way, the Talmud does not accept (as is) the bible’s statement that the Jews were the chosen (by God) people.  The interpretation (looking through the whole Torah, and with the help of the Oral Torah) is that the choosing was the other way around; the Jews chose God and his Torah.

Considering the above, a Gentile who wants to convert to Judaism is not encouraged.  If she persists, she is, of course, given the necessary instruction in the religion and eventually welcomed into the faith.

In all the years, I have only known one person, a Scottish lady, who converted strictly out of conviction (i.e. not because of marriage, etc.).  She approached the Reform Congregation in Ottawa, learned about the religion and was received into Judaism.

Our parents gave us life.  They are at our side from
helplessness to adulthood and beyond.  My children are adults now
with their own families.  However, if you were to ask me how I
did it, I would be stumped.  Of course I was younger and very
motivated.  The task was shared with my wife.  It was a day-to-
day affair; every day I learned something new.  I have no doubt
that nature has also equipped me for this awesome task.
Nevertheless, a human infant is such a complex being, I still
wonder how I managed it.

Some parents have a natural talent for parenting.  Many
others do not.  And still others are negligent, indifferent, or
reckless.  For a child, luck will play a big role.  Whatever the
case, none of us ever get a royal flush when it comes to
parents.  Parents will come with their own personalities, quirks,
and beliefs.  They can only give what they have.  If they both
have a very limited education, they cannot establish an
intellectual atmosphere in the house!

Ultimately, there can be no doubt that parents will have a
significant influence on their children.  There will always be
room for blame.  The idea is to put the blame in perspective by
taking into account the aforementioned limitations under which
parents labor, and the fact that we often tend to exaggerate the
impact they have on us.  Sometimes what appears to be negative
turns out to be positive.  I have an excellent personal example.

Norma and I are low-energy people.  We run out of steam
quickly.  Accordingly, we enlisted the help of our children as
soon as it was humanly possible to do so.  Even at a very young
age, they helped us in small ways such as folding the laundry and
putting the groceries away.  By 6, Rita was making both her and
her brother school lunches (we still hear about it!).  Later they
helped in cleaning the house and doing the laundry.  I paid for
services rendered and avoided a big outcry.  For health reasons,
Norma could not work.  With one income coming into the household,
I told my children that they were on their own if they wanted to
go to university.  I would, however, provide them with free room
and board for as long as they needed it.  They both went to
university and obtained their degrees; and they didn’t take me up
on my offer of free room and board.

Much later on, when I thought about these particular aspects
of their upbringing, I realized that we gave them the invaluable
gift of initiative.  We didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened
naturally.  And this is the kind of lesson that stays with the
child as if it was carved in stone.  The daily sermons on the
other hand tend to have a limited impact; some will survive
adulthood, most won’t.

Rita moved out in 1989 at the age of 21.  She worked,
studied, and subsisted on an impossible budget.  If she ever
writes a small pamphlet as to how she made ends meet, it would be
a must-read for every Minister of Finance in the world!

Michael loves sports.  Unfortunately for him, his parents
did not share his interest.  Yet, with the help of his friends,
he learned how to ride a bicycle, skate, ski, play hockey,
racquetball, and golf. 

Sometimes what appears to be negative turns out to be very
positive indeed.

I have a theory.  You’re free to accept it or reject it.
During our early years, our parents hold our hand and guide us
through life.  Once their task is finished, we still very much
need the handholding and the government replaces our parents.  If
you’re facing an intractable problem, you open your telephone
book, or go to the internet, to see what government department
can help you and how.

Simply put, the nation is run by our elected representatives
and by cabinet.  They carry out our wishes and fulfill the
promises made during the election.  (I know it sounds like a
bedtime story you would read to a 3-year-old!  But in a very
general way, and with many qualifications, it does work this
way).  The Civil Service administrate the country.  Put another
way, it carries out the wishes of its political masters and it
directly serves the public.

You’ve heard the expression, “You’re too good for your own
good.”  Being really good at what you’re doing means raises and
promotions if you’re employed.  If you’re self-employed, it means
more business.  One way or another, it means higher earnings, but
it comes at a price, people expect too much from you.  The same
applies to Western governments.  After centuries of trial and
error, we have good and responsive governments.  In order not to
be accused of living on another planet, I will quickly state that
it’s far from being perfect.  There is too much red-tape.  Simple
matters are presented are presented as complex, complex issues
are presented as insoluble.  On the one hand, we are nickel-and-
dimed to death, on the other hand our taxes can be spent
recklessly.  There is corruption, scandal, kickbacks, and
nepotism.  Above all the lust for power and the tactics used to
win elections can be depressing; who can forget the 2000
presidential elections?  To reinforce what I just said let me
provide two examples.

In the mid-’90s we had in Ontario a government that cut all
expenses to the bone.  This created many problems.  One of the
worse was the Walkerton tragedy.  Like many other places, the
monitoring and inspection to ensure the water was potable was cut
back.  In 2000, the residents of Walkerton got very sick.  Seven
people died.  It turned out that there was E-Coli bacteria in the
water.  The people responsible for supplying clean water
neglected their duties; and because of the cuts there was no
monitoring of their work.

There was a major inquiry, even the Premier of the province
was called to testify and to justify his actions.

Medical care is a major problem on both sides of the border.
Here in Canada we have Medicare.  It used to be the envy of the
world.  No more.  There is a shortage of doctors.  The waiting
time for surgeries is completely unacceptable.  You can wait
forever for a diagnostic test such as an MRI.  You can
facetiously say that the system treats the patient, or the
patient dies of his own volition, whichever comes first!

Today, in the 21st century, the U.S. does not yet have a
state-sponsored system of medical care.  The only Western country
to find itself in this predicament.  There is a patchwork of
HMO’s, Medicare, Medicaid, and a large part of the population (I
believe 40%) finds itself without any kind of medical insurance.

And yet, despite their shortcomings, when good actions are
weighted against their sins, our governments come out ahead.

After reading the Urantia Book, and giving careful
consideration to these weighty questions, I have come to the
following conclusion:  God has self-imposed constraints on
Himself and all Higher Personalities.  This manifests itself in
many ways.  Before I talk about that, let me remind my readers
that they should formulate their own opinion on the matter.  The
relationship between any one of us and God is strictly personal.
Indeed, here, I share only some of my views.  Most elements of my
relationship with God remain in eternal confidence between my
Maker and myself. 

       1. Free Will

If there is one universal law, above all others, in the
universe, it is free will.  It is respected by God and all the
Higher Beings that assist him in His supernal work.  The reason
is obvious:  Why create intelligent life on the worlds of time
and space if it is not given the power to make choices?  Once
intelligent life arises on a planet, the Higher Powers are no
longer allowed to interfere.  The humans on our planet made their
share of mistakes, and still do.  They learned and slowly
advanced until they reached the civilized age we now enjoy.

Free will is so important, it would be unthinkable to ask
the Creator to sometime do away with it and intervene in our
affairs.

Does that mean that we are left completely on our own?  No.
There are indirect means used to help us.  It’s complex and
difficult to explain.  Let me attempt to give you two examples.

When a human (or group of humans) has a groundbreaking idea
(say on the environment) they are influenced by Higher
Personalities to pursue it, and they are given additional
knowledge to help them along the way.

There is group on our system capital made out of 24
counselors, they constitute the present advisory-control body of
Urantia.  Their role is to supervise the affairs of our planet.
Very briefly, they function by working through advanced humans to
defuse a potentially dangerous situation.  I suspect that they
played, more than once, a major role in avoiding a nuclear
holocaust.

     2. The Evolutionary Nature of the Material World

Everything in the universe is evolving.  No object or life
is static.  Our planet evolved from a totally uninhabitable
sphere to the beautiful world we now live in.  In the process,
the continents, the sea, the mountains, and the weather were in a
constant state of flux.  This is still the case, albeit to a
lesser extent.  I do not know whether the planet will ever
stabilize.  Not surprisingly therefore we have earthquakes,
volcano eruptions, tornadoes, and floods.  Human lives are lost,
and great misery ensues.

After the tsunami of 2004, when thousands of lives were lost, again and again, we heard the cry that God was indifferent to our pain.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God cannot suspend his natural laws.  Tragedies like that happen billions of times across the universe.  If God intervened everytime, he would make a mockery of his creation.  The Urantia Book tells me that there have been on occasion interventions in the universe.  However, I do not remember the Author of the paper giving any specific example.

On the biological level, life after it is implanted on a planet (it never arises spontaneously!) will evolve and explode into endless varieties of plants and animals.  Sooner or later, an intelligent animal will result.  As we all know, this is done through mutations.  Some of these mutations will result in undesirable life,  for example, some microorganisms become parasitic and kill countless people and animals.  The plague for example killed one third of Europe in the 13th century.  Nothing could be done at the time.  Today we can deal with many infectious diseases.  But it’s an ongoing battle.

    3. Self-Inflicted Wounds

  On a planetary level, we had two world wars in the 20th
century.  Millions of lives were lost.  The suffering that ensued
cannot be grasped by the human mind.  Was God responsible for
that?  After all, this was the 20th century, we were supposed to
be too advanced to engage in such foolish wars.  And yet we did.

On a national level, the budget of advanced countries amount
to billions of dollars.  Yet the poor and the helpless are left
behind.  How is it possible, in the 21st century, to have
homeless people in rich nations such as the U.S. and Canada?  In
Canada the weather is unforgiving; every winter people die on the
streets of our major cities.  They freeze to death for want of a
a warm bed. 

On an individual level, many of us, eat too much, drink too
much, smoke, do drugs, or all of the above.  It has been said
that the body is the temple of the soul.  If so, this temple is
desecrated everyday and everywhere.

 But the news is not all bad.  We have made tremendous
progress since the dawn of civilization.  We have advanced both
on the technical and social levels.  As mentioned in a previous
article, we are destined to advance even further.