Editing The Urantia Book (section)

=== God and the individual ===
God is described as the Father of each individual, and through the direct gift of a fragment of his eternal spirit, called a '''Thought Adjuster''', is said to be able to guide the individual toward an increased understanding of him.{{sfn|House|2000|p=271}}{{sfn|Gooch|2002|p=9}}  The Thought Adjuster is a central teaching of the book{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=235}} and is also referred to as a "Mystery Monitor" and "indwelling presence,"{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=235}} as well as a "divine spark."{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=1459}} The idea is compared within the book to the [[Hindu]] [[Atman (Hinduism)|atman]] and the ancient [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] [[Egyptian soul|ka]]. In relation to biblical traditions, the Thought Adjuster is said to be the meaning behind the phrases "being made in God's image" and the "kingdom of God is within you":{{sfn|''The Urantia Book''|1955|p=1193}}

{{blockquote|The Adjuster is the mark of divinity, the presence of God. The "image of God" does not refer to physical likeness nor to the circumscribed limitations of material creature endowment but rather to the gift of the spirit presence of the Universal Father in the supernal bestowal of the Thought Adjusters upon the humble creatures of the universes.}}

Each person is said to receive one such fragment at the time of his or her first independent [[morality|moral]] decision, on average around the age of five years and 10 months.{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=235}}{{sfn|House|2000|p=271}} The Adjuster then serves noncoercively as a divine partner in the mind of the individual for the rest of life, and to the extent that a person consents with their [[free will]] to want to find God, it leads the person toward more mature, spiritualized thinking. A person's Thought Adjuster is described as distinct from either the [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] or the [[conscience]]. In ''The Urantia Book''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s teachings, the degree to which a human mind chooses to accept its Adjuster's guidance becomes the degree to which a person's soul "grows" and becomes a reality that can then survive death. The soul is in essence an embryonic spiritual development,{{sfn|House|2000|p=272}} one parental factor being the divine Adjuster and the other being the human will.{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=70}}

The book says: "But you yourself are mostly unconscious of this inner ministry.  You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster."{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=1207}} The book is strongly [[fideism|fideistic]] and teaches that neither science nor logic will ever be able to prove or disprove the existence of God, arguing that faith is necessary to become conscious of God's presence in human experience, the Thought Adjuster.{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=31}}{{sfn|Lewis|2007|p=206}}

Persistently embracing [[sin]] is considered the same as rejecting the leadings of the Adjuster, rejecting the [[will (philosophy)|will]] of God. Constant selfishness and sinful choosing lead eventually to iniquity and full identification with unrighteousness, and since unrighteousness is unreal, it results in the eventual annihilation of the individual's identity.{{sfn|House|2000|p=276}}{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=37}} Personalities like this become "as if they never were." The book says that: "...in the last analysis, such sin-identified individuals have destroyed themselves by becoming wholly unreal through their embrace of iniquity."{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=37}} The concepts of [[Hell]] and [[reincarnation]] are not taught.{{sfn|Gardner|1995|p=166}}{{sfn|Gooch|2002|p=10}}

The book says that a person ultimately is destined to fuse with his or her divine fragment and become one inseparable entity with it as the final goal of faith.{{sfn|House|2000|p=274}} Uniting with the Adjuster fragment is the "reward of the ages," the moment when a human personality has successfully and unalterably won eternal life,{{sfn|House|2000|p=274}} described as typically taking place in the afterlife, but also a possibility during earthly life.{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|loc=Paper 112}} The result during human life is a "fusion flash," with the material body consumed in a fiery light and the soul "translated" to the afterlife. The Hebrew prophet [[Elijah]] being taken to heaven without death in "chariots of fire" is said to be a rare example in recorded history of a person who translated instead of experiencing death.

After a person fuses with his or her fragment of God, "then will begin your real life, the ascending life, to which your present mortal state is but the vestibule."{{sfn|House|2000|p=274}} A person continues as an ascending citizen in the universe and travels through numerous worlds on a long pilgrimage of growth and learning that eventually leads to God and residence on Paradise.{{sfn|House|2000|p=275}}{{sfn|Gardner|1995|pp=14–17}} Mortals who reach this stage are called "finaliters."{{sfn|House|2000|p=274}} The book goes on to discuss the potential destinies of these "glorified mortals."

The book regards human life on earth as a "short and intense test,"{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=158}} and the afterlife as a continuation of training that begins in material life.{{sfn|House|2000|p=272}} The "religion of Jesus" is considered to be practiced by way of loving God the Father, thereby learning to love each person the way Jesus loves people; that is, recognizing the "fatherhood of God and its correlated truth, the brotherhood of man,"{{sfn|House|2000|p=273}} resulting in unselfish service to others.{{sfn|Lewis|2003|p=132}}{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|p=2083}}