Paper 3 Overview: The Attributes of God

The Universal Father is everywhere present throughout the circle of eternity, ruling through his Paradise Creator Sons who serve as personal expressions of himself to the evolving worlds. These Creator Sons provide a visible revelation of the otherwise invisible Father, helping lower orders of intelligence comprehend and connect with the infinite and absolute nature of Deity. God's attributes and activities are perfectly coordinated, with his creatorship nature culminating in the universal truth of the Fatherhood of God.

God possesses numerous divine attributes including omnipresence, infinite power, universal knowledge, and limitlessness. He rules with supreme authority while allowing his subordinate creators significant responsibility, and he retains primacy throughout all creation. Though God delegates power and authority, he remains the sovereign ruler whose hand controls the lever of universal circumstances. The Father's love extends to all his children, and his divine nature combines power, form, energy, pattern, principle, and idealized reality with his personal will and loving character.

God is everywhere present throughout the universe and rules the circle of eternity, though in local universes this rule is expressed through his Paradise Creator Sons. These Creator Sons bestow life and provide a personal expression of God to the evolving worlds. They compensate for God's invisibility by providing a clearly discernible manifestation for lower orders of created intelligences.

Creatorship represents the aggregate of God's active nature rather than simply one of his attributes. This universal function is eternally manifested and controlled by all the coordinated attributes of the First Source and Center's divine reality. Though we cannot truly say any one characteristic precedes others, if such a distinction could be made, God's creatorship nature might take precedence, culminating in the universal truth of God's Fatherhood.

The Universal Father possesses the unique ability to be simultaneously present throughout all creation, constituting his omnipresence. God alone can exist in countless places at the same time, being present "in heaven above and on earth beneath." His presence fills all parts and all hearts of the far-flung creation as "the fullness of him who fills all and in all." Yet even the universe of universes cannot fully contain him, as the Infinite can only be completely revealed in infinity itself.

The Father's presence constantly patrols the master universe, and his connection with creation extends to dwelling within creatures themselves. "We know we dwell in him because he lives in us; he has given us his spirit," which becomes humanity's inseparable companion. This indwelling presence speaks from within us as "the guiding spirit of eternal destiny." Even when we engage in wrongdoing, we torment this divine gift, as the Thought Adjuster must experience the consequences of evil thinking alongside the human mind.

All universes recognize that "the Lord God omnipotent reigns" and that world affairs are divinely supervised. There is no power except that which comes from God, and within the bounds of divine nature, "with God all things are possible." The long evolutionary processes of planets and universes unfold according to the eternal purpose of the Universal Father, proceeding in harmony with God's all-wise plan.

God's omnipotence is best understood in the material universe where, viewed as a non-spiritual phenomenon, God is energy and the primal cause of all physical phenomena. He controls all power, has ordained the circuits of all energy, and holds these forever in his gravitational control centered on lower Paradise. The light and energy of God perpetually circle around his majestic circuit in an endless but orderly procession of stars. God's power and wisdom are always adequate to address any universe emergency, as he has foreseen all possibilities.

The divine mind is conscious of and familiar with the thoughts of all creation throughout the universe. "God knows all things" as the divine entities emanating from him remain part of him. He who "balances the clouds" is "perfect in knowledge," aware of even the smallest details, such as the fall of a sparrow or the number of hairs on a person's head.

The Universal Father is the only personality in the universe who knows the exact number of stars and planets. He sees the afflictions of his people, hears their cries, and knows their sorrows. "The Lord looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men" and understands our thoughts from afar. Every human being can find comfort in knowing that "he knows your frame; he remembers that you are dust." God's unlimited power to know all things stems from his universal consciousness, which encompasses all personalities and is supplemented by his divine Sons and the indwelling Thought Adjusters.

When God bestows himself upon newly created universes, this does not diminish his potential power or wisdom that continues to reside in his central personality. The Father has never lessened any of his attributes or become divested of any aspect of his glorious personality despite his unstinted bestowal upon the Paradise Sons and subordinate creations.

Even if creation were to continue indefinitely, even to infinity, the power of control reposing in Paradise would remain adequate for the mastery and coordination of an infinite universe. Similarly, the distribution of mind to countless beings does not impoverish the central source of divine wisdom. The sending forth of spirit messengers to indwell humans creates boundless possibilities for progressive existence for these divinely endowed mortals, yet this prodigal distribution in no way diminishes the wisdom and perfection that reside in the all-wise and all-powerful Father.

In his dealings with post-Havona creations, the Universal Father typically exercises his authority through his Sons and their subordinate personalities rather than by direct intervention. Any powers delegated could be exercised directly if necessary, but such action usually occurs only when a delegated personality fails to fulfill their divine trust. In such cases, the Father acts independently according to his perfect wisdom.

The uncertainties and hardships of life do not contradict God's universal sovereignty but rather serve specific purposes in spiritual development. The Father has designed evolutionary life to necessitate grappling with challenges that develop important qualities: courage through hardship, altruism through social inequality, hope through uncertainty, faith through limited knowledge, love of truth through the possibility of error, idealism through contrast with imperfection, loyalty through the risk of betrayal, unselfishness through the clamor of self, and pleasure through the possibility of pain. These challenges are essential for experiential spiritual growth.

With divine selflessness, the Universal Father delegates authority and power, yet he remains primary in creation. His hand rests on the lever of universal circumstances, and he reserves all final decisions, wielding the all-powerful veto for the welfare and destiny of creation. The universe is not accidental or self-existent but is God's deliberate creation, wholly subject to the Creator's will.

All religious philosophy eventually arrives at the concept of unified universe rule under one God. The source of cosmic life and mind must logically exist above the levels of their manifestation. Human moral nature cannot be fully explained without acknowledging the Universal Father. The infinite Ruler of the universe is not merely power, form, energy, process, pattern, principle, and presence, but also personal – exercising sovereign will, experiencing self-consciousness, and manifesting a Father's love for his universe children. God the Father loves men, God the Son serves men, and God the Spirit inspires the children of the universe in their adventure of finding God the Father.