41 Lesson 5 - Solutions to the review exercises

Set A: TRUE or FALSE (2 points per item)

1. The way is through prayer and devotion to God. FALSE. To the enlightened, the only Way is through righteousness and service to our fellowmen. Also review Sol 3.C.4.

2. God never punishes; instead, God teaches. TRUE. God never intended to punish us for our mistakes. He understands that we will be committing many mistakes because of our ignorance and inexperience. However, in order to teach us, He allows us to suffer the consequences of our every thought and deed. Eventually, we will much prefer not to commit mistakes in order not to experience their consequences.

3. Despite our persistent and best efforts, we will still continue to commit mistakes. TRUE. On the road to perfection, there are many mistakes to be made.

4. The way is through the development of psychic powers. FALSE. Review Sol 3.C.10.

5. As we sow, so shall we reap. TRUE. See Par 5:04. In the Eastern religions, this corresponds to the Law of Karma.

6. We are not supposed to undergo suffering in this life. FALSE. See Par 5:04, Par 5:06.07, Sol 5:C.2.3 and Sol 5:C.7. There will be more on this in Lesson 6.

7. No matter the gravity of our sins, we can be forgiven. TRUE. See Par 5:10. No one will be committed to suffer forever in hell.

8. Our material wealth will be a credit in our favor even in heaven. FALSE. Beyond Earth, material wealth has no value, whatsoever. Instead, what will matter is how we made use of all that were entrusted to us, whether we used them for good or for bad.

9. We can clear up our liabilities only by paying back the full amount. TRUE. This is how God is just, through the application of the law of sowing and reaping or the Law of Karma. We must repay to the last penny. See Par 5:06.07 and Par 5:10.

10. Our tomorrow depends entirely on what we do today. TRUE. Our fate is in our hands. We can only reap what we have sown. See Par 5:04.

11. Regardless of what religion we may espouse, the Path remains essentially the same. TRUE. There is no other Way to God but love and service to our fellowmen. This is what Christ symbolizes.

12. We can best help ourselves by helping others. TRUE. Not being the one in distress and free from emotional involvement, we are able to see things more clearly and think and act dispassionately. Consequently, we are able to learn the most that we can from the experience. Further, we are parts of a whole. What benefits any part also benefits all the other parts by extension. See also Par 5:16.20.

13. Some physical needs are very essential and should be attended to first even before some of our spiritual needs. TRUE. We have to be practical in all matters. See Par 5:13 and Sol 5:C.1.

14. The way is through love and service to our fellowmen. TRUE. There is no other Way to God. This is what Jesus Christ is teaching. See Par 5:37.

15. Those in God’s service are doomed to a life of abject misery and poverty. FALSE. While this may be possible depending on our karma, it is not always necessarily true. See Par 5:33.35.

16. We can ask someone else to carry our cross for us. FALSE. This is against the principles of personal responsibility and divine justice. See Par 5:06.08.

17. The way to God is easy when you know how. FALSE. The contrary is expressly stated in Par 5:11.

18. The way can be easier when you know what to do. TRUE. Because you are clear as to your direction in life, the way can be less difficult although certainly not easy. Especially to those on the Higher Path of learning, the lessons are particularly hard.

19. Every little contribution helps in the total effort. TRUE. Of course.

20. Apart from life and our innate capabilities, we must work to gain for ourselves almost everything else. TRUE. God endowed us with eternal life and the potential to become perfect, as He, our Father, is perfect. However, we are required to exert our own efforts in order to develop all of these potentialities and work to gain all that we want in life.

Set B: (2 points per item)

1. “There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ‘I won’t,’ he answered; but later, he changed his mind and he did go. Unaware of his change of mind, the father told the younger, ‘You go.’ And he said, ‘All right, I will.’ But he didn’t. Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first, of course.” So Jesus told them, “I tell you plainly that evil men and prostitutes will get into the kingdom before you do” (MT 21).

2. “For what good is it for a man to gain the whole world if, in exchange, he loses his eternal soul?” (MK 8).

3. “As you know, the kings and great men of the Earth lord it over the people. But in your case, it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be the greatest of all must be the servant of all” (MK 10).

4. To another man, he said, “Follow me.” But the man said, “Lord, first let me go back and bury my father.” Jesus replied, “Let those who are dead in spirit bury their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God” (LK 9). 

5. Still, it doesn’t really matter that we have sinned or that we have transgressed divine laws because everyone sins and continues to sin, no one being perfect (Par 5:03).

6. “Settle disputes with your adversary, amicably, before it is too late; otherwise, he might drag you into court and the court would hand you over to the authorities to be thrown in jail. I tell you, you won’t be released from there until you have paid the last penny” (MT 5).

7. “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other; or else, he will support one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (MT 61).

8. “The harvest is so great but the workers are so few” (MT 9).

9. “Don’t take any money with you. Don’t even carry a duffel bag with extra clothes and shoes or even a walking stick, for those you help should feed and care for you” (MT 10).

10. The Way to God is never easy. The road is strewn with thorns. The journey, extremely difficult. The path, narrow and hard to traverse. And very few are able to find it (Par 5:11).

11. “I have food to eat that you know nothing about. My food is to do the will of the One Who sent me and to finish the work He gave me to do” (JN 4).

12. “If anyone wants to come after me, he must put aside all his selfish desires, take up his cross and follow me” (MK 8).

13. “Don’t waste your time accumulating the fleeting treasures of this Earth which can last only for a time and can be stolen, besides. But strive for the true treasures of heaven which cannot be destroyed and which cannot be stolen” (MT 6).

14. “If you adhere to my teaching, you will really be my disciples; and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free” (JN 8).

15. The Way to the true life is clear. It is through love and service to our fellowmen (Par 5:37).

Set C: (3 points per item)

1. In this life, we should divide our time equally between our material and spiritual pursuits. DISAGREE. “Equally” here is an inappropriate word. Here, our objective is the effective and efficient use of our time. Necessarily, we will be devoting more of our time to one rather than the other depending on specific circumstances. The physical body is only a vehicle which is utilized by the spirit entity in like manner that we, as physical beings, make use of a car. A car would need gas, oil and other necessities, but we certainly can do without many of the accessories. Similarly, our physical needs should be attended to, but we can and we should forego all other activities and things which are not really necessary so that we can have more time to devote to our spiritual pursuits.

2. Love implies a ready willingness on our part to suffer in the place of another. DISAGREE. We cannot pay for someone else’s debts. Each one of us must pay his own. Moreover, experiences, especially those that are painful, provide learning. And when we deny someone the opportunity to undergo important learning experiences, we are actually stunting his growth such that he will not be able to develop as much or as fast as he should. Therefore, everyone should be allowed to live his own life and undergo his own painful experiences.

3. Our material or physical desires very often run counter to our spiritual needs. AGREE. Man on Earth desires wealth, comfort, luxury, good health and he certainly doesn’t want to die. But these conditions breed and abet weakness, complacency and stagnation. On the other hand, poverty, suffering and ill health provide the best opportunities for learning very valuable lessons needed by the spirit self — while death frees us from the bonds of Earth, enabling us to return home to God.

4. Each person needs to do his own share in God’s work. AGREE. We are as members and parts of the one body of God. To use the physical body as an illustrative example, the eye does not hear or the ear, speak, but each organ or part of the body has its own particular function. So do we as individual members of God’s body have our own specific and distinct work to do that contributes to the success of the total effort.

5. In striving to be good, we shouldn’t push ourselves to our limits. AGREE. It is not advisable to go to either extreme. We should be balanced in all things. The practical way is to take the middle way in all matters. Provided we are pointed in the right direction, we don’t have to be straight arrows or try so very hard to be good, just as long as we aren’t so bad, either, or too lax. This is also the central teaching of Buddhism.

6. Far better than to give a man fish is to teach him how to fish. AGREE. Everyone must learn to do things for himself. We should strive to be independent and self-reliant. We are supposed to grow perfect in every aspect of being.

7. In this life, hardships cannot be avoided. AGREE. All experiences, even hardships, provide learning and will eventually bring us forward in our development. In fact, in a sense, without hardships, many things cannot be learned. Hence, hardships will always be a part of our lives no matter how hard we may try to avoid them.

8. Since we cannot avoid misfortunes, our life being mostly predestined, we may as well conserve our efforts at preventing such occurrences. DISAGREE. It is true that the major circumstances and situations we will encounter in our present Earth life have been largely predetermined based on our actual spiritual needs. These are the lessons we need to learn. However, we don’t know that such imminent circumstances and situations are, in fact, the ones planned for us; therefore, we still must do everything that we can do to avoid needless harm. We should exert every effort. But we should accept as God’s will whatever the outcome may be.

9. So long as we are able to render the greater services, we may dispense with the lesser ones. DISAGREE. There are no greater or lesser in the eyes of God but all have equal value. Little things are big things. We should attend to all, equally, and to the best of our abilities.

10. What we owe one, we can repay to another. AGREE. We are, all of us, parts of the One God. What we owe to a part, we owe to the whole. When we pay to any other part, we repay the whole, and we discharge the debt. The principle of offset can be applied here. However, the original creditor will himself be repaid in full but, in this instance, no longer by the same debtor.