Tag: Jesus

Religion of Jesus

You may preach a religion about Jesus, but… you must live the religion of Jesus.[1]

From the pulpit, preachers present sermons to guide parishioners in their faith, but listening to the preaching is a passive interaction. The vital aspect of religion is an inner certainty: how it affects the individual and changes the inner life of each religionist. If listeners leave the church after the sermon and continue in the same selfish and materialistic ways, the church and our society will have problems. Their inner life has not been changed. The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative.[2]{I expect our next posting will be a discussion of our inner life. Stay tuned!}

In this posting we discuss the religion of Jesus and what it is like. What this planet needs is people of faith living the religion of Jesus, how do we accomplish this?

…in the human life of Jesus faith was personal, living, original, spontaneous, and purely spiritual. This faith was… a sublime experience and a profound conviction which securely held him. His faith was so real and all-encompassing that it absolutely swept away any spiritual doubts and effectively destroyed every conflicting desire.[3]

Tradition is a strong component in many religions. We find comfort in having the faith of our fathers and following tradition. This is not the religion of Jesus. His religion is personal, actively seeking to do the will of our Heavenly Father. Each one of us is a unique individual; therefore no single set of dogma can fully satisfy the spiritual needs of everyone. We must seek our Father’s will as applied to our personal, spiritual and individual needs.

Our faith must be real and all-encompassing; we cannot create compartments in our lives and declare religion does not apply there, for example in our business or political activities.

The concept of God as a Father was not original with Jesus, but he exalted and elevated the idea into a sublime experience by achieving a new revelation of God and by proclaiming that every mortal creature is a child of this Father of love, a son of God.[4]

Every mortal is equally a child of our Heavenly Father. This means each of our sisters and brothers must be treated equally regardless of any superficial differences such as skin color, religion, or any other excuse for bigotry. We are all equally a child of our Heavenly Father; this Father is filled with love for each of His children. This is especially important to realize in these times of discord and prejudice.

In his day, Jesus certainly faced anger and violence, even death, but through it all he experienced the tranquility of supreme and unquestioned trust in God and felt the tremendous thrill of living, by faith, in the very presence of the heavenly Father.[5] Since each of us is indwelt by a “spark of God,”[6] each of us also lives in the very presence of our Heavenly Father. This truth must be our moral foundation, it has to be what we base our faith upon; it is the basis of our personal religious experiences. When we fully realize this we begin to live the religion of Jesus.

What is the substance of this religion, how should we proceed? Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. Jesus always and consistently interpreted religion wholly in terms of the Father’s will.[7] If we consecrate before Heavenly Father our dedication to do His will, that is the greatest offering we could possibly give. Once this has been given we will KNOW Father’s will.

Jesus was a mature man who had triumphed over many hardships. The most trying of these came when he was fourteen years old; his father suddenly died of an injury at work. Jesus became the head of a family consisting of his mother and seven brothers and sisters. His baby sister Ruth had not been born yet. He cheerfully fulfilled all responsibilities which had been suddenly thrust upon him. Throughout it all, the religion of Jesus is filled with trust like that of a child. His faith could be strong because he had no fear; he fully trusted his Heavenly Father.[8]

Jesus does not require his disciples to believe in him but rather to believe with him, believe in the reality of the love of God and in full confidence accept the security of the assurance of sonship with the heavenly Father.[9]

The religion of Jesus totally depends on the presence of Heavenly Father in our daily lives; we trust His guidance at all times. Even when terrible things happened to him, Jesus stood firm in his faith. This faith is simple, yet profound in its consequences.

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all references are to the one column version of The Urantia Book, in the format page.paragraph; 2091.10

[2] 1220.2

[3] 2087.5

[4] 2087.2

[5] 2087.3

[6] Bible; I Corinthians 3:16

[7] 2088.5

[8] 2089.1

[9] 2089.3

These In-between Times

These in-between times are a result of leaving formalized religion without replacing it with something to satisfy our innate spiritual needs. Man’s greatest spiritual jeopardy consists in partial progress, the predicament of unfinished growth: forsaking the evolutionary religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love.[1] This new religion of love was proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth over two thousand years ago.

Our society lacks a firm foundation to guide us through the turmoil of current events. We can rely on our Urantia Book teachings as something to grasp for assistance. In the distant past religions of authority guided lives; today these are inadequate. We are raping Mother Earth, shooting brothers and sisters, political discourse is powered by extremists; this is unacceptable. We are no better than barbarians. We need this new religion which has the power to motivate us; moving us toward a new dawn of brotherhood.

In-between

The twentieth century was characterized by rapid scientific change, industrial growth, and societal upheavals. At the same time there was a gradual decline in church authority that began with the reformation in 16th century Europe. These changes were gradual at first, but after 1900 the pace of change accelerated; the first half of the century saw two world wars while the second half saw more wars and riots in the streets protesting war as well as racial inequality.

During these times family life and personal religious experience suffered from the decadence consequent upon the transition from old religious loyalties to the emerging new meanings and values.[2] The meanings and values generally adopted did not include the moral foundation that religions of authority had; they became contaminated by materialism and greed. A well-known movie quote from this period is: “Greed is good.”

Transition is always accompanied by confusion….[3]

New Religion

You may preach a religion about Jesus, but, perforce, you must live the religion of Jesus.[4]

When we hear a sermon we are receiving religion second hand. For religion to have value it must change us in some way. A sermon may convince us to mend our ways and change our life, but this does not occur often enough. For change to take place we must want to improve; there has to be a yearning for something better: a hunger for spiritual growth. The teacher of truth attracts only those who hunger for the truth and who thirst for righteousness.[5] When the preacher gives a sermon, only those who are hungering for truth have a good chance to embrace such truth.

True religion is a meaningful way of living dynamically face to face with the commonplace realities of everyday life.[6]

True religion is a dynamic way of reacting to life’s situations; it is a blueprint for our existence. If religion does not bring inner changes to our being, it is merely belief, not faith. Our lives are filled with constantly changing circumstances, desires and priorities. We need a dynamic religion to keep up with change and show us the way in these uncertain times. Jesus came to give us such a personal religion.[7]

The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.[8]

We may read about this new religion; but it has value only when we live and experience it.

One paragraph in The Urantia Book neatly compares traditional religion with the religion of Jesus.[9] Traditional religions preach about what we must give up while the religion of Jesus teaches us to forget ourselves in enhanced self-realization coupled with social service and a growing awareness of the universe around us. Traditional religions have a large component of fear derived from the Bible’s Old Testament; the new gospel of the kingdom is dominated by truth-conviction, the spirit of eternal and universal truth. No matter how pious or how closely we follow traditional church doctrine, vital life experience in the kingdom is absent; spirit-born children of the living God are filled with sincere friendliness. Neither tradition nor a ceremonial system of formal worship can atone for the lack of genuine compassion for one’s fellows.

The Center for Unity

A final note on a different subject. The Center for Unity is aimed at presenting Jesus as revealed in The Urantia Book to the world; young adults are the specific group they wish to reach. There is an excellent presentation describing it. More information can be found at their website. This threefold project is called the Jesus Metaverse which is based mainly on Part IV of The Urantia Book; it consists of a physical museum, an interconnected web presence, and a series of cinema on the life of Jesus.

[1] 1090.4; all references are to The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph.

[2] 1089.10

[3] 1090.5

[4] 2091.10

[5] 1815.3

[6] 1089.11

[7] 1629.5

[8] 2083.2

[9] 1951.1

To SEE our Heavenly Father

Our Driveway

Click on photo for information about it.

Many times Jesus declared those who have seen him have seen the Father.[1] This is certainly profound, but is it relevant to us? Jesus ascended from our planet two thousand years ago; it would seem this declaration is not pertinent. However, there is more to reality than physical eyes can perceive.

Literally and figuratively, spiritually and personally, the Father and the Sons are one. It is a fact: He who has seen a Creator Son has seen the Father.[2]

See?

When we think about “see,” the first idea that comes to mind is examining something using our eyes. Every waking moment we see. Every visual input we have is received when we see something.

Seeing: we examine the above photograph and then think about it. We see the white truck and compare its size with our home; this gives an idea how big our home is. Finally the trees are several times taller yet. In the foreground our cat is surveying the whole scene. Having made these observations, we can contemplate what they mean.

Our eyes are vital to understanding the world around us.

Experience

Our dictionary has several meanings for the word see;[3] three of the first four are: get a clear mental impression of, learn or discover, and to have personal knowledge of. None of these rely on visual input. These involve experience, thinking and wisdom; they involve gaining an understanding of something.

We have access to a full presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus in The Urantia Book. Using this reference we can obtain a deeper comprehension of Jesus. We can SEE Jesus; therefore we can SEE our Father.

See!

Jesus well knew that God can be known only by the realities of experience; never can he be understood by the mere teaching of the mind…. You can know God, not by understanding what Jesus said, but by knowing what Jesus was. Jesus was a revelation of God.[4]

By studying the life of Jesus in Part IV of The Urantia Book we learn more about our Father because every aspect of the life of Jesus is a revelation of God. The way he interacts with countless mortals reveals how God would interact with each of them. We see how He would treat an erring family member (Jude, the younger brother of Jesus); how He would treat women and children, how He would react to being unfairly arrested and put on trial for his life. And so much more.

By learning about the life of Jesus we truly SEE our Heavenly Father.

Jesus admonishes every kingdom believer to become one with him even as he and his Father are one. The living experience in the religion of Jesus thus becomes the sure and certain technique whereby the spiritually isolated and cosmically lonely mortals of earth are enabled to escape personality isolation….[5]

Tags: God, Jesus, knowing God

[1] For example: 1750.7, this refers to the one column version of The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph. See also the Bible, John 12:45

[2] 361.1

[3] Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1988.

[4] 1865.2

[5] 1985.1

Winning Urantia for Michael

Out Into the World

“We are spiritual beings having a physical experience;” says a bumper sticker in the Northern Sun catalog. While we can all become spiritual beings, some are more spiritual (such as the Dalai Lama) than others. Each of us has an eternal future of growth and service before us; the only catch is that we must select it, choose to follow the plan our Heavenly Father has prepared for us.

We have received thrilling truths from The Urantia Book; how can we share them with sisters and brothers in a way they will accept them and incorporate the teachings into their daily lives? How can we present these teachings in such a way our audience will eagerly seek spiritual guidance; so they will know each thinking mortal on Earth has within them a literal spark of God. We have Heavenly Father within seeking to guide us into a greater awareness of God.

In this posting we discuss the essential components of our message; what we are going to become and say in our efforts to help win this world for Michael, our creator father also known as Jesus.

Current Situation

Society on planet Earth is in turmoil because of failures and rebellion in our distant past; these are discussed in several places on this website. The vast majority of our problems arose from a rebellion far from Earth, the Lucifer rebellion. 500,000 years ago our planet had a ruler, a Planetary Prince named Caligastia, who joined the rebellion about 200,000 years ago. A bit less than 38,000 years ago our Adam and Eve arrived to uplift our ancestors. They did not join the rebellion but they did default on their mission. Many negative characteristics of modern society are a direct consequence of the rebellion. “Dark Forces Operating on Earth” discusses various non-physical entities operating on behalf of our fallen Planetary Prince.

By far the most popular page on this website is “Urantia: Caligastia’s Prison World” which discusses since Caligastia is confined to this world until the rebellion is over, Earth is his prison world. We can either cooperate with Michael, or work with the prisoner, Caligastia, our fallen Planetary Prince. The conflict between those following Michael and those proclaiming false liberty, first announced by Lucifer, bleeds heavily into current events.

What This World Needs

The truth that everyone has a spark of God is mentioned briefly in the Bible,[1] but this is rarely mentioned in Christianity. There is hope this may be changing; in his speech at the first Sunday of advent this year, Pope Francis said we should be “always aware of the presence of God and to welcome Him in our daily lives.”[2] This thrilling news of God within should be a vital part of our message; God is within each thinking mortal, no exceptions. This spark of God is our Thought Adjuster. Our potentially eternal soul grows as a result of the freewill decisions we make under the guidance of this spark of God. As we make righteous choices in harmony with our Adjuster’s leadership, our soul becomes stronger.

This truth has broad implications for our lives. Since everyone equally has this indwelling God fragment, everyone has value and we all are equally sister and brother. When an individual is disadvantaged in any way, because of some superficial difference, God is being put down. We are all equally sons and daughters of God.[3] Our interpersonal relationships should be based upon this truth of universal brotherhood.

Our society is filled with anti-brotherhood sentiment such as mass shootings, anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQ actions, and many other forms of hatred. Politicians amplify these hateful emotions so they can gain political power. News media are filled with stories of random violence. If our society is to survive, these feelings of hatred must be replaced with true emotions of brotherhood – love for each of our sisters and brothers. We recognize love as respect for the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all humanity. When the universal brotherhood of all citizens of planet Earth is realized, there will truly be peace on Earth.

This troubled world desperately needs a broad recognition of the value of human beings. How can we as individuals become ready to begin sharing these truths to a broader audience?

Preparing Ourselves

The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity.[4] Everyone has these keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. If we wish to grow spiritually we need to be sincere within ourself and with others. God wants to know if we can be trusted before giving us guidance into ways of service.

The last day of rest Jesus had on Earth was spent in the hills with John Mark. This youth followed Jesus and the apostles for most of their journeys. When he first went to hear Jesus Amos, a friend, went with him. Afterwards they returned home to Jerusalem and asked permission to follow Jesus. John Mark got permission from his parents but Amos did not.[5] Amos wanted to run away, Jesus said that would mean Amos could not be trusted to follow his duty. Such betrayal of trust is difficult to overcome. Later John Mark would write the gospel according to Mark. Jesus wants to know if we can be trusted.

Before we go out into the world proclaiming these truths we need to prepare ourselves; we have to be firm in our faith. We cannot be a reed shaken with the wind….[6]

Before presenting these truths we need a strong desire to comprehend them. There must be perfection hunger in man’s heart to insure capacity for comprehending the faith paths to supreme attainment.[7] A solid longing to improve spiritually is vital; otherwise our efforts will be weak.

This desire to improve has to be strong enough to overcome our physical and materialistic inertia. Our longing for spiritual growth has to be strong. The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and aggressive soul on earth.[8] Only after internalizing these things, will we be fully ready to present such teachings to the world.

Going Forth With the Message

Jesus told us to go into all the world proclaiming this gospel to all nations, to every man, woman, and child.[9] The apostles concentrated their efforts in the Mediterranean Sea area; that is why today Christianity is mainly a Western religion.

Sharing of this gospel must go to all nations. All of humanity needs this message. The entire planet needs this message.

Our global society is destroying itself because of the message of fear promulgated by Caligastia and his followers. Our atmosphere of fear must be replaced by one of love and brotherhood.

The message of love, brotherhood, joy, and the presence of God within every thinking mortal must be given to all humanity.

Prepare yourself; then go forth!

[1] Bible; I Corinthians 3,16

[2] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-11/pope-may-advent-awaken-us-to-god-s-presence-in-our-daily-lives.html

[3] 1679.2

[4] 435.7

[5] 1921.6

[6] 1626.8

[7] 1118.4

[8] 2063.2

[9] 1824.6

Troublous Times

In this posting, we briefly discuss two quotations from The Urantia Book, both of which apply to these times. The first says our society is moving out of the sheltered bays of tradition into seas of destiny. The other looks at a troubling forecast by Jesus which may indicate workings of the Most Highs as they guide political evolution;[1] that the Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of mortals is also mentioned in the Bible.

Urantia society can never hope to settle down as in past ages. The social ship has steamed out of the sheltered bays of established tradition and has begun its cruise upon the high seas of evolutionary destiny; and the soul of man, as never before in the world’s history, needs carefully to scrutinize its charts of morality and painstakingly to observe the compass of religious guidance. (Urantia Book, 1086.6)

These seas of destiny will not be smooth like the sheltered bays of tradition we have resided in these many years. While the bays were enjoyable, such tranquility rarely causes human mortals to struggle and improve themselves. The vast majority of humanity would rather sit underneath a palm tree with a jolly beverage than move out and transform society. The urge to instigate societal transformation necessarily requires some sort of motivation, a “slap in the face” to get things moving.

Human beings need a firm moral foundation for these uncertain times; we must follow our compass of religious guidance. Only when we base our lives on living truths taught by Jesus will we be able to sail safely upon these seas of destiny.

Whatever the source of this pandemic, it is our slap in the face, a wakeup call saying we must make our native planet safe for everyone; we are all in this together. There is no safe space where we can hide to avoid this virus, to escape this mandate to move out and make this world of ours safe for every living creature. Many governments all over the world are failing in their efforts to deal with this health and economic calamity. In addition, there is no sovereign Earth government to regulate dealings between nations.

On these seas of evolutionary destiny we will encounter methods to utilize in guiding society toward recognizing spiritual reality, and basing society upon it; if this does not happen society will collapse because any society not based upon spiritual reality cannot endure.[2] Study any previous society in our history; all of them failed because they were not based on spiritual reality; God.

On the morning of his last free day on Earth, Jesus taught a group of believers, disciples, and the apostles near their camp in Gethsemane. This presentation, which lasted almost two hours, was about the relationship between the Kingdom of Heaven and kingdoms on Earth. He emphasized believers should follow laws of earthly kingdoms as well as adhere to spiritual directives such as the Golden Rule. The only exception was when earthly rulers should require homage given to them; years later, Peter was crucified in Rome because he refused to worship Caesar. This discourse by Jesus is summarized in The Urantia Book, Paper 178, “Last Day at the Camp,” section one, “Discourse on Sonship and Citizenship.”

One paragraph in this address[3] is especially relevant to our current situation. Each sentence will be considered separately. When Jesus speaks about “you” he is speaking to each individual as well as the collective body of Kingdom believers.

Under the soon-coming persecutions by those who hate this gospel of joy and liberty, you will thrive and the kingdom will prosper.

After Jesus ascended, his followers were indeed persecuted by those resisting these new teachings; those having religious and political authority were afraid of losing positions of influence, power, and their very livelihood. They were more interested in material considerations of self-preservation than understanding and accepting these new spiritual teachings of joy and liberty. In spite of this resistance, the Kingdom of Heaven did indeed thrive, prosper, and grow.

But you will stand in grave danger in subsequent times when most men will speak well of kingdom believers and many in high places nominally accept the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.

As the centuries passed, modified teachings of Jesus spread even farther, eventually covering most of the Earth; many nations and their leaders appeared to accept these teachings. Nominal Christianity was, and still is, one of the most prominent religions on our planet. However, this apparent acceptance shielded an underlying insincerity; this reception of the teachings was superficial and incomplete. The transformed message of Jesus did not generally bring about a fundamental spiritual renewal in individual believers; they did not truly manifest fruits of the spirit in their lives. Because of this artificiality, grave danger was lurking unseen.

Learn to be faithful to the kingdom even in times of peace and prosperity.

Being faithful to the kingdom means not only incorporating these truths into our daily lives, but also sharing them with sisters and brothers, contributing to growth of the kingdom. Believers need to be focused at all times on spiritual reality, upon values of the kingdom; this is especially true when things appear to be easy, when everything seems to be going well. During these idyllic times we are vulnerable to unforeseen events suddenly overwhelming us, catching us unprepared, obliterating our complacency, and bringing calamity upon us.

Tempt not the angels of your supervision to lead you in troublous ways as a loving discipline designed to save your ease-drifting souls.

This is the kicker to the entire paragraph. When spiritual reality has been ignored for a considerable length of time, there comes a moment when the tipping point is reached, when the system can tolerate no more abuse, and misfortune follows. We do not need to know how or upon whose orders these “angels of our supervision” operate. If we ignore our spiritual potential and become complacent, the angels watching over us may lead us into “troublous ways” in an effort to guide us into more spiritually productive efforts. These angels may be our individual guardian angels, and for society they would be the angels of progress or the angels of the churches. Their directions would come from the Most Highs.

What does this mean for our current situation? Our society has become mired in secularism for so long our Heavenly Father seems to be of minor importance. God has been marginalized and forgotten, to our peril. Therefore, our guiding angels may be directed to lead us into difficult times in an effort to help us become somewhat aware of spiritual reality and our obligation to humanity.

The way to make the best use of these opportunities is to examine our faith, becoming certain it is sincere. Next we need to accept the new covenant, a sincere commitment to follow God’s guidance knowing we will be assisted. We must choose to do His will at all times; if we are honest we will know how to proceed. Finally we must recognize our own light of truth and go forth sharing these teachings of love, joy, and service.

These times try our souls and force us to seek new ways of living. These times can transform society so every living soul becomes treasured, loved, nurtured, and assisted so they can become productive members of global society with global government.

These seas of destiny will become extremely rough and last far longer than we can imagine, but they are necessary to bring about an equitable society for each individual citizen, a citizen of the cosmos.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book one column edition and refer to page.paragraph, 1488.2 ↑

  2. 2075.12 ↑

  3. 1931.1 ↑