Religious Peace

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All our lives we have had some experience with religion and probably attended religious worship services. But what exactly is religion? We have a vague feeling about what religion means to us; is this all there is to know about religion? Spiritual growth requires a fuller understanding of religion. The Urantia Book reveals a radically different understanding of religion; its description is more comprehensive than others and is satisfying on many levels. This is a brief introduction to religion.

Comparison with traditional religions

This revelation, The Urantia Book, declares our philosophers have formulated more than five hundred definitions of religion.^[1] A couple of these are: “a belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe;” and “any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy.”^[2]

This “system of belief and worship” is what we traditionally think of as religion. For many individuals this is satisfying and they should be encouraged in their faith. If they are living a spirit guided life we should rejoice with them. There are also countless individuals who claim to follow a particular religion, but this faith is not supreme in their soul, their actions are not guided by religion. For example, most religions proclaim a variation on the Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Judging by current events this is a minority viewpoint on planet Earth.

These traditional religions, called evolutionary religions, are largely passive. One goes to the church, sings hymns, listens to the preacher, interacts with parishioners, and returns home mostly unchanged. There are prayers and affirmations but little personal spiritual participation.

The Urantia Book describes religion as being more than this, something intensely personal; religion is not definable^[3] because it is a personal experience. It would be equally difficult to give a precise definition of love; religion is living love.^[4]

In the teachings of The Urantia Book, religion becomes something deeper, richer, more meaningful, and proactive in contrast to traditional religions exemplified above. True religion is a personal experience that becomes service oriented; our lives have been transformed by our religion, it has energized our lives. Religion becomes alive^[5] and as a result we must act,^[6] not for theological reasons, but rather because we have been uplifted; our actions are a result of this inner transformation. If religion has not brought about this inner change, something vital is missing.

Relationship with God

The key element of true religion is the truth that a spark of God is literally present within every thinking mortal on Earth.^[7] result of His presence within, we recognize Him as our Heavenly Father.^[8] Knowing God as Father brings us comfort and security because we know we are being guided by a fragment of our Father. God has a plan for our life; all we need do is cooperate with His plan by consistently choosing to do His will.

Once we realize Him as our Father, we recognize everyone is equally indwelt by this spark of God.^[9] Everyone is equally a child of God; this means we are all sisters and brothers.^[10] Universal brotherhood is a vital component of our living faith. This truth must be such an integral part of our being that all our thoughts and actions affirm this: we are all sisters and brothers.

This affirmation of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all mortals is a vital component of our existence. This brotherly relationship colors all interactions with fellow beings.

Individual Transformation

How do we bring about a greater realization of spiritual reality? The answer is simple: “ask and you shall receive.”^[11] This asking must be an affirmation of desire, a sincere wanting, and it has to be deep enough that it comes from the soul. Just saying you would sort of want to do something is not nearly strong enough. 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.^[12] The spiritual forward urge is a fundamental drive toward increased spiritual awareness.

The cornerstone of any religion is faith. Merely believing something will not transform your life; that requires the next step: faith. Religion is faith, trust, and assurance.^[13] Faith becomes vital to our existence, it is not something we turn off when we leave church on Sunday; it has become a driving presence within our being. Indeed, religion always depends on faith.^[14] In its true essence, religion is a faith-trust in the goodness of God.^[15]

Religion is a total conviction in the soul that guides us into a larger awareness of spiritual reality. It tells us it would be wrong to believe otherwise.^[16] Religion involves yielding loyalty to the highest spiritual values. Religion embodies all that is good and real. It brings us closer to God.

A Way of Life

Evolutionary religions and revelatory religions may differ markedly in method, but in motive there is great similarity. Religion is not a specific function of life; rather is it a mode of living.^[17] Religion is not a ritual, not something to observe from the outside; it must be lived. The religion of Jesus demands living and spiritual experience.^[18]

Religion is actually a way of responding to situations we encounter during our life in the flesh.^[19] The quality of our religion is displayed by the way we respond to life situations. Do we react with negative emotions or with loving service? Religion is always and forever a mode of reacting to the situations of life.^[20] How we react to unexpected situations says a lot about us, when our lives are driven by the true religion of service we have confidence that our Father is with us, helping us and showing us the way.

As a result of rapid technological advances, people today must make frequent adjustments to their way of life; for example my father delivered mail in the countryside with a horse and buggy; he lived to watch men walk on the moon. These rapid changes influence the attitude of society toward religion. Not only is religion a way of thinking, it is also a way of living.^[21] Each one of our actions should be colored by our religion; our life choices are directed by our religion.

Religion is a way of living dynamically in the face of events.^[22] Since each individual faces different situations, their reactions to events will also be different; standardized religions cannot cope with changing events. For religion to be meaningful it has to become a motivating force in our lives.

Personal Religious Experience

With faith we begin to know God; this is not some sort of a vague feeling, rather it becomes confidence, an assurance that we actually know God within. True religion is an experience of believing and knowing as well as a satisfaction of feeling.^[23] True religion is a matter of feeling and acting and doing, not some pondering of dogma.

God is literally present within each thinking mortal on planet Earth. This God within, our Thought Adjuster, is always within us carefully guiding us toward a closer relationship with Him. Throughout this process our free will choices are always totally respected; if we choose to slide into evil ways, they will not compel us otherwise. Religion then becomes the product of our choosing to follow the guidance of our Heavenly Father; true religion is always an experience within, it becomes the product of our choices and is the driving force behind our service activities.

Religion is based on our experience and religious thought.^[24] These thoughts and experiences are a product of our actively seeking to do His will, follow His guidance. We will not reach this level of religion if we sit idly by and wait for it to happen.

Religion is ever and always rooted and grounded in personal experience. And your highest religion, the life of Jesus, was just such a personal experience: man, mortal man, seeking God and finding him to the fullness during one short life in the flesh, while in the same human experience there appeared God seeking man and finding him to the full satisfaction of the perfect soul of infinite supremacy. And that is religion, even the highest yet revealed in the universe of Nebadon — the earth life of Jesus of Nazareth.^[25]

Personal Consequences

Religion is not a technique for attaining a static and blissful peace of mind; it is an impulse for organizing the soul for dynamic service.^[26] Our soul grows as a result of our spiritual choices, as a result of the interaction between our indwelling Spark of God and our free will decisions; it is our potentially eternal self. Religion mobilizes our soul, gets it ready for active service.

Religion gives us peace of mind and joy resulting from our superconscious connection with spiritual reality. This religion, the religion of Jesus, bestows that peace which transcends all understanding as well as an inner joy.^[27] Religion is our reach toward spiritual reality, our desire to find our Heavenly Father and to become more like Him.^[28]

Religion is the consequence of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When this relationship is strong and expanding, our religion is dynamic and we are growing in our service efforts toward our sisters and brothers, especially those who reside in spiritually dark places.

1. The Urantia Book, 1129.8, this refers to the one column version in the format page:paragraph; all references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. ↑

2. Third College Edition Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English, Victoria Neufeldt and David B. Guralnik eds., Webster’s New World, Cleveland and New York, 1988, p 1134. ↑

3. 1124.3 ↑

4. 1100.7 ↑

5. 1120.4 ↑

6. 1121.1 ↑

7. 24.6 ↑

8. 1091.1 ↑

9. Bible, I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

10. 1101.3 ↑

11. 1838.3 and Bible, John 16:24 ↑

12. 2063.2 ↑

13. 1104.3 ↑

14. 1137.1 ↑

15. 40.5 ↑

16. 1115.4 ↑

17. 1100.3 ↑

18. 1782.3 ↑

19. 68.5 ↑

20. 1780.4 ↑

21. 1013.9 ↑

22. 1089.11 ↑

23. 1142.2 ↑

24. 1130.4 ↑

25. 1128.3 ↑

26. 1096.6 ↑

27. 2063.1 ↑

28. 2096.6 ↑