Tag: Urantia Book

How Should We Approach The Urantia Book?

We have been granted this Fifth Epochal Revelation, the most important revelation of truth since the life and teachings of Jesus over two thousand years ago; what are we going to do with it? How can we get into its teachings in a way that will transform our lives, even the life of every citizen of this beautiful blue marble in space? How can we wrap our minds around it?

The Urantia Book is a challenging read, how do we begin to understand it? The authors of this revelation would want us to start reading (studying) from the beginning. The human mind would ordinarily crave to approach the cosmic philosophy portrayed in these revelations by proceeding from the simple and the finite to the complex and the infinite, from human origins to divine destinies. But that path does not lead to spiritual wisdom. Such a procedure is the easiest path to a certain form of genetic knowledge, but at best it can only reveal man’s origin; it reveals little or nothing about his divine destiny. (Urantia Book 215.2)

The next paragraph expands on this thought. Even in the study of man’s biologic evolution on Urantia, there are grave objections to the exclusive historic approach to his present-day status and his current problems. The true perspective of any reality problem — human or divine, terrestrial or cosmic — can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny. The proper understanding of these three experiential realities affords the basis for a wise estimate of the current status. (Urantia Book 215.3)

Not only do these quotes give reasons to start from the beginning, they also give an idea of the concentrated concepts in this Epochal Revelation. This is dense material, not intended for light bedtime reading. Every sentence is thought provoking.

There is another way for us to approach the study of this revelation, more relevant for us who are not used to thinking in these deep and precise ways. We should ask what interests us, what do we want to know. After we know the goal, we can proceed accordingly. There are several possibilities.

The most obvious is to learn about Jesus; there is much about him in the Bible, but much is also missing. What was he like as a child? For this read Paper 120, The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia, through Paper 126, The Two Crucial Years (page 1323 – 1394). What was he doing during the so-called missing years? This is discussed in Paper 127, The Adolescent Years, through Paper 134, The Transition Years (page 1395 – 1495). What exactly did he teach the apostles? We learn these things by reading Paper 136, Baptism and the Forty Days, through Paper 196, The Faith of Jesus (page 1509 – 2097).

Perhaps we might want to learn how our planet evolved, then read Paper 57, The Origin of Urantia (page 651 – 663); how life arose and changed Paper 58, Life Establishment on Urantia, through Paper 62, The Dawn Races of Early Man (page 664 – 710). We learn whether life was brought here or did it originate on this planet. To meet the first true human beings read Paper 63, The First Human Family (page 711 – 717)

To find out why our planet is in such a sad state today read Paper 53, The Lucifer Rebellion, and Paper 54, Problems of the Lucifer Rebellion (page 601 – 620). In addition also read Paper 66, The Planetary Prince of Urantia, and Paper 67, The Planetary Rebellion (page 741 – 762).

Another question is what is God like? For this read Paper 1, The Universal Father, through Paper 5, God’s Relation to the Individual (page 21 – 72). To learn what the Eternal Son is like read Paper 6, The Eternal Son, and Paper 7, Relation of the Eternal Son to the Universe (page 73 – 89). What is the Infinite Spirit like? Then read Paper 8, The Infinite Spirit, and Paper 9, Relation of the Infinite Spirit to the Universe (page 90 – 107). To learn about the Trinity read Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity (page 108 – 117). Where do they reside? This is revealed in Paper 11, The Eternal Isle of Paradise (page 118 – 127). For a description of the structure of the cosmos study Paper 12, The Universe of Universes (page 128 – 142).

To learn more about Adam and Eve see Paper 73, The Garden of Eden, through Paper 76, The Second Garden (page 821 – 854).

To learn about how civilization grew read Paper 81, Development of Modern Civilization (page 900 – 912).

If we want to learn about the evolution of marriage study Paper 82, The Evolution of Marriage, through Paper 84, Marriage and Family Life (Page 913 – 943)

To learn about religion, study Paper 99, The Social Problems of Religion, through Paper 103, The Reality of Religious Experience (page 1086 – 1142).

Those with a scientific background might tackle Paper 42, Energy—Mind and Matter (page 467 – 484).

If we are interested in government start at Paper 69, Primitive Human Institutions, through Paper 72, Government on a Neighboring Planet (page 772 – 820). Another excellent discussion of government is in Paper 134, The Transition Years; especially sections 3 – 6 (page 1485 – 1491) which are based on a series of lectures Jesus gave on the subject of government.

A link to each paper in the revelation is found on the Urantia Book page on this web site.

When one topic has been completed, move on to another and expand understanding of this revelation.

However, one final group of prospective students deserves more consideration. These individuals are driven to learn more about this revelation but do not know where to start, nothing seems to satisfy them. Something within drives them to learn more, to understand more. They feel something vital is missing from their lives. These are the truth seekers and they must make the extra effort to start from the beginning, with the Foreword.

In the Forward various concepts are presented along with the specific meaning attached to each. Among these are Deity and Divinity, God, the Seven Absolutes, Universe Reality, Energy and Pattern, the Supreme Being, God the Sevenfold and many more. The Forward is a challenging read but it lays the foundation for the rest of the book by presenting the meaning of words that are subsequently used. It should be referred to when the meaning of a specific term is uncertain; this is the definitive “dictionary” for the rest of the book.

When studying The Urantia Book we must keep in mind this precise word usage. We should make a sincere effort to comprehend its teachings but not get overly tangled up in details. We also should not become discouraged if there are things we do not understand at first because human beings are not used to thinking in these deep terms. It is a challenging read but the reward is immense: a greater and ever expanding understanding of creation!

There is one vital truth to keep in mind while studying this revelation; our Heavenly Father literally dwells within each thinking mortal on Earth. God is with us seeking to guide us into a greater realization of spiritual reality; this inner presence is assisting us to understand these concepts. Let Him!

After someone studies a few of these areas and is sincere about wanting to know more, the time comes when they will be a truth seeker and then they should study the revelation from the beginning, at the Foreword in order to gain the proper perspective.

Once The Urantia Book finds an individual, no longer will that person be bored, having nothing to do, because always there is much more to learn. The search for spiritual growth is truly endless, even eternal.

Accepting God’s Assistance

Our Heavenly Father wants only the best for each one of us; He wants us to succeed and is willing to help us if only we would let Him. Our Father is literally within each one of us, wanting to guide us and show us the way.

We will explore these thoughts based on one paragraph in The Urantia Book. Each sentence will be considered separately. The reference is The Urantia Book.

Why do you not aid the Adjuster in the task of showing you the spiritual counterpart of all these strenuous material efforts?

The presence of God within every thinking human being is called the Thought Adjuster, or simply Adjuster; it is also known by other names such as Mystery Monitor. Our Monitor wants to show us the way, why then do we not aid this fragment of God? He wants to assist us but cannot go against our free will choices; we must want to follow Him, we must want to accept His assistance. As we struggle in the material realm, He wants to show us the spiritual counterpart so we will be aware of goals and purposes for our life, our existence. Our material efforts also have a spiritual purpose but we are not aware of it unless we let our Monitor show us these values.

Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you with the spiritual truths of cosmic power while you wrestle with the temporal difficulties of creature existence?

There is power in cosmic realities which can strengthen us as we struggle with our material difficulties. The spiritual is primal over the physical; these spiritual truths can certainly help us here and now. This spiritual power is available to us in our earthly struggles if we only permit our Adjuster to guide us.

Why do you not encourage the heavenly helper to cheer you with the clear vision of the eternal outlook of universal life as you gaze in perplexity at the problems of the passing hour?

We can encourage our Monitor to grant us a certainty of our eternal life and allow this certainty to give us wisdom in dealing with our perplexing problems. We will then KNOW we are eternal beings and this would give us strength and comfort as confront our difficulties. Even while we are working out our material issues we can have that certain assurance of our eternal future; we need only to sincerely ask for it.

Why do you refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which beset your mortal life journey?

We are all cosmic citizens, having a more universal viewpoint will enlarge our horizons and enable us to have the broader picture in our mind as we struggle in our daily lives. Having this broader viewpoint will inspire us to incorporate this wider view into our daily existence.

Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize your thinking, even though your feet must tread the material paths of earthly endeavor?

In this material life there are many conflicting things we must be aware of and deal with; through it all, our feet must tread material paths. While we are dealing with physical necessities, our thinking is a certain guide in our lives. If this thinking is spiritualized, if we are seeking spiritual values, then we can better deal with whatever we might encounter in our daily lives. Again, we need to allow our Adjuster to guide us, to spiritualize our thinking.

We appear to be working out our lives solely in this earthly sphere, but in reality we are also working in a spiritual arena and it is in this spiritual workplace that we build our potentially eternal soul, our spirit being. Our indwelling spark of God, our Adjuster wants to assist us in this spiritual space and if we accept its workings there will also be an effect in our material lives.

Once we have fully accepted the guidance of our Adjuster we should consider accepting the covenant our Heavenly Father offers us.

And as you are the human parent, so is the Adjuster the divine parent of the real you, your higher and advancing self, your … future spiritual self. (Urantia Book 1193.5)

Website Progress and Service

Developing this website is a fascinating challenge, so many new things to learn. With each new thing there is a plugin that must be chosen, installed, learned, applied to the website, errors located and fixed. This is all about developing a platform to get the message out; this message must be shared with our sisters and brothers.

An important aspect of this website is the extensive crosslinking throughout the postings and pages. While reading a page, if there is a link to something you want to explore, right-click on the link and open it in another tab for later study. For example, if there is a reference to our Planetary Prince clicking on the link will present further information about him.

To find a reference to The Urantia Book, there is a link at the bottom of the Home page. This link goes to the new Urantia Foundation online search engine that finds the reference in question. There is even an audio option for the quotation that can be found at the beginning of the Paper. For example entering 1496.1 and clicking on the reference starts the paper about John the Baptist. Very soon I will have a separate page on the website linking to the online search engine and the text of The Urantia Book, so stay tuned, this is an ongoing process.

A recent addition to the website is a short commentary about each photo accessed from a link under the photo; there is also a page, “Photos,” that has each photo, a description and a link to its page.

Another new addition to the website is a link on the main page enabling users to sign up for the email list; once added they will be notified of new postings and other news. How could such a simple thing be so complicated? For this I needed two plugins and it was a struggle to get them working together. They are now up and running, but enough of that; what about service?

We know there is a spark of God within each thinking mortal, everyone has this gift from God and because of this everyone has equal spiritual value. Our Heavenly Father is actually present in our lives; we do not need to seek for Him elsewhere. This means He can literally guide us if we sincerely listen and follow this divine guidance. The more we listen and follow this internal advice, the easier it becomes the next time. God has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to follow that plan. The consequence of this is times when we must give attention to opportunities of service, even though it means we have to delay something else we want to do.

For example before Jesus was thirteen years old, a celestial messenger appeared before him telling him it was time to be about your Father’s business. (Urantia Book 1376.1) Just over a year later, when Jesus was barely fourteen, Joseph was killed in an accident at work; for Jesus this meant his young human nature must also shoulder the responsibility of caring for his widowed mother and seven brothers and sisters — and another yet to be born. (Urantia Book 1388.1)

Jesus had been instructed to be about his Father’s business, yet he had pressing obligations to his family that could not be denied. The story of how he lovingly cared for his family is a thrilling tale of devotion to duty; for example he spent two days in prison with his young brother Jude who had said unkind words about Roman soldiers.[1]

Jesus spent many years helping his family and learning how people lived their lives. He also toured the Mediterranean Sea for more than a year. Eighteen years after the celestial visitation Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River at Pella and began his public work.

Jesus was focused on following God’s guidance even though this meant delaying something else important, being about his Father’s business.

If you sincerely seek to do God’s will, there are going to be serious choices to make; if you are not so tested, your faith is not yet strong enough to be tested. If you are living a life of ease you have not faith because having true faith means being willing to go where we will be uncomfortable. God’s ways are not our ways, He knows the true way and only when we cooperate with His loving guidance can we make real spiritual progress.

Talking about service, Betty and I both have family obligations requiring us to delay other needful things, like developing this website for my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the triumph of Righteousness” and other important obligations.

My brother needs surgery on both knees because he is in constant pain and his wife has trouble getting around. It is a long sad story of bureaucratic nonsense but he has been trying since February to have the operations; just recently he has finally been given a date in early September for the first knee. Betty and I need to be there to assist them during his recovery. Twice this year we have driven from western North Carolina to near Tampa, Florida thinking the operation was imminent only to find out otherwise.

Betty’s son on the southeast coast of Florida is downsizing and needs considerable maintenance, yard work and other necessary work. He has sold one house and another needs to be made presentable for prospective buyers.

We do these periods of service knowing our Heavenly Father has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to accept and cooperate with His plan. At each step along the way we must choose whether we accept and follow the will of God or reject His guidance.

If we have a strong moral foundation based on doing the will of our Heavenly Father there should be no hesitation when presented with service opportunities. This moral foundation guides us and gives us assurance that we have a firm underpinning upon which to build our lives and guide our decisions.

Periods of service are only partly about helping somebody else; they are also about growing a soul of eternal advancement possibilities. Each of us should sincerely and joyfully choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father because then our soul grows stronger, we help ourselves as much as we help others.

Tags: God Within, service, spiritual free will, Urantia Book, Truth Seekers

  1. The Urantia Book; the number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph, 1415.5-7 ↑

Recognizing our Light of Truth

This posting is an entry on the Talking Points page which lists topics from my book “Light of Truth – Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness.” Each one of us can become an individual Light of Truth if we follow the guidance of the fragment of God dwelling within. The problem is not the rampant evil on our native planet; rather it is our inability and unwillingness to listen for God’s guidance in our lives. He truly wants to help us but we must listen and follow that guidance.

Our study of The Urantia Book reveals we have all the pieces necessary to build a character able to go forth and contest the forces promoting deceit and iniquity. We now put them together in a way to guide us toward living these teachings, striving to make this world a better place in which to live; indeed, a better place for everyone on the face of Earth.

There are seven stages in the soul construction process; each one of these successive realizations brings us closer to becoming equipped to move out into the greater world promoting righteousness, peace, love, and brotherhood.

The first and most important of these steps toward recognizing our Light of Truth is to realize each one of us has a literal spark of God dwelling within. We may be looking at the most unhappy, confused person imaginable; even there our Heavenly Father is within that human being striving to bring light and truth to that individual. God is no respecter of persons; we all stand equal before Him. This truth of God within is the bedrock of our reality, our soul and our eternal future.

Knowing this, we have faith that God will guide us in our daily lives. This will not be an obvious leading, no text message or email, rather it will be gentle guidance showing the way. Our Father does not coerce, does not force but if we choose to follow His guidance, we will know the way. We will know the way. This is a distinct awareness of how we should proceed; we will know it in our soul and the more willingly we follow this guidance the more readily we will recognize it next time. Having faith, knowing God is guiding us, is fundamental to making spiritual progress.

Once we recognize and accept God’s guidance, the next step is choosing to follow His lead. We might fear difficulties will be involved or we would rather do something else. There may be any number of excuses we want to present. Following our Heavenly Father only when it is easy does not count as doing God’s will. One thought that helped me when dealing with these matters was becoming confident that God would not ask me to do something either beyond my ability or immoral; he would not ask me to do the non-doable. Choosing to follow the will of our Heavenly Father will not be the easy way, but doing so means we have God fully on our side. Bring it on!

A covenant is a formal agreement between an individual and our Father. This covenant means we accept that God’s favor is entirely based on faith alone. If we have faith in God and share this faith in our daily lives, He will protect us. We do not have any idea exactly how this protection works, but it will surround us. God cannot protect us against our recklessness or going against God’s will, but those of full faith can be protected. Before proceeding, each individual must personally, individually, and solemnly accept and uphold our covenant – this holy pact with our Heavenly Father.

As a result of this we will enjoy a more personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. In our interactions with people we see the individual, we exchange words and emotions, but with God there arises a certainty within, often difficult to describe. This certainty is at the center of our being – in our soul. Our personal relationship with God becomes the core of our being, the center around which the rest of our soul – our existence – revolves. This relationship with God promotes the best we can become; we interact with our Father through living experience rather than with dogma and preachers.

At this point we will be able to bring the Motivating Story to life in our relationship with our sisters and brothers. This story energizes our efforts to reach out and share these teachings, to fully live them. Living the story means we become focused and eager to participate in the spread of these teachings of peace, love and joy. Living the story means we now have a framework on which to build a new world, we have a meaningful and vitalizing world view.

After this process we are becoming, each one of us, a Light of Truth. We know God is with us, guiding us and helping us to become more aware of spiritual reality. We will certainly not know what lies in the future, we will not know what the consequences of our actions will be but we do know we have the best possible guide in all creation: Our Heavenly Father who created all things, all beings, and who is love.

One valid question at this point is: What does it mean to become a Light of Truth? It means we become tuned into God’s will; the Spirit of Truth will guide us into truth, and our actions declare truth. This does not mean we become perfect or infallible, it does not mean we are an unthinking robot spouting spiritual platitudes. We become thoughtful, although still flawed, spirit guided human beings dedicated to following the guidance each one of us receives; we become people consecrated to following God’s will in making this native planet of ours a better place for each one of God’s creatures, large, small or apparently insignificant. Every one of them is a creature of God.

These stages on the road toward becoming a Light of Truth are:  recognizing each one of us has a spark of God within; having faith our Heavenly Father will guide us; accepting this guidance, choosing to do God’s will; accepting the covenant that faith is the sole requirement to receive God’s protection; we will enjoy an intimate personal relationship with God; we then bring the motivating story to life. Each one of us can become a Light of Truth to our sisters and brothers – all of them.

When this happens we can move forward into the world according to our Father’s will. We may not have any idea what will transpire but we can be confident God does have a plan to make this native world of ours a better place. Our Father knows how to make everything more equitable for each creature. God has a plan for each one of us; we now have the tools to help us cooperate with His divine plan for our life.

Jesus – the Man

As WE Pass By

Being fully human Jesus had emotions just as we have them. For example when addressing believers in Zebedee’s house (father of the apostles James and John) he was unusually cheerful. When it became time to part with the apostles the “sorrow of love” placed a great strain on his human heart. He certainly felt love and compassion toward Mary his mother. At the tomb of Lazarus he wept. Indeed he experienced the full range of human emotions from joy to good humor and on to sorrow and grief, but he was a child of joy; his frequent exhortation was “be of good cheer” just as today we might say “be happy.”

Jesus was indeed a mortal until the day of his baptism in the Jordan River when the divine portion of his career began. After this event he was in full communication with his Thought Adjuster (also called adjuster, the spark of God within everyone) who had been personalized after the baptism by John and was now a separate personality. This dual nature of Jesus gives his life story such power and makes it spiritually compelling.

The personality of Jesus was such that all manner of people were drawn to him. Many of the apostles were manly fishermen and such individuals would not be drawn to the mystical type of person generally depicted in our artwork. His personality was perfected by his decisions and by faithfully following the advice of his adjuster.

The personality of Jesus was such that it appealed to all manner of people, from educated intellectuals to sturdy Roman soldiers to Galilean fishermen. He was totally sincere and interested in each individual he met; he fully loved each individual, this showed in his interactions with every person; he loved people so much because he placed a high value upon them.

His personality was such that people were comfortable when they were with him. Though they called him Rabbi, they were learning not to be afraid of him. Jesus possessed that matchless grace of personality which enabled him so to live among them that they were not dismayed by his divinity. They found it really easy to be “friends with God,” God incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh (Urantia Book1534.1). They immediately respected him and called him Rabbi even though he had no formal training. It was and still is easy to be friends with him.

This is a vital point; it is easy to be friends with God. He is our closest, most intimate friend; He truly knows us and loves us. He knows our value, our unique personality and the contributions we can make as we grow in spiritual awareness and service. It is easy to be friends with God.

The greatest proof of the mortal nature of Jesus is his humiliation and crucifixion. He was tried unfairly, beaten and dealt an ignominious death at the hands of religious zealots but he maintained his dignity and composure throughout.

The most compelling indication of his distinctive character was when Pontius Pilot gestured toward him and proclaimed: “Behold the man!”

Jesus the human being with his unshakable faith in God is a compelling image for mortals struggling with a hostile environment of materialism and greed, but Christianity forsook the human Jesus in its glorification of him as the divine Christ. After the emotions connected with Pentecost, Jesus became a religion and his human aspects were largely ignored. While the glorified Christ is truly a noble story it neglects the human Jesus. We must not lose sight of this human Jesus because he is our brother as well as our creator.

We must now figuratively resurrect the human Jesus from the tomb where his mortal struggles were buried underneath the theological traditions and religious dogmas of more than two thousand years. These traditions do portray a splendid concept of the Christ, but they do not speak to our human efforts and needs. The religious authorities who put Jesus to death were mired in tradition and dogma just as many current religious leaders are. The revelation of The Urantia Book was given to us at this time so we who seek righteousness can bring a breath of fresh air into the religious community today; we should seek God’s guidance in bringing this truth forward.How unfortunate that religion itself should be so misinterpreted as to take the human Jesus away from struggling mortals! Let not the discussions of the humanity or the divinity of the Christ obscure the saving truth that Jesus of Nazareth was a religious man who, by faith, achieved the knowing and the doing of the will of God; he was the most truly religious man who has ever lived on Urantia. (Urantia Book 2090.2) (The universe name of our planet is Urantia.)