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Q: I have listened to many MP3s from the CD of the
Urantia book.
I am so grateful for what I have read so far and have been greatly
blessed. However, I have run into a section that causes me great
distress :"The difficulty of executing such a radical program on
Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to pass upon the
biologic fitness or unfitness of the individuals of your world races.
Notwithstanding this obstacle, it seems that you ought to be able to
agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit,
defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks."
(51:4.8)
I
can't make this read as anything other than extremely racist and (since
the white race has blue ancestry) particularly white supremacist.
Talking about "unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial "stocks"
seems to totally negate the loving Fatherhood of God. I am white, by
the way and I find it offensive. There is no way I could recommend this
book to my black friends.
A: I understand you are a new reader and have yet to
finish a first
reading of The Urantia Book. There are many sections in the book that
can bring consternation when considered outside the context of the full
revelation, race being one of them. It's usually suggested that a first
and complete reading of the book, from front to back, be undertaken as
quickly as possible, without attempting to comprehend all that's being
read — this provides an overall context and defines the scope
of the material. Subsequent reading can then delve deeper into the
terminology and meanings. It has been suggested too that rather than
being written like a text book The Urantia Book is more like a symphony
with themes and melodies being repeated in a myriad of variations
throughout the whole — one has to listen to a symphony more
than once to get a basic understanding of the composition.
Regarding race, regarding humanity in general and regarding the
composition of the book — most of the first 119 out of the
196 Papers are written by highly intelligent beings who have never been
human, beings of higher origin than humans, "angels." As the lowest
order of free will creature in existence we humans now find ourselves
reading about our origin, nature, and destiny as perceived from a
higher and non-human perspective, sources not so sentimental about our
shortcomings as we obviously are.
It's interesting how we're so aware of the necessity of animal
husbandry to produce improved results but feel it is a human right to
breed indiscriminately with no regard for the kind of offspring being
produced. If I had a choice I'd want to be born into a healthy body
with all my arms, legs, fingers, toes, hearing, eyesight, and normal
mental capabilities as opposed simply being left to happenstance and
finding myself having less than these normal endowments. That's the
point these teachings of The Urantia Book make — we owe it to
our offspring to provide them the best biological vehicle possible.
Life on an evolutionary world is challenge enough without also being
faced with confronting it in a defective body or with a defective mind.
Specifically, you've indicated that the following causes you great
distress ...
"The difficulty of executing such a radical program on
Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to pass upon the
biologic fitness or unfitness of the individuals of your world races.
Notwithstanding this obstacle, it seems that you ought to be able to
agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit,
defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks."
(51:4.8)
Why is that distressful? Those words say we humans are reluctant to
impose constraints on reproduction because we lack competent judges to
pass on the potential fitness of offspring. True. We are however quite
scientifically competent at this time in history to predict when it's
highly likely that parents will bear children with various defects or
diseases. Because of our over-sentimentality we don't impose the social
constraints we are now competent to impose upon these obvious problem
areas, allowing anyone and everyone to do as they reproductively please
when it would be a great benefit if such individuals were given
incentives to go childless or to adopt rather than to bear children.
How is this distressing? This makes logical sense although maybe not
the emotional sense we're so used to reacting to.
You've also said ... "I can't make this read as anything other than
extremely racist and (since the white race has blue ancestry)
particularly white supremacist." One of the profound functions of the
teachings of The Urantia Book is to provide a greater context in which
to understand your life on earth and your place in the cosmos
— certainly a challenge to each and every reader of the book.
You've taken these particular observations and altered their context to
fit a preconceived mold. The paragraph you've referred to has nothing
to do with racism or white supremacy as you've interpreted. Consider
that there's probably not a person alive on the planet who doesn't have
some blue ancestry (as well as some of each of the other colors) in
their makeup — there's nothing exclusive to the so-called
white race. There is no "black" race on Urantia, just as there are no
other pure races. The indigo race, a deep purple hue appeared about
500,000 years ago along with the other 5 colored races. Africans are of
mixed racial heritage just like the rest of humanity,
being a mixture primarily of the remnants of the indigo, orange, and
green races.
There have been 9 pure-line races over the million year human history
of the planet. None exist today — we're well on our way to
full racial blending to fulfill the destiny of a one race world. Of the
original 6 colored races can you point to one which The Urantia Book
holds above the others? The answer is no. In fact The Urantia Book
describes the attributes and shortcomings of each race as well as
defining their superior and inferior traits. The only race to be given
comparatively high marks is the red race which has nearly been
obliterated.
You've written ... "Talking about unfit, defective, degenerate, and
antisocial stocks seems to totally negate the loving Fatherhood of
God." Is this implying that you don't recognize such detrimental
strains flourishing in the gene pool? The genes with which one is
endowed have no correlation to the love of the Father or the
development of the individual soul. They do have immense consequence to
the quality of life one lives here in the flesh.
You've concluded ... "I am white, by the way and I find it offensive.
There is no way I could recommend this book to my black friends." The
sensitivity to the feelings of your "black friends" is not unusual
although you do a disservice by assuming that they couldn't possibly
understand the truth behind the statements you've taken offense from
when quite possibly their Spirit of Truth led discernment may at this
time be superior to your own. Actually, your concern could appear to be
an overreaction to what you consider to be shortcomings in your black
friends.
Currently there are 3 documents on the races in the Urantia Book
Historical Archive. One is a Wrightwood Study, an in-depth analysis of
the teachings of The Urantia Book on this topic by a panel and another
is a handout written by a black woman. You can access these documents
at Races
As this topic has also come up in the Truthbook.com Discussion list
and
is of current interest it will be posted there and if you choose you
can read further comments made by other readers on this topic.
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