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Q: How
can I know The Urantia book is not a temptation from the devil or some
evil forces? I am a Catholic; I was told this is the only religion.
A: Thanks for your note to Truthbook, a site dedicated to the teachings
of
The
Urantia Book.
When we hold the beliefs of some particular religion, we can
become frightened into thinking that any deviation from that theology
is dangerous; it is then natural that we look upon anything new as
suspect - even evil - and to be avoided. This can be true even though
our inner spirit may testify to us that we have found something quite
wonderful. Fear can hold us back from embracing new truth.
How do we know that The Urantia Book is not of the devil or from other
"evil forces?"
Knowledge is power - one of the best features of The Urantia Book is a
complete and factual exploration of Lucifer, Satan, and various other
evil
personalities who have so negatively impacted our planet. The expose is
anything but favorable for them. If The Urantia Book was meant to tempt
someone into sympathy for these beings, it could be considered a
failure in that regard...
However, the overwhelming teachings of The Urantia Book surround the
fact that man is a child of God and is a valued member of the family of
this loving Father-God. In addition, one of the cornerstone teachings
of The Urantia Book is that you carry a part of God himself within your
mind, which forever ennobles you as a being of eternal status
whose destiny is to one day reunite with that Source of all goodness on
Paradise. One of the functions of this Divine fragment is to guide you
into a knowledge of God's will, and to help you to develop an immortal
soul. This concept can hardly be considered a temptation of the devil,
for the devil does not lead men to God.
Your question might have been sent from any number of people who have
been told that their religion is "the only religion." Reason tells us
that not all of these claims can be correct.
Is there only one true religion? The Urantia Book states:
(143:7.2)
True religion is the act of an
individual soul in its
self-conscious relations with the Creator; organized religion is man's
attempt to socialize
the worship of individual religionists.
If that was the extent of organized religion's attempts to reach the
truth-seeker, there would be no conflict, but often, the
organization also teaches retribution of some sort if the
faithful person should question or abandon this teaching. This
retribution is usually in the form of eternal damnation. This could be
the source of your uneasiness about any other teaching being of a
possibly "evil" source.
Any serious study of The Urantia Book will deliver you from these kinds
of fears. You harbor within yourself an unerring guide for discerning
truth. It is the
Spirit that Jesus sent
when he
left the earth - the
promised helper and Comforter. To be safe, always approach any study of
a religious
text with a prayer for discernment, asking that Jesus be your guide. In
this way, you can't ever be "tempted" into a false belief, for Jesus
will ever be faithful to your trust in him. Fear not..." Divine truth
is best known by its spiritual
flavor."
While the teachings of The Urantia Book do not promote any particular
church as superior to any other, an affiliation with a God-centered
church is entirely compatible with a belief in Urantia Book concepts.
Many Urantia Book readers are practicing Catholics; however,
the truthseeker must know that the only "true" religion is in
the realm of personal
spiritual experience, and this
is the only
religion
that Jesus ever taught.
I suggest that you read Jesus'
Discourses on True Religion
HERE
In this section we learn that:
"Jesus made it clear that the great difference between the
religion of the mind and the religion of the spirit is that, while the
former is upheld by ecclesiastical authority, the latter is wholly
based on human experience."
The Catholic Church, along with many
other organized and
institutionalized religions, constitutes a religion of the mind - a
religion of authority. From this information, and after reading the
above Discourses of Jesus, you should be able to
form a personally meaningful resolution to the issue regarding the
exclusive truth claimed by the Catholic Church.
You may remember that Jesus himself was accused of being in league with
the devil during his ministry by people who were desperate to discredit
him. His ideas were so revolutionary because
they threatened the authority of the religious institutions of his time
- so much so, that they eventually murdered him for espousing these
liberating ideas to the people. Why? Because the religion of the spirit
- true religion - forever leaves the
individual religionist free to
embrace the truth wherever s/he may find it;
"...true religion is
delivered from the custody of priests and all sacred classes and finds
its real manifestation in the individual souls of men."
Jesus' teachings are revolutionary
today, too. The religion of Jesus still threatens the
religions of authority, and sometimes people dismiss it out of fear of
some imagined retribution because of what they have been told.
The only real proof that you will ever be able to find about
any truth is to use your own discernment to separate fact
from fantasy. If you can suspend your fears and open your mind, you
will find your sincere search for truth rewarded.
Finally, I leave you with this encouraging passage regarding God, and
religion:
(2:6.1)
In the physical universe we may
see the divine beauty, in the intellectual world we may discern eternal
truth, but the goodness of God is found only in the spiritual world of
personal religious experience. In its true essence, religion is a
faith-trust in the goodness of God. God could be great and absolute,
somehow even intelligent and personal, in philosophy, but in religion
God must also be moral; he must be good. Man might fear a great God,
but he trusts and loves only a good God. This goodness of God is a part
of the personality of God, and its full revelation appears only in the
personal religious experience of the believing sons of
God.
Thanks again for writing. I hope this answer has been of help
to you.
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