Q: "I find all the pictures of Jesus to be sombody's fantasy of what he would look like. He was middle eastern and they just don't look like that. I find it hard to believe that all the comments give such high ratings. I would much rather see some form that would more correctly represent the people of that time and region of the country and not some model-like depiction. This could not even be close!"
A: Thanks for taking the time to send in feedback about the QOD. I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed in the images that we choose for the quotes of the day that deal with Jesus.
Jesus was, of course, a Middle Eastern Jewish man - probably darker-complected, maybe even swarthy, with black hair. The Urantia Book tells us that he was a maginificent specimen of manhood, and I know he must have been a knockout!!! But, in this passage of The Urantia Book, we see that perhaps he could have even been a red-heard or even blonde: (122:5.5) "The families of both Joseph and Mary were well educated for their time. Joseph and Mary were educated far above the average for their day and station in life. He was a thinker; she was a planner, expert in adaptation and practical in immediate execution. Joseph was a black-eyed brunet; Mary, a brown-eyed well-nigh blond type."
Any chance that you are an artist? Or do you know a good artist who can paint portaits? You may not know this, but it is extremely difficult to find ethnically correct depictions of the Master, or even contemporary artists who attempt picturing the Master. There is a real dearth of newer materials out there from which to choose an image - And to use just any man's picture would surely not be appreciated either.
The images that we have chosen, such as the recent one from Palm Sunday, and through this Holy Week, are contemporary, fresh, not over-used, and painted by people who love Jesus. We think that shows in the image, even if the image may not be correct in all points. The attitude and demeanor of the image is what counts for us.
The image that you chose to write about is one of the beautiful flower pictures, and we often use beautiful landscape images as well. We find that these are always pretty well received - but we can't please everyone, unfortunately...
Maybe it seems foolish to you to use a painting to try and depict a man whose true image can never be known, but some find the pictures comforting and beautiful. Sorry that you do not, but I hope that won't keep you from coming back and enjoying the QOD every day.
We love putting this feature together, and we also very much appreciate the feedback. Even though we wish we could please everyone, that is also a fantasy, alas...!
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." (Paper 51, Section 4).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." (Paper 51, Section 4).
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 http://www.ubhistory.org/ArchiveProcessing/HTML/FrameDocTypesGD.htm
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.
Q: Who wants anything to do with the god of the Hebrews?
A: Truthbook.com is devoted to promoting the teachings of The Urantia Book, particularly as they advance the life and teachings of Jesus. There are many correlations between The Urantia Book and the Bible and The Urantia Book does have considerable to say about Moses although your concern seems to be directed specifically at the Bible.
Moses is considered by The Urantia Book to have been wise and sagacious and to have been the supreme teacher of the Hebrews.
Moses forbade human sacrifices as a part of worship, substituting the sacrifice of animals instead — a profound step forward in primitive religion.
Moses taught monotheism at a time when polytheism was dominant.
You can get a non-biblical understanding of Moses and his contribution to history from several complete sections in The Urantia Book regarding him — (96:3.1), titled The Matchless Moses, and (96:5.1), titled The Teachings of Moses, and (96:6.1) titled The God Concept After Moses’ Death.
Apart from that, what you say about Moses may well be true — I just can’t comment on those aspects of the historical Moses. The teachings of The Urantia Book focus on the positive and beneficial aspects of his teachings. But we do know that mid-eastern culture during the days of Moses was primitive and that Moses would be considered a primitive human being by today's standards.
You asked what kind of damn fool would want anything to do with the god of the Hebrews. Religious concepts evolve although there are still many cultures with God concepts not far removed from those same primitive beliefs. One of the functions of The Urantia Book is to put that evolution into historical context so the reader can understand how and why religion evolves. The God of the Hebrews is a giant step forward in an evolving God concept so rather than just believing the Old Testament version of that primitive concept we can understand why, primitive though it was, it was an important step forward to more enlightened concepts.
You said: "The entire bible is a concoction of man to control the deceived masses." It sounds is if you may be a proponent of conspiracy theories, a concept that doesn’t ring true to me. Yes, the Bible is a history written by men; it also contains some of the most profound wisdom ever recorded. It certainly does require reading with one’s eyes open.
As students of The Urantia Book we learn to discern that which in the Bible is true, beautiful, and good just as we can discern the same in The Urantia Book.
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
(The following section of The Urantia Book is a discussion of the two-brained type of mortal, and corroborates the experience that the doctor had with her right and left brain. ed.)
p566:1 49:5.6 2. Brain-type series. The one physical uniformity of mortals is the brain and nervous system; nevertheless, there are three basic organizations of the brain mechanism: the one-, the two-, and the three-brained types. Urantians are of the two-brained type, somewhat more imaginative, adventurous, and philosophical than the one-brained mortals but somewhat less spiritual, ethical, and worshipful than the three-brained orders. These brain differences characterize even the prehuman animal existences.
p566:2 49:5.7 From the two-hemisphere type of the Urantian cerebral cortex you can, by analogy, grasp something of the one-brained type. The third brain of the three-brained orders is best conceived as an evolvement of your lower or rudimentary form of brain, which is developed to the point where it functions chiefly in control of physical activities, leaving the two superior brains free for higher engagements: one for intellectual functions and the other for the spiritual-counterparting activities of the Thought Adjuster.
Q: The Urantia book says that jesus was born 7 B.C. how can this be?
A: I'm sure you understand that calendars begin at any arbitrary point in time that the people who use them choose -- which would most likely be some significant event occurring in their culture. For example, Google tells us that the beginning of the Chinese calendar officially began on the Yellow Emperor’s 61st year on the throne (2637 B.C.) making this approximately year 4706 in the Chinese calendar and that this is the year 5769 in the Jewish calendar which began with the creation of Adam and Eve on the sixth day of Creation according to their Hebrew texts. Muslims begin their calendar at July 16, 622, (by the Gregorian calendar) when Muhammad fled from Mecca to Medina.
The Gregorian calendar assigns its beginning to the presumed year Jesus was born, that being the year 1. The Gregorian calendar is based on calculations made by Dionysus Exegines, a Roman abbot who lived over 500 years after the time of Jesus. Because of insufficient historical data the monk erred in fixing the time of birth and this error persists in our calendar to this day. The Urantia Book corrects this error by giving us the exact date of Jesus' birth which occurred 7 years earlier than the abbot had calculated. Other sources have also determined that the assumed Gregorian date for Jesus' birth is inaccurate, (you can do a Google on 7 b.c. for other examples) but The Urantia Book provides accuracy no other source can.
What is your belief about reincarnation and those intuitives/sensitives that promote past life readings?
Q: What is your belief about reincarnation and those intuitives/sensitives that promote past life readings?
A: Thank you for this timely and interesting question. The Urantia Book has the following to say about reincarnation:
p953:4((86:4.5)) The primitive doctrine of survival after death was not necessarily a belief in immortality. Beings who could not count over twenty could hardly conceive of infinity and eternity; they rather thought of recurring incarnations.
p953:5((86:4.6)) This idea of reincarnation originated in the observance of hereditary and trait resemblance of offspring to ancestors. The custom of naming children after grandparents and other ancestors was due to belief in reincarnation. Some later-day races believed that man died from three to seven times. .
p1029:1((94:2.3)) The undue concentration on self led certainly to a fear of the nonevolutionary perpetuation of self in an endless round of successive incarnations as man, beast, or weeds. And of all the contaminating beliefs which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging monotheism, none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration—the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls—which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith.
p1811:5((164:3.4)) The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences.
You can see from these quotes that reincarnation is not a belief that is fostered in the teachings of The Urantia Book, nor in the teachings of Jesus. However, it is a theory that many seeking souls adopt as a way of explaining survival of the self, as well as karma, the idea of reaping what we sow.
I was a believer in reincarnation at one point in my life, but I now much prefer the idea of "resurrection" of the immortal soul as presented in The Urantia Book:
p533:5((47:3.7)) On mansion world number one (or another in case of advanced status) you will resume your intellectual training and spiritual development at the exact level whereon they were interrupted by death. Between the time of planetary death or translation and resurrection on the mansion world, mortal man gains absolutely nothing aside from experiencing the fact of survival. You begin over there right where you leave off down here.
This teaching relieves any fears I may have had about having to return to this planet over and over again as the result of some past sins - which to me, is a very depressing thought. Having to endure, all over again, a complete mortal life until I "get it right," seems terribly unappealing to me.
Given the sheer size and magnitude of the inhabited universe presented in The Urantia Book, it seems highly unlikely to me that we would be doomed to such a circular existence focused on only this little ball of dirt in space. Rather, we can look forward to resurrection on new worlds, with new challenges, and new opportunities for atoning for our shortcomings. The watchword of the universe is "progress." Personally, I see nothing progressive about reincarnation.
I am however, interested in the phenomena of the intuitives that you mention, and I notice that many people seem to gain a great deal of comfort from these "readings." I am sure that they believe in what they are doing, as well as do the people who seek them out, but to me, it is only a curiosity, and nowhere near reality. I don't consider it sinful or bad, just misguided and pointless. From the Urantia Book:
p159:6((14:5.10)) Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony—these traits inherent in evolving human nature—were not put there just to aggravate and annoy you during your short sojourn on earth, but rather to suggest to you that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery.
Finally, as to the karmic idea, The Urantia Book has an interesting quote about reaping and sowing:
p431:2((39:2.13)) When you finish your earthly career, your body remains on this planet...You "sow a mortal body" in the grave; you "reap a morontia form" on the mansion worlds.
(NB: "Morontia" is a term designating a stage of existence which is between material and spiritual - a transition state between being entirely mortal, and entirely spiritual - ed.)
The Urantia Book teaches us that this new life vehicle will be a faithful reflection of the true inner person, so that the spiritual progress, or lack thereof, will be reflected in this new form. This is an intriguing concept, and to me, is a good reason continue to do all I can to progress spiritually...hey, I want to look good in my new life!!!
I would like to invite you to take a look at our flash movies - in particular, "After You Die," which is a beautiful. three-minute presentation about this very subject of life after death, and what we can expect when we experience our resurrection.
And if you have not done so, please susbscribe to Quote of the Day, a free service of Truthbook.com. You'll receive a daily quote from The Urantia Book to uplift and inspire you.
Q: Is God more like male or female? If neither, then is God like a universal being for all worlds?
A: Male and female are the two expressions of material beings, similar to positive and negative being the two expressions of electricity. It takes both for completeness. God is neither male nor female -- those terms apply to material beings and not spirit -- God is complete. And yes, there is one God for all of creation and that God has a presence within you. The only gift you can offer to God is your will to do God's will.
Q: What does this quote mean? "When the end of mortal life comes, hesitate not to forsake this body for a more fit and beautiful form and to awake in the realms of the Supreme and Immortal, where there is no fear, sorrow, hunger, thirst, or death. To know God is to cut the cords of death"
A: This quote comes from the section in The Urantia Book (131:4.7) describing the religious doctrines about God and his relations with us as they were expressed during Jesus' time and this quote is from the Hindu religion. It means that when one knows that a higher power exists in the universe than oneself that one has the opportunity to participate in eternity.
Q: Why are we not allowed to see God or Jesus?
A: The evidence of God is all around us -- which you can see any time you desire. But as material beings we're so far spiritually removed from the actual presence of God that we will have to wait until we've become pure spirit beings in the far distant future to stand before him. Until that time, you'll still be able to see the evidence of God's existence any time you desire.
Why can't you see Jesus? Like God, the evidence of Jesus is all around us and you can see or experience it any time you desire. Jesus doesn't live here now, except as the indwelling Spirit of Truth. Jesus is a spirit being but you can make contact with Jesus through prayer and through the desires of your mind.
Xerpi
