Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: How compatible is the Urantia Book with the Book of Mormon? Since the Book of Mormon and The Urantia Book differ slightly, which one is a more accurate representation of God as we know him?

A: On one level, The Urantia Book is fully compatible with no other avenues of study, whether geology, anthropology, astronomy, physics, philosophy, genetics, history, religion, or spirituality... and there's a reason for that. The Urantia Book claims to be an epochal revelation, providing new and heretofore unknown facts, meanings, values from which we can derive a better understanding of the cosmos and our place in it. Your first challenge then will be to determine whether you believe this claim or not. If not, then whether the teachings of The Urantia Book are compatible with the Book of Mormon or not will have little value for you.

The Urantia Book and the Book of Mormon differ more than slightly. Joseph Smith was inspired, was called upon to translate mysterious writing on gold plates, produced the Book of Mormon, was martyred along with many of his followers, and founded what in about a century and a half has become a major religious movement on the planet. The Urantia Book is associated with no human subject, was produced in English exactly as you see it today, has received little public acclaim as it spreads its influence slowly around the globe. Both Mormons and Urantians have a belief in God and angels and in the validity of revelation. Jesus has a predominant position in each.

The God and Jesus presented in the Book of Mormon represent God and Jesus from Joseph Smith's inspiration. Joseph was a strongly fundamental Bible believer before being visited by the angel -- the BoM presents a strongly fundamentalist relationship with God, a viewpoint that appeals to much of struggling humanity in need of authority and spiritual direction. The historical perspective of the BoM rests on Israelites coming to the New World around 1000 B.C., evolving a culture, and being visited by Jesus at the time of his death on the cross.

The God and Jesus presented in The Urantia Book have little resemblance to what any previous religious forms provide other than the distillation of the truth, beauty, and goodness of these religions augmented by what is newly revealed by TUB. Its historical perspective spans billions of years, the New World became inhabited by a red race traveling over the Bering Strait land bridge about 80,000 years ago, and the red race is the only race not to have been visited in some manner by Jesus in person.

Joseph Smith is not unique in the world of spiritual inspirations. Many prophets of the past felt God's hand touch them and they interpreted what they perceived -- the results are found in the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Torah, the Old and New Testaments, the Koran -- they're the foundations upon which civilization and culture rest and most people are satisfied with the traditions of the past. The Urantia Book is unique. It illuminates the past from a perspective that's not part of that past. It provides an umbrella under which all religions can be gathered and coexist peacefully. It provides a glimpse of God unfettered by human mind filters. It offers Jesus back to the world, as he intended, unencumbered by Christian doctrine. It presents a view of our place in the cosmos that is consistent, logical, meaningful, insightful, joyful and uplifting.

If I believed any religion offered a more accurate representation of God I would be an adherent of that religion, but as a long-time student of The Urantia Book and believer in its teachings I obviously believe that the facts contained in the UB and its spiritual perspective provides the most accurate and meaningful portrayal available. But that's me; you need to make this determination on your own and for yourself.

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Labels: Book of Mormon, God, inspiration, Jesus, Joseph Smith, religion, revelation, The Urantia Book