Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: How can I know 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."

Now, 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.

Labels: Catholicism, God, Jesus, organized religion, religion, spiritual experience, the devil, The Urantia Book

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Saturday, April 04, 2009

When did Catholicism begin?

Q: When did Catholicism begin and where can I find a book to read about the beginnings of Catholicism

A: I am not sure that you are aware that you have asked your question at a site dedicated to the teachings of The Urantia Book...? The Urantia Book is the most recent revelation of God to mankind - the previous revelation of this magnitude was the mortal incarnation, life, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, over 2000 years ago. The Urantia Book includes in Part IV a complete restatement of the life and teachings of Jesus - perhaps that is how you came to believe that you could get your questioned answered, since our site is also dedicated to spreading the good news of Jesus' gospel...? I just want you to be aware that The Urantia Book is not connected to either the Catholic Church, or any other church. It is not a religion, in and of itself, but promotes the religion of personal experience, which is the religion that Jesus established when he was on earth. This religion differs in some fundamental ways from traditional Christian, or Catholic beliefs. But The Urantia Book is quite clear on Jesus' Divinity, so it is consistent in belief with all traditional churches in that regard.

The Catholic Church dates its beginnings to the confession of Peter - the occasion upon which Jesus asked the Apostles "Who say you that I am?" to which Peter replied, "You are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God." Following this declaration by Peter, the other eleven apostles agreed that Peter had spoken for all of them.

It was supposedly said by Jesus that "Upon this rock [Peter] I will build my church," making Peter the first "Pope," according to Catholic dogma. And so, throughout all of these centuries, every pope of the Catholic Church is said to be the representative of Peter, and the leader of the Church.

Since you have asked this question about the Catholic church at our site, I feel it might be of interest to you to know the differences between the Catholic Church, which is a religion ABOUT Jesus, and the actual religion OF Jesus, as presented in The Urantia Book. Please bear with me, if you will. I hope your mind is open enough to entertain some new information.

In The Urantia Book, we are given a detailed, almost day-by-day account of the life of Jesus. And this account includes the story of this conversation with Peter and the apostles. It was a very important occasion, as it was the first time that the apostles finally understood, and openly declared, that Jesus was not only a great teacher and a holy man (the Son of man), but that he was in truth, the actual Son of God as well, God-made-flesh.

I am providing a link HERE, so that you can read for yourself the account of this momentous occasion in The Urantia Book. Jesus established that day, not a church, but a living spiritual reality called the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Urantia Book teaches us that Jesus did not come to earth to establish a formalized church, even though many churches did spring up in his name following his death and resurrection. Instead, Jesus came to proclaim the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; he came to establish the Kingdom of Heaven in the very hearts of mankind, so that man could know for certain that God is his Father, and so that every human being can have personal spiritual relations with that loving Father, as Jesus himself did.

Many churches claim that theirs is the "one, true church." Catholicism is one of them. One feature of any such church is dogma - theological teachings that must be embraced and rules that must be adhered to, lest a person suffer damnation, supposedly at the hands of a judgmental and jealous God. Jesus himself was raised in orthodox Judaism, and was also taught that he must adhere to Jewish dogma, principles and rituals so that he would stand in favor with God. As you know, he rebelled against that very strict upbringing.

Jesus preached against the establishment of any religion that would try to imprison the Truth and he became a great threat to the authority of the church leaders, who had him killed for his original and life-saving ideas. Jesus taught us that there is a true freedom of religious expression that can only be found through personal relations with God, who dwells within every man. It is through progressive and willing identification with this indwelling Spirit that man is able to achieve communion with the Father. Jesus was not in favor of any priest, rabbi, or other supposed "holy men" standing between man and God. He taught that we can live lives of spiritual freedom and originality with only our inner Spirit as our infallible guide.

Since you came upon our site, and took the time to ask a question of us, I hope that you will stay awhile, and read a bit more from The Urantia Book.

The Urantia Book clearly states that:

One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. p2090:4(196:1.3)

Please go HERE to our web page dedicated to Jesus, which contains many Urantia Book links, including a link to the story of Jesus' life and teachings (at the top of the page), as well as beautiful videos that you might enjoy.

And HERE to read about the beginnings of the Christian church, which bears Jesus' name.

As for books about the beginnings of Catholicism, I am sure you could find a wealth of selections at Amazon.com. They frequently have second-hand books at a great savings.

Thanks for hanging in with me this far. I don't know why you chose to ask your question of us, but I am glad that you did. Please write back any time...I hope you will take this gentle nudge, given in the spirit of brotherhood, to expand your knowledge and understanding of Jesus as presented in The Urantia Book. It is a book like no other, and a Revelation of God whose only equal is that of the Master, Jesus of Nazareth himself.

Labels: Catholicism, Jesus, Peter, The Urantia Book

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

God, Moses, And The Ten Commandments

Q: God wrote the ten commandments who gave them to Moses. Moses told the followers. That is what my catholic religion taught me.

A: Thank you for your note to Truthbook.com. We agree that your Catholic religion has taught you that: "God wrote the ten commandments who gave them to Moses. Moses told the followers. That is what my catholic religion taught me."

It's our belief that God has more to say to us than just what we may have been given in the past and that if such additional information meets our standards for truthfulness and goodness, for being logically consistent, and for spiritual fragrance then that too should sincerely be considered. That's why we study The Urantia Book and why there are people from all walks of life, Christians - like Catholics, Baptists, Mormons and Presbyterians, agnostics and atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, lay persons and clergy - people such as these who study the Urantia revelation. No one religion is "right" or "wrong" -- they each contain truth; students of the Urantia revelation find that study of the book augments their religious heritage, provides new insight and answers the questions they may have that aren't answered to their satisfaction by that religion.

Labels: Catholicism, Christian, God, Moses, religion, Ten Commandments, The Urantia Book

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Monday, October 31, 2005

Is the Catholic church the original, and the one true christian faith?

Q: Is the Catholic church the original, and the one true christian faith?

A: Since Jesus did not establish a religion the first Christian religion sprang from the teachings of the Apostles and from that the Catholic Church originated, so it is the oldest Christian religion. Is it the one true Christian faith? No. Other Christians established other Christian denominations to better encompass truth as they understood it -- that was the cause of the Protestant reform and the development of other Christian denominations.

The only true faith is that which you personally experience -- and we all experience faith differently. For some a particular church or temple or mosque fulfills their spiritual need, but we're all different and no one religion fills that for everyone.

The Urantia Book is one of the most inspiring works on religion and spirituality that you're ever likely to come into contact with. May I suggest you consider studying this marvelous book; it answers most of life's most perplexing questions like no other. You may also wish to consider subscribing to our Quote of the Day which will give you daily thoughts from the pages of The Urantia Book along with an inspiring image. It's a free service available from the upper right corner of our home page.

Thank you for your questions,

Larry Watkins
Truthbook.com

Labels: Catholicism, Christian, experience, faith, Jesus, Larry Watkins, Protestant