Urantia Book Commentary and Articles

What is the gospel?

If you asked several people, you would probably get several different answers. Some would say the word gospel means "good news", and it does, but that's just a definition. You want to know, "What is the good news, and where does it come from?"

Some will say that the gospel is the story about Jesus, as written by the New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. After all, these stories are often called the "Four Gospels". Others will tell you the good news is that God sent His son to earth as a sacrifice, to die, and to rise again, in order to atone for the sins of mankind. Still others say that Jesus' death on the cross was a ransom paid by God to redeem mankind from the Devil, and so on.

The New Testament says that Jesus and the apostles went from city to city, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the multitude.

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." (Matthew 9:35)

"And it came to pass...that Jesus went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him..." (Luke 8:1) (Also see Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14, and Luke 4:43.)

>From these verses we can tell that the gospel was something that Jesus actually preached and taught. Thus, the question of where the gospel comes from is answered. It comes from Jesus.

The word gospel means "good news" and "glad tidings", but what exactly was Jesus telling the people? What was his message? And has the essence of it, the actual gospel, the teachings of Jesus, been partly lost to us today and replaced by another message, the teachings about Jesus?

On these preaching tours, Jesus gave the people very important information (the good news!), and it was a positive, powerful message, focused on a few specific ideas. The gospel that Jesus taught was that information which would satisfy our deepest spiritual hopes, needs and desires: to better know our Father in heaven and our relationship with mankind, to be of the Spirit and to show the fruits of the Spirit, and to have eternal life with God.

We can tell from his teachings that the gospel of Jesus, even what we may call the "religion of Jesus", was and still is, this: God is our loving spiritual Father and we are all His children, sons and daughters in His family. If we love God and love one another, we will have eternal life in heaven.

Have you heard the expression, "I got it straight from the horse's mouth"? When people say this, they mean they got some information right from the source, and therefore it is true. It is like a gold miner who finds the mother lode. The actual teachings of Jesus are from the true source, the mother lode, from God Himself, as personified by His son.

Here then are the high spiritual teachings of Jesus, the information that he was giving to the crowds, - the real gospel. It's all you need to know.

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Jesus teaches us about doing the Father's will and entering the kingdom of heaven.

"Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Doing the Father's will is the key to entering the kingdom of heaven. And what is the Father's will? It is simply loving God, and loving and serving our brothers and sisters on earth, our brothers and sisters in God's family.

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Jesus tells us how we can have eternal life.

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tested him, saying, 'Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'What is written in the law? how do you read it?' And he answered saying, 'Thou shall love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.' And Jesus said to him, 'Thou has answered right: this do, and thou shall live.'" (Luke 10:25-28)

Do this and you will have eternal life! Love God, and love your neighbor. Could it be any clearer or simpler? Jesus knows that loving all of our fellow humans may not be easy for us, but he expects trend and effort.

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Jesus tells us why he came to earth.

"And he said unto them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore was I sent.'" (Luke 4:43)

Many have differing views as to the purpose of Jesus' incarnation on earth. Here, Jesus himself tells us that he came to earth to preach the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God.

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Jesus teaches a new and very personal idea about the kingdom of God.

"And when he was asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God will come not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'" (Luke 17:21)

Imagine! The kingdom of God is within you. This is a stunning but misunderstood teaching of Jesus. There are several aspects of the kingdom of God. One is spiritual, - the kingdom is not a material realm. Another is the outward kingdom, - the Father and His angels off in heaven somewhere. And then there is the kingdom within. Jesus is talking about this inner kingdom when he says that the kingdom of God is within you, actually a part of the Father himself, sharing your life, going through your ups and downs with you, and if you desire it, guiding you like a compass back to Him. This is not a nebulous spirituality wafting through you, as might be imagined for a spirit being, and as might be the case in some situations, but rather a definite focalization of the Father, in you.

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If we have become separated from God, Jesus tells us what the Father requires in order for us to come home to Him, to rejoin His family, our spiritual family.

"The Parable of the Prodigal Son." (Luke 15:11-32)

Many people do not give much thought to the parables that Jesus taught. They are often quoted but seldom explained. Parables are simple stories with a single, clear message. You don't have to be a theologian or a rocket scientist to understand them. In this parable, Jesus says that our spiritual Father will welcome us home just as soon as we sincerely want to return to Him. Even though the repentant son was still a long way off, the moment his father saw him coming down the road he ran to him to greet him in love and welcome him back into the family. This is how our Father in heaven responds to us, His children, always with an attitude of love and forgiveness. No matter how far down the road away from the Father you think you are, if you want to return home, the door is open.

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Jesus tells us how we can have our sins forgiven.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matthew 6:14)

Forgiving others is a difficult thing for us to do. In reality, the Father's forgiveness is always available to us. By forgiving others, we tap into that forgiveness, we open the door to it.

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In a conversation with a man named Nicodemus, Jesus teaches us about being "born again".

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [physical birth], and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

God is spirit. When we love God and desire to do His will, we are born again, born of the Spirit. It's that simple.

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Jesus tells us to be perfect.

"Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Nobody's perfect, as the saying goes. Perfection is not our condition, but it is our goal. The Father knows that we have been created with a "human nature", after all, He created us. It will take effort on our part to become more perfect, more spiritual, more like God. There's no time like the present to start. In the words of Lao-tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us about God's family.

Jesus says, "Our Father..." (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2)

When Jesus uses the term Father, he is talking about his Father and our Father. Above all else God is a loving Father and we are his children. If we know that we are sons and daughters of God, we will naturally want to act like one.

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Jesus tells us that God knows what we need.

"...for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him." (Matthew 6:8)

God knows our real needs. His kingdom is a spiritual one and our real needs are mostly spiritual in nature. When we pray, we should not pray overmuch for material things, but should pray for spiritual insight, pray for others, and pray for help to know and do the Father's will. When Jesus says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you..." (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9), he is talking about spiritual gifts, spiritual truths, and spiritual doors.

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Jesus teaches us about tolerance, one of the fruits of the Spirit, and beyond mere tolerance, even love for other people and groups which may be different from our own.

"For if you only love those who love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more than others? do not even the publicans do so?" (Matthew 5:46-47, Luke 6:32-33)

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Jesus talks about sharing the good news, - his teachings.

"...freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

The good news is not something to be hidden under a rock. It should be shared with everyone in God's family.

* * * * * * *

Many religions are complex, but the real gospel of Jesus is simple: Love God your Father, and love your fellow man. If you do this you will be doing the Father's will, and you will have an eternal life of love and service with God. This real gospel of Jesus will also be acceptable to all of God's children on earth who love Him, whether they be Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, or Hindu.

* * * * * * *

And finally, as would be expected from the Son of a loving God, comforting words from Jesus to all of us.

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)

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All Bible quotations excerpted or adapted from the King James Version.

Prepared by: Norm Du Val
PO Box 335
Wadena, MN 56482

Copyright c 1994 Please copy as needed. Rev. 11-96

Labels: born of the spirit, eternal life, forgiveness, Gospel of Jesus, Jesus, Kingdom of God, New Testament, Norm Du Val, The Urantia Book

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Learning to Teach

by Ken Glasziou

Sooner or later Urantia Book readers are going to need to heed the calls put out by its revelators. One such is on page 43:

"The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness."

A high priority is assigned to bringing Christianity back from its present status of authoritarian religion to what it was always meant to be--a religion of the spirit centered on the relationship between the individual, the Spirit of Truth, and the Father Spirit within. This priority is emphasized in at least ten paragraphs in the Papers, such as:

"Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all menâ€¦."(2084)

Those Urantia Book readers who have already taken this task seriously have learned a lot about what is unlikely to achieve much in the way of long term success.

One historian remarked that the amazing rapidity in which Pauline Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire was because of the incredible relief it brought to people suffering from overwhelming guilt and the fear of punishment for sin. Apparently this syndrome was endemic and particular so among the many followers of Mithraism.

Today it persists in the form of the atonement doctrine. It is held so strongly that few clergy will risk the close to hysterical reaction that they know would follow if they even cast doubt on that doctrine.

Almost all Christians who are strong on atonement make no connection between what it may say about a God who is love and a God who demands the death of his Son before he will forgive his earthly children for their sins. They live happily with the contradiction that God is perfect love and that Jesus demonstrated God's love by dying as a propitiation for our sins.

So what can Urantia Book readers do to aid Christians to recover a religion of the spirit? A good start is to take notice of what Jesus told us:

"And this was his (Jesus) method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error; (1455)

This instruction was later repeated to the apostle Simon:

"Jesus answered: "Simon, Simon, how many times have I instructed you to refrain from all efforts to take something out of the hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to labor only to put something into these hungry souls? Lead men into the kingdom, and the great and living truths of the kingdom will presently drive out all serious error." (1592)

So telling Christians where they are wrong does not appear to find favor with Jesus and is best laid to rest for good.

Jesus gave us an alternative, "Let the Spirit of Truth do his own work." (1932)

Another failure is to approach Christians with a new revelation. Whereas it may work for a tiny minority, experience has shown it is not the way to go. There may be a multitude of reasons, prominent among them being that Christianity has been satiated with false messiahs, prophets, visionaries, and charismatic would-be leaders. And certainly the warning of dire penalties in the Book of Revelations for changing any biblical teaching does engender wariness about embracing new revelation.

So what can we do? First we must have patience, tolerance, humility, and be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves--all these recommendations come directly from Jesus.

The switch to a religion of the spirit demands, as a first essential step, the establishment of a personal relation of the individual and the Father-Spirit within.

There are more than twenty New Testament verses that tell of our indwelling by the Spirits of the Father and the Son. Some of these are:

John 14:23...if a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

John 14:26. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father shall send in my name will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

Luke 17:21....for the kingdom of God is within you.
Matthew 10: 20. For it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

1 John 4:12. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1 Cor. 3:16. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Galatians 4:6. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

This means we do not even need to mention The Urantia Book nor the Thought Adjuster. In any case the latter term has acquired unfortunate connotations since the Papers were received because of the use of "brain washing" and "thought control" as instruments for controlling the citizens of countries with totalitarian regimes .

At this stage it would appear to be far better to follow Jesus:

"Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life." (1726)

"Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men." (2084)

Note that the emphasis is on us living the God-like life as revealed in Jesus' life and perhaps handing out a Urantia Book after truth seekers are drawn to us. Unless we at least attempt to do that, we make a mockery of the revelation if we identify ourselves as Urantia Book readers.

The phase in which our principal task is to help Christians to become aware of their indwelling may last for hundreds of years. Hence there is little reason to be anxious about what comes next. And in any case we have relevant advice from Jesus:

"You must, in all such matters, wait upon time. Time alone will ripen the green fruit upon the tree.

Season follows season and sundown follows sunrise only with the passing of time. I am now on the way to ..., and that is sufficient for today. My tomorrow is wholly in the hands of my Father in heaven." (1499)

Labels: atonement, Christians, God, Jesus, Ken Glasziou, New Testament, teachers, techniques, The Urantia Book