(63:5.1) The early Andon races did not penetrate very far into Asia, and they did not at first enter Africa. The geography of those times pointed them north, and farther and farther north these people journeyed until they were hindered by the slowly advancing ice of the third glacier.
(63:5.2) Before this extensive ice sheet reached France and the British Isles, the descendants of Andon and Fonta had pushed on westward over Europe and had established more than one thousand separate settlements along the great rivers leading to the then warm waters of the North Sea.
This article reflects recent scientific discovery that corroborates Urantia Book revelation. It should give us all hope that the world is catching up, ever so slowly...
Human ancestor fossil found in Europe By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 26
MADRID, Spain - A small piece of jawbone unearthed in a cave in Spain is the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor in Europe and suggests that people lived on the continent much earlier than previously believed, scientists say.
A team co-led by Eudald Carbonell, director of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleo-Ecology and Social Evolution, reported their find in Thursday's issue of the scientific journal Nature.
The timing of the earliest occupation of Europe by humans that emerged from Africa has been controversial for many years.
Until now the oldest hominin fossils found in Europe were the Homo antecessor ones, also found at Atapuerca, but at a separate digging site, and a skull from Ceprano in Italy.
Carbonell's team has tentatively classified the new fossil as representing an earlier example of Homo antecessor. And, critically, the team says the new one also bears similarities to much-older fossils dug up since 1983 in the Caucasus at a place called Dmanisi, in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. These were dated as being up to 1.8 million years old.
"This leads us to a very important, very interesting conclusion," Carbonell said. It is this: that hominins which emerged from Africa and settled in the Caucasus eventually evolved into Homo antecessor, and that the latter populated Europe not 800,000 years ago, but at least 1.3 million years ago.
Chris Stringer, a leading researcher in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London and not involved in the project, said Carbonell's team had done solid dating work to estimate the antiquity of the new Atapuerca fossil by employing three separate techniques — some researchers only use one or two — including a relatively new one that measures radioactive decay of sediments.
"This is a well-dated site, as much as any site that age can be," Stringer said.
But he also expressed some caution about Carbonell's conclusions.
First of all, the newly found jawbone fragment, which measures about two inches long and has teeth attached to it, preserves a section not seen in the equivalent pieces found at Atapuerca in 1997. So assigning both to the same species must be provisional, Stringer said.
And on the broader issue of tracing the new fossil back to the species unearthed at Dmanisi — Carbonell's big leap arguing continuity — Stringer said this too must be tentative because it is based on just a piece of a front of a jawbone and the time lapse is half a million years.
"That is a long period of time to talk about continuity," Stringer said.
Still, there are similarities between the two and this along with other archaeological evidence, suggests southern Europe did in fact begin to be colonized from western Asia not long after humans emerged from Africa — "something which many of us would have doubted even five years ago," Stringer said.
Carbonell says that with the finding of human fossils 1.3 million years old in Europe, researchers can now expect to find older ones, even up to 1.8 million years old, in other parts of the continent.
"This has to be the next discovery," he said. "This is the scientific hypothesis."
The Second Mile: The Challenge, The Message, The Way
By Dorothy J. Elder
The Challenge
What unifies us today is our awareness that the dawn of a new and enlightened spiritual era on Urantia is here, and we have enlisted as pilgrims of its progress. Just as the light of dawn disseminates across the horizon on a world of space, so must the dawn of a new spiritual era be disseminated across the horizon until it encompasses the whole of humankind.
Evolution and revelation are partners in this process. Revelation is evolutionary, and its mission is to sort and censor the successive religions of evolution. But if it is to exalt and upstep religion then these upsteppings of revelation must not be too far removed from the thought and reactions of the age in which they are presented. Thus must and does revelation always keep in touch with evolution. Always must the religion of revelation be limited by man’s capacity of receptivity. (1007)
Herein lies the paradox:
The nature and content of this sweeping Fifth Epochal Revelation seems to contradict the statement on page 1007 regarding the progression of revelational upstepping.
The key word here is sweeping. The question is not why did we receive the revelation, buy why such an extraordinary one? It is clear to all of us why we received it. On our historically beleaguered and quarantined planet, science is rapidly advancing, evolutionary religion is stalled, and man’s attempt at coordinating these two domains into a logical philosophy has failed. Revelation is needed to illuminate evolutionary religion and to aid man in constructing a new and logical philosophy whereby he can arrive at an understanding of his sure and settled place in the universe.
But why is The Urantia Book so revealing in its extent of universal truth? Why is it "out of step" in its upstepping? I believe that modern Agondonter man has been given a unique challenge, and it’s not what you’re thinking - live The Urantia Book teachings in our lives, disseminate the book - it’s much more than that.
Let’s go back for a moment to the Bestowal Commission. Remember what Immanuel said to Michael in the final words of the bestowal charge:
"Your great mission is to reveal God to man, and "....exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by God-knowing humans during the short career of mortal existence; and make a new and illuminating interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of his planetary life to all superhuman intelligences of all Nebadon, and for all time."(1328)
On the morning of April 7, AD 30, two thousand years ago, as he stood before Pilate, Jesus did just that.
He raised us all up in the eyes of his universe. He demonstrated that man on a backward planet could champion all his vicissitudes. He validated for eternity the Father’s ascension plan. He exhibited once and for all, that faith-children of the realms are undauntable. His life exemplified that all of humanity’s transcendent possibilities are attainable when man goes in partnership with God. Two thousand years later, The Urantia Book is our wake-up call to that partnership.
And, it is Jesus’ illumination of man’s maximum human potential that beckons us to our task. We are now in partnership with God in a unique and unprecedented plan for the spiritual and social reconstruction of the planet. It’s the biggest deal ever made, and we need a universe perspective to understand our partnership role.
Look at the missions of the divine sons on an average plant. The great social achievement of the Planetary Prince Age is the emergence of family life. Next, the culminating development of the following era, the Adamic Age, is universal interest in true philosophy, and the crowning achievement of this age is Social Brotherhood. Then, with brotherhood flourishing, the Magisterial Avonal Sons arrive to begin their work of spiritual uplift. Anywhere from 25 to 50 thousand years they work to bring the planet to its highest ethical standard and to a fullness of a great spiritual awakening. And when the planet is ripe for spiritualization, a Bestowal Son arrives to demonstrate "the new and living way." (Paper 52)
The established plan is always social brotherhood first; and then comes the spiritualization of humanity. On our world the plan fell into disarray and modern man is now floundering in his predicament of intellectual progress hindered by spiritual stagnation. So in our case, we are going to have to do it the other way around. On Urantia it is the upstepping of the spiritualization of humanity which will lead us to the next required evolutionary goal which is universal social brotherhood.
That’s the purpose of our task.
The challenge, from on high, is that this tremendous task has been given to Agondonters. Can we, the early receivers of the Urantia Revelation, collectively in the next century and progressively during the next millennium, harness our potential and successfully broadcast the new teachings for the advancement of all evolutionary religions and for the spiritual and cultural enlightenment of all mankind? Will we be the men and women who will presage the eventual flowering of a new and universal philosophy on earth? That is not to say we are to become philosophers. Our role is to be the teachers of expanded truth. "Religion needs new teachers who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings."
The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity.(597)
"Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustments, moral quickening and spiritual enlightenment. And if Christianity continues to neglect its mission, then the spiritual renaissance will await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion. And these souls will quickly supply the leadership and inspiration for the social, moral, economic and political reorganization of the world."(2082)
We’re also told that this new and oncoming social order will not settle down for a millennium, and that these progressing changes in the upstepping of social relations can result in lasting brotherhood only by the ministry of religion. (1086)
In the drama which is about to unfold, the cast of characters does not include superhuman personalities. Thousands of lead parts have been handed out, freely given to any outstretched hand. And, with confidence from unseen directors, we have been given blank scripts.
Dissemination plans were not part of the revelation. It’s up to us to chart a wise course.
Let us start out with the understanding that in the modern era we must be the evangels of new and advanced spiritual truth which will pave the way to the universal acceptance of the golden rule. Regarding the future, we can’t revive primitive Christianity, but we can baptize the world with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminate mankind with the spiritual truths of his gospel.
We are told that it is not the first mile of compulsion, duty or convention that will transform man and his world, but rather the second mile of free service and liberty-loving devotion that betokens the Jesusonian reaching forth to grasp his brother in love and guide him toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence.
The Message
In delivering his Epochal Sermon, Jesus concluded by stating: "I declare to you that I have come to proclaim spiritual liberty, teach eternal truth and foster living faith." On that day he inaugurated the final, spiritual phase of his gospel: Divine Sonship, Spiritual Liberty, Eternal Salvation.
Teachers of expanded truth, with leadership and inspiration, are called to carry forward the restatement of this triune message of Jesus with new meaning and power.
In preparation, we would do well to review Immanuel’s Bestowal charge to Michael:(1328.5)
"Function largely as a teacher; first, give attention to the liberation and inspiration of man’s spiritual nature; next, illuminate the human intellect; heal the souls of men, emancipate their minds from age old fears; set rebellion segregated man spiritually free."
These particular words of counsel should be taken to heart by the teachers of advancing spiritual truth. We are to so conduct ourselves that the effect we have will be to illuminate, liberate, and inspire all those we come in contact with.
The Way
"...with leadership and inspiration..."(2082)
We know that when religious groups form, that act of formalizing often destroys the very values for the promotion of which the group was organized. This can be significantly minimized if the religionist remains socially fragrant. A group of socially fragrant religionists working together can illuminate their objectives so long as their leadership is motivated by unselfish and loving social service.
Teachers/leaders need to consider the words of advice on page 1089: "Transition Difficulties." It points out that, for man, the difficulty is in forsaking the religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love. For the world, the difficulty lies in the confusion which presently exists as Urantia struggles with its many contending philosophies of religion.
The prerequisite for going forward is to start out with wise leadership, consisting of inspired and socially fragrant religionists, who understand that the way forward requires character in the face of difficulty.
These words of Jesus, issued to his apostles, must be our charge:
"Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you live among men, the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you." (2043)
"Go preach this salvation of sonship with God; remember that salvation is a free gift and those who have willingly received this gift will immediately show forth the fruits of the spirit in their loving service to their fellows.(2054)
With the foregoing in place, the way is truly simple:
Know the Message: Teach the new spiritual brotherhood of Jesus:
Divine Sonship Spiritual Liberty Eternal Salvation
Know the Goal: Planetary Social Brotherhood
Do it with spiritual fragrance, as we pass by; show forth the fruits of the spirit Do it with inspired leadership
Armed with the message and nourished by the fruits of the spirit for the way ahead, let us take up the challenge and go forward as true soldiers of the circles towards the goal of a spiritually inspired, socially transformed human society where man loves his brother and calls a loving God his Father.
In October of 1955 The Urantia Book was published with great enthusiasm. The newly organized Urantia Brotherhood visualized organizing thousands of study groups and gradually chartering well grounded societies. The specific nature of these societies was ambiguous. Most of the founding members regarded the Urantia Brotherhood as a religious or quasi-religious organization. Dr. Sadler clearly saw societies developing as bona fide religious groups. The leaders of the Forum who developed the Brotherhood Constitution did not take the time to structure it directly from the teachings of The Urantia Book but used and adapted the ready-made constitution of the Presbyterian Church for this purpose. Under Sadler's leadership, the Brotherhood Constitution provided a key place for ordained teachers. Following the publication of the book, Dr. Sadler started a school to train and ordain teachers. On numerous occasions Dr. Sadler and I discussed the nature of this new religious organization and its future development.
As the Brotherhood grew, a quite different view soon surfaced. The majority of the early members of the Urantia Brotherhood had a pronounced anti-church and anti-institutional bias. There was a marked uneasiness regarding the use of prayer and group singing at Brotherhood meetings. To guard against moving in the direction of a religious institution, we removed the term "ordained teacher" from the constitution. It was made clear that we were not interested in starting a new religion. If anyone identified us as a cult, we were irritated and defensive. We defined ourselves as "an educational-social organization with a religious purpose."
We were enthusiastic about introducing religious, educational, and political leaders to The Urantia Book Illusions of grandeur about initiating a spiritual renaissance on our planet invigorated Urantia Conferences.
Gradually, evolutionary reality began to change the picture. Religious and political leaders were not impressed. The book was succinctly dismissed as a contemporary Gnostic document or politely ignored.
Internal disillusionment have compounded the evolutionary picture. The licensing agreement controversy, the Clayton incident, the Foundation-Brotherhood schism, the proliferation of lawsuits, and the wide-spread interest in channeling have sobered our naive idealism. Most of us now realize that the Fifth Epochal Revelation has been launched on the troubled and turbulent seas of evolutionary struggle.
In recent years, spiritual seeking has emerged on an unprecedented scale, accompanied by a disenchantment with contemporary religious institutions. There has been an increasing longing in the Urantia movement for a "religious community" which goes beyond the usual study group, one that furnishes a sense of "spiritual family" and communion, along with worship and a community identity. There is a growing sense of need for spiritual nourishment from birth to death. Study groups and societies, which are primarily intellectual-social groups, can't fulfill all of the functions of traditional religious institutions, although they may serve as preliminary steps toward such religious organizations.
I believe the single most important activity in the Urantia movement at this time is to focus on the development of resources which may help actualize new religious institutions. Hopefully, such institutions will serve as vehicles through which the Fifth Epochal Revelation can be carried out into the world. We need dedicated students of The Urantia Book researching "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation."
I'm confident that sooner or later such new religious institutions will evolve in the Urantia movement. There have been several aborted attempts to do this already. When this does happen, there is a danger that these religious institutions may be extemporized, without adequate time and consideration to formulate organizations that best reflect the truth-insights of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. A wiser approach is for competent teams of interested people to evolve a body of resources before the pressure of necessity fashions religious organizations without such help.
There is a great need for institutions to serve on the growing edge of spiritual development in our world--religious institutions which will appeal to the highest spiritual aspirations of humankind. This was a concern of Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who, in a conversation with Robert Greenleaf shortly before his death, asked, "Why do so many of the great religions which have their origins in the mystery [of spiritual power] come ultimately to be social service agencies, or in their religious life to be preoccupied with form and concerned more with the container than the content?" To which Greenleaf replied, "In the face of these conditions, one simply builds anew. We are called to listen to the prophetic voices who have the-rebuilding message for these times so that we can support and encourage them." (Servant Leadership, P. 255)
We must evolve religious institutions which will bring spiritual nourishment to hungry souls, within which we can achieve personal-spiritual significance and a level of service and worship heretofore not possible by individuals working singly, in study groups, or in outmoded religious institutions. With the Father's guidance, they will become social-religious vehicles carrying the Fifth Epochal Revelation throughout the world. This, I believe, is the most important challenge of our times!
Principles Inherent in the Development of Religious Institutions
There are a number of principles inherent in the development of new religious institutions which we should keep in mind, such as:
1. The idealist in many of us who have been inspired by the Urantia Book has a vision of the Fifth Epochal Revelation upstepping all of the religions of the world and uniting humankind in a common spiritual fellowship. We are turned off by the parochialism and rigidity of contemporary religious institutions and feel that the last thing we need is another religious institution. But the lessons of history and the teachings of the Urantia Book tell us the most effective social agents of spiritual change are new religious institutions embodying larger spiritual truths. The Supreme works from the grass roots up, not from the top down. This approach is not as romantic as our idealistic vision, but it is the only realistic process that builds the foundation for social and spiritual growth in the culture.
2. New religious institutions are not "designed"--they evolve. The authors of the Urantia Book remind us, "Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions" (P. 1097). We should establish this "conditional" type of research. There will be many types of new religious organizations stemming from the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Research teams need to prepare materials for possible use by such new religious organizations. Numerous people have asked me for such help in the last ten years; they may or may not find this research helpful. The assumption is that resources compiled over a period of time by mature students of The Urantia Book will provide helpful insights and wisdom which might not otherwise be available.
3. We should be aware of the larger spiritual context in which a religious institution functions. The brother/sisterhood of all people, the kinship of all humanity, takes place in the realm of the Supreme. A genuine spiritual fellowship, which is the basis of a religious institution, has its inception in soul consciousness. The soul bears the imprint of its divine-human creation and originates a second or ancillary mind consciousness. As we grow in the Supreme, our personal identity is increasingly transferred from the material mind to soul consciousness. More and more, we operate out of our "soul-mind." This fellowship of souls is the foundation of a bona fide religious institution. But human beings are much more than disembodied souls. We have unique material bodies and material based minds. We integrate our lives with dissimilar personalities and function in diverse social groups. A sound and serviceable religious institution, therefore, must have the spiritual depth and theological-social flexibility to serve a wide variety of human beings. Its polity needs to embody the highest experiential wisdom.
4. Personally, I do not think the Fellowship should be organically or officially connected to this research or any religious institutions stemming from it. Many students of The Urantia Book are still uncomfortable with institutional religious activities. The Fellowship has a place in coordinating all types and levels of activity associated with The Urantia Book. It might encourage or even facilitate these religious activities without being organically involved with them. Hopefully, the Fellowship can establish cooperative relationships with many diverse organizations while remaining organizationally independent from them.
5. Ideally, there should be a number of teams doing different types of research. Even if they should engage in similar studies, the diversity of materials will enrich the resource pool available to all.
A New Religious Institution
Even though I have always assumed the most important channel for carrying the Fifth Epochal Revelation to our world was new religious institutions, in my own personal ministry I have sought to follow the example of Jesus, who first went to the dominant religious institution of his society. I have sought to introduce the most progressive segment of mainline Christianity to The Urantia Book We have organized a modest Clergy Network and publish The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. But it is clear that the majority of even the most progressive religious leaders of our time are afraid to risk their reputation and livelihood by seriously examining and evaluating the teachings of The Urantia Book.
While we are not abandoning or giving up on mainline Christian clergy, thirty-five years of experience has taught me that anything purporting to be new revelation is not within the boundaries of current theological-institutional respectability. In the main, Christian clergy will require a longer time frame to discover the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Since the power structures of the Christian clergy have treated The Urantia Book with deliberate and benign indifference, it is now time to initiate the next step in creating the social-institutional foundations for the outreach of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. It is time to promote research in discovering "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation "
In addition to eventually leavening the most progressive elements of the current world religions, I believe the future of the Fifth Epochal Revelation lies in two basic directions:
1. New religious institutions need to be initiated that will establish congregations and churches with a formal trained clergy similar to the churches and synagogues of Western Civilization.
2. New religious organizations need to be intentionally evolved whose teachings and structure are not centered around a professionally trained clergy and formal liturgical rites. These groups might have a structure similar to the Bahai religion. Such organizations are needed because many people identify with a more informal religious expression not dominated by clergy and formal worship services.
The key to initiating these new religious institutions or organizations is leadership. To develop the more formal religious institutions, we need research teams with input from people who have professional religious training as well as laypersons with extensive experience. Laying the foundations for the development of the more informal religious organizations needs leadership from teams dedicated to establishing a viable religious lay movement.
A Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation
The authors of The Urantia Book recognize that every epochal revelation stimulates the creation of new religious institutions and declare that "the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism." In various places, such as on pages 966 and 1092, they suggest the basic qualities essential to these new religious congregations.
Underlying these key spiritual qualities is the primary purpose of all religions: to provide a personal and social context in which their members may apprehend the presence of God and express their faith and devotion to the divine reality in their lives. To accomplish this basic objective, a religious organization must enunciate certain faith affirmations and structure ways of expressing these faith convictions.
The history of religion demonstrates that when strong spiritual ideals and aspirations inspire people, and where there are insufficient intellectual and social structural foundations to guide the in the expression of these spiritual aspirations, all kinds of irrational beliefs and actions are likely to appear; such as: visions of angels, channeling, speaking in tongues, attempting miracles, and doomsday predictions.
Such emotional and psychic phenomena almost always occur in an unstructured social-spiritual atmosphere. The most effective way to establish rational order, stability, and spiritual identity, along with creative service, and outreach, is to evolve an appropriately structured socio-religious expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.
The central objective of people interested in initiating such a new religious organization should be to create a polity with maximum flexibility, one that would function with small groups or large congregations, utilize lay leadership and/or ordained ministry, have cross cultural adaptability, and broad theological inclusiveness. Robert Greenleaf, in his book Servant Leadership, has a vision of such an institution "as a gathering of persons who have accepted a common purpose, and a common discipline to guide the pursuit of that purpose, to the end that each involved person reaches higher fulfillment as a person, through serving and being served by the common venture, than would be achieved alone or in a less committed relationship" (P. 237).
Research Purpose
There are many appropriate areas of research for those interested in building resources to use in initiating new religious organizations. These materials should not be seen as definitive, but serve as stimuli for creative thinking whereby these groups may be helped to make their own carefully considered decisions.
The organization of dedicated research teams to search for "Appropriate Symbolism and Socio-religious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation" will, hopefully, prepare the soil for the advent of grass roots religious institutions which will become the channels of spiritual power, bringing the Fifth Epochal Revelation to our troubled and spiritually hungry world--Christ Michael's gift and saving guidance to our confused planet.
Study groups and Urantia Societies are simply not adequate to meet the religious needs of most individuals. They are self-contained and limited communities which have the potential of being forerunners to the religious institutions which are necessary to enculturate human society. The future of the Fifth Epochal Revelation rests upon the spiritual and evangelical dynamics of new religious institutions which will carry it to the four comers of our world. I believe the birth of such religious institutions is a necessary step in fulfilling the mission of the Urantia movement.
Urantia Book Deviations from Traditional Christian Theology
Meredith J. Sprunger February 22, 1995
Introduction
The great majority of the teachings of The Urantia Book reinforce and enhance the insights and truths of traditional Christian theology; however, it is sometimes good to point out the most controversial aspects of a new paradigm to sharpen its distinction from a traditional paradigm and thereby stimulate critical thinking.
The Urantia Book presents a rich source of religious information and insight. In its more than 2000 pages it covers a wide spectrum of topics. But even more challenging, it projects a new vision of the cosmos. Just as Jesus brought a new paradigm to the religion of his day, while at the same time reinforcing the best spiritual insights of the Old Testament, The Urantia Book brings a new paradigm to the religion of our day, while simultaneously enhancing the basic spiritual concepts of contemporary Christianity and other world religions. Epochal revelation always upsteps the best teachings of evolutionary religious development. Even though it enhances the old spiritual verities, considerable time is required for religious institutions and culture to critically examine and adjust to a new spiritual cosmology.
It may be possible to expedite this process by examining some of the major deviations of the new paradigm from the old frames of reference. Following the historic normal curve of change, some of us feel more comfortable with the traditional theological forms, while others are energized and inspired by the new vision of reality. The challenge of creatively evaluating enlarged spiritual concepts and values requires courage, balance, and open-mindedness.
Revelation
In the Christian faith, we believe that God inspired certain individuals with spiritual truth. These inspired prophets shared this message with their fellows. Over the years these teachings were edited numerous times and eventually were evaluated by church councils and made a part of the scriptural canon. The Urantia Book speaks of two basic types of revelation: (1) epochal revelation which is periodic, successive, and evolutionary; and (2) continuous revelation insofar as the indwelling Spirit of God reveals truth to individuals.
The authors of The Urantia Book acknowledge difficulty in translating spiritual realities into human concepts and language. They say that thousands of human concepts and statements have been used to facilitate comprehension and communication. The authors also tell us they are rigorously restricted, and are not allowed to anticipate developments in the future. The science and cosmology of the book, we are told, are not revelatory, and will soon be in need of revision.
Knowledge must be achieved by evolutionary discovery, but it is integrated and given spiritual value orientation by revelation. This saves much time in eliminating the errors and distortions of evolution. Revelation is never too far removed from the thought process of the age in which it is given. It is rooted solidly in evolutionary foundations. It can only be validated by experience, and is never complete until we meet the Universal Father on Paradise.
Deity and Reality
The Christian conception of Deity is centered in the doctrine of the Trinity. We have had problems understanding how three persons can exist and function as a monotheistic entity. The Urantia Book clarifies the concept by describing the unique functions of each person of the Trinity as well as affirming their absolute unity. This concept is further enhanced by pointing out that there is a nonpersonal Trinity reality which has universe functions.
The Urantia Book picture of Deity and Reality is a much more complex reality structure than the Christian concept of Deity. In addition to the Trinity, The Urantia Book describes Absolutes of potentiality and an evolutionary aspect of Deity, called God the Supreme. The Supreme grows as the personalities in the evolving universes attain Godlikeness. This evolving Deity Reality is very close to contemporary concepts in the writings of Jung, Tillich, Tellhard de Chardin, and Whitehead. Process Theology speaks of "the consequent nature of God" which is similar to the image of the Supreme in The Urantia Book and essentially the same as the immanence concept of God in traditional theology. There are other aspects of Deity and Reality in The Urantia Book which further augment the complexity of the God-concept in the universe of universes. As humanity is beginning to learn more of the immense diversity of the microcosmos and the macrocosmos, it should not surprise us that a more mature concept of God will also reveal an expanded complexity of Reality.
Spiritual Cosmology and Universe Order
The Christian faith has lived with a rather simplistic spiritual cosmology. Heaven, supposedly, was a place of perfection with "pearly gates" and "golden streets," populated by angels and other spiritual beings. Mainline theologians have grown increasingly skeptical about angels, and have had very little to say about eschatology. In the meantime, knowledge of our material astronomical cosmology has exploded by light-years, picturing an almost unlimited cosmos. Some of us have been acutely aware of the inadequacy of our Christian spiritual cosmology. The Urantia Book presents an enlarged view of spiritual cosmology which is commensurate with our gigantic material creation. Along with it is given an overview of a vast array of spiritual personalities that function in a hierarchical system of ability and power. Such a universe of super-mortal personalities must exist if we are to make any sense of the spiritual cosmos.
In the center of all things is the Isle of Paradise, the residence of the Paradise Trinity. Surrounding this enormous Isle are concentric levels of astronomical creations. The first of these universe levels is composed of the perfect pattern worlds of the Central Universe, Havona. This universe of perfection is in many ways similar to Plato's vision of the "perfect pattern" of Ultimate Reality and the conception of heaven in traditional Christianity.
Paradise and the Central Universe are encompassed by seven evolutionary universes with their countless astronomic galaxies and teeming inhabited planets. Each superuniverse is composed of local universes, and the local universes are made up of constellations, systems, and inhabited planets. The basic administrative unit of the seven superuniverses is the local universe. Our planet, Urantia, resides in a local universe whose Sovereign is Christ Michael.
Adam and Eve
The traditional Christian view of Adam and Eve as the first human beings on earth has been relegated by Biblical scholarship to the realm of folklore. Theologians now refer to the creation story as a religious myth-a narrative conveying important spiritual truth, but not actual history. The Biblical record itself reveals that a civilization existed before the advent of Adam and Eve. The Urantia Book presents a fascinating, story of the origin of the human race and the development of civilization which is broadly harmonious with current scientific views.
The authors describe the dynamics of evolution as a process that eventually exhausts its inherent natural potentials. At this juncture in human evolution on inhabited planets, a higher order.of material son and daughter, an Adam and Eve, is sent from the local universe system to upstep the human race. They are required to establish a large population of their progeny, the violet race, before any mixing with the native peoples is allowed. Because of the isolation of our planet, due to the Lucifer rebellion in our system in which our Planetary Prince participated, the tasks of Adam and Eve on our world was particularly difficult. The so called "fall" of Adam and Eve was the result of their well intentioned decision, secretly promoted. by our rebellious Planetary Prince, to start this genetic mixing prematurely.
Christology
While the expanded spiritual cosmology of The Urantia Book is breathtaking, its Christology is the most radical deviation from Christian theology. From a planetary point of view, the life and teachings of Jesus harmonize with and enhance traditional orthodox theology: Jesus was truly human and truly divine, and the mediator between God and humankind. But from a universe frame of reference, the view is quite different. The authors of The Urantia Book tell us that because of our limited view of universe cosmology, we have assumed that Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. This, they assure us, is an understandable misconception. The authentic historical picture, we are informed, is much more complex.
After the Trinity brought the Isle of Paradise and the Central Universe into being at, the dawn of eternity, they instituted a delegated creation plan for the finite, evolutionary creation centering in local universes. The Universal Father and the Eternal Son gave origin to Paradise Creator Sons of the order of Michael who are empowered and ordained as creators of the local universes and their worlds of time and space. Our Creator Son is known as Christ Michael and is both the creator and savior of all in our universe. (The prologue of John, Paul in Col. 1: 15-16, and the writer of Hebrews 1:2 speak of Christ as creator, which has always puzzled Christian theologians.) Each Creator Son is accompanied by a daughter of the Infinite Spirit, designated the Universe Mother Spirit whose spiritual presence is known as the Holy Spirit.
Each Creator Son is unique in nature and personality; each is the "only begotten Son" of their universe. A Michael Son is the local universe personification of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son in his universe. All who go to the Father in his universe proceed through his benevolent ministry. Each Creator Son must earn his sovereignty by incamating in the likeness of the various orders of created beings in his universe. Jesus of Nazareth was Christ Michael's seventh and final bestowal in which he achieved sovereignty in his universe and, in principle, terminated the Lucifer rebellion. ("I, when I'am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself," (John 12:32) and "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me," (Matt. 28:18) are gospel passages 'suggesting this sovereignty.) Following Christ's ascension his Spirit of Truth was bestowed on our planet.
Eschatology
The tradional Christian view of life after death has been simplistic, and in the view of many, naive-we go to heaven and are received by Jesus and made perfect. Here problems and suffering are nonexistent. This instant perfection does not make sense to many thinking people and Christian theologians have had very little to say about life after death
"The Urantia Book describes an eminently reasonable picture of life after death. Our spiritual growth continues just where we left off in our mortal existence. We are resurrected on the "mansion worlds" of our local system with a "morontia" body, which is part material and part spiritual, and gradually acquire a more spiritual existence. The entire spiritual universe is a great educational university of learning and achievement where we are prepared for future service. On our ascending journey, even as on Urantia, we meet with many trials and frustrations. But long before reaching Havona, these ascendant children of time have learned to feast upon uncertainty, to fatten upon disappointment, to enthuse over apparent defeat, to invigorate in the presence of difficulties, to exhibit indomitable courage in the face of immensity, and to exercise unconquerable faith when confronted with the challenge of the inexplicable. Long since, the battle cry of these pilgrims became: 'In liaison with God, nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is impossible'." (U. B. p. 291)
We proceed through the local universe, the superuniverse, the central universe, and graduate to the Isle of Paradise where we meet the Universal Father, and are conducted into the Corps of Finality in preparation for greater service in eternity. You humans have begun an endless unfolding of an almost infinite panorama, a limitless expanding of never-ending, ever-widening spheres of opportunity for exhilarating service, matchless adventure, sublime uncertainty, and boundless attainment. (U. B. p. 1194)
Reflections
This greatly simplified presentation of the major Urantia Book deviations from traditional Christian theology is neither adequate nor convincing of its quality; but it may help those unfamiliar with the book to focus their reading and thinking on areas most critical to the adoption of a new paradigm of spiritual reality.
Since The Urantia Book purports to be the Fifth Epochal Revelation authored by supermortal personalities, it is important to have a clear understanding of the philosophic criteria of truth necessary in evaluating such a claim. First of all, claim of authority is not a valid philosophical criterion of truth. Secondly, knowing the origin and/or authorship of the book may give some helpful insights, but is also not a reliable philosophical criterion. Whether supermortals or human beings wrote the book, it must be evaluated by its content, not by who may have written it.
The central objective in evaluating The Urantia Book is to assess the quality of its spiritual insight. This must be done by individuals using all their resources for evaluation developed and tested through experience. Is the spiritual quality and insights of the book inferior to, equal with, or superior to our traditional sources of spiritual truth? During this period of testing, a consensus will gradually evolve regarding its quality. If that opinion is negative, the book will fade into obscurity. If the consensus is positive, continued evaluation will eventually determine the level of its spiritual value. Is it just another useful resource, or does it have the quality of genuine revelation? My hypothesis is that if it has the spiritual quality of revelation, its influence will continue to grow.
My personal view, after thirty-five years of study and evaluation, is that the book is of superior quality in at least four categories:
1. Its comprehensive view of Deity and Reality, including the Paradise Trinity.
2. Its presentation of an enlarged spiritual cosmology which is commensurate with our gigantic material astronomical cosmology.
3. Its overview of a vast array of spiritual personalities that function in a hierarchical system of ability and power, which must exist if we are to make any sense of the spiritual cosmos.
4. And finally, its greatly expanded presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus, which is solidly rooted in the New Testament realities. Even if one does not think the expanded spiritual cosmology of The Urantia Book is reasonable, you will find the 700 page section on the Life and Teachings of Jesus, if only read as a historical novel, to be the most inspiring and spiritually uplifting account of Jesus' life and teachings in print.
My friend a great speaker. Entertaining, funny, and he knew his subject backwards and forwards. It was easy to listen to him, and I settled back to pleasantly enjoy every minute.
Every minute that is until he said this; “Genesis says that God created light before the source of light. How can anyone believe that the light we see in the nighttime sky originated millions of years ago when it’s clear in the Bible that God made the light only a few thousand years ago?” Ah, my friend from the Bible College really pressed the magic button. I stopped enjoying and started thinking.
I started thinking how wrong he was. The evidence supporting evolutionary theory is mountainous. The people who have devoted their lives to studying it are legion. The arguments against evolution are derived from a book whose authors never intended to deal with this or any subject remotely similar to it. And The Urantia Book says that evolution is the way or diving technique which God used to create life on earth.
My friend was dead wrong. But what’s wrong with that? If a person believes in something that is not true is he/she in trouble with God? If a person believes God is the sun, is that person’s eternal salvation in jeopardy?
Many would say yes, including my friend who was doing the speaking. But The Urantia Book would say no. And it’s this idea that needs to be brought to the world’s attention. Because most religious people on our planet are convinced that those who do not believe their version of correct religious doctrine are doomed to a less then satisfactory future. The Urantia Book teaches that God is more fair, just and merciful than that.
The Urantia Book tells us that our future is fairly wonderful. It tells us that all we need to continue on our journey through the universe is faith. And the smallest amount, even a faint flicker, is good enough. Melchizedek included this as part of his Salem covenant; You shall not doubt that faith is the only requirement for eternal salvation. (1017:10)
I think the Apostle Paul believed this as well as Martin Luther. Yet both developed doctrine that had to be adhered to. The Urantia Book has plenty of doctrinal teaching, but nothing is essential for eternal life except faith. Just a little turning towards God is required to survive this world.
The book says this; Supreme justice is dominated by a Father's love; therefore will justice never destroy that which mercy can save. Time to accept salvation is vouchsafed every evildoer. (617:3)
Therefore a person who believes that God is the sun, if he possess a mustard seed sized amount of faith, is going to be OK.
I was born into the home of a dysfunctional family, went through the pains and sorrows of childhood, adolescence, and adult life. There were moments while alone, confusion overcame me and in my pains and sorrows I asked myself what is it all for? What is this that we call consciousness? I found myself pondering on what I felt then was chaos and madness.
For many years my soul has like that of many others, contemplated the complexity of the reason for being. My search has led me into a mental maze of concepts and ideas. I tried desperately to analyze the intricate and illusive states of consciousness, and to maybe catch a glimpse of the cause of all causes. I explored, meditated and performed self-introspection. But the “reason for being” still eluded me, as a cunning fox eludes the hound. I watched the years go by as one watches a flock of birds going south for the winter. After many years of suffering this dilemma, grace finally came and I was blessed with peace and understanding.
On July 4 1997, I came across The Urantia Book. Urantia means “earth” according to those Higher Beings that claimed to have presented this book to mankind. The book provides us with the history of our universe, our planet and us. When I found the book and started reading it I went into a state of profound awe for months. I recognized the book as the information I have been searching for most of my life. It had such an impact on my life, that I wrote an autobiography entitle Lord I Got Over without any previous experience as a writer. I also recently completed another book, with the same title as this essay, which is in the process of being published. This I did without any formal education; as a matter of fact I had to quit school before finishing high school. I grew up in a home with an alcoholic father, who made my life a living hell. I was able however to secure a High School GED while I was in the army for three years. Just about all of my education was self-taught.
During the 1980’s Dr. Raymond Moody did extensive research in the field of near death experience (NDE). Patients who experienced near-death invariably asserted that life is a continuum. After leaving this dimension we continue our evolving in other dimensions. Some patients talked about the wonderful beings they met in other dimensions. These beings are the essence of love. The patients also talked about our continuous education in those other worlds. They became aware that after death we don’t go to heaven and suddenly become perfect beings as so many religions teach. The road to perfection is a process. It will take million of years before we reach the final stage… perfection; just as it took millions upon millions of years for us to reach the current stage of our existence.
According to The Urantia Book, our planet earth crust started to cool down around one-billion years ago, that is when those Higher Beings gave our planet its name Urantia. Around six-hundred million years ago a scouting party was sent to our planet from those higher dimensions to report on its suitability for becoming a life experiment station. Around five-hundred and fifty-million years ago Higher Beings, referred to as Life Carriers, in the higher worlds initiated the original life pattern on our planet. This life pattern started in earth’s oceans when the water on our world reached a certain desired briny mixture. Our primordial ancestors were actually the slime and ooze of the ancient bed in the lethargic and warm water bays and lagoons of the vast shoreline of Ancient Island. Around five hundred million years ago primitive marine vegetable life was well established on Urantia. Around four-hundred and fifty million years ago the transition from vegetable life to animal life took place in the briny sea waters. Eventually, animal life forms evolved, left the sea and crawled upon the land.
After million of years out of the sea there were huge land animals on our planet, this occurred because the Life Carriers were manipulating the life force in the seeds that they had created and God had granted the breath of life. After million of years those huge land animals begin to disappear and smaller primates begin appearing on the scene, and many million of years later humans began to make their appearance and eventually evolving into thinking beings. It was during this period that the adjuster the spirit of God the God within came and indwelled in the minds of our ancient ancestors.
The Bible mentions in two places that God created man. In Genesis 1:27, God spoke to the word or (his Son) and said, “let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness.” In Genesis 2:7, of The Bible it states that “God made man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostril the breath of life and man became a living soul.” It appears that those ancient writers misunderstood the information concerning our ancient ancestors, when they reached that stage of their evolution, where the spirit of God came and dwelled in the minds of our ancient ancestors. Those writers evidently took this to be part of the creation of mankind. According to The Urantia Book this is when mankind actually became a true human being. The purpose of this indwelling was to create the soul and to lead human-kind to higher worlds or higher dimensions. At this time, the combined forces of the God within and the free-willed human being created the living soul. The God within and the human creature are the parents of the potential immortal soul. Also, at this conjunction, the body of the individual became the temple of God… as referred to by The Bible. At this stage of their development, humans became free will creatures; free to choose to do God’s will and become immortal beings. The soul created by the God within and the free-will human beings is what survives death. This soul survival is one of the main reasons Jesus allowed himself to be put to death, he wanted to prove to us that the soul survived death. On the third day after the death of the body the soul will wake up in another dimension. It will continue to evolve if it continues to do the will of God. Otherwise that soul will sleep until the resurrection. Our living and dying (the dying of the body) has a purpose. That purpose is revealed to us more fully as we ascend to higher dimension.
Those who ascended into higher dimensions won’t immediately become prefect beings. After transcending to higher dimensions, it will take million of years of evolving in those higher worlds before one become a perfected being. In time we will become what those Higher Beings call “finaliters.” At this stage of our development we will enter Paradise where we will see the Father. We will be Super-universe administrators. We, who started out as God’s lowest “will creatures,” from this state will become a group of God’s greatest administrators in the universe. This is due to the fact that we will know every stage from the lowest to the highest, didn’t the Master Teacher, Jesus, say to us that the “last shall be first.”
To the best of my ability I shared with my fellow humans, my understanding of the purpose of life at this stage of my development. Using The Urantia Book as my guide, I found my purpose in life and since then peace and serenity has been my constant companion. When one reaches the point in their life, that they understand where they are from, and know their destiny, it is a wonderful feeling.
Xerpi
