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I'm a very new (3-4 months or so) TUB reader, and I have a very simple (and perhaps simple-minded) question, but I did a quick search of this forum and didn't see where it was asked or answered: in reading TUB, I've encountered a number of quoted passages. I assume that they are quotations lifted from one version or another of the bible..... is that correct? or, am I missing something really simple, such as a prefatory statement explaining the origin of quoted material?

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redryder wrote:
I'm a very new (3-4 months or so) TUB reader, and I have a very simple (and perhaps simple-minded) question, but I did a quick search of this forum and didn't see where it was asked or answered: in reading TUB, I've encountered a number of quoted passages. I assume that they are quotations lifted from one version or another of the bible..... is that correct? or, am I missing something really simple, such as a prefatory statement explaining the origin of quoted material?


I do not think all unattributed quotes are biblical but do represent and include some of humanity's highest concepts of truth which may have been spoken or written, known by scholars or lost in history. They are human sourced and presented by the celestial authors as worthy contributions to Epochal Revelation.

8)

0:12.11 (16.8) In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.

0:12.12 (17.1) Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably embrace the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced co-ordination of planetary knowledge. Accordingly, in making these presentations about God and his universe associates, we have selected as the basis of these papers more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings. Wherein these human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present, are inadequate to portray the truth as we are directed to reveal it, we will unhesitatingly supplement them, for this purpose drawing upon our own superior knowledge of the reality and divinity of the Paradise Deities and their transcendent residential universe.

8)

The following text is regarding Part 4.

121:8.12 (1343.1) [Acknowledgment: In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible I have derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariably gave preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the actual human concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.

121:8.13 (1343.2) The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus—aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle Andrew—embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements. The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in purely human sources.

121:8.14 (1343.3) While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down to those who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter utilized in the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth.]

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Thanks, Van; the passages you provide are helpful; however, I do wish that the revelators had embraced attribution.

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Hi redryder,

Matthew Block has compiled a comprehenive resource guide for the human sources that the revelators used. You can find his work with a simple google search. The material is pretty easy to use, especially if you have some specific quotation in a specific paper that you want to identify.

I have always found these resources to be interesting, but I would caution you, as a new reader, not to get too lost in them, as it can be a diversion from the true purpose of the book.

The revelators were forthright and transparent; they did us a favor by revealing that they used many human sources. And I think it is only human to wonder where they all came from. Matthew did us a service by tracking some of them down. In many cases, the manner in which the revelators took these human sources and wove them into their narrative to create a whole new way of framing them is nothing short of brilliant.

In the end, the book and its content stand alone and should be evaluated according to its resonance in your own soul. The fact of the adaption of some human wisdom and understanding is a tribute to both our own previous human understanding of complex ideas and philosophies, and also a huge tribute to the way that the revelators incorporated that into one place for this amazing revelation, which is a revelation for YOU. And it is only YOU who can properly evaluate its content and meaning for yourself.

Before you get too overwhelmed by this info, know that there is a huge wealth of information in the book that has no parallel in previous human thought; i.e., pure revelation.

MaryJo


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