Hey there everyone. I was just wondering what your religion was or your beliefs before finding the Urantia book. I ask this because the Ub focuses on many aspects of what beliefs should be and because its interesting !

What I was : I was ( and still consider My self) a Christian. I aspired (and still do) to some aspects of Taoism.

And you ?

Thank you for sharing you journey... and yes I am a Truthseeker and truth is everywhere and I have a good baseline now to discern.

Greetings, ERIC:

I am going to be bluntly honest with you. Kind, I hope, but bluntly honest. I am enjoying the UB. I find it fascinating. HOWEVER, and that is the key word, I have the same problem you do. I am a Traditional Observant Jew.

Now, if you're not a Jew, you may not get that. So, let me break it down for you. There are 15 million Jews in the world. About half of us are non-religious. The other half are religious, 80% of those being Orthodox, and the remainder being Conservative or Reform. Within the Orthodox community you get everything from Chasidim to Heredim to Modern Orthodox. Those are just three different ways of being Orthodox. If I tried to break that down, we'd be here all night.

Now, in my city, I attend a Synagogue on Friday night that is Reform, and on Saturday either Orthodox or Conservative. My personal Prayers are either out of an Orthodox or Reform book, depending on what I have time for (Orthodox is much longer).

So I don't tell people that I am "Orthodox" or "Conservative". Instead I say that I am Traditional and Observant.

Now, what is the point of all that? Well, ultimately, it comes down to this: Judaism is either a Divinely Revealed Religion or it is not. If it is not, then fine. But if it is, then it makes certain Truth Claims for itself. And those Truth Claims are incompatible with the claims that other religions make. For example: Either Jesus is the Messiah or he is not. He can't be both. Either Mohammed is a Prophet or he is not. He can't be both. It does us all a disservice to claim that we are all right. We might all be wrong, but we can't all be right. If Judaism is right, then Jesus is NOT the Messiah. If Christianity is right, then he is the Messiah, and we are full of crap.

So, while I find the UB interesting, and definitely worth reading, I can only accept the parts of it that are compatible with Judaism. When it diverges from Judaism, then I must respectfully part ways with the book. Now, that doesn't mean that I have to be nasty. My wife is a Lutheran. I am not nasty to her about our differences. We have agreed to disagree about things, and we each do our own thing. We are not having children, so that is no problem.

But ultimately, yes, you do have to choose. If you choose the UB, that is certainly your right and prerogative, and I respect you for that. If you choose Shinto, hey, go for it. But choose. You can't sit on the fence. You have to ultimately make a choice. For me, Judaism is Divinely Revealed, and that is where I draw the line in the sand.

With respect,
Ya'akov

I appreciate your articulation of this. You really nailed it in a number of ways. Well, i guess i honestly just don't know yet for myself. I have strong leanings toward the UB. Sometimes i think life won't be long enough for me to find out, or i'm not intelligent or educated enough within the remaining years to know for sure, but am trying to be optimistic and honest about it all. Thanks for your reply. Some times i hope somebody somewhere, watching humans, can get some humor about watching some of us down here try to figure out what the truth/reality really is. Hopefully it is a kind Creator.