Urantia Book Forum

Urantia Book Discussion Board : Study Group
It is currently Tue Jun 24, 2025 5:18 am +0000

The TruthBook forum will no longer accept new posts. Please continue to read, search, and enjoy all posts made to prior October 28. No login is needed now to access the valuable resource, so it is open to everyone! For more information, please click HERE.

View unanswered posts | View active topics


Board index » Main » General Urantia Book Discussion

All times are UTC - 7 hours




Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  Page 1 of 3
  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
  Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:18 pm +0000
Posts: 16
These are a list of 8 statements of faith that I devised while meditating on the fact that there is no over-arching summary that satisfactorily describes what we students of the Revelation believe. Now I know how much emphasis the Urantia Book has placed on creeds and dogmas being spiritually dead. So I did my best to try and make them as non-creedal or judgmental as I can, even though i used as my inspiration the Apostles Creed. I would appreciate input, both positive and negative.

1) We believe in the Universal Father, God of all creation, and in his equal Trinity associates, the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, and their Divine Residence, Paradise.

2) We believe that the Urantia Book is the fifth epochal revelation to mankind being preceded by: the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the advent of Melchizedek, the bestowal of Adam and Eve, and the arrival of Caligastia who fell.

3) We believe in the Father's presence and gift in our minds and souls, known as the Thought Adjuster, and that it is our guide into all truth and the promise of eternal survival, and it will become a part of every mortal who chooses to do the Father's will.

4) We believe Part IV of the Urantia Book is the most complete, accurate, and reliable source of information concerning the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

5) We believe in no sacred books, no holy texts, and no infallible Scripture, for no revelation except for the Universal Father can ever be complete, and that all other revelation is only relative.

6) We believe in the Fatherhood of God to every person and the Brotherhood of Man between all of His Children, and that Salvation is the free gift of God to all, regardless of religion, race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or any other factor except the choice to recieve this gift.

7) We believe science, philosophy, and religion are compatible with one another and are tools humans use to further reveal God's Infinite and eternal purpose and are all useful in discovering truth, beauty, and goodness.

8 ) We believe in spiritual unity and not uniformity; we believe in free expression of the spirit. We utterly reject superstition, mysticism, mediumship, and pseudoscience as legitimate approaches to God.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:18 pm +0000
Posts: 16
As a footnote I would like to add that, although formulated this morning, this statement addresses many key issues I have been struggling with. Namely, in what way can I tell people quickly and succinctly what it is that I believe. I hope this will be useful to others as well in that regard. In addition to feedback I would also like to ask if I omitted anything or should not include certsin parts. Thsnks again.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:23 am +0000
Posts: 299
Greetings,

You said you would appreciate input both positive or negative.
Well, I personally resented it. :cry:

The moment I started reading "WE BELIEVE IN THE ..." My mind instantly took me back to when we recite religious creeds in any religion, in my case, it immediately reminded me of the apostles creed during mass, and that state of Speaking words insincerely because they are simple recitations with no real communication or spiritual feelings attached, simply shuts down any spiritual channel that would be flowing, it would stop being dynamic and turn into a statue.

I would really run away from it, I simple hate it, it takes me back to a very insincere place, a false place spiritually.

But Brother, I do respect your own religious experience, and I would not intend to do or say anything that would deter or hamper you from it, what I say , is only my personal opinion with regards to my own personal religious experience and how I conduct it. Like you said in one of your creeds, "We believe in spiritual unity and not uniformity". :)

As you said in your footnote, if you feel that you need to summarize the key faith elements in UB , well, you are free to conduct your own religious experience as you please, BUT, i would strongly advice against using this creed in trying to get people interested in the book. They might have the exact opposite effect on them.

These 8 creeds, use them for your own understanding, but I personally wouldn't introduce people to UB through them, I would run away from you, weird maybe, but its the truth. But, again, if it is for your OWN religious experience, and you are looking for help to summarizing the key elements, then you came to the right place.

As my input, I myself am not really interested in formulating creeds, It is what it is, the UB is the UB, within every paper, section, or phrase lies a key element to my faith, a creed. I like to believe that they are already summarized and presented to us in a summarized form :); Trying to explain the entire existence plan in 196 papers is not an easy endeavour .

Nevertheless, Good Luck Brother, I hope you find what you seek :)

_________________
Mark,
9:5.7 Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness;


Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:18 pm +0000
Posts: 16
Greetings kicoverz.

Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated, and it actually speaks to a point I have been entertaining for awhile.

As it stands now, it is very likely that the Urantia movement will never catch on the way Christianity or Islam stormed the world over the last few centuries. And this concerns me. 10 thousand years in the future we may be vindicated, but it strikes me as cowardice and selfish on our part to keep the Revelation to ourselves simply because there is no cultural structure to preserve and foster the Revelation. Personally I advocate forming some sort of evangelical mechanism to spread this good news and strengthen our own moral perception.

In the movement today, so much of the teachings of the Urantia Book have been corrupted by occult and supernatural influences of the New Age movement. The one time I found a copy of the Urantia Book in Barnes and Noble it was in the New Age section. It offended me. This is the reason I included point 8 into this statement.

I share your aversion to creeds or dogma, as is natural with any student of the Revelation. Which is why I attempted to make these less of a creed and more of a universal statement of faith for, dare I say, believers. The readerahip is fragmented, not at all united, and thankfully not uniform. This is a similar situation to early Christianity, in which many pet gospels abounded and strange beliefs were the norm. With such chaos, the church fathers found it necessary to form a canon, and from that came creed and dogma, deeply slaved in tradition all for the express purpose of conserving the truth.

I recited the Apostles creed in church even long after discovering the Urantia Book. I came to a point where I silently modified it to myself to fit my own understanding. This I most definitely did for my own religious experience.

I would point out that nothing I said goes against the teachings of the Urantia Book. That being said, I do understand how even formulating this can cause division and exclusion. With that in mind I included point 6: that salvation is for all, regardless of your beliefs. It need only be desired and acted upon to the best of your enlightenment! How refreshing is that good news to a spiritually thirsty humanity who has been bred to believe that doctrine is salvation.

Eventually there must come a time when this book must come to the forefront of human attention, or it will die in stagnation. I believe that the only way to do this is through unity, and this is an attempt to unite fellow believers. I do not ezpect it to be succesful, but i so expect a point to be made. Christians, for example, are united in Christ. Catholics, however, are expected to be uniform with church dogma. That I believe is the key difference.

The truth is I want to share this book with the world. I want to surround myself with fellow believers and share that profound fraternity. I have even entertained the idea of dedicating my life to sharing this book, but I am a realist.

I look forward to any further replies.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:10 am +0000
Posts: 1948
LWatson wrote:
… In the movement today, so much of the teachings of the Urantia Book have been corrupted by occult and supernatural influences of the New Age movement. …
Hi LWatson. You say: "much of the teachings of the Urantia Book have been corrupted by occult and supernatural influences of the New Age movement." What do you mean? Can you give an example? What specific "movement" are you talking about?
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:18 pm +0000
Posts: 16
Greetings Bart.

When I say the UB movement has been corrupted by new age influences, I mean that those who lean towards the mystical and fantastic happen to find the UB and immediately embrace it because of its origin and not because of its contents. For example, the old TM people, or Gabriel of Sedona. No need to discuss that in depth, rules are rules. But even a cursory search of the Urantia Book online reveals a truly amazing number of people who begin to read the book, then apparently give up and relate it to chakras, numerology, sacred geometry, astrology, and other new age, occult or channelled works. Basically exactly what the book teaches against. Although to be honest one can't really blame them because it is a lot of information to digest. In addition, many Christian websites are utterly ignorant of the origins and teachings of the book, and honest searching souls are led to disregard the book as occult fantasy. It is for this reason and many others that I believe the readership at large should unite around a common set of core precepts which will prevent misinterpretation and form an evangelical framework of some kind.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:10 am +0000
Posts: 1948
LWatson wrote:
… I believe the readership at large should unite around a common set of core precepts which will prevent misinterpretation and form an evangelical framework of some kind.
I think TUB intrinsically contains "prevention against misinterpretation." And if there could be a simple set of rules to convert people, then why do you suppose the revelators would reveal a book of 2000+ pages? And "evangelical frameworks" (institutionalized religions), are not promoted in TUB..
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:29 pm +0000
Posts: 2444
I agree with most of what you said except I believe that The Ancient of Days are god and the Master Seraphim and a few other high beings. So in that sense I see things differently then some. I also consider the other 2 members of the Trinity God as well. One other point of separation is that I don't condone or support mysticism and superstition only mediumship. I don't see readers uniting for a while though, there is still a lot of confusion amongst readers I am sure it will get sorted out in the next 100 years though. No doubt there is danger in mysticism and all that, but I don't think it's to to dangerous until someone gets involved with that medium stuff. Anyways there is not much anyone can do about that stuff, if people want to get silly they will find a way.

Good conversation though, definitely interesting.

_________________
StrongcharactersRnotderivedfromnotdoingwrongbutratherfrom
actuallydoingrightUnselfishnesisthebadgeofhumangreatnes
Thehighestlevelsofselfrealizationareatainedbyworshipandservice
Thehapyandefectivepersonismotivatednotbyfearofwrongdoingbutby
loveofrightdoing
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 5:29 am +0000
Posts: 6039
Greetings fellow agondontor!!! So glad to hear another seasoned voice of reason and desire by one who works for the kingdom and by the truths given to us in the Revelation. I hear your motivation to share that which guides you upon the pilgrim's path and it is something all veterans in text have struggled with....how to give others that which uplifts us into spirit and personal L&L!! A noble aspiration indeed.

Your perspective on the historical distortions and perversions by cultists is well founded....and documented. Alas, this is how humanity works, I think, due to the inherent mental laziness of those who seek ease and comfort in their religious life. Priests, ceremony, symbol, and creeds are mind candy to the weak and gullible who wish to avoid the heavy lifting of transferring the seat of identity. Enlightenment is difficult, soul building and spiritization even more so. To forsake fear and the pleasures of materialism and the distractions and infatuations of entertainment, the escape of tediousness and material demands....this takes will and effort.

My concern with your statement of belief or guiding principals is that it may be used to feed these lazy ones who accept rather than discover truth. But, like you, I have long considered some answer or response when questioned..."What do you believe?" or "What does the UB say?". A distillation of essence for sharing that represents a million words given by celestials. Oh dear!!

Personally, I have spent some 4 decades distributing the UB and supporting those who publish and connect the readership to support an organic and grass roots "availability" to those who seek truth due to a personal thirst and to those whom the Revelation seeks out (like me and so many others who did not find it but had it thrust into their hands and responded to it in their way). I've been around since Vern G's ego-insanity and witnessed the movement's contortions and confoundments as you describe. My opinion has changed from anger and disappointment and even disillusionment to one of appreciation for the necessity of this maturation process for the experience given to the individual believer and the movement itself. Such evil/error demonstrates a strengthening of those who survive and learn better. These examples of contrast you describe are but the stumbling and bumbling of an infant as it gains strength and balance and experience....gotta walk before you can run and run before you can jump...on the way to the triple toe loop to come.

Be not discouraged my fellow tadpole. All is well and will be better yet BECAUSE of those folks, incidents, and the cultists yet to come. For the real truth seeker accepts nothing from such ones for long...their inadequacies and fallacies are made obvious enough in time, no?

But now, back to the topic you began. My personal thought is a greater simplification of truths that appeal to all who believe in God, a more universal statement that is more inclusive and not at all exclusive. What would that be like?

As to other believers from other creeds, whether traditional or new age, I now try my best to reflect to them that which we hold in common and to use their vocabularies as best I can to find agreement in mind first and move forward in sharing and discovery from that place. If we cannot do this first, how then can we get them to hear us? Seek first to understand....and THEN to be understood (one of Stephen Covey's seven habits of successful people). Those who are entrenched in their own truth set and find faith and exhibit love have no special need for TUB. Those who seek not also have no need. It is only the seeker of greater truth and personal enlightenment that will ever respond to ANY presentation or text. How best then, to deliver the UB itself or the truths therein?

A worthy topic for our mutual consideration. Looking forward to more. Thanks and peace my new friend. 8)

_________________
"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:23 am +0000
Posts: 299
FoV, your post got me thinking.

You know, come to think of it, I really don't mind UB being classified under "New Age" in libraries. so what, if it still takes those who read it to the shores of mansonia, then so be it. If Gabriel of Sedona, takes himself and a dozen other believers in his claims to the shores of mansonia, so be it, GOOD! They made it to the first sphere; it beats not moving at all.

Regarding how to distribute the UB,well, funny you should mention it, because last Thursday a person came to me and asked me ( after a semi-lengthy discussion about the meaning of this life and the one after, and my brief knowledge of all different sorts of religions ) "what do you believe in ? What is your religion ?! "

I simply said " God is OUR father and you are my sister"...

_________________
Mark,
9:5.7 Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness;


Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:18 pm +0000
Posts: 16
Dear fellow readers,

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself on certain matters. The truth is I have been experiencing increasing frustration with the slow progress of the Urantia book. This frustration is directed both at the movement at large and on an individual level. Just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend that has no knowledge of TUB's existence. I asked him "What if you knew something, you had something, that you knew would change the whole world? How could you tell them without everyone thinking you are crazy?" In tremendous wisdom he told me "everything has to wait its time. The world is messed up and they have to want it first." It brought me to a better sense of humility once I remembered that the truth is available to all who can recieve it.

Incidentally a mutual friend came by and noticed that my disposition was troubled. After asking me what was on my mind I frankly told him that I was wondering how to change the world. "Change what?", he asked. After a brief conversation about the state of the world and how the truth is paralyzed with dogma and tradition, he asked me what it is that I believe. I could think of no better answer than the truth. I introduced him to the Urantia Book. I was surprised at how objective Wikipedia was haha. It piqued his interest, he downloaded it from the internet, and he assured me he would study it. I dearly hope i helped plant the seed in good soil.

Yet this experience made me realize something. My friend was open to discovery because he had no religious background. It dawned on me that this book is for the believing, but more especially it is for those with no religious background. Most of the truths the book teaches are already widely accepted, there is just no niche which they can find vndication of these beliefs. I do not intend nor do I desire a creed or dogma to be made based on the Urantia Book. These points were more accurately talking points.

Lately I have tried to stop mincing words and be direct about what it is that found me. Yes, I too believe the UB found me, not vice versa. I advocate a form of evangelism with the Urantia Book. There are not many readers, but those that have discovered this Revelation are deeply passionate about it. Yet there is nowhere to begin sharing it, no common points of agreement, no support system for such an endeavor. That must change if the Revelation is to survive. Indeed, it is inevitable. On my part I choose to be brave for now and simply state that I am a student of the Urantia Revelation. I will disregard the funny looks and offers of tin foil hats.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:21 am +0000
Posts: 1007
well if I read it from the viewpoint of a traditional religionist there's nothing in it that indicates that the papers are anything more than just another religion about Jesus...and not sure that any short summation of his life is sufficient (including the entirety of part iv) without the experience of putting the living faith portrayed in the papers to the test in ones own life.

way easier for me to critisize than to attempt to solve...so there it is.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline

Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 5:29 am +0000
Posts: 6039
Let me tell a couple of short stories on how the UB came to me and then to my wife (before we met each other) to illustrate an important point already mentioned.....it is ridiculous to give UBs to individuals without some discernment (it's perfectly effective to donate to libraries and book fairs and book stores, etc. for the seeker to find...a different ministry altogether - anonymous bread on the water). But it IS important to identify the open minded seeker and to give/loan them a copy for their curiosity/interest. Jesus did not say the same thing to everyone and to many he said nothing at all. This must be personalized.

Anyway....I was loaned my first copy by a nonreader who said, "This book is weird, I think you'd like it, you're weird too!" My wife's mother in law (at the time) gave her a first edition as soon as she understood my wife's personal religious philosophy....they read it together beginning to end. But she got hers first in 1958 when Meredith Sprunger came to her house as the welcome wagon guy for town when she moved in. He asked her if she attended church in order to introduce her to whatever congregation/minister was appropriate to her faith/tradition. When she said she wanted nothing to do with any church and believed religion was a personal matter, he said, "I'll be right back." Went to his car trunk and delivered a first edition UB and told her she might find it interesting. Sure enough!!

When I give away a book personally, I usually say something like "You might find this interesting. You'll find many beliefs of yours confirmed here and some mysteries to think about. Do me a favor...if you don't like it or want it, please give it to someone else or a used book store for another to find. If you do like it, give two away to others in the next couple of years."

I have donated far more books than I've given personally. The act is ours, the consequences God's. Just thinking and sharing here. Love to here other thoughts. :wink:

The ultimate distilled essence there by kicoverz: God is our creator/father and you are my brother/sister. Let us act like it! Bravo. And what else matters? We are told our light must shine and our life must attract or our evangelism is but a mirage anyway. But I did try beating every head with 40 pounds of blue for awhile. The results were quite predictable to be sure.

_________________
"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 4:47 pm +0000
Posts: 1394
Location: San Antonio
Just a little insight for those that think the U.B. can't be touch by mis-understanding or corrupt influence.

I just found out that Gabriel of Sadon's Son is a Speaker at the IUA this year, that blow me away, to think some one that is so far off the track of what the U.B. is about, being able to speak at one of our conferences. got me a little concerned :shock:

The Book is in mans hands now and the spirit forces around us are watching, but not going to stop the foolishness of man.
Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted:  
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:23 am +0000
Posts: 299
@FoV: LOVE IT!! Have you seen a movie called "Pay it Forward" , if not, in essence, it is exactly that, when you receive an act of goodness from someone, pay it forward , that is, do it to 3 other people, and ask them to do the same, and almost without realizing it, you would've created a tree of good acts. I love it that you applied this to TUB, I might as well do that myself, great idea, thanks for the share :)

@J Barry: I understand your concern brother, I really do, but you know, if those who listen to the son of Gabriel do find his insight/preaching interesting, don't you think they would want to go to the source !?! So, he might actually turn out to be one of the most effective distributors out there...

_________________
Mark,
9:5.7 Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness;


Top
 Profile Send private message  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  Page 1 of 3
  [ 31 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

Board index » Main » General Urantia Book Discussion

All times are UTC - 7 hours


Who is online

Registered users: No registered users

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Switch to mobile style
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group