Have you heard of this book - The Urantia Book?

Originally posted by MrDesolate

Originally posted by UB2120
I do understand that our society has been programmed to only accept things from authority, that only they know the truth and it is hard to break from that.

Well I certainly hope so.

Experience
Reason
Authority

If there's any way to determine truth or accuracy other than one of those 3 ways, I have yet to see it.

If I didn't experience it, and I can't reason my way to it, then the only other way I have to determine veracity is by trusting the authority of the originator of the material.

Now we all self determine what we'll consider to be "authority", and that's frequently a moving target. We'll change our position on that over the course of our lives, if we're paying attention. And of course, the "authority" for any particular situation may be different depending upon the topic and the importance we personally assign to it.

In this case, it isn't my experience, and I personally can't get there by reason. The authority is anonymous and apparently a channeler. Now that doesn't invalidate the value of the material, but it certainly affects the weight I can assign to it.

For the Urantia Book my experience with other religions led me to reason that things just didn't add up. I went with my gut and went against what authority was telling me. I will admit it was difficult at first because you are made to feel you are doing something wrong. Once I began to read the content of the UB I knew I was on the right path.

I can respect your position though. You have to follow your gut and if your gut is telling you that it's origins are too much to over come then don't read it. I think if you give it a try you will be surprised by it's mode of teaching. What I did was try to look up questions I brought over from Christianity. When I found plausible answers it was enough for me to give it a try, but that may not work for you.

Ive come across this book before, but have recently decided to start reading. Has anyone who has read it, any suggestions as to how to go about reading it? it is sooo huge. I suppose starting at the beginning might be a good idea however, is it worth reading any particular paper first?

reply to post by thedoctorswife


hi there...
I read it about 30 years ago...fascinating.
I would suggest you check out their website for some intro and guidance. www.urantia.org...
This book changed my spiritual understanding profoundly... And I have often thought of re-reading it. I hope you find it inspiring.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by thedoctorswife

 

hi there...
I read it about 30 years ago...fascinating.
I would suggest you check out their website for some intro and guidance. www.urantia.org...
This book changed my spiritual understanding profoundly... And I have often thought of re-reading it. I hope you find it inspiring.

I wanted to ask your opinion on a thought of mine. This "religion" cannot be some money making cult because yu can read the whole book online, and take part in tutorials for free, but you can donate, My point is, why would they make all this up? i can think of easier ways to make money. I suppose im saying this becuase im about to invest some serious time in reading this almighty tome, and i guess ive because disallusioned by so much stuff that never followed through.
Im sure someone will pipe up soon with the explanation that the devil or evil spirits came through the chanelling. Yet from what ive read, Urantia is pretty cool with regards to jesus.

I don't know if this book gets it all right, but it does a much better job at being nearly on the level than the embellished Bible tales of Jesus. In the old days they had somewhat peculiar ways of thinking, and this spirit leaving the body thing seemed to occur when folks didn't wake up due to illnesses and they pushed quick to stick them in a tomb. They didn't recognize issues like coma and long term passing out. If you didn't wake up your spirit left the body.

Internal Spirits or the presence of mind were influenced by good thoughts, considered benefical to others, and good steward ideas and these were the Angles of different flavors or classes/groupings. Similar presence of mind thoughts that went in negative directions were the Satan thoughts. All of it linked to the internal presence of minds and how thoughts "materialize" in the brain. With materialization they take on a persona and angelic subgroup title. These were the tales of angles coming to visit.

The issues of the "ascension" into heaven is a like issue, where all the hidden secrets of the narratives suddenly make sense to them and they have all the truths. The Pharisee speak to knowing interpretations of the hidden secrets and they are hdden mostly by allegory methods that others take as the literal. Once one learns the methods to understand truth they get to Heaven on Earth where all the truths reside within them and they live essentially in the house of god.

I think this book breaks through to some of these issues and ways for expressions of these old ways of thinking and referring to their speaking of angels and god. Heaven is the place of total truths and highest knowledge and hell is the opposire and filled with treachery and deceit ideals. Each is a state of mind materialization into persona type speaking representative for the concept come to life in the mind.

The narrative make use of these type speaking in many areas, and it relates to how reincarnation happens as these same concepts can become incarnate in others and take in the past person's persona. Jesus returns many times speaks of this concept. If this book takes anyone to these concepts, then they know how things worked back in those days.

Here is a little view of it from Wiki:

en.wikipedia.org...

Comparison to ChristianityOf all current major world religions, The Urantia Book's teachings are most similar to those of Christianity. However, there are numerous and significant differences between it and commonly accepted Christian beliefs.

Jesus is held in high regard by The Urantia Book, as he is in the New Testament of the Bible. More than one third of the content of the book (Part IV) is devoted to a narrative about him. Part IV is said to be a restatement of his life and teachings based on a gathering of "superior concepts" from over two thousand individuals who have lived since his times, as well as from "superhuman" and "superplanetary sources of information".

The following are attributed to Jesus in the Urantia Book:[1]

He was both human and divine, one of many Creator Sons of God[30] who became incarnate.
Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph by natural means.
He lived a perfect life.
He performed many of the miracles described in the Bible, such as the resurrection of Lazarus, the turning of water into wine, the feeding of the five thousand, and numerous healings of the blind, diseased, and infirm.
He taught twelve apostles, most of whom went on to spread his teachings.
He was crucified, and on the third day after his death, rose from the dead.
He will return to the world again, many times.
Some differences with Christianity include:[8][23][31]

Jesus' crucifixion is not considered an atonement for the sins of humanity. The crucifixion is taught to be an outcome of the fears of religious leaders of the day, who regarded his teachings as a threat to their positions of authority.
Jesus is the human incarnation of "Michael of Nebadon", one of more than 700,000 "Paradise Sons" of God, or "Creator Sons". Jesus is not considered the second person of the Trinity as he is in Christianity. The book refers to the Eternal Son as the second person of the Trinity.
Jesus was born on earth through natural means of conception instead of a virgin birth.
Jesus did not walk on water or perform some of the miracles that are attributed to him in the Bible.
Jesus commissioned twelve women (and later more) as religious teachers, who traveled about with him and his apostles on their preaching missions.
The book states that Jesus may return to the world many times. This contrasts with traditional Christian eschatology, in which Jesus returns only once.

reply to post by thedoctorswife

Hi there!
I was introduced to the book ca. 1980, when I was about 20. It resonated with me, and it upheld some things that I had long thought about spiritually...
It isn't a cult. They don't prosyletize, either, which is cool. If nothing else, it will give you some food for thought. I am not affiliated with any organized religion, but pick what I consider to be "the best idea" from them all.

Go ahead and invest your time in it...it's well worth the read.