Postings

No Space on Paradise

This posting is more technical than most of my posts, it raises interesting ideas and gives us food for thought.

Einstein talked about the fabric of space; there is more to space than emptiness.  He used this concept to explain gravity; large planets distort the fabric of space creating what we call gravity. This applies to the universe we are familiar with. However, our revelation, The Urantia Book, states there is no space on Paradise; what does this mean? The explanation is somewhat lengthy so let’s get started.

Material Reality

We all live and breathe in material reality; this is all we have ever known. We have great difficulty imagining anything beyond what we see and know. In this matter let us trust this revelation and see where it takes us.

The reality we are familiar with is based on space and time. To get from here to timeless and spaceless Paradise will take a very long time; we here take baby steps to reach a partial understanding.

We live in material reality and know something about it. In our awareness there are three dimensions to reality; that defines our space, material reality. In this context, the number of dimensions in a given region equals the number of mutually perpendicular lines that can be drawn through any point. A floor is two dimensional and a room is three dimensional.

Spiritually, we recognize God as our Heavenly Father, creator of all things and beings. We also somewhat comprehend the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit. Our highest comprehension of God, the trinity, is three dimensional. Perhaps there is a relationship between our understanding of God and the reality we perceive.

Morontia Reality

In Paper 130, “On the Way to Rome,” Jesus says: Ultimately, surviving mortals achieve identity in a seven-dimensional universe.[1]

I interpret this to mean three dimensions for material reality, one for mind, and three for spiritual reality. Since we are grounded in material reality, we cannot fully understand any reality beyond it until we get there and actually experience it.

When we meet our Creator Son, Michael, we have experienced the first level of God the sevenfold. Before we leave Salvington we will begin to understand God the sevenfold: Creator Sons, Ancients of Days, Master Spirit, Supreme Being, Infinite Spirit, Eternal Son, Heavenly Father. Again, both perceived reality and comprehension of God have the same number of apparent dimensions.

Havona

Occasionally while studying our revelation I become aware of a truth so strongly, I am positive it is in the book but I can never find it. I call these “virtual” quotes. One of these is that when pilgrims of the evolutionary worlds prepare to enter the perfect and eternal central universe Havona, they struggle to comprehend God the 49 fold. This suggests Havona is in 49 dimensional space and that God is approachable there in 49 dimensions. This is certainly way beyond our current ability.

Paradise – no Space no Time

This brings us to Paradise at the center of all things. God, who is infinite, cannot have a dwelling place that is less than infinite. True, it is limited physically, but spiritually it must have an infinite number of dimensions. Twice it is called the center of infinity. Highlands on Paradise are not physical but spiritual highlands.

In the seven evolving superuniverses, space is configured to seven dimensions; in the perfect central universe it is configured to 49 dimensions. It is reasonable that space could not be configured into an infinite number of dimensions; therefore, either God would have no home, or space could not exist on Paradise.

Actually, Paradise is involved in the respiration of space, but that is a topic for another time.

This brings us to time. They state that space and time are related, but few details are given. Space is measured by time, but the reverse is not true. No concise definition of time is given. If space does not exist then time does not exist.[2]

For our purposes the best we can do is to select various events and examine how time functions therein. First is easy, movement. The more space we must travel through, the more time it takes. Walking across the room would be instantaneous relative to a journey to Mars.

Another aspect is chemical reactions. They do not involve a change in space, but time is certainly a factor in any such reaction. An example of this is rust appearing on iron exposed to the elements.

A final aspect we examine is a succession of events. Imagine a library with many people reading books. One is a proof reader who takes a long time studying each page. Another is a student taking notes. One is reading a novel for relaxation and the final reader is a speed reader. Each does the same action, turn a page, but at a different rate.

An event in the life of Jesus illustrates the final two aspects: the wedding at Cana. Many more guests attended than were expected and they ran out of wine; Mary was concerned. Angels working with Jesus knew something was going to happen so they gathered ingredients to make wine; this was a succession of events. When Mary confronted Jesus, he had pity and thought if it were according to God’s will….  And there was wine. This production of wine was an instantaneous reaction because the Personalized Adjuster (who said God was OK with it) is a non-time being and Jesus has creator powers.

Adjusters experience a succession of events. They start as virgin adjusters and gain experience as they indwell various beings. They are non-time beings but experience a sequence of events. It will take a considerable length of time before we can truly comprehend this dichotomy.

On Paradise movement is volitional; we move from place to place by an act of will, there is no walking. Yoda would say “on Paradise you are here or there—is no travel.” Except for the substance of Paradise, called Absolutum, everything else is pure spirit. This reality is radically different from what we are accustomed to on Urantia. 

Even though there is no space on Paradise, there is plenty of room. There is room for every evolutionary mortal who has attained residence on Paradise and this takes up considerably less than one percent of the available room. There will be room for everyone who attains Paradise from the seven superuniverses and the outer space levels throughout our eternal future.

Tags: Paradise, space, time

[1] 1439.5; The Urantia Book, one column edition in the format page:paragraph. All references are to The Urantia Book.

[2] 120.3 describes this.

Religion of Jesus

You may preach a religion about Jesus, but… you must live the religion of Jesus.[1]

From the pulpit, preachers present sermons to guide parishioners in their faith, but listening to the preaching is a passive interaction. The vital aspect of religion is an inner certainty: how it affects the individual and changes the inner life of each religionist. If listeners leave the church after the sermon and continue in the same selfish and materialistic ways, the church and our society will have problems. Their inner life has not been changed. The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative.[2]{I expect our next posting will be a discussion of our inner life. Stay tuned!}

In this posting we discuss the religion of Jesus and what it is like. What this planet needs is people of faith living the religion of Jesus, how do we accomplish this?

…in the human life of Jesus faith was personal, living, original, spontaneous, and purely spiritual. This faith was… a sublime experience and a profound conviction which securely held him. His faith was so real and all-encompassing that it absolutely swept away any spiritual doubts and effectively destroyed every conflicting desire.[3]

Tradition is a strong component in many religions. We find comfort in having the faith of our fathers and following tradition. This is not the religion of Jesus. His religion is personal, actively seeking to do the will of our Heavenly Father. Each one of us is a unique individual; therefore no single set of dogma can fully satisfy the spiritual needs of everyone. We must seek our Father’s will as applied to our personal, spiritual and individual needs.

Our faith must be real and all-encompassing; we cannot create compartments in our lives and declare religion does not apply there, for example in our business or political activities.

The concept of God as a Father was not original with Jesus, but he exalted and elevated the idea into a sublime experience by achieving a new revelation of God and by proclaiming that every mortal creature is a child of this Father of love, a son of God.[4]

Every mortal is equally a child of our Heavenly Father. This means each of our sisters and brothers must be treated equally regardless of any superficial differences such as skin color, religion, or any other excuse for bigotry. We are all equally a child of our Heavenly Father; this Father is filled with love for each of His children. This is especially important to realize in these times of discord and prejudice.

In his day, Jesus certainly faced anger and violence, even death, but through it all he experienced the tranquility of supreme and unquestioned trust in God and felt the tremendous thrill of living, by faith, in the very presence of the heavenly Father.[5] Since each of us is indwelt by a “spark of God,”[6] each of us also lives in the very presence of our Heavenly Father. This truth must be our moral foundation, it has to be what we base our faith upon; it is the basis of our personal religious experiences. When we fully realize this we begin to live the religion of Jesus.

What is the substance of this religion, how should we proceed? Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. Jesus always and consistently interpreted religion wholly in terms of the Father’s will.[7] If we consecrate before Heavenly Father our dedication to do His will, that is the greatest offering we could possibly give. Once this has been given we will KNOW Father’s will.

Jesus was a mature man who had triumphed over many hardships. The most trying of these came when he was fourteen years old; his father suddenly died of an injury at work. Jesus became the head of a family consisting of his mother and seven brothers and sisters. His baby sister Ruth had not been born yet. He cheerfully fulfilled all responsibilities which had been suddenly thrust upon him. Throughout it all, the religion of Jesus is filled with trust like that of a child. His faith could be strong because he had no fear; he fully trusted his Heavenly Father.[8]

Jesus does not require his disciples to believe in him but rather to believe with him, believe in the reality of the love of God and in full confidence accept the security of the assurance of sonship with the heavenly Father.[9]

The religion of Jesus totally depends on the presence of Heavenly Father in our daily lives; we trust His guidance at all times. Even when terrible things happened to him, Jesus stood firm in his faith. This faith is simple, yet profound in its consequences.

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all references are to the one column version of The Urantia Book, in the format page.paragraph; 2091.10

[2] 1220.2

[3] 2087.5

[4] 2087.2

[5] 2087.3

[6] Bible; I Corinthians 3:16

[7] 2088.5

[8] 2089.1

[9] 2089.3

Caligastia’s Prison World Revisited

Standing our Ground

Click on the photo for information about it.

By far the most popular page on UBLightofTruth.com is “Urantia: Caligastia’s prison World.” This was posted in mid-February 2021 and still gets lots of hits. It discusses Caligastia, our former Planetary Prince who, about 200,000 years ago joined a rebellion against universe authority. Jesus defeated Caligastia over 2,000 years ago, but our fallen Planetary Prince, who is invisible to mortals, was allowed to remain free on our planet. Some questions not addressed in the previous posting are: why has it taken so long to remove effects of the rebellion? And, why must citizens of Earth decide between Jesus and Caligastia?

We look into these questions by discussing the introduction of sin into our world by the revolution, what is special about being an evolutionary planet, and the wisdom of delay. We conclude by evaluating the vital importance of our free will decisions.

Introduction of Sin

Evil is inherent in the natural order of this world, but sin is an attitude of conscious rebellion which was brought to this world by those who fell from spiritual light into gross darkness.[1]

Before discussing the introduction of sin into planet Earth a brief comparison of evil, sin, and iniquity is necessary. Evil is an unconscious going against God’s law, sin is a knowing deliberate going against God’s law, while iniquity is persistently going against God’s law.[2]

When committing evil, the individual does not know any better. On a young evolutionary world that has not been visited by higher truth, evil would be a common occurrence, the natural state. Later Caligastia arrived on planet Earth introducing higher values to our distant ancestors, and for about 300,000 years he did that effectively.

Our planet is located in the system Satania, when complete each system will have about 1,000 inhabited planets; we are planet 606 in our system. About 200,000 years ago our System Sovereign, Lucifer, declared rebellion against the Heavenly Father and universe authority; 38 Planetary Princes, including our Caligastia, quickly joined the rebellion. This premeditated rebellion against the universe government introduced sin to Earth. The higher truths were soon replaced by sin, deliberate transgression of God’s law.

Later Adam and Eve arrived to reintroduce higher truth but they defaulted on their mission; sin was allowed to spread. Later Machiventa Melchizedek fostered advanced truth; he was followed by our Creator Son Michael, whom we know as Jesus. Awareness of these truths is slowly growing, but sin is still strong in our materialistic society.

Component Units of Material Creation

In The Urantia Book, one paragraph in Paper 35[3] is especially relevant to this discussion. This is part of a discussion concerning Lanonandek Sons; the primary Lanonandeks are system rulers such as Lucifer, while the secondary ones are Planetary Princes such a Caligastia. The discussion in this section is based on this paragraph.

Evolutionary planets such as Urantia are the primary units of creation; it is on such planets that beings with free will dignity[4] appear as a result of an evolutionary process: humans such as us. Our Heavenly Father and all who are loyal to Him absolutely respect spiritual free will. Once human beings with free will appear on a planet, the primary focus becomes nurturing and guiding these beings; in the vast majority of worlds, mortals with free will are lovingly guided toward higher truth. Interfering with an individual’s free will decisions is contrary to the will of our Heavenly Father; it is sin.

When a Planetary Prince rebels against universe government, replacement rulers are appointed but they do not take office immediately. First the effects of the rebellion must be at least partially overcome. This is done by the Melchizedeks and others working to introduce higher truth. The appearance of our Urantia Book was part of this process for us. Our native planet obviously is nowhere near to being ready for a resident Planetary Prince because there is way too much evil and outright sin; reading news reports is a daily description of the inhumanity of humanity.

When a Planetary Prince goes into rebellion, all communication to and from his planet is cut off; prior to this it is possible to send messages to other inhabited planets and higher government. Once these lanes are cut, it takes a bestowal Son like Jesus to restore them and such a Son would only come after there has been stabilization in planetary affairs. For this to happen, a vast majority of Earth citizens would have to support Michael, our universe creator.

Before the rebellion can be terminated on Urantia, the majority of its citizens must choose to follow Michael, our Creator Son. We must work to combat the sin that was deliberately introduced by those who rebelled against our Heavenly Father. Every mortal on this planet must choose; even those who are unaware of extra-planetary affairs must choose between good and evil. The rebellion will be ended when we make these choices, when each of us makes such a choice.

Wisdom of Delay

The Lucifer rebellion, and Caligastia’s involvement on Urantia, took place about 200,000 years ago; to us that seems like an awfully long time. It is difficult for us to understand why it has been allowed to last so long. Our revelation devotes an entire section to explain this: “The Wisdom of Delay.”[5] Following is a condensation of this discussion.

Mercy is a primary characteristic of our Heavenly Father; mercy requires time for wrongdoers and those affected by their evil to make a final decision whether to accept or reject the mercy offered them. We are each given whatever time we need to make a final decision. Our Heavenly Father’s patient mercy requires time to unfold. This time-bound mercy allows the sinner to realize a mistake was made and accept salvation.

Since we live on a world where sin was deliberately introduced by rebels, each of us has been affected by their iniquitous actions and each of us must choose between good and evil.

If the rebellion were terminated too soon, sympathy could remain in the hearts of other citizens; every creature has to come to a firm decision about the rebellion, otherwise simmering sympathy is likely. Frequently, after wars on Earth there is a strong feeling of rage among the defeated; this is especially true in the Mid-East. These festering emotions can last decades or even centuries.

The Universe Mother Spirit proclaimed that the rebellion must not be hidden or half cured. She directed the angels to work for full disclosure and unlimited opportunity for sin-expression as the quickest technique of achieving the perfect and final cure of the plague of evil and sin.[6] If sin is not allowed to be freely expressed, it will still be in the mind of some individuals, a growing menace. Our society has many who harbor strong silent emotions which could erupt into violent acts.

Those in universe authority were advised to permit the rebellion to take its full and natural course, even if it should require a million years to wind up the consequences.[7] Unexpressed violent thoughts cannot be dealt with; only when they are expressed can they be countered. Citizens of Urantia have been immersed in the consequences of iniquity for so long that it seems to be the normal way of life. Each of us must choose.

Free will Decisions

Our ability to make spiritual free will decisions is more than a God given right, it actually defines who we are; we can freely choose between good and evil. We can choose between the way of eternal life and the way of sin. Each choice has consequences.

If we steadfastly select righteousness, then sin is somewhat reduced. The deliberate introduction of sin to Earth requires each individual affected to make the decision between good and evil. Those so affected include every mortal born on planet Earth until sin has been fully restrained, which naturally will take a very long time.

Our message is to begin a discussion about choosing good, thereby working for the time when Urantia will no longer harbor rebels against universe authority; when this happens, this will no longer be Caligastia’s prison world, because he and all his followers will have been obliterated. It will be as if they never existed.

Each one of us has to stand steadfast and make the righteous decision.

[1] The Urantia Book, the one column version page.paragraph. 1660.5; all references are to The Urantia Book.

[2] 1660.2-4

[3] 394.1

[4] 138.4

[5] 617.1-618.3

[6] 617.11

[7] 618.1

Seeking Spiritual Reality

Seeking Beauty

I have been thinking about this blog posting for some time but various issues around the house claimed priority. Interestingly, the thought for today (September 4) on one of our Urantia Book calendars was an important addition.

We who have studied The Urantia Book for many years probably will never come to a complete comprehension of all its teachings; in spite of this, we should experience a compulsion to apply what we do understand in daily interactions with sisters and brothers. However, more is expected from those who believe in the full teachings of Jesus; we are expected to seek something more, something wider, something spiritual. Exactly how can we do this?

This posting presents an outline of our quest for Heavenly Father.

These inner spiritual strivings can be undertaken while going about everyday activities; there is no need to be isolated on some remote mountaintop.

Mind is the Gateway

Jesus taught the appeal to the emotions as the technique of arresting and focusing the intellectual attention. He designated the mind thus aroused and quickened as the gateway to the soul.[1] Our thoughts are driven by our emotions; if we can consciously channel our emotions, thoughts will be gradually guided. Strong emotions can be difficult to control; we discuss powerful urges below. This emotional guidance can be used in our personal efforts at spiritual growth as well as our council with others. In his personal teachings, Jesus was able to appeal to the individual’s soul by appealing to their emotions.

Negative emotions block efforts at spiritual growth; they must first be subdued. One approach is to remember each of us is indwelt by a spark of God, our Thought Adjuster. We have a fragment of perfection as a part of our being. We must have faith that countless spirit beings and forces are conspiring to guide us toward spiritual goals. Are we assisting them? Are our goals founded upon materialism or are we seeking God’s will in all things?

Jesus also said we must seek the spiritual simplicity of a small child.[2] Finding God does not have to be a complicated process, but the desire has to be strong. The spirit fragment of God within each of us wants to guide us; all we need do is follow this inner guidance.

While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.[3] Our decisions are made in our mind, this is where we choose to do God’s will or reject His love and guidance. Our thoughts to a large degree determine what we become.

Hunger for Righteousness

Spiritual progress is predicated on intellectual recognition of spiritual poverty coupled with the self-consciousness of perfection-hunger, the desire to know God and be like him, the wholehearted purpose to do the will of the Father in heaven.[4] 

Spiritual growth cannot occur unless the individual sees a need for it, recognizes spiritual poverty within. Physical poverty is debilitating, it can only be overcome by physical means. Spiritual poverty, once recognized, can be easier to attack because we have all the spiritual forces of creation assisting us. This hunger for righteousness is the very foundation of all our efforts at spiritual growth. The first step for each of us is to develop within this hunger for righteousness.

Your deepest nature — the divine Adjuster — creates within you a hunger and thirst for righteousness, a certain craving for divine perfection.[5] We have within a perfect guide wanting to assist us in our efforts to find Heavenly Father; this guidance becomes stronger as we develop our hunger for righteousness. And when such disheartened souls sincerely seek for God — hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness — there is nothing that can hold them in further captivity.[6]

As we struggle for spiritual growth our eternal salvation is assured by our hunger and thirst for righteousness.[7] There will always be difficulties in our quest for spiritual growth. When our innermost loyalty is to Heavenly Father, necessary adjustments in other relationships can be made; therefore, we can “render onto Caesar.”

Perfection Hunger

“And I have not come to call the would-be righteous but sinners and all who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of divine perfection.”[8] We certainly are millions of years away from perfection, but our hunger for such perfection gives impetus to all efforts at spiritual growth. The best way to achieve any goal is to have a strong desire to reach it.

There must be perfection hunger in man’s heart to insure capacity for comprehending the faith paths to supreme attainment…. “Human things must be known in order to be loved, but divine things must be loved in order to be known….” Childlike trust secures man’s entrance into the kingdom of heavenly ascent, but progress is wholly dependent on the vigorous exercise of the robust and confident faith of the full-grown man.[9]

Spiritual growth has different requirements from physical growth. Each depends on the characteristics of the corresponding reality level. Physical growth follows certain laws; a tree, or a human being, cannot become full grown in an instant. Spiritual growth depends on perfection hunger.

Seeking Spiritual Reality

Spirit substance (quality) is just as responsive to spirit gravity as the organized energy of physical matter (quantity) is responsive to physical gravity. Spiritual values and spirit forces are real. From the viewpoint of personality, spirit is the soul of creation; matter is the shadowy physical body.[10]

The reality of the spiritual realm is the foundation of our efforts at spiritual growth. If our faith in spiritual values and in Heavenly Father is not strong, spiritual growth will be impossible.

Human beings are frequently driven by strong desires, urges. The Urantia Book has a lot to say about them; the word urge is mentioned over 90 times. We certainly have the urge to eat and breathe, and the sex urge can be problematic. Other urges are greed and lust for power. The best way to deal with negative or excessive urges is to push them aside by concentrating on spiritual growth.

The most powerful urge is sadly lacking on planet Earth. The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and aggressive soul on earth.[11]

The urge for spiritual growth, once embraced, can transform the individual. This urge is strengthened by seeking spiritual growth, cooperating with our Thought Adjuster, and seeking God’s will at all times. This spiritual urge can be approached by focusing on God’s will while interacting normally with those around us. These social interactions are necessary to minimize the possibility of fanaticism.

What happens to those driven by the spiritual urge?

Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.[12]

They will participate in bringing about an epoch of spiritual enlightenment, for starters.

In Paper 110, a Solitary Messenger offers these observations. I cannot but observe that so many of you spend so much time and thought on mere trifles of living, while you almost wholly overlook the more essential realities of everlasting import…. The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster…. But a devoted and determined effort to realize eternal destiny is wholly compatible with a lighthearted and joyous life and with a successful and honorable career on earth.[13]

What should be the primary goal of our life: the trifles of living, or realities of everlasting importance – seeking communion with our Thought Adjuster?

Quivering on the Edge

Since we received The Urantia Book about a century ago our efforts at living the teachings have grown over the years. It is now time to take these efforts to the next level, activate our spiritual forward urge, and assist bringing about an epoch of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment to planet Earth.

[1] The Urantia Book 1705.4; this is page.paragraph of the one column edition. All references are to The Urantia Book.

[2] 1732.5

[3] 1733.1

[4] 1095.5

[5] 1107.4

[6] 1428.2

[7] 1459.4

[8] 1537.3

[9] 1118.4

[10] 82.2

[11] 2063.2

[12] 2082.7

[13] 1206.2

These In-between Times

These in-between times are a result of leaving formalized religion without replacing it with something to satisfy our innate spiritual needs. Man’s greatest spiritual jeopardy consists in partial progress, the predicament of unfinished growth: forsaking the evolutionary religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love.[1] This new religion of love was proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth over two thousand years ago.

Our society lacks a firm foundation to guide us through the turmoil of current events. We can rely on our Urantia Book teachings as something to grasp for assistance. In the distant past religions of authority guided lives; today these are inadequate. We are raping Mother Earth, shooting brothers and sisters, political discourse is powered by extremists; this is unacceptable. We are no better than barbarians. We need this new religion which has the power to motivate us; moving us toward a new dawn of brotherhood.

In-between

The twentieth century was characterized by rapid scientific change, industrial growth, and societal upheavals. At the same time there was a gradual decline in church authority that began with the reformation in 16th century Europe. These changes were gradual at first, but after 1900 the pace of change accelerated; the first half of the century saw two world wars while the second half saw more wars and riots in the streets protesting war as well as racial inequality.

During these times family life and personal religious experience suffered from the decadence consequent upon the transition from old religious loyalties to the emerging new meanings and values.[2] The meanings and values generally adopted did not include the moral foundation that religions of authority had; they became contaminated by materialism and greed. A well-known movie quote from this period is: “Greed is good.”

Transition is always accompanied by confusion….[3]

New Religion

You may preach a religion about Jesus, but, perforce, you must live the religion of Jesus.[4]

When we hear a sermon we are receiving religion second hand. For religion to have value it must change us in some way. A sermon may convince us to mend our ways and change our life, but this does not occur often enough. For change to take place we must want to improve; there has to be a yearning for something better: a hunger for spiritual growth. The teacher of truth attracts only those who hunger for the truth and who thirst for righteousness.[5] When the preacher gives a sermon, only those who are hungering for truth have a good chance to embrace such truth.

True religion is a meaningful way of living dynamically face to face with the commonplace realities of everyday life.[6]

True religion is a dynamic way of reacting to life’s situations; it is a blueprint for our existence. If religion does not bring inner changes to our being, it is merely belief, not faith. Our lives are filled with constantly changing circumstances, desires and priorities. We need a dynamic religion to keep up with change and show us the way in these uncertain times. Jesus came to give us such a personal religion.[7]

The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.[8]

We may read about this new religion; but it has value only when we live and experience it.

One paragraph in The Urantia Book neatly compares traditional religion with the religion of Jesus.[9] Traditional religions preach about what we must give up while the religion of Jesus teaches us to forget ourselves in enhanced self-realization coupled with social service and a growing awareness of the universe around us. Traditional religions have a large component of fear derived from the Bible’s Old Testament; the new gospel of the kingdom is dominated by truth-conviction, the spirit of eternal and universal truth. No matter how pious or how closely we follow traditional church doctrine, vital life experience in the kingdom is absent; spirit-born children of the living God are filled with sincere friendliness. Neither tradition nor a ceremonial system of formal worship can atone for the lack of genuine compassion for one’s fellows.

The Center for Unity

A final note on a different subject. The Center for Unity is aimed at presenting Jesus as revealed in The Urantia Book to the world; young adults are the specific group they wish to reach. There is an excellent presentation describing it. More information can be found at their website. This threefold project is called the Jesus Metaverse which is based mainly on Part IV of The Urantia Book; it consists of a physical museum, an interconnected web presence, and a series of cinema on the life of Jesus.

[1] 1090.4; all references are to The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph.

[2] 1089.10

[3] 1090.5

[4] 2091.10

[5] 1815.3

[6] 1089.11

[7] 1629.5

[8] 2083.2

[9] 1951.1