© 1997 Bud Bromley
© 1997 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
A Christian reading The Urantia Book comes across a number of ways in which it agrees entirely with the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible. But it also disagrees in several ways with orthodox theology, particularly with some points of Pauline theology. Since both orthodox Christians and students of The Urantia Book uphold Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son, as the world’s savior, it seems reasonable that we should try to understand each others’ viewpoints for the purposes of working together, as much as possible, against the worldwide breakdown of intelligent morality.
One of the irreconcilable differences between the teachings of The Urantia Book and some Pauline theology is the belief in the blood atonement theory of salvation. I know that there are people who can look back at some particular point in their lives and say, with the hymn, “How could he love me so (enough to shed his blood for me)?” They can testify that when the majestic power of Jesus’ love took a hold of them, it made them into wondrously better people from there on. I certainly do not deny the saving power of Jesus’ love, whatever theory it took to make them inescapably aware of that love. I would never wish to take away from them the precious memories of that time when they firmly chose to follow Jesus.
I certainly do not deny the saving power of Jesus’ love, whatever theory it > took to make them inescapably aware of that love…
In equal honesty, however, I have to say that while the awesome power of God’s love and Jesus’love has captured me too, it did not come to me by way of that particular theory.
In equal honesty, however, I have to say that while the awesome power of God’s love and Jesus’ love has captured me too, it did not come to me by way of that particular theory. My Dad was a minister, a missionary, and a Professor who taught biblical exegesis. He read the Old Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek every year. I was raised on what I consider to be an intelligent understanding of the Bible. But Dad never asked me to assent to anything that I could not truly believe. Long before I encountered The Urantia Book, I felt that I must discard the theory that a loving heavenly Father would demand the cruel death of his perfect Son. Jesus said, “God is a spirit, and they who would worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” I could not see, and cannot yet see, anything spiritual in the shedding of material blood. I know the argument that, God being perfect, his justice must also be perfect. I agree that God’s justice is perfect, but I seriously question whether or not we can comprehend God’s idea of perfect justice. Jesus said, “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say unto you…”, and he went on to talk about going the second mile and turning the other cheek. So, whatever God’s perfect justice is, it is not an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which is what some of the blood atonement adherents seem to think it has to be.
When I became 21, my earthly father did not present me with a bill for all the things I had broken as a baby and as a child. Nor did I so treat my children; nor will they theirs. That would be an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” justice which some still ascribe to our heavenly Father.
The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth.
Further supporting this premise, Jesus tells us (John 15:12), “Love one another as I have loved you.” (italics mine) Since Jesus shows us the Father, we may be sure that the Father also loves us. Therefore, I cannot see the need to postulate that we must procure God’s love by being “washed in the blood.”
When I was first introduced to The Urantia Book I was extremely skeptical. A new revelation? I had looked into Islam. I had examined Bahai beliefs. I had investigated Mormonism. I had inspected the Oahspi Bible. Although each had some good points, all were, in my opinion, clearly inferior to the teachings of Jesus found in the Bible. So much for new revelations; they come, they go; so what? But then I read in The Urantia Book:
The barbarous idea of appeasing an angry God, of propitiating an offended Lord, of winning the favor of Deity through sacrifices and penance and even by the shedding of blood, represents a religion wholly puerile and primitive, a philosophy unworthy of an enlightened age of science and truth. Such beliefs are utterly repulsive to the celestial beings and the divine rulers who serve and reign in the universes. It is an affront to God to believe, hold, or teach that innocent blood must be shed in order to win his favor or to divert the fictitious divine wrath. (UB 4:5.4)
I was deeply moved — I had been yearning for someone to dare to say that! This book was talking about no small God! And I’ve been reading it with increasing acceptance ever since. I do not think that I have ever let The Urantia Book coerce my thinking. However, I have often been excited to find that concepts in it either parallel ideas which I have been considering, or, more often, are better than what I had conceived, which is both thrilling and humbling.
For example, The Urantia Book says that babies who die will be held in “sleep” until one or both parents arrive on the mansion worlds. Babies are the wards of a certain group of angels, but their parents will be allowed to spend time with them, and to help raise them. That is so much more reasonable, more kindly and loving, than the Calvinistic conviction that, as we are all born “totally depraved” (Calvin’s term), unsaved babies might go to some limbo, blocked from heaven where their parents reside. I could not worship a god who would do that.
Most people have some basic proposition or criterion by which they judge all other statements or positions. For some it is, “The Bible is right, all the time.” For me it is, “God is good, all the time.”
Most people have some basic proposition or criterion by which they judge all other statements or positions. For some it is, “The Bible is right, all the time.” For me it is, “God is good, all the time.” I believe that an infinitely wise God can surely find a way to be just without having to be cruel. I can not see that material bloodshed has anything to do with spiritual righteousness. I do not see that punishing an innocent person has anything to do with justice. And I will not accept any such theory which makes God less than a good person. Such a god would be too small to be true.
When Jesus said, “Seek you first the Kingdom of Heaven,” he also added, “and all these other things shall be added unto you.” I believe that “all these other things” includes salvation. When, in Luke, the two great commandments had been quoted by the Jewish lawyer, who had asked Jesus how to obtain eternal life, Jesus said to him, “These do, and you shall have life.” To those who have done good deeds unto one of these, his brethren, he said, “Come unto me, you blessed of the Lord.” These are clearly invitations to eternal life. In none of these promises is the shedding of blood required.
How is one saved, according to The Urantia Book? One is saved by sincerely desiring to find God, and to become as much like him as it is possible for a finite being to do. Jesus shows us “the way” better than any human religious teacher ever could. And Jesus, as seen in The Urantia Book, shows us the way more completely than does the Jesus seen in the Bible.
None of this is to detract from the enormous significance of Jesus’ death on the cross. First: Jesus said by what he did, and by what he refused to do, that staying alive on this earth is less important than staying in God’s will and standing by the primacy of God’s message to us, namely, the Fatherhood of God, and the sisterhood/brotherhood of all humankind. The superb dignity and self-confidence with which he carried himself throughout his ordeal showed his love and forbearance for humankind. Second: It means that God, having chosen of his free will to give to us an arena of free will, counted that free will so important that he did not choose to coerce the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees who were determined to have Jesus killed, as I’m sure he could have done. Thus my Godgiven right to free will is no light thing. When I exercise it, particularly in choices having any moral import, I should do so prayerfully and carefully. Third: Jesus said, while on the cross itself, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Since this was the very opposite of a call for retribution, and Jesus was still showing us what God is like, I cannot believe that God demands to be “paid back” by a retributive blood sacrifice. Here is where I became totally overcome by the immensity of divine love for us mortals.
While I would not take away the theory of blood atonement from anyone to whom it is a bedrock of faith, neither will I give up my conviction that God is good, all the time; nor can I give up my related conviction, developed slowly, even reluctantly at first, that The Urantia Book supersedes the Bible, as the New Testament (or at least the Gospels) supersede the Old Testament. I have been thus led because the God of The Urantia Book is good, all the time!
While I would not take away the theory of blood atonement from anyone to whom it is a bedrock of faith, neither will I give up my conviction that God is good, all the time; nor can I give up my related conviction, developed slowly, even reluctantly at first, that The Urantia Book supersedes the Bible, as the New Testament (or at least the Gospels) supersede the Old Testament.
Another inescapable difference between Urantia Book teachings and orthodox Christianity is that Christians are taught that Jesus of Nazareth was also the second person of the Trinity, despite the fact that this teaching cannot be found explicitly in the Bible. Some Christians believe that it is implied in the Bible, but I do not find this implication as clearly as do those who feel impelled to find it.
The Urantia Book teaches that the Universal Father and the Eternal Son unite to create Paradise Creator Sons, spiritual beings of such high perfection that each one has the right to say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” and they are of such high standing that they may quite correctly be worshiped. These Creator Sons are each unique, and each is known, in his local universe, as “the only begotten Son.” Whenever the Father and the Son bring forth a Creator Son, then does the Infinite Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, also bring forth a daughter Spirit. This Creator Son and associated Spirit are given a volume of space in which to create a local universe. Despite the term, “local,” such a universe is no small thing. A completed local universe has ten million inhabited worlds along with many more uninhabited ones.
As well as supervising the creation of a local universe, a Creator Son also bestows himself seven times upon the creatures of his creation; that is, he becomes for a time, one of them. His first bestowal is upon a high order of angels, and he works his way down. His last bestowal is upon the mortal beings of an inhabited world, the lowest creatures having the potential for eternal survival. Our Jesus was a Paradise Creator Son on his seventh bestowal. By completing his bestowals he earned the right to be given “all power in heaven and on earth.” I know of nothing in the Bible that either confirms or denies these earlier bestowals.
This seeming demotion from the second person of the Trinity to one of many Creator Sons may appear, at first, to diminish the significance of Jesus. Actually, The Urantia Book magnifies the importance of Jesus. The Jesus of scriptural revelation is understood to be the ruler of a single world, and a few cubic miles of a heaven immediately surrounding this world. The Jesus of The Urantia Book is the ruler of ten million inhabited worlds, and of a huge space spanning many light years [1] between them.
This seeming demotion from the second person of the Trinity to one of many Creator Sons may appear, at first, to diminish the significance of Jesus. Actually, The Urantia Book magnifies the importance of Jesus. The Jesus of scriptural revelation is understood to be the ruler of a single world, and a few cubic miles of a heaven immediately surrounding this world. The Jesus of The Urantia Book is the ruler of ten million inhabited worlds, and of a huge space spanning many light years [1:1] between them. This understanding harmonizes with our modern scientific understanding of the size of our universe.
There is another difference between the two pictures of Jesus. The Gospels mention several incidents in which Jesus is aware of what a few other people around him are thinking, without needing to hear them speak. How this takes place is not explained in the Bible. The Urantia Book tells us that God the Father is able to give “fragments” of himself to every mortal being with survival potential, and he is in constant and immediate touch with every one of these fragments, and hence, with every mortal being. Further, Paradise Creator Sons are always in touch with God. And there are yet other circuits by which a Creator Son is able to be in touch with each and every one of his created beings, mortal and angel.
To grasp the import of this, imagine, for a moment, that you are able to read clearly the minds of a thousand other people, and you have enough additional units of attention to handle all of this data without confusion. You can share their experiences, know what decisions they make-good or bad, and know what the consequences were of each of these decisions. Can you get some feeling for how tremendously capable such a mind would be?
Jesus, our Paradise Creator Son, is in touch with, not just thousands of people, but rather, with thousands of whole worlds of mortal beings. Further, he is equally in touch with millions of high angelic beings. We cannot comprehend such conceptual capacity and accumulated wisdom; we can only gasp in awe of it. This, then, is the Jesus of The Urantia Book!
So then, have we who accept The Urantia Book anything in common with people who place the Bible above all else? Yes, much! We both believe in God, the Universal Father. We both believe in Jesus, a Son of God of such high spiritual standing and sterling perfection that he could truthfully say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” We both believe that we should “seek first the Kingdom of Heaven,” and we both believe that Jesus defined the Kingdom of Heaven in the Lord’s Prayer as “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” We both believe that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength; and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. We both believe that as we do it unto one of these, his brethren, we do it to him. We both believe that, “If, with all your heart, you truly seek me, you shall surely sometime find me!” We both believe that God is able to save us unto eternal life.
What is important is that human beings should be captured by God’s love; if, for some, by the theory of blood sacrifice and no other way, then so be it, although to me this theory seems to degrade God the Father. But if by the significance of Jesus’ life, his teachings, and his death, so much the better, for this glorifies both the Father and the Son.
In conclusion, it seems to me that unity in Christ should be more important than uniformity of theology. Mature Christians, whether students of The Urantia Book or not, should agree to disagree agreeably, and should be able to work together for that in which we all believe, the universal Fatherhood of God, and the consequent universal sister/brotherhood of humankind.
C. Bud Bromley is a computer programmer and college teacher, now retired. Bud has been a student of The Urantia Book for many years.