© 2022 Chuck Thurston
© 2022 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Chuck Thurston
When I talk about the revelatory content of The Urantia Book with someone who is not familiar with it, but might be interested, I try to imagine myself in their position.
Before ever hearing of The Urantia Book, what kinds of descriptions from either a stranger or a friend might arouse my interest? How would I respond, for example, if someone told me that a cosmic textbook, written by high angelic beings, has been gifted to our planet, and that its purpose is to shed light on the great mysteries of our existence in the universe? I would probably be skeptical, but also very curious and intrigued.
It might take me a few minutes to fully grasp the idea of such a thing, not to mention its potential significance. It had never occurred to me that it might actually be possible to receive bona fide, off-planet, superhuman instruction about our experience of being human. The existence of a resource like this seems highly far-fetched and difficult to take seriously when considered for the first time.
The feeling that we live on an orphaned planet, completely cut off from any knowledge of our connection to the rest of the universe, is so familiar and pervasive that it is not uncommon for people to wonder if our planet harbors the only life in the universe. The idea that our world is actually one of countless inhabited planets that are lovingly watched over by a celestial administration may sound like interesting science fiction, but very few have thought of that as a real possibility.
Even our cultural awareness of angels and other “unseen friends” has been largely lost, in any real sense. While knowledge of such beings can be found in pre-modern religious texts, their existence is rarely taken seriously by today’s “enlightened” secularist populations.
But then, along comes this book, written in modern language and replete with detailed and richly authoritative answers to so many burning questions. Hope joins curiosity and skepticism as I hear more about this new, expanded, and unprecedented universe reality frame, in which we are invited to discover for ourselves the greater meanings and values of life that can only be found through revelation.
When exposed to all this for the first time, I begin to realize that even the most tentative allowance for the possibility that The Urantia Book might actually be what it says it is will require a profound reframing of my beliefs about reality and the significance of my shortlived physical existence.
When I tiptoe into this extraordinary realm of new, revealed understanding, one of the first things I discover is that it challenges me to do my own thinking and my own testing of the principles that are presented. While the tone of the text is authoritative, the spirit of the teachings is collaborative and points to an open-ended path of personal exploration of original insights and the sharing of these new understandings with others.
If I were to make a list of the most meaningful and valuable revelations that would be missing from my life if The Urantia Book did not exist, I would at least include all of the following:
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A profoundly improved understanding of the loving nature of God and the possibility of entering into a real personal relationship with our Creator, whose spirit presence lives within each of us
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A fully detailed presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus, which gives us a new cosmic understanding of who Jesus really is, and how his comforting and inspiring companionship is made available through the Spirit of Truth
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The reestablishment of awareness of angelic ministry, along with the introduction of many other types of celestial and nearhuman beings who love us beyond measure and are always with us
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Endlessly fascinating expositions of philosophical principles and precepts, beginning with the unifying power of love and the directing influence of the three primary eternal values-truth, beauty, and goodness
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A highly plausible and detailed rendering of life after death, including associated teachings about the growth of our souls and how we are able to survive into the next life and beyond
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An inspiring vision of an ascending eternal career of unimaginable adventure, spiritual self-mastery, and thrilling satisfactions of divine service
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A satisfying and expansive understanding of universe organization, cosmology, and celestial administration
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The recounting of crucial missing pieces in our planet’s history that are essential to an understanding of why it is that our world is so fraught with confusion and tragedy, and why we seem so isolated in the universe
While slowly becoming familiar with these and other startling descriptions of universe reality and its affairs, I also notice that the quality, internal consistency, and coherence of this wide-ranging instruction, spanning 2,097 pages, is truly astonishing and seems far beyond any known human effort.
It is this combination of extraordinary cosmic scope and the unprecedented quality of the writing that creates a new feeling in me-the exciting feeling that I have been personally invited to embark on an endless voyage of challenge and discovery that will reveal the true universe value of personality relationships and the limitless identity potential of knowing myself and others as treasured children of our heavenly Mother and Father.
