© 1987 David Regal
© 1987 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
In my 18 years of studying The URANTIA Book and trying to stimulate others to seek for truth within its pages, I find that one of the most commonly asked questions is: “What religion are you?”
At first I was at a loss to make an adequate reply to this question, never having given my own religion any serious thought. Hence I was forced by circumstances to do some deep and careful thinking as on more than one occasion my inquiror was put off by my inability to provide a clear and acceptable statement of my own religious faith.
One would assume that since I received a traditional religious upbringing in the Methodist Church, I would naturally be a Christian. But such is not the case as I had left the church in my mid-teens, having found very little satisfaction for the longing of m spiritual nature. To declare that I an a Christian, places limitations on my level of “Faith” and also tends to place the inquiror on guard as my experience has taught me that those thinking men and women with little religious training or background, who do not follow any particular religion, often associate Christianity with its many divisions and identify it with the social problems of Western civilization. Some even fear religion and what it will do to them. Those who reject Christianity would not accept any statement that suggested I followed some religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
“The acceptance of the traditional religions of authority presents the easy way out for man’s urge to seek satisfaction for the longings of his spiritual nature. The settled, crystallized, and established religions of authority afford a ready refuge to which the distracted and distraught soul of man may flee when harassed by fear and tormented by uncertainty. Such a religion requires of its devotees, as the price to be paid for its satisfactions and assurances, only a passive and purely intellectual assent.” (UB 155:5.9)
I knew I did not belong to such a religion, particularly after discovering God for myself and gradually evolving a religion through personal experience. only recently did I make a real attempt to define my religion into word symbols of the English language.
This is how I describe my own religion to answer this commonly asked question:
“The religion that recognizes God as my Father and all men and women as my brothers and sisters and that leads me to seek to know the will of God and try to do that will in my daily life”.
This method I have found, allows me to overcome any prejudice on the part of the inquiror and places their mind in that state where they will often desire to be illuminated further. Most people agree with this definition, but find they cannot fully understand its meaning. And thus by carefully leading this person along the path of truth, I can stimulate them unconsciously to become a truth seeker without threatening their intellect by giving then the impression that I was trying to force my religion upon then. And usually I get the opportunity to make it clear that my religion is a personal experience, not a system of slavish beliefs or rituals.
“Religion cannot be bestowed, received, loaned, loaned, or lost. It is a personal experience which grows proportionally to the growing quest for final values.” (UB 100:1.7)
David Regal, Palm Beach, QLD
“The religion that recognizes God as my Father and all men and women as my brothers and sisters and that leads me to seek to know the will of God and try to do that will in my daily life.”