© 1997 Dick Bain
© 1997 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| Why we need to know 'The Earthly Life of Jesus and How He Lived It.' | Volume 4 - No. 5 — Index | Intolerance |
Now that I have your attention. . . I’m sure that those of us in the Urantia community would give a vehement NO to such an idea, but the problem is that there are others who are not students of The Urantia Book who would give a different answer. Suppose that the late Heaven’s Gate group recently of San Diego had mentioned The Urantia Book on their web site or if the book had been found in their rented home after their mass suicide. Perhaps some investigative reporters would have done an in-depth investigation of the Urantia community. Would their exposé portray us as a dangerous or weird cult?
Cult used to be a pretty respectable term. My 1979 Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines cult as:
1. Formal religious veneration. worship. 2. A system of religious beliefs also: its body of adherents. 3. A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious also its body of adherents. (Of special interest to us) 5.a. A great devotion to a person, idea or thing.
Religion, even the highest yet revealed in the universe of Nebadon—the earth life of Jesus of Nazareth. (UB 102:8.7)
We would probably place our community in category #2 or #5a, but there are those who would place us in #3. Notice that there is no definition that fits the way “cult” is commonly used today. Today it has the connotation of a group that uses brain washing and mind control techniques to completely control its members.
On UB 87:7.6, The Urantia Book uses “cult” in the older and more positive sense of the word when it advises that a cult needs to develop based on our highest and best religious ideals. There is no doubt that someone looking to condemn The Urantia Book would seize on this and use it to condemn the book and our community. But we would be amiss if we did not admit that there has been at least one group associated with our community that began to look like a cult?
Suppose that a decade or so ago, shortly before a certain group out in California disbanded, an investigative reporter heard rumors about this group. Then suppose the reporter had visited the group’s headquarters and had observed the preparations for nuclear holocaust—the weapons, the fortifications, the stocks of food, as well as the fact that the group’s leader was sequestered away in an upstairs command post.
Suppose the reporter found out that the leader was following orders supposedly channeled to him from high spiritual authorities? If this was all the reporter knew about the Urantia community and reported it as such, it certainly could have created a long lasting negative impression in the public mind about our community.
Most people I know in our Urantia community are well balanced and responsible citizens of the larger culture. But when we deal with the perceptions of people who are not part of our community, we don’t necessarily deal with reality, we deal with reality after it has been filtered through their prejudices and preconceived notions.
Fortunately, such an exposé didn’t happen, but it certainly could have. There are Urantia groups today that lean toward the negative type of cultism. I doubt that there will ever be a Branch Davidian type confrontation such as occurred in Waco, Texas, but it’s not impossible either. We have limited knowledge of what’s going on in some of these closed groups.
If the media does give the book and the community extensive negative publicity due to some sensational incident, how will we deal with it?
While we may not be able to prevent such incidents from happening, we can do something beforehand to dilute the damage. It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum. In the absence of real knowledge, all sorts of nonsense can rush in to fill the void, and right now the public perception of The Urantia Book and the Urantia community is mostly a void. It would be excellent if there were a general perception of our community as a positive spiritual force in our world. How can we fill the void with positive information?
Would it be wise to use advertising to create a positive image? I doubt that advertising by itself can fill the void, though there may be a way in which it can be helpful. I am impressed by the TV advertisement sponsored by the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) that offers a free tape about improving family life. Is advertising of this kind something we should consider? While this sort of effort may be of some help, I believe that something is needed that requires a personal investment from us.
Love is above all the gift of oneself.
Jean Anouith
There’s no traffic jam at the second mile.
On UB 115:0.1 of the book, the authors tell us that we must: “do something as well as be something.” What we are is a collection of study groups; what we do is mainly study The Urantia Book. The two major organizations connected with The Urantia Book are focused on activities related to the book and to study groups. These organizations are not philosophically or organizationally oriented toward outreach; their activities seem to focus mainly on encouraging the formation of study groups and promotion of the book.
Whatever the case, service outside the Urantia community does not seem to be high on the priority list of either organization. This is not to criticize the organizations; they are doing very valuable work. But the lack of any national organization to promote service work leaves the job to individuals and study groups. Doing service work is important, but our motives for doing it are equally important.
I think our motive for doing service should not be primarily for the purpose of image building. Image building is a by-product. When the primary motive for service is image building, it may become a ploy to cover the sins of a business or organization.
We should be service minded as a matter of course. We should have long ago started outreach work as a community. Indeed, many people in the Urantia community are probably already doing outreach, but for a church or other organization. This is laudable, but it does little or nothing to create a positive image of our Urantia community. Are we willing to donate extra time to give Urantia communities some positive visibility?
What sort of outreach can we do? The possibilities are legion. Individuals in a study group could donate blood at a blood bank in the name of their group. They could as a group visit a nursing home on a regular basis to speak with folks who never get visitors. A group could volunteer to ‘adopt’ a section of a local highway and periodically pick up trash to keep it clean. Unfortunately, not everyone will be pleased by such outreach efforts.
Undoubtedly there are some who will object to anything that brings our community or themselves to public attention. One objection that we may encounter is that some people may not wish to advertise the fact that they are part of the Urantia community perhaps out of fear of ridicule or criticism from family or church.
Some may even fear that we will be physically persecuted if we let ourselves be known. They may point to the persecution of the Christians by the Roman authorities. I do not believe that we live in a culture where this will be tolerated. But I do believe that if we do not do something to let people know our benign nature, an incident could occur that will force us to go on the defensive about our involvement in the Urantia community.
Shall we be closet members of this community or shall we risk some exposure for the good of all? Each person must sincerely search his or her own heart for the answer that is right for them.
There many worth while by-products of outreach as a group or as a community. As it stands, the Urantia community is hardly a community in the same sense that a church is a religious community. We have no sort of organization that we all feel we belong to that is comparable with the way that people belonging to a church identify with their organization. There are no doubt exceptions but, in my experience, study groups tend to be loosely organized and attendance is not always a major priority in the lives of its members. Working together on outreach projects would give groups a sense of purpose beyond study of the book. It could foster a sense of fellowship among those serving together in some noble cause. It could give us the feeling that we are in some sense applying the principles we learn in The Urantia Book to real life problems.
But revelatory religion is excellent as well as genuine. The new loyalties of enlarged spiritual vision create new levels of love and devotion, of service and fellowship… (UB 100:6.8)
The Master fully realized that certain social results would appear in the world as a consequence of the spread of the gospel of the kingdom; but he intended that all such desirable social manifestations should appear as unconscious and inevitable outgrowths, or natural fruits, of this inner personal experience of individual believers, this purely spiritual fellowship and communion with the divine spirit which indwells and activates all such believers. (UB 170:5.12)
There is at least one other good reason to do outreach. When we are sequestered in our study groups, we only interact with each other. It is good to be with like minded people sometimes, but it is instructive to also interact with those who may disagree with us.
There are some very good and very spiritual people out in the world who would not be at all interested in The Urantia Book; we will encounter them as we reach out beyond the confines of our community. It is valuable to hear their insights and benefit from them. And who knows, if people we come in contact with hear a little about The Urantia Book, a few of these folks might get interested and want to read the book. I don’t believe this should be our motivation for outreach, but it certainly is a possible good side effect of our outreach.
There are many good reasons to be of service to our fellow mortals. Service is just as much a catalyst for spiritual growth as are prayer and worship. And the willingness to serve is a sign that we have grown spiritually. If our service outreach can also enhance the image of our community, so much the better.
Jesus foresaw that a social organization, or church, would follow the progress of the true spiritual kingdom, and that is why he never opposed the apostles’ practicing the rite of John’s baptism. (UB 170:5.13)
| Why we need to know 'The Earthly Life of Jesus and How He Lived It.' | Volume 4 - No. 5 — Index | Intolerance |