© 1991 Ernest Moyer
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
from “Birth of a Divine Revelation” by Ernest Moyer
Three choices exist for the origin of The URANTIA Book. It is human, it comes from God, or it comes from the Devil.
When I first met the Book I had trouble with it. I did not know how to place it within my conceptual framework or Universe frame, as The URANTIA Book refers to it. The Book seemed too far outside my understanding of the world; it was difficult to reconcile with my previous religious views. However, the Book was instrumental in bringing me back to God. That key was in Papers 20 and 21, The Paradise Sons of God, and The Paradise Creator Sons. Suddenly I had a view of a real, living God — not some mystical notion, not some superstitious religious view, not some intellectual abstraction — but a real, living God.
He came from eternity; he worked in space; he designed a universe and all of its occupants; he administered his creation with care and purpose. Those two Papers were enough to prevent me from throwing the Book away.
Then, as I began to read the Book more seriously, I recognized important attributes.
I was a well-read individual. I was not an intellect, nor a literary scholar, nor a Doctor of Philosophy. But I knew a wide spectrum of writings, from the ancients, to medieval religionists, to many varied modern forms. I had a good estimate of how men can write, and the kind of productions they create.
I had never met anything like The URANTIA Book. Its style was not intellectual, nor superior. It was lofty pragmatic prose with powerful statements in simple English. How noble it was.
It stirred my inner soul. It guided my mind into new conceptual methods. It did things to me. The words of The URANTIA Book had to come from sources who knew and understood mankind, and could manipulate our language to do such things to us.
In addition, its range of knowledge is so vast, so comprehensive, and so lofty that human beings could not possibly achieve such mastery. Even a group of men, all expert in their respective fields, would not be able to assemble such material with the competence shown by the Book. A collaboration of that magnitude certainly could not be concealed in the group of people who brought us the Book.
Furthermore, its conceptual range is far beyond the normal grasp of our world. Countless new religious, spiritual, moral, social, and physical concepts are portrayed which could not have come from any source less than spirit beings. We live our normal lives with relative conceptual poverty; now, for the first time in human history, The URANTIA Book freely gives conceptual power for the uplifting of our minds and our souls.
Yet again, the Book is consistent. In repetitive presentations it never contradicts itself or displays conceptual error. It does not exhibit the fallibilities of a work created by mortal men.
Consider the sheer mass of the Book. How many years would have been required to produce this work, with expert knowledge in all areas?
There are individuals who cannot accept that a work, printed on paper in the English language, could have come from sources other than earthly ones. They know nothing of how Melchizedek dictated to the prophets of Israel. They know nothing of the visions offered to John to enable him to write his Apocalypse. They do not believe in real intelligence existing outside the three dimensional realms.
Consider also the presumption of the Book if it were written by men. The authors did not write a fiction about Paradise; they told us they know Paradise. The authors did not write a fiction about seven-dimensional creation; they informed us that they existed in the depth of that creation. The authors did not write a fiction about the Father, or the Eternal Son, or the Infinite Spirit; they stated that they personally know the Father, the Son, and the Infinite Spirit. The authors did not write a fiction about the myriad forms of spirit beings, about the administration of space proceeding from the Father down, or the administration of the worlds; they actually know all those things. Everything they wrote showed a treatment as actually existing, and not pretending.
For the first time in human history we have descriptions of the Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit that are functional descriptions. We know how their respective attributes repercuss throughout the universe. We now have a base upon which to observe, study, and analyze those repercussions. Can you imagine any man or group of men perpetrating a sham at such width, depth, penetration, and eternal import?
Can you then imagine that such pretenders would give us lofty concepts for soul guidance as the difference between meaning and values, truth and knowledge, or temporal versus the eternal?
Can you imagine the life of Jesus written out as the truth, with all of its great teachings and eternal value it portrays, when it is nothing but a sham?
I well recall my reaction to the accounts of the apostles, who they were and from whence they came. My previous religious training had elevated them to the status of saints who could do no wrong and who were Godlike in their character. Suddenly I knew them as ordinary men, with all the weaknesses of human flesh, and with all the dreams and longings that men possess. Then they share a life on earth with a God who has come down here to learn the ways of men. And the experiences ennobled them to extraordinary feats. Still, they were plain, weak, and humble human beings. And this new practical view of reality affected all of my knowledge and thinking.
The Book started me on a soul journey which shall reach God.
The Book could not have been written by a man or a group of men. They would be incapable of producing such a majestic work.
After we reach this point of understanding we are then left with the problem of whether the beings who authored the Book were benign or malevolent. Did it come from the Devil?
I could not help but ask why Caligastia would describe his own fate, or show the limitations of his present condition, or the craven acts he performs. All of those are in The URANTIA Book. Those descriptions and statements could not possibly come from the personality who perpetrated or was responsible for them. Then you take that impossibility and combine it with the manifold blessings of spiritual uplift contained within The URANTIA Book and you know it could not have come from the Devil.
Ultimately, each of us must judge the Book on its merits. Each person must decide on its spiritual value. Are its presentations loftier and more noble than any other religious source in modern times? Does it enrich our spiritual lives and create within us a deeper devotion to God?
There is no way to prove The URANTIA Book. Its proof is in what it does to each of us human beings, and how that effect then repercusses in our lives and for the future of this world.
