© 2023 Mark Blackham, Peep Sõber, Robert Coenraads, Phillip Marriott, Neal Waldrop, Antti Roine
© 2023 International Urantia Association (IUA)
¶ In This Issue
- Journal Editorial – November 2023 – Mark Blackham
- Urantia – Is It a New Religion? – Peep Sõber, Estonia
- Spiritual Practices – An Invitation to Intimacy With God – Robert Coenraads, AUS
- Unity – Harmony Within Diversity of Experience and Belief – Phillip Marriott, AUS
- Urantia’s Unrevealed Destiny – Neal Waldrop, USA
- Our World Is Made of Force Fields – Antti Roine, Finland
- About the Journal
¶ Journal Editorial – November 2023
Mark Blackham, Canada
Welcome to the November 2023 edition of the Urantia Association’s Journal, a publication dedicated to the thoughts, observations, and experiences of Urantia Book students from around the world. Our contributors explore a wide range of topics related to the teachings of the book, all of which demonstrate an extraordinary diversity of thought and a spirited unity of purpose.
Our first article, “Urantia – Is It a New Religion?” by Peep Sõber brings up a question often asked by Urantia Book students and others. Peep recognizes there is an air of subjectivity to this question, depending on the individual and their experiences. Nonetheless, he drives home the point that both The Publication Mandate and The Urantia Book itself, promote a new religion, in particular, the religion of Jesus. But changing religion is not about forming a new church with a rigid set of beliefs, various clergy, or a claim to ecclesiastical authority.
¶ Urantia – Is It a New Religion?
Peep Sõber, Estonia
A few years ago, in a census held in Estonia, about 30 people indicated Urantia as their religion. I have never called the Urantia teachings a religion, even though they are religious in content. Some consider it an organized religion. But do we have such a religion?
Religion can be viewed both from the inside with some preconceptions about everything that follows, and it can also be viewed from the outside without special preconceptions. I don’t try to find supporters for any point of view. These are just my personal views from the outside today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll think a little differently, that’s natural because we all evolve and therefore change. No doubt, I have internal views as well, but they are not very important in this case. Therefore, I deliberately leave them aside.
¶ Spiritual Practices – An Invitation to Intimacy With God
Robert Coenraads, AUS
An Experiential Exploration of Relaxation, Meditation, Prayer, and Worship and Its Benefits to Soul, Heart, Mind, and Body
(Transcript of a presentation given at the 2022 Tasmanian Conference)
All formal religions and individual spiritual pilgrims have at their heart a basic desire to connect or become one with a greater good. It lies somewhere at the core of their belief system, perhaps smothered by a greater or lesser number of ritualistic practices.
Western religions appeal to the intellect and promote desirable moral practices through examples given in the scriptures. Outsiders, and members of the church, often complain that, try as they may, it really doesn’t seem there is anyone listening “up there” as the realities and stresses of day-to-day living become increasingly complex and difficult to manage.
Eastern traditions teach practical techniques for clearing the mind, to be present and aware, and simply to listen. These highly effective techniques have made their way to the West and developed into various forms of meditation that have been scientifically demonstrated to achieve results.
¶ Unity – Harmony Within Diversity of Experience and Belief
Phillip Marriott, AUS
(Transcript of a presentation at the 2022 Tasmanian conference)
What is “Spirit Unity” and where does it exist?
It’s very easy to have diversity, difference of opinion, and divergent viewpoints because we are human; our personalities are unique, and our experiences are personal. I may go through a shared event or tribulation, but my experience is mine and mine alone. Jesus discussed this in Paper 141, section 5.1-4.
One of the most eventful of all the evening conferences at Amathus was the session having to do with the discussion of spiritual unity. James Zebedee asked, “Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more harmony among ourselves?”
What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity — and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven.
You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. 141:5.1-4 emphasis added
¶ Urantia’s Unrevealed Destiny
Neal Waldrop, USA
CHRIST MICHAEL OF NEBADON — our sovereign Master Son and also, not by coincidence, the Planetary Prince of Urantia — undoubtedly receives frequent reports from Machiventa Melchizedek, the Vicegerent Planetary Prince who acts on Michael’s behalf. Although it would be ludicrous to ask them to include us as Cc addressees when they exchange messages, any such missive would be unintelligible to us anyway, because Michael and Machiventa would certainly be communicating in the language of Nebadon, not in English or in any other language of human beings who currently reside on our troubled planet.
Even so, we have every right to believe that at some suitable moment during the last few centuries, Michael received an urgent appeal from Machiventa warning him that society and civilization on Urantia were approaching an era of tumult and crisis when the spiritual government of Nebadon would be compelled to intervene decisively. In part, this appeal of Machiventa’s reflected and honored Michael’s personal commitment to Urantia because of his extraordinary bestowal approximately 2,000 years ago in the human form of Jesus of Nazareth. After all, Michael most assuredly would not want a worldwide catastrophe to befall the planet on which he lived and died!
¶ Our World Is Made of Force Fields
Antti Roine, Finland
The physical world around us seems very concrete because it is tangible, and we can perceive it with our own senses. That’s why it’s easy to think that all the reality we live in is made up of matter - and the facts of our lives are based on this matter. However, this visible illusion breaks when we begin to examine the real world around us through the eyes of science.
According to scientific measurements, there is about 99.9999999999996 percent empty space in the visible matter around us because the nuclei and electrons of atoms are extremely small particles compared to the size of atoms and molecules.
¶ About the Journal
The Journal is produced twice yearly and contains essays, articles and study aids by readers and for readers of The Urantia Book. Any interpretations, opinions, conclusions, or artistic representations, whether stated or implied, are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Urantia Association International, the National or Local Urantia Associations, or the editorial team of the Association’s Journal.
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