© 2002 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| The Shroud of Turin—An Update | Volume 9 - No. 5 — Index | On Becoming More Spiritual—Living as Jesus Lived |
Apparently commencing among German theologians and philosophers in the 19th century, a movement that questions every aspect of biblical historicity and authenticity has slowly gained vigor and now appears to have entered upon an exponential growth phase.
For this questioning, nothing is sacred. Archaeologists and anthropologists, particularly Israelis, assert there is no evidence at all for the captivity in Egypt, for the existence of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, or of the Davidic Kingdom. Both the latter appear to have had their mythical roots in the kingdom and temple of Ahab in Samaria.
Among Western scholars, the New Testament has come under rigorous scrutiny, so that even those having relatively moderate views have gone further in their revamping of the meaning of Jesus than does the Urantia revelation.
In an Innerface article entitled “Really Out of Date” (Vol.7 No.5) it was shown that the book’s account of the origin of the Earth-Moon system could not possibly be correct. In our two recent issues, about thirty errors in the book’s cosmology and geology have been brought to notice.
According to Dr. Sadler’s History of the Urantia Movement, all of the Papers in the first three parts resulted from a question and answer procedure, each Paper being in response to a specific question from Forum members.
Initially the Forum treated this as an opportunity to test the validity of the revelators’ claims by posing questions that no human being could answer—a policy that posed acute problems for the revelators who were restricted by a rule proscribing the provision of unearned knowledge. Thus, to give a completely correct answer would contravene the rule, and not to answer could have caused the collapse of the Forum and loss of about twenty years of preparatory work.
Mostly the revelators avoided their difficulty by providing knowledge at the forefront of current research that was nevertheless in advance of the knowledge of Forum members. They covered themselves by explaining their policy in detail in a section of Paper 101 called “The Limitations of Revelation.” In it we are informed that the cosmology of their revelation is not inspired and future students are likely to discover errors. Elsewhere they comment: “But no revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete,” and “Conceptual frames of the universe are only relatively true; they are serviceable scaffolding which must eventually give way before the expansions of enlarging cosmic comprehension.” This should teach us that truth will always be relative and progressive, and never absolute.
But what about Part 4, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus” which was provided outside of the question and answer procedure for Parts 1-3—should we expect infallibility? A possible answer to this is to be found in the Sadler history document.
During their initial 20-year period of contact with the revelators, wrote Sadler, they were introduced to numerous new ideas of cosmology and philosophy. Among these are listed:
“6. Tentative testing of our theologic concepts. Patient determination of how far we might possibly go in the direction of modifying our theologic beliefs and philosophical opinions.”
“15. We listened to occasional references to Jesus’ life and teachings—but they were very cautious about the introduction of any new concepts regarding his bestowal. Of all the Urantia revelations the Jesus Papers were the biggest surprise.”
This caution appears to have continued throughout the Forum period. Of 2564 occurrences of the word “Jesus,” only 115 occur in Parts 1-3 which constitute 63 % of the book.
So has this caution continued into the presentation of Part 4. Have the revelators only given us changes and new concepts when they believed most were ready to accept them?
The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead is a remarkable and dramatic one. Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were Jesus’ intimate friends. Lazarus died shortly before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem. However Jesus did not arrive at the Bethany home until four days after Lazarus had been interred.
Gathered at the Bethany home were many influential family friends. When Jesus arrived, Martha exclaimed, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21). Jesus answered that Lazarus shall rise again, then asked where he had been laid. Arriving at the tomb he commanded, “Take away the stone.” Martha protested, “Lord, by this time he stinketh. He has been dead four days.” (John 11:39) However the stone was removed and Jesus commanded Lazarus to come forth—which he did while still wrapped in grave clothes.
Apparently circumstances were such that there was no argument about whether Lazarus had really been dead rather than in a coma. However some of the mourners took the story to Caiaphas and the council, who decided Jesus was likely to cause a mob riot and a Roman crack down, hence Caiaphas’ comment, “It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people that the whole nation does not perish.” (John 11:50)
This story appears only in the Gospel of John, the last to be written. Many Jesus scholars believe the story is a kind of Jewish midrash, written not as factual truth, but to emphasize the point that even if Jesus had actually raised somebody from the dead, still his persecutors would not have believed in him.
Because of the total absence of such a sensational story from the remainder of the New Testament, this certainly appears likely to be the correct interpretation. Why then is the Lazarus story told in even greater detail in the Urantia Papers? Did the revelators decide it would be premature to deny its literal truth? And if so, what of other miracle stories?
It is true that the Papers dismiss most of the miracle stories—and certainly those that have Jesus walking on the water and the like. Further, they remark upon the failure of miracle healings of the body to bring about similar advantage for the spiritual progress of the soul. But they have left in much that appears doubtful—like the water into wine and the feeding of the five thousand.
“God is so all real and absolute that no material sign of proof or no demonstration of so-called miracle may be offered in testimony of his reality.” (UB 102:1.5)
It is quite wonderful that there is now such a powerful movement towards reformation in the Christian Churches, virtually all of which is in line with teaching in The Urantia Book. However it is also disturbing that we Urantia Book devotees may have already fallen behind. For the book does inform us:
“The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness.” (UB 2:7.10)
Did we fail to take up that challenge by getting bogged down in things secular while basking in the glory of thinking of ourselves as enlightened leaders at the forefront of spiritual progress?
But religion is never enhanced by an appeal to the so-called miraculous. The quest for miracles is a harking back to the primitive religions of magic. True religion has nothing to do with alleged miracles, and never does revealed religion point to miracles as proof of authority. (UB 102:8.7)
To achieve its task, revelation cannot be too far removed from the thoughts and reactions of the age in which it is presented. It must be geared to man’s capacity for receptivity, and allow for the huge variation in educational and cultural backgrounds of those who may benefit. (UB 92:4.1)
| The Shroud of Turin—An Update | Volume 9 - No. 5 — Index | On Becoming More Spiritual—Living as Jesus Lived |