© 1990 Kathleen Swadling
© 1990 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
I would like to make some comments on the article written in the July/August issue of 6-0-6 by Madeline Noordzy in relation to Elijah the Third. First up I’d like to say that I have not heard the tapes but the material enclosed on them in 6-0-6 was enough to make me have no intention of listening to them. This then immediately dumps me into the category of those people Madeline mentioned in her article when she said: “It has been interesting to observe that other readers in Australia had pre-conceived ideas about the tapes as soon as they knew what the subject was and chose to condemn them as ”utter rubbish“ before even listening to them.” And then: “So often I have in the past witnessed the frustration of URANTIA Book readers with the attitude of fundamentalists of certain Christian denominations, who, because the Bible says that nothing is to be added, close their minds to the light of new truths. I certainly don’t want to turn into a URANTIA Book fundamentalist.”
So I take it that because I choose not to listen to these tapes I am close-minded to truths outside of The URANTIA Book, possibly making me no better than a fundamentalist Christian in my narrow attitude to my source of truth.
I feel this implication is unjust and untrue and needs further clarification. I’m actually intrigued by the term ‘URANTIA Book fundamentalist’ because I guess when it all boils down there are certain fundamentals in The URANTIA Book. If we embrace it as the Fifth Epochal Revelation, then we use the truths gleaned from it as a yard stick for the recognition of truths coming from other sources. If this is what a URANTIA Book fundamentalist is, then I proudly declare that I am one. Let’s take a look at what some of those fundamentals may be:
I could go on. However that’s enough for now to keep me going. A URANTIA Book Fundamentalist? I guess if you stand by the above and are committed to spread the teachings of the book, then you should qualify to be a URANTIA Book Fundamentalist. Doesn’t sound too narrow-minded to me.
I understand that The URANTIA Book does not contain all truth but it has given us plenty that is relevant to our stage of development to keep us going for a long time. If it says in The URANTIA Book that the dead cannot communicate with us, then I take it at face value that they would not tell us this if it were not true. When I see the so-called “mounting evidence” that people do communicate with the dead, I remain skeptical, not because of some blind, narrow-minded belief in The URANTIA Book, but rather because of the enlightened backdrop the book, read in its entirety, gives us, which has given me good cause to believe in it.
The URANTIA Book and Jesus gives us an idea of the patterns of God and how he does things — his nature and character is so beautifully revealed, that it melts the heart of any true believer. Jesus appealed to the personality of the individual. As the events leading up to the crisis in Capernaum showed us, he refused to give in to the temptation of leading the masses with wonders and miracles. He wanted the individuals to discover the Kingdom of Heaven within. The URANTIA Book is not dogmatic, but rather it appeals to our sense of reasoning as well as our spiritual yearnings. Neither Jesus nor The URANTIA Book need credentials. Their authority is the truth they proclaim and that is all that is required.
If someone told me that they were a member of the Reserve Corps of Destiny and had been given a message (and were using the fact that they were a reservist in order for me to take them seriously) I would immediately be on my guard because if they were a reservist, and knew it, I don’t believe they would go around telling people. It would not be compatible with the style of how reservist are used as explained in The URANTIA Book.
The fact that this Elijah the Third finds his credentials in The URANTIA Book by blatantly saying he is the fulfilment of the prophecy by being the greater John the Baptist the book spoke of, then I am on my guard. It doesn’t fit with the way things are done. The contact person used for The URANTIA Book revelation had to die first before the book was published and the contact group were sworn to secrecy never to reveal the name, so that no human being would ever be associated with the revelation! So how can you expect a URANTIA Book Fundamentalist like me to swallow this Elijah character, for heavens sake? If he was the greater John the Baptist, his style would be very different. Also I doubt if he would be blatantly asking for financial assistance and distorting that famous saying of Jesus “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few”. The man has a hide! I know enough of his message to see that he has taken bits and pieces out of The URANTIA Book, woven them in with Biblical quotes and prophecies, thrown in bits and pieces that will appeal to a whole range of people and has presented it as a clever but somewhat transparent package. The message isn’t even new! He’s implying that life will be a bed of roses after all the upheavals — how does this fit in with my fundamental number 3 , where God needs beings who have been perfected through the long struggle of the Paradise ascent — sorry it doesn’t fit in with the way God runs his universe. We have to work hard for it all the way to Paradise.
And besides “What is it to a kingdom believer if all things earthly crash?” Why should we be concerned with the end of the world? The papers on the Mansion Worlds are enough to make any believer look forward to death. Who needs to know about Graceland to receive comfort? If our planet does blow up and some of us are transported to another world to carry on (as The URANTIA Book says could happen if the human race was in jeopardy of extinction) then great — so be it — why the big deal about it now? If it happens, it happens and we deal with it then how we deal with any event — we do the best we can and carry on. If we wake up on the Mansion Worlds and carry on from where we left off, then I doubt that the Mansion Worlds are a bed of roses, so why should being transported to Graceland suddenly make everything wonderful?
So Label me a URANTIA Book Fundamentalist if you will. I can’t see how any other URANTIA Book Fundamentalist can take Elijah the Third seriously.
Kathleen Swadling
Sydney