© 1994 Ken Glasziou
© 1994 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| Another and Greater John the Baptist! | Volume 1 - No. 4 — Index | Science and The Urantia Book. Origins of Andon and Fonta |
According to The Urantia Book, when Jesus gave us the Fourth Epochal Revelation he was projecting a plan for a new age. Yes, it really does say that - a plan for a new age! (UB 141:7.15) Since this new age has yet to arrive, it may be presumed that the Master’s instructions are still current. What was the plan? It was given to those whom he asked to be teachers of the gospel of the kingdom. (UB 141:7.6-7) It had few instructions, the first being: “their only business was to reveal God to the individual as his Father—to lead this individual to become son-conscious—then to present this same man to God as his faith son.” (UB 141:7.4)
The book then tells us that both of these essential revelations are accomplished in Jesus. He became, indeed, “the way, the truth, and the life.” His religion was wholly based on the living of his bestowal life on earth. It goes on to say that he left behind no books, laws, or other forms of human organization affecting the religious life of the individual. (UB 141:7.4)
That appears to be the entrails of Plan A. No book was involved. His followers had one job only - to teach the individual that God is their Father and to lead them to become conscious of their sonship. Jesus knew there was only one way to convince a Urantia mortal about the truth of Plan A. That is “do-it-yourself.” So he became “the way, the truth, and the life,” his very own life became the living example of a son of God in mortal mode.
Possibly Jesus thought about writing a book and distributing it to anyone with the purchase price. If so, that must have been the Plan B that was inaugurated about 1900 years later, possibly because Plan A was not going so well. However Plan B contains no indication that Plan A was to be supplanted as the first essential, the first priority. In fact, Jesus was so sure about Plan A that Peter, James, and John thought he “was beside himself.” (UB 141:7.8)
Next, the book tells us that Plan A was “to establish and demonstrate a standard of human life for all peoples” everywhere, for ever and ever, amen. Jesus was a teacher, not a preacher. He taught by example, he had a singleness of purpose, he was not bothered by the evil of the world. His example included that he paid no attention to public opinion, he was uninfluenced by praise, he seldom paused to correct misunderstandings or to resent misrepresentations. He never asked for advice, never made requests for prayers, sometimes was saddened but never discouraged, and he never apologized to any man. Of course he could get away with that because he had nothing for which to apologize. He was easy of approach, independent of other humans, never dominated by purely mortal influence, or subject to frail human judgment. And he was always selfless. All this he could achieve because he had constant communion with his Thought Adjuster and he submitted to the will of his Father, regardless. That also was a major component of Plan A.
When he left us, he gave those who decide to follow after him an additional aid. He did this because we Urantians are handicapped by a congenital disease —lack of the necessary spiritual capacity that would enable us to maintain constant communication with the Father-spirit within. So Jesus endowed us with the Spirit of Truth that can make us conscious of the presence of himself. In this way he can compensate for our deficiencies. The proof? “In less than a month after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, the apostles made more individual spiritual progress than during their almost four years of personal and loving association with the Master.” (UB 194:2.9)
I think all of us would be incompetent to implement Plan A without giving ourselves over to the leading of the Spirit of Truth. Since our only business is to reveal God to the individual as their Father, this has to be an inter-personal relationship. We Urantians are particularly competent at messing up on interpersonal relationships. This is why we must rely on the Spirit of Truth.
A part of Plan A is revealing the Father by the example of our own lives. This requires that “we so relate ourselves to our fellows that they will receive the highest possible good as a result of our contact with them.” If we think we can do that on our own, we may have an ego problem requiring professional treatment. Our revelation recognizes our incompetence for the task, and provides us with a way: “And so must we clearly recognize that neither the golden rule nor the teaching of non-resistance can ever be properly understood as dogmas or precepts. They can only be comprehended by living them, by realizing their meanings in the living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, who directs the loving contact of one human being with another.” (UB 180:5.11) Jesus will direct us if we will let him. If we do not at least try to do this, we might as well give our books to someone who will.
Spreading the message of the book by spreading the book itself belongs to Plan B. If Plan B was going to work, would it not have achieved ten thousand fold more than it has over the last forty years? Maybe ten thousand times ten thousand. If Jesus did not think Plan A was better, why did he knock back a Plan B kind of approach? The book confirms that he did so: “Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life.” (UB 155:1.5)
A corollary to this statement is that if we implement Plan A, Plan B (the book) will sell itself. It’s surely worth a try.
Our Mandate
Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; on the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you will live among men—the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you. Let faith reveal your light to the world; let the revelation of truth open the eyes blinded by tradition; let your loving service effectually destroy the prejudice engendered by ignorance. Bu so drawing close to your fellow men in understanding sympathy and with unselfish devotion, you will lead them into a saving knowledge of the Father’s love. (UB 191:5.3)
| Another and Greater John the Baptist! | Volume 1 - No. 4 — Index | Science and The Urantia Book. Origins of Andon and Fonta |