© 1998 Ken Glasziou
© 1998 The Brotherhood of Man Library
To justify significant change, we must first admit to ourselves that our present approach has failed. Jim Mills, who was a prominent oldie from Forum days, warned me of this prior to his death a few years ago. In his retiring years, Jim studied philosophy, graduated while in his eighties, and taught at the Pensacola Campus of the University of Florida. He was dedicated to getting The Urantia Book accepted for study at tertiary level. But his efforts were in vain.
The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong.
Ecclesiastes IX, 2
Be not discouraged; human evolution is still in progress, and the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail. (UB 196:3.33)
This was back in 1987, even before the present mess-up had made things so much worse. Jim said straight out that in his opinion The Urantia Book had already failed and that at some time in the future, the revelators would have to make another try. However, the book itself states the revelation will succeed, so surely it is too early to give up yet. Paper 195 says, “. . . the truths of Jesus gospel will persist gloriously to illuminate a new and better way.”
I’m told I’m getting old and repetitive and many readers are fed up with me plugging this theme. So perhaps in future I’ll stick with the science content of the book.
But before giving up, there are two things of which I am sure. One is that Christianity as a whole is frightened of anything claiming to be a new revelation. How much this fear is due to the last few verses of the Bible, I have no way of knowing. The Bible ends with, “I, John, solemnly warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to his punishment the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes anything away, God will take away from him his share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City. . . ” Scary stuff!
My second point of sureness is that reform of Christianity was the major hope of the revelators for the success of their revelation. I believe they were well aware that Christianity would not easily embrace a new revelation, and that those who do accept it would need to find the way to introducing it to the flock. They tell us:
“Paganized and socialized Christianity stands in need of new contact with the uncompromised teachings of Jesus; it languishes for lack of a new vision of the Master’s life on earth. A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism.” (UB 195:9.2)
So please, let us not be as the majority of the current crop of Christians with feet set in concrete. Let us face reality. For in consideration of the degenerate state of Western society and for the sake of the new generations growing up without God and without meaning in their lives, would it not be a crime against humanity to fail to do so?
Whereas it is my opinion that the Urantia Papers must be presented so as they can be read for merit alone and without reference to authorship, others may suggest a different approach. The Spiritual Fellowship Journal (4109 Plaza Dr., Fort Wayne, IN 46806) is now set up to facilitate all aspects of religious expression associated with the teachings of The Urantia Book. Innerface also is keen to publish anything that might help a change in direction.
Please be aware that it would be possible to publish a slightly modified version of the Urantia Papers without infringing copyright.