© 2001 Larry Mullins
© 2001 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
“Then exclaimed Ganid: ‘Teacher, let’s you and I make a new religion, one good enough for India and big enough for Rome, and maybe we can trade it to the Jews for Yahweh.’ And Jesus replied: ‘Ganid, religions are not made. The religions of men grow up over long periods of time, while the revelations of God flash upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows.’”
“… What a scene for the celestial intelligences to behold, this spectacle of the Indian lad proposing to the Creator of a universe that they make a new religion! And though the young man did not know it, they were making a new and everlasting religion right then and there — this new way of salvation, the revelation of God to man through, and in, Jesus … When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen.” [UB 132:7.6,9]
The Urantia Papers provide remarkable revelatory information about what it refers to on page 1467 as the “new and everlasting religion.” Before we examine this information, it will be helpful to clarify the definition of the word “religion.”
Some readers, when discussing a Urantia religion, have protested that they “already have a religion.” They claim to be a Catholic, or a Methodist, or a Jew, or whatever. However, the Urantia Papers generally use the word “religion” in a different context than we are accustomed. The Papers most often use the first definition of religion, as it was presented in dictionaries at the time and in virtually all modern dictionaries:
re-li-gion: 1. (a) Belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe (b) expression of such belief in conduct and ritual.
Yet, sometimes the Papers do refer to what they call formal religion, or organized religion. In this case they are generally discussing specific “religions” such as the Jewish, Christian, or other religions. This is the common definition most people are accustomed to. This is also what most people think of when the word “religion” is used. Formal religion is traditionally described in the second dictionary definition:
2. (a) any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy [the Christian religion, the Buddhist religion, etc.] (b) any system of beliefs, practices, ethical values, etc. resembling, suggestive of, or likened to, such a system. [Compton’s 1997 Edition]
For most of us, our formal “religion” is an accident of birth. We may be Catholic, yet if we had been born into a Jewish family, we would likely be Jewish. If we were born in Syria we would more likely be a Moslem. There are exceptions, but this is generally the case. It is similar to being born in Dallas and rooting for the Dallas Cowboys, or in Washington D.C. and rooting for the Washington Redskins.
As we shall see, the “new and everlasting religion of Jesus”- the restatement of the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the Urantia Papers-is not usually an accident of birth. This religion has never been “seriously or sincerely or honestly tried out.” In fact, the Urantia Papers tell us that this is the religion that humankind fears. Why do modern men and women of intelligence fear the religion of Jesus? What the Papers tell us:
“Primitive man lived a life of superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern, civilized men dread the thought of falling under the dominance of strong religious convictions. Thinking man has always feared to be held by a religion. When a strong and moving religion threatens to dominate him, he invariably tries to rationalize, traditionalize, and institutionalize it, thereby hoping to gain control of it. By such procedure, even a revealed religion becomes man-made and mandominated. Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them–and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.”
“Selfish men and women simply will not pay such a price for even the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal man.” [UB 195:9.6-7]
The Spiritual Fellowship is seeking to organize a new and everlasting religion that will be feared by many people. Is this a necessary step in the evolution of the Urantia Movement?
“God is not only the determiner of destiny; he is man’s eternal destination. All nonreligious human activities seek to bend the universe to the distorting service of self; the truly religious individual seeks to identify the self with the universe and then to dedicate the activities of this unified self to the service of the universe family of fellow beings, human and superhuman.”[UB 5:4.3] Since the existing Urantian organizations of note declare themselves not to be religious organizations, doesn’t this set the stage for secular and contentious human conflict? Is it not fair to suggest that this passage outlines why we need a new organization?
The Urantia Papers also state that: “This world has never seriously tried to carry out the teachings of Jesus on a large scale, More than simply knowing about notwithstanding that halfhearted attempts have often been made to follow the doctrines of so-called Christianity.” [UB 154:4.6] If the teachings of Jesus are ever to be carried out on a large scale, is it not reasonable to propose that we need some kind of a religious organization to facilitate the propagation of “the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered mortal man?” And, equally reasonable, should not such a “truly religious” organization clearly and openly seek to “identify” itself “with the universe and then to dedicate the activities of this unified” group of individuals “to the service of the universe family of fellow beings, human and superhuman?”
On UB 196:1.3, the Urantia Papers make the declaration: “Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.” For nearly five decades most Urantians have been generally content to call themselves “readers.” As readers, Urantians have sought to acquire this knowledge “of greatest value.” It is easy enough to be a “reader,” and to learn about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. It is really not too difficult to encourage others to do so. We have debated and exchanged “head knowledge” about the religious life of Jesus for countless hours in study groups. Yet, something was missing, many Urantians have thirsted for something more.
Then, about five years long ago some of us took the more difficult step and began to declare ourselves “believers.” We thus began to profess our belief in the Urantia Papers as a revelation of epochal magnitude. At the time, this seemed to be quite a progression. However, before much time had passed more and more Urantians wanted to take their understanding of the religious life of Jesus to yet another level. For us, even believing wholeheartedly in the teachings of the Urantia Papers did not seem to answer the “still, small voice within.”
As we began to plan The Spiritual Fellowship some of us began to assemble quotes from the Urantia Papers to support and enlarge upon the primary premise about the need to know about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. A compelling challenge seemed to emerge. More than simply knowing about the Master’s religious life, and beyond believing in him and the task he undertook, it seemed more and more clear that we are being called upon to follow the Master.
This is a distant cry from anything most of us expected when we first picked up the Urantia Papers. And yet, many of us now conclude that, beyond endless discussions about the religious life of Jesus, and beyond professing our belief in him and his mission, the religion of Jesus compels us to pick up our individual crosses and actually follow after the Master.
Thus, many of us find ourselves confronted with an immensely different challenge. Such a belief cannot be limited to what Christian religionists have referred to as “Sunday morning religion.” Such a belief must be acted out. It calls upon us to make it a way of life, and it cannot be confined to study groups and feel-good conferences. Such a belief disrupts everything that we are doing.
Many years ago I attempted to write a book titled “Jesus on Leadership.” Eventually I decided that I didn’t know enough to write it. I still feel that way. But I learned a great deal in the attempt. For one thing, I found myself confronted by a great deal of resistance by fundamentalist Christian leaders and also by secular businessmen. This baffled me. I asked a wise Urantian about it. I said: “Why is it a businessman will gladly keep a book on his desk with the title: Attila the Hun on Leadership, yet would hide a book titled Jesus on Leadership?” The reply was most instructive: “The reason is, Attila the Hun is dead, and Jesus is alive. A businessman sees Jesus coming and he knows Jesus is not going to be satisfied with arranging the furniture and putting in new carpet. He is going to rip out the rotten timbers and start from scratch. Very few people are willing to undergo a renovation of that magnitude.”
There seems to be but one quote in the Urantia Papers in which the Master used his profession as a carpenter to illustrate a point: “But do not make the mistake of the foolish carpenter who wastes valuable time squaring, measuring, and smoothing his wormeaten and inwardly rotting timber and then, when he has thus bestowed all of his labor upon the unsound beam, must reject it as unfit to enter into the foundations of the building which he would construct to withstand the assaults of time and storm. Let every man make sure that the intellectual and moral foundations of character are such as will adequately support the superstructure of the enlarging and ennobling spiritual nature, which is thus to transform the mortal mind and then, in association with that re-created mind, is to achieve the evolvement of the soul of immortal destiny.” [UB 156:5.2]
As we begin to entertain such stunning ideas, we may no longer find so much warmth and comfort in our study groups and our social gatherings, where we talk about the compelling life of Jesus.
On the contrary, we find ourselves back on the sun scorched roads of Israel, and through the dusty air we see that wondrous sunlit countenance turn toward us. He would probably not ask us: “Do you read the Urantia Papers?” or “Do you believe the Urantia Papers?” More likely the Master might ask: “Will you follow me?” It almost seems inevitable that if we acquire knowledge of the religious life of Jesus, sooner or later we must confront the one supreme requirement of the Master, “Follow me.”
“Jesus does not require his disciples to believe in him but rather to believe with him, believe in the reality of the love of God and in full confidence accept the security of the assurance of sonship with the heavenly Father. The Master desires that all his followers should fully share his transcendent faith. Jesus most touchingly challenged his followers, not only to believe what he believed, but also to believe as he believed. This is the full significance of his one supreme requirement, ‘Follow me.’” [UB 196:0.13]
We can now see that the knowledge of “greatest value” to us is perhaps a means to an end. It leads us inevitably to an awareness of the supreme requirement of the Master. In a way, we are in a position similar to the apostles when Jesus left the planet. They had learned a great deal, but now something new was being asked of them.
“I have taught you much by word of mouth, and I have lived my life among you. I have done all that can be done to enlighten your minds and liberate your souls, and what you have not been able to get from my teachings and my life, you must now prepare to acquire at the hand of that master of all teachers-actual experience. And in all of this new experience which now awaits you, I will go before you and the Spirit of Truth shall be with you. Fear not; that which you now fail to comprehend, the new teacher, when he has come, will reveal to you throughout the remainder of your life on earth and on through your training in the eternal ages.” [UB 181:2.24]
Perhaps what we have examined here can be best summarized by ten short quotes from the Papers. These quotes are of special note because the understanding of each of them in turn, one after the other, leads to a deeper insight into the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. Moreover, these insights guide us, step by step, to a better understanding of the one supreme requirement of the Master. I call these the “ten cascading premises” because they gain power as they flow one into the other.
“Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.” [UB 196:1.3] The following passages seem to define one possible path toward understanding that life, how Jesus lived it, and how we — as Urantian Believers-are called upon to develop and live our own religious lives.
“The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship unbroken communion with God-and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices.” [UB 196:0.10]
“Whence then comes the energy to do these great things? Look to your Master. Even now he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out energy. The secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity. And this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes worship. At least, that is the way the philosopher views it.” [Rodan speaking] [UB 160:3.1]
“Before Pentecost the apostles had given up much for Jesus. They had sacrificed their homes, families, friends, worldly goods, and positions. At Pentecost they gave themselves to God, and the Father and the Son responded by giving themselves to mansending their spirits to live within men. This experience of losing self and finding the spirit was not one of emotion; it was an act of intelligent self-surrender and unreserved consecration.” [UB 194:3.16]
“But these mistakes of the intellect in no way interfered with the believer’s great progress in growth in spirit. 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]
“Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually conscious of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. From the beginning Jesus taught that the spirit would not speak of himself. The proof, therefore, of your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be found in your consciousness of this spirit but rather in your experience of enhanced fellowship with Michael.”
“The spirit also came to help men recall and understand the words of the Master as well as to illuminate and reinterpret his life on earth.”
“Next, the Spirit of Truth came to help the believer to witness to the realities of Jesus’ teachings and his life as he lived it in the flesh, and as he now again lives it anew and afresh in the individual believer of each passing generation of the spirit-filled sons of God.”
“Thus it appears that the Spirit of Truth comes really to lead all believers into all truth, into the expanding knowledge of the experience of the living and growing spiritual consciousness of the reality of eternal and ascending sonship with God.” [UB 194:2.4-7]
“Paul and his contemporaries applied all of Jesus’ spiritual implications regarding himself and the individual believer to the church as a group of believers; and in doing this, they struck a deathblow to Jesus’ concept of the divine kingdom in the heart of the individual believer.” [UB 170:5.17]
“There must come a revival of the actual teachings of Jesus, such a restatement as will undo the work of his early followers who went about to create a sociophilosophical system of belief regarding the fact of Michael’s sojourn on earth.” [UB 170:5.19]
“Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. Jesus’ disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all men. Religion is only an exalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience.” [UB 195:10.1]
It is the belief of many of us that this series of quotes represent one way the Urantia Revelation will: “flash upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows.” This also is a basis of the “new and everlasting religion… this new way of salvation, the revelation of God to man through, and in, Jesus … When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen.” [UB 132:7.9]
These premises, drawn from the Urantia Papers, are suggested as philosophic tools by means of which we may arrive at certain personal conclusions. They are by no means the only arrangement or conclusions that could be developed. To those Urantians who resonate with them, the cascading premises are intended to help lead to a deeper understanding of the religious life of Jesus, how he lived it, and how we may aspire to dare to attempt it ourselves. “The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God — the very God who has made such a creature life of inner meaning-value possible.” [UB 111:5.1]