© 2006 Séverin Desbuisson, Chris M. Ragetly, Jean Royer, Jean-Claude Romeuf, Samuel and Adélaïde Heine, Rick Lyon
© 2006 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Journal of the association L'A.F.L.L.U. French-speaking Association of Readers of the URANTIA Book
Member of the I.U.A.
Head office:
48, rue Douy Delcupe
93110 MONTREUIL UNDER WOOD
FRANCE
¶ A Word from the President
Thank you for your loyalty!
Le Lien and AFLUB are celebrating their tenth anniversary this spring.
We can question our activity and the growth of the movement in general. Jean Royer’s article The Urantian Movement is part of this reflection and offers us a very concrete answer — to be discovered in this issue.
If we look at the statistics we will notice that the number of copies of the Link is increasing very slightly each year to now reach about one hundred and fifty. The number of members of the association follows more or less the same trend to stop today just below one hundred.
This observation leads me to the conclusion that the evolution of our movement in France is slow, or even extremely slow according to some, but sure. It is essential that this evolutionary achievement is not lost in the coming years or months, but, on the contrary, that it serves as a substrate for new reading groups, new activities and new readers.
In this perspective, I invite you to participate in the next annual meeting which will take place in Nancy on June 23, 24 and 25 and in the general assembly planned on site on the morning of the 25th. An invitation is attached to this issue.
Thank you for your commitment.
Happy reading!
PS: I recommend you read the Online Link http://www.urantia.fr/publi/liste_liens.htm and the old issues http://www.urantia.fr/publi.htm
Severin Desbuisson
President of the A.F.L.L.U.
¶ Summary
- The President’s Word by Séverin Desbuisson
- Spiritual Attraction by Chris M. Ragetly
- The Trinity by Jean Royer
- The Urantian Movement by Jean Royer
- Spiritual sovereignty by Jean-Claude Romeuf
- Who am I? — Where do we come from? — Where are we going? What is the purpose of life? by Samuel and Adélaïde Heine
- Gazette Column
- Indonesia Study Group by Rick Lyon, Chairman of the UAI Study Group Committee.
- Brief Urantian News and A.F.L.L.U. News
❧ 1955 URANTIA Foundation. All rights reserved. These materials from The URANTIA Book are used with permission. Any artistic depiction(s), interpretation(s), opinion(s) or conclusion(s) implied or stated are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of URANTIA Foundation or its affiliates.
Legal deposit: December 1997 — ISSN 1285-1116
Subscription in 1998: 100 FF per year (approximately 4 issues)
¶ Spiritual attraction
Spirit-gravity pull and response thereto operate not only on the universe as a whole but also even between individuals and groups of individuals. There is a spiritual cohesiveness among the spiritual and spiritized personalities of any world, race, nation, or believing group of individuals. There is a direct attractiveness of a spirit nature between spiritually minded persons of like tastes and longings. The term kindred spirits is not wholly a figure of speech. (UB 7:1.6)
Our discernment usually allows us to know if we are in the presence of a person with the same tastes, desires and spiritual affinities. It all depends on our spiritual evolution. Of course, our past experiences are there to guide us, but it is the experience that we have acquired with the help of our Thought Adjuster that will be of greatest service to us in these exchanges between people with spiritual affinities;
C. M. Ragetly
(Quotes from The Urantia Book are in italics)
¶ The Trinity
The early Christians made little attempt to elucidate the relationships of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Tertullian (150-225) was perhaps the first to use the term Trinity. “God is one substance in three coherent and inseparable persons.”
The formula used by Jesus and found in the Gospel of John: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10.30) will even lead one to believe that there is identity between the Father and Christ. This is the case of the Patripassians who thought that the Father himself had become incarnate and had suffered on the cross.
Jean Royer
¶ The Urantian Movement
We are engaged in a movement, not a church. Movement is related to the Latin ‘movere’ which means to move. So it has to move!
In fact, things can only evolve through individuals. Each of us has our place, each of us must ask ourselves the question: Do I believe in these teachings? If the answer is no, just leave it at that. If the answer is yes, something must be done. But what? Nothing and no one can say what each person must do, it is always a personal choice. However, it is possible to think about what is possible.
Jean Royer
¶ Spiritual sovereignty.
In several places in the papers, the authors of The Urantia Book regret that early Christianity found its foundation in the life and teachings of Jesus rather than in the revelation with which he was eager to share with men. The mistake, according to them, was not to insist on the fact that the religion taught by Jesus was based on the fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of men. “Love one another, as the Father loves you” often turned into religious quarrels, each religion, proud of its creed and intransigent on the truth which it held or believed it held, always sought to assert the supremacy of its ideals over those of the others.
The golden rule is still the same. Two thousand years later, if only one object had to be taken into consideration, it would be to recognize the spiritual sovereignty of God. It is on this that depend the brotherhood between humans and the religious unity without uniformity of the planet. This is the main message that The Urantia Book tries to develop.
Jean-Claude Romeuf
¶ Who am I? — Where do we come from? — Where are we going? What is the purpose of life?
Every individual who is conscious of being conscious and has a balanced mechanism asks himself at some point in his existence the following fundamental questions:
- Who am I?
- Where do we come from?
- Where are we going?
- What is the purpose of life?
Now let us consider that the answer to these questions (or knowledge) is separated into two parts by a dividing line.
Samuel and Adelaide Heine
(Reunion Island)
¶ La Gazette section
¶ Study Groups in Indonesia
By Rick Lyon, Chairman of the UAI Study Group Committee
The Prana Cipta Urantia Indonesia Urantia Book Study Group would like to thank those of you who have provided assistance in the form of copies of The Urantia Book. This group recently received 10 books, and will receive 6 more. Keluarga Besar Nitiprana tells us that these books are very important, as the study group of 32 members only has 2 books to share. Their study time is divided into 2 meetings: Study Group I (Prana Cipta Spiritual) which began in 1992, and Group II (Prana Cipta Urantia Indonesia), which began in 2002. Keluarga describes these two groups in a recent email:
Study Group I (Prana Cipta Spiritual): 132 members.
The Urantia Books draws its knowledge from: The Bible, the Koran, the Veda, Buddhism and other religious books. Our study group consists of 60% Muslims, 30% Christians, 10% Buddhists and Hindus. We have never had any religious problems, because we study moral and spiritual problems. In our study group, one of the teachings concerning the procedure to follow, is to open our “spiritual eye” so as to recognize and see “The Messenger of God” who exists in the human being (in The Urantia Book he is called the Adjuster). After learning to recognize “The Messenger of God”, we introduce them to The Urantia Book, and we continue with the study of The Urantia Book in Study Group II (Prana Cipta Urantia Indonesia).
Study Group II (Prana Cipta Urantia Indonesia): 32 members.
One of the constraints we are facing at this time is that there is no Indonesian translation of The Urantia Book. Nugroho Widi of Jakarta is working on the translation for Urantia Foundation. In this Study Group II, only 40% of the members understand English. At this time we are learning about the Adjuster and the journey of man to the Father on Paradise.
This is the experience we draw from our Study Group. We thank you for your attention.
Best memories
Prana Cipta Urantia Indonesia
Keluarga Besar Nitiprana
Prana Cipta Urantia Study Group
J l. Pinang Ranti II No. 11,
Rt. 012/01
Jakarta Timur 13560
Indonesia.
If you would like to sponsor and initiate a book supply to Indonesia and Pakistan, there is a pressing need. There is an energetic new reader in Pakistan, Moses David, who desires to spread the seeds of revelation in his homeland. He has appealed to us for assistance.
If you are interested in this form of service, please contact one of us. There is an immediate need for 45 English softcover books, plus shipping costs.
Approximate price: between $7 and $800 US. Thank you for your help.
Secretary, Shirley Pelland
shirleypelland@comcast.net
President, Gary Rawlings
garyurantia@aol.com
Study Group Chairman Rick Lyon
ricklyon@tctc.com
Dissemination President Rick Warren
rewar@swbell.net
UAI Administrator Cathy Jones
ctjon@aol.com