© 2016 Ivan Stol, Jeffrey Wattles, Philip Calabrese & Jean Royer, Simon Orsini, Cyril Cosette, Georges Michelson-Dupont, Danielle La Scala
© 2016 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
¶ Editorial
Hello dear readers of The Urantia Book, It is the twentieth anniversary of the AFLUB and the results are not very brilliant. We live in a country whose inhabitants have many ideas but with great difficulty in giving them validity. They would like a brotherhood but do not ask themselves the question of what this implies. Similarly, many speak of their one God without thinking about what this concept really implies. This is the whole difference between a seeker of Truth and a simple believer.
It seems extremely difficult for a person drowned in a materialistic reality to understand how to adapt higher realities and values to his life, especially when seeing the examples that are shown to us of those who have “succeeded”. That is why, in this economic and social context, it is rare to see new readers coming. However, as in other European and neighboring countries there is a clear increase in readers, there is a good chance that this will also come back to us in one way or another.
¶ Imprint
Le Lien Urantien is the journal of the French-speaking association of readers of the Urantia Book (AFLUB), a member of the UAI, Urantia Association International.
Head office: 1, rue du Temple, 13012 Marseille. +33 (0)980 978481
Cœurriel: afllu@urantia.fr
Site/Forum: www.urantia.fr and http://forum.urantia.fr
Publication Director: Ivan Stol; ivan.stol@free.fr
Editor-in-Chief: Georges Michelson-Dupont; georges.michelson-dupont@wanadoo.fr
Reading Committee: Jean Duveau; Ivan Stol & Patrick Morelli.
The Link: Published 4 times a year electronically to AFLLU members
Legal deposit: December 1997 — ISSN 1285-1116
All rights reserved. Materials from The Urantia Book are used with permission. Any literary or artistic representation(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.
¶ In this issue
- Editorial, Ivan Stol
- Actually Revealing The Truth, Jeffrey Wattles
- Day and Period, Philip Calabrese & Jean Royer
- Another Vision of the Universe, Simon Orsini
- Friendship, Cyril Cosette
- The translation of The Urantia Book: State of Play, Georges Michelson-Dupont
- The Diffusion of the Urantia Book in the World Projection 2015-2100, Georges Michelson-Dupont
- Interactive Study Group, Georges Michelson-Dupont
- Italo-Franco-Swiss Congress, Danielle La Scala
¶ Actually reveal the truth
The outpouring of Jesus, our Creator Son, and his gospel give hope for living an ideal personal religion now. For this to happen, people must have a clear understanding of their relationship with God in order to live their faith fully and share it.
The universal spiritual authorities, noting that “there is much confusion as to the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity” and that “human beings are in even greater confusion and uncertainty as to the relationships between the divine personalities designated by these many appellations…,” have commissioned a commission of truth revealers to present increased concepts and knowledge, much of it drawn from human records, in order to expand our cosmic consciousness and heighten our spiritual perception (UB 0:1.1-2).
Jeffrey Wattles
(Translated from English by Jean Royer-May 2016)
¶ Day and Period
in relation to the resurrection on the 3rd day or the 3rd period
The English word “day” has multiple meanings, although it can most often be translated as jour which is even more indeterminate than English.
The word day is found 968 times in the UB and in 872 paragraphs. The word jour is found in only 649 paragraphs. In the plural, days is found 882 times and in 761 paragraphs while jours in the plural is found in only 561 paragraphs. This is already to say that there is no automatic equivalence.
What interests us here is more precisely the way of interpreting this word in the expression “resurrection on the third day”.
We present below an article entitled “Another vision of the universe” by Simon Orsini, a reader of the Urantia Book from Ajaccio who, like many other readers and numerous personalities in the scientific community, questions the controversial Big Bang theory.
Some oppose it by putting forward arguments based on purely scientific considerations, others on cosmological and/or religious considerations. Albert Einstein said: “I want to understand how God created the world, everything else is just detail.” Albert therefore admits God as being the creator of the world.
But it is in the approach that the real problem lies: as long as Albert and with him the scientific community seek to understand “how God created the world” before seeking to know God and his design, they will not be able to reach the truth that the universe is the work of an absolute personality, having a determined goal and implemented with love. This is why we will always depend on revelation, whether personal or epochal.
“The true perspective of any problem of reality—human or divine, earthly or cosmic—can be grasped only through the complete and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universal reality: origin, history, and destiny. A right understanding of these three experiential realities provides the necessary basis for a wise estimate of the present status.” (UB 19:1.6)
As for the scientific data presented in the Urantia Papers, they date from 1935. After more than 60 years, much progress in knowledge has been made, leaving room for legitimate questions. A Melchizedek of Nebadon warns us:
“. . . we are well aware that, within a few years, many of our statements concerning the physical sciences will need to be revised, as a result of additional scientific developments and new discoveries.” (UB 101:4.2)
Georges Michelson-Dupont
¶ Another Vision of the Universe
Sometimes I wonder if our scientists are really convinced of their theory about the universe.
In television reports, on the radio, in magazines, or in education, existing things are always described as being due to natural selection.
There is never any doubt, the existence of a creator is ruled out, yet the majority of the 7 billion human beings believe in it.
Their theory about the universe is this: After the Big Bang the universe expanded in a fraction of a second after the original spark. We are not told how the ignition took place.
Simon Orsini
¶ Friendship
JULLOUVILLE 1977
The child moved away from the parasol under which his parents were resting and near which his sisters were playing. He came to the edge of the wet sand. Some boys were playing ball. Their cries and laughter echoed amidst the murmur of the sea. He remained there for a moment in silence, observing them. Then he decided to go forward to ask them: “Can I play with you?”
Man is not made to remain alone. During his earthly life, he will be able to have human relationships with people in his family, parents, brothers and sisters, spouse, children, with strangers and “acquaintances” or with friends.
Friendship, or being friends, according to the dictionary is “the attachment, the sympathy that one person shows to another”.
Cyril Cosette
¶ The translation of The Urantia Book: state of play
MEETING OF TRANSLATORS IN GONESSE (FRANCE) IN 1996
Disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book on the planet involves translating it as faithfully as possible and making these translations available. As you can imagine, this represents a considerable amount of work given the complexity of certain concepts and the size of the work, which includes no fewer than 18,902 paragraphs spread over 2,196 pages.
In order to define a strategy and procedures for organizing and coordinating the work of the translation and revision teams, two meetings bringing together more than 12 translators and the trustees were organized in the Paris region in 1996 and 1997.
During these meetings, a plan for the production of quality translations was developed covering the period from 1996 to 2030 with the goal of providing access to the teachings of The Urantia Book to 70% of the world’s population in their native language.
¶ The stake of the French in the diffusion of the Teachings of the Urantia Book in the World.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Émile de Girardin wrote: “To govern is to foresee”; it is crucial for us and for the two following generations of students of The Urantia Book, to know the statistical projections of the world population in 2050, even until 2100 to understand the issues and the role that French as a language can play in the near and medium future and to determine where our efforts must focus to share the incomparable teachings of The Urantia Book, in particular in relation to the African continent whose population is expected to grow from 1 billion in 2014 to nearly 2 billion in 2050 and more than 4 billion or even 6 billion according to certain scenarios in 200.
Georges Michelson-Dupont
¶ Interactive Study Group
In the new edition of the Link, we invite you to explore some concepts from the Urantia Book in an interactive way, somewhat like a study group. Questions on a given theme will be asked with a list of readings suggested to answer them.
These questions will also be posted on the forum and those who wish will be able to exchange their points of view. For a first attempt we have chosen the following theme which will be spread over four issues of the Link.
The Inevitable Injunction
Introduction to the fourth period
As we read the epic life of Jesus, we realize the material difficulties and emotional strains which he had to face during his earth career on Urantia. He mobilized the powers of his personality to devote himself to doing his Father’s will, and he triumphed over all obstacles through his indomitable faith in his Father.
To do our Father’s will; to grow in wisdom and spiritual growth, we too must have educational experiences that require us to find solutions with the help of our Thought Adjuster and many other spiritual aids available to us.
¶ Italo-Franco-Swiss Congress of Readers of the Urantia Book
From Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 October 2016
The second Congress of Italian readers of the Urantia Book will take place with the participation of French-speaking readers in an enchanting place in
Desenzano del Garda (Lake Garda) at the Europa Hotel.
The meeting is open to any reader or sympathizer of the Urantia Book and it will be a great joy to see many of you there.
Hotel price per person with breakfast
| Double room | 40€ |
| Room for 1 person | €45 |
| Double room occupied by 1 person | 45€ |