© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
| Convergences and divergences: agriculture | Luz y Vida — No. 41 — September 2015 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |
Maria José is a reader of The Urantia Book very committed to spreading the teachings of the fifth revelation. A teacher by profession and mother of three children, she lives in Malaga and is the hostess of the study group that has met periodically in that province for several years.
¶ 1. How did you get to “The Urantia Book” and why do you think you found it?
As a teenager, my way of finding myself was to ask myself: “if I had been born elsewhere, would my religion be Christian? If I had been born a few kilometers further south, in Morocco, would my culture and religion be very different from today? Am I a Christian just by chance of being born in Malaga and in a Christian family?”
Soon after I began to read the first Trojan Horse by J.J. Benítez and I was struck by the figure of Jesus of Nazareth. I even had a dream with Him. For me, that was the answer to my doubts: I had to follow Him, without a doubt. But the Catholic religion made me uneasy, and by continuing to read the books of J.J. Benítez I found a reference to Urantia Foundation. Shortly after, I read a book by Ribera where he spoke of Benítez’s plagiarism, since he affirmed that he got his information from a certain URANTIA BOOK. After that, everything was followed: write to Chicago, to the Foundation to request it, etc.
¶ 2. What was your first impression when reading it?
I was quite impressed by the bulky size of the blue book. Would I be able to read it? Well yes… I devoured it from the beginning to the end, without stopping reading for months. He had an insatiable curiosity to better understand our world and us, and the book talked about so many interesting topics…
¶ 3. At what point in the reading (document, sentence, etc.) did you accept that “The Urantia Book” is really what it claims to be?
I like the final part of the book so much and I see it so lucid that it couldn’t be some fantastic esoteric nonsense. That Jesus of Nazareth that appeared was the authentic one, without a doubt.
¶ 4. How has “The Urantia Book” changed your life?
I had been in a Christian group for years, my family is practicing Catholics, my sister is religious, but all that had become a corset for me. Being told what to believe or the rituals to do did not please me. So in the end I got out of all relationship with the church and consequently, I married civilly, I have not baptized my three children, etc. I have the sensation of an immense freedom, the so dear freedom of the Children of God… to search for the truth.
¶ 5. Has the faith you had before reading it changed? In what way?
Of course yes, because there is no awareness of duty to God that he had before, but a closer and more direct relationship with Him, without set phrases or prefixed rituals.
¶ 6. Is there a point (or points) of the revelation that you find difficult to accept?
The issue of eugenics, the cleansing of inferior races or elements, causes me dislike for its racist connotations and Nazi ideology, but I understand that in a long-term evolutionary plan, physical progress must also be contemplated.
¶ 7. What is the part that has impressed you most deeply?
Without a doubt, the fourth part excites me, that of the life and teachings of Jesus. It is a new way of seeing and learning about divinity, by getting so close to us human beings. How beautiful to discover that Jesus of Nazareth had a family with many siblings, worked in practically all the trades known at the time, made long journeys to the main cities of the time, worked and had a group of disciples made up of simple people from his cultural background, loved deeply to human beings…
¶ 8. How do you understand that of doing “the will of the Father”?
Good question. It is a set phrase, repeated many times in history, but I believe that each one should seek their personal interpretation of this suggestion of life given by Jesus of Nazareth. It was his life motto, so it is something very important. I believe that making this sentence come true implies being in contact with our inner God, the Adjuster that has been given to us, and allowing ourselves to be guided by his hand as an inseparable, good and wise companion. Therefore, it would be thinking, feeling and acting as God would in our personal circumstances. Something difficult, because the normal circumstances of the daily hustle and bustle do not stimulate daily introspection and the serenity to listen to ourselves.
¶ 9. Have you become aware of the presence of your Adjuster?
I must confess not. I have had very beautiful experiences of serenity or beauty that give you energy to continue in life with a different perspective, but I don’t think I can personalize that much in a conscious dialogue. There have been very beautiful discoveries and coincidences in response to questions, someone seems to be there waiting for you to ask, but I can’t quite define it.
¶ 10. Have you tried to put the Master’s teaching into practice? What was the result?
It’s the first thing that occurred to me. At home, talking about the teachings of our beloved Miguel de Nebadon. without hovering According to the circumstances of life, raising questions. I think it is also very important to be part of associations, to be in contact with other people, to display the good intentions that we have within. Without forgetting that it helps a lot to be part of a study group of The Urantia Book, because you reinforce your convictions with other like-minded people. In Malaga we have a study group and each time we learn more and get more involved, despite the distances.
Results of this? The truth is that I don’t think about it, I’m not looking for proselytism or crushing anyone with the truth… one sows and others will reap.
¶ 11. Do you think that UB has something “mysterious” that makes not everyone decide to read it?
I don’t think there is anything special, except that it is a deep, serious book that implies a study in its understanding. Those who want things chewed up, easy, to use and throw away, as we are accustomed to with television and advertising, will not connect with the book. With this book and with others. But whoever deeply desires new answers to life, it will attract attention. A minority, I think, since spiritual development is not yet a key objective of society, although things will change. The same book affirms it, when it says that it is an advance of a more spiritual phase of the future human civilization. There’s no rush…
¶ 12. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding “The Urantia Book”?
The Urantia Book is a book that is already over half a century old and, in order to reach more people, we have to think about new ways of communicating as human beings: visual, technological, without borders, with personal testimonies rather than sermons. May God and his dear angels help us to make this peaceful dissemination possible, as Jesus of Nazareth would have wanted, but in the 21st century.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| Convergences and divergences: agriculture | Luz y Vida — No. 41 — September 2015 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |