© 1991 Madeline Noordzy
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
What a 36 page Tenth Anniversary Issue wasn’t able to do, my article “From E.T. to E-3” apparently was, and that is, evoke a response!
My remark on not wanting to turn into a URANTIA Book fundamentalist was not meant as a personal accusation against anyone, but rather as a warning for the whole readership, including myself, about the ATTITUDE of the fundamentalist that nothing shall be added.
If however anyone feels that the shoe fits, then so be it. I have no argument with the beliefs of the fundamentalist or anyone else’s beliefs for that matter. It would be foolish to do so. Doesn’t The URANTIA Book tell us on page 1260 that to a greater or lesser degree we’ve all got it wrong anyway?
However experience has shown me what the attitude of the fundamentalist can lead to. Like this true story where a fundamentalist said to a “non-believer”: “You realize of course that you won’t go to heaven”.
It is an attitude that Jesus repeatedly warned us about. It is an attitude that can lead to prejudice or making hasty judgments before we’ve properly studied all the facts. You probably know that the book mentions
“The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance”. (UB 100:1.2)
It is an attitude that can also lead to the crystallization of truth. It can lead to feelings of self-righteousness, religious arrogance and intolerance. These are the attitudes that have led to every religious war. Because one party believes to be one cut above the other party. And when I see these attitudes creeping into the URANTIA movement then I feel it is time to take an honest look at ourselves and hopefully grow a bit in the process.
With a marvellous revelation like The URANTIA Book it is easy enough to feel so smug that we think we do not need to look at anything else. I’ve been guilty of that myself at times! Even The URANTIA Book is only a stepping stone, a scaffolding to NEVER-ENDING HEIGHTS OF NEW TRUTHS.
Jesus said: “Happy are the poor in spirit — the humble”. In my books that means being open-minded, teachable, seeking truth wherever it may come from. In our hurry to shoot the messenger, let us not make the mistake of overlooking the message. Let us not forget Jesus’ words: “Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human”. One cannot judge a book by its cover, neither can one pass judgment on a message that takes at least 7 and a half hours to listen to by just looking at a few pamphlets, which I feel are probably more aimed at the American culture than the Australian one, and also at a non-URANTIA Book reading public. I do understand scepticism, but let us not be close-minded about it. Every person has the Spirit of Truth working if we give it a chance.
Kathleen’s remark about life on Graceland “as a bed of roses”.
When one listens to the tapes, one realizes that these are just the conditions on a normal planet, one that isn’t as backward as Urantia. No wonder the book says:
“If you could be transported from your backward and confused world to some normal planet now in the postbestowal Son age, you would think you had been transplanted to the heaven of your traditions.” (UB 52:6.8)
Her remark about being on guard with E-3’s claim of being the fulfilment of the prophecy of another and greater John the Baptist.
I wholeheartedly agree with her. But on the other hand I also feel that we should be careful with having preconceived ideas about him. Our criteria may not be God’s criteria. Because of the uniqueness of every personality we inevitably run into trouble if we have certain expectations. Somehow I don’t think it is a good idea to say: “God, please send us another prophet, because I’ve looked at these lousy pamphlets and I don’t think this prophet measures up to my expectations”.
I do not know whether E-3 is the promised prophet The URANTIA Book and the Bible speak of. He could be deluded that he is. But what I do know is that he is a son of the Father and that the Father loves him as much as he loves me. I believe that no matter who he was, he would have an extremely hard time trying to convince his fellow man that he was a genuine prophet. I feel personally that I am of more help to him and the rest of the world if firstly I pray for him and secondly if I dare to honestly and objectively look at his message and then try and evaluate it before condemning it altogether without even listening.
In the section that deals with the material handicaps of the Adjuster, the book tells us that the Adjuster’s ministry is greatly retarded by our own “preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices”. And they advise us:
“Therefore, in scrutinizing mental situations, safety lies only in the prompt recognition of each and every thought and experience for just what it actually and fundamentally is, disregarding entirely what it might have been”. (UB 109:5.3)
Kathleen’s remark about E-3’s use of Jesus’ saying “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few”, it is interesting how different people react in different ways to the same situations. There is a group of people who took Jesus’ saying “Happy are the pure in heart” and the comment about not being suspicious to heart. After the understandable initial scepticism they, despite those lousy pamphlets, slightly reluctantly at first, listened to the message. Not once, but several times. They also studied the book “The End of the World! And the Coming of the Bestowal Son”, which, as the author admits, has some errors in it, but still is an intensive study of quotations of The URANTIA Book and the Bible on the subject. And after a period of vacillating between belief and disbelief they looked at the state of the world and started reasoning something like this — This possibly could happen. We don’t know if it will happen, but if it does happen then it is also up to us to make something happen. And they offered their help in case it does happen to spread this message of faith in God and deliverance to a public who may not be aware of their spiritual security that we feel we’ve got. Not because they feel less loyal to the teachings of our beloved blue book, not because they see this message as a replacement for the teachings of The URANTIA Book, but more as an emergency measure meant for emergency times. With Jesus they say:
“The downfall of nations, the crash of empires, the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, the end of an age, even the end of the world, what have these things to do with one who believes this gospel, and who has hid his life in the surety of the eternal kingdom?” (UB 176:3.2)
If the world does come to a temporary end, we may not need to know about Graceland, but there will be a lot of frightened people out there who don’t have The URANTIA Book, nor will be ready for it, but could very well be ready for the GRACELAND tapes, which reveal all those fundamental beliefs Kathleen writes about in her article, which could be a great help in alleviating their fears.
There are single supporting parents on a pension in this group, who cannot afford to give financial assistance. Yet they offered their support, their time and energy. That is how these people reacted to that saying about the harvest is plentiful. They did something positive and organised themselves so that they would be ready to step in if and when it happens. You could see it as being service-minded. (I am not implying that I think Kathleen is not service-minded., because we all know very well that she is.) They felt this message could have been given to us first to give us time to jump over that hurdle of disbelief and then give us the opportunity of offering our services as the labourers the Master would undoubtedly be looking for. But we do all remain agondonters who apparently have to fatten on sublime uncertainty.
However they feel that we all have a responsibility to keep The URANTIA Book untainted and free from any individual’s personal interpretation and that’s why this group has decided that it is wisest to keep the two separated. They are aware that the URANTIA Foundation could not endorse this message.
But I would like to thank everyone for their responses. I admire you all for speaking up for your beliefs and your great loyalty towards the teachings of The URANTIA Book. As long as we keep discussing our viewpoints without anyone getting upset, we’ve got a healthy situation. And please remember that anything that I have said in this reply is not meant personally. I just feel that we should have a honest look at this whole situation and solve it as best we know how to before it gets out of hand and irreparable damage is done to the cause we all feel dedicated to and that is the spreading of The Fifth Epochal Revelation to a planet which more than ever needs it. Although we may not agree on this matter, spiritually WE ARE ONE. Didn’t Jesus say: “When did I teach you that you should all see alike?” (UB 141:5.1) Let’s hope we all can learn something from this.
By the way, did you know that even the finaliters love to speculate about the future and that even these glorified beings don’t agree on the subject? (UB 31:7.3)
Madeline Noordzy
Melbourne