© 2005 Mariano Pérez
© 2005 Urantia Association of Spain
Introduction by Mariano Perez
In the time of Jesus the western peoples were receptive to changes in religion, despite the intellectual achievements there was no satisfaction for the longings of the soul. As we all know, it was not welcomed by the Jewish people themselves.
The teachings of Jesus, though distorted, suddenly appeared in a setting suitable for admission. And although Peter was the true founder of the Church, Paul the great organizer was the one who carried the message to the Gentiles, and the Greek believers spread it throughout the Roman Empire.
The success of Christianity was also due to the fact that it knew how to adapt and mix, firstly with the Hellenism advocated by Paul, secondly in the first generations with Mithraism of Persian origin and adopted by the Romans, and finally committing itself to paganism. , which culminated in the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century (reigned from 306 to 337).
The idea of a larger God, the hope of eternal life and undoubtedly the figure of Jesus -his resurrection and ascension- were the food for those souls eager for a higher truth than the one that existed at that time.
Christianity owes a lot to the Greeks, since they were the main recipients of this new religion of Hebrew origin.
This embrace of Christianity by the Greeks was mainly due to the fact that both the Greek people and Christianity agreed on the supremacy of the individual, in the case of the Hellenic culture referring to the social and political part, and because of the teachings of Jesus in the moral and spiritual part, both presaging the social, political and spiritual freedom of man.
The Greek culture that was based in the countries of the western Mediterranean and thanks to Alexander in the Near East, were the consequent recipients of Christianity.
However, the eastern version of Jesus’ message, which was more faithful to his teachings, did not progress in the same way as the western one, getting lost in the Islamic movement.
Since Rome had taken over Greek culture, it was the Roman Empire that definitively expanded Christianity, this despite the first persecutions suffered by them, which were due to the misunderstanding of the word “kingdom” promulgated by Christians and which the susceptible Romans interpreted it as a political enemy. Because in reality Rome was very tolerant with art and religion, more than anything because they were indifferent to them.
Hellenized and paganized Christianity spread rapidly, at least intellectually, among a politically loving Greco-Roman people, thanks also to the fact that nature- and conscience-loving Stoics had prepared the ground. After all Christianity discerned the laws of God in the laws of nature. The fact of the translation into Greek of the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament also contributed.
The Roman Empire did not have a satisfactory God for their worship and spiritual unification, therefore they had that vacuum that Christianity came to fill, which on the other hand accepted the empire. This Roman empire achieved something that had never been achieved before and that is that different races and nations accepted the same religion.
The second century was the best period for a religion to progress in the Western world. Perhaps I am too late to prevent the moral decline of the Roman empire or its increasing racial deterioration, although we wonder what would have happened if instead of Greek Christianity Rome and the world had accepted the true gospel of the kingdom.
In any case, although some of Jesus’ ideals were sacrificed to build Christianity, by the end of the second century the great minds of the Greco-Roman world had become Christians, and this empire achieved the survival of Christianity.
The Church suffered and survived various phases in the history of the West. It experienced Hellenization, paganization, secularization, institutionalization, intellectual deterioration, spiritual decadence - even more threatened by the infinity of saints who interceded before the Gods on behalf of men - moral hibernation, the threat of extinction, - being accompanied in these periods by mysticism - the subsequent rejuvenation, the fragmentation into sects of Christian teachings still existing today, and a more current rehabilitation that confronts the scientific age and materialistic tendencies.
Religion is the revelation to man of his eternal destiny. And it is a purely personal and spiritual experience, which must be differentiated from other elevated forms of human thought, such as appreciation of beauty, social and political duty, or human morality. Morality must be based on spiritual realities, otherwise it is bound to fail.
There is no need to be in an excessive hurry to live the adventures that arise within the soul.
The phenomenon of evil are simple black spots on a white background of spiritual values of truth, which we approach through the insight of the soul: loving the beautiful, seeking the truth, fidelity to duty and adoration of the divine goodness, being the true guide LOVE.
Humanity has undergone a violent change from the age of miracles to the age of machines, being disturbing for man. Science has involuntarily led humanity into a materialistic panic, in which man is reduced to a state of automaton, in which man thinks he has no time for meditation and religious devotion. To think that the mind is a product of matter and the universe a mechanism without more is the poor materialist approach. If this were so, we would never have two different interpretations of any observed phenomenon, on the other hand, truth, beauty and goodness are inherent at higher levels, where spiritual influence exists.
In any case, materialism has peaked and is beginning to decline. In the times to come the teachings of Jesus will fully triumph. True religion cannot enter into controversy with science, since it is not concerned with material things, it must be indifferent to it, even if it sympathizes with it.
If this were only a material universe, material man would not be able to arrive at his own mechanistic concept of existence, since he would be totally unaware of this fact. This very pessimistic concept of the universe is itself a non-material phenomenon of the mind, albeit an erroneous one, since man could not recognize the values born of the spirit that dwells in him, if he were merely a machine.
Art proves that man is not mechanistic, but it does not prove that he is spiritually immortal -moroncia mortal-. Poetry is the effort to flee from material realities to spiritual values. Religion is the divine embrace of cosmic values.
It is the scientist, and not science, who perceives the reality of an evolving universe of energy and matter, and therefore recognition is due to him, just as art owes recognition to the artist, moral evaluations to the moralist. , philosophy to the philosopher, religion would not exist without the real experience of the religious, just as the universe of universes has no meaning without I AM, the infinite God who made it and directs it. Science should be dedicated to destroying superstition instead of attacking human belief in spiritual realities and divine values.
After the defeat of materialism and mechanism, it will continue to have a devastating influence on secularism: it does not deny God, but it ignores him.
Modern secularism has a father and a mother. The father is the atheist attitude of the so-called science of the 19th and 20th centuries and the mother is the totalitarian Church of the Middle Ages, since it originated as a protest against the domination of the institutionalized church, although this only served to become dominated. by the tyrannical and dictatorial State (the time of the book).
Although secularism brought to Western society the advantages of freedom and other satisfactions, its mistake was to continue the revolt against God himself. Secularism can never bring peace to humanity, nor replace God; leads to restlessness, unhappiness, war and world disaster - world wars as an example -
You can enjoy the advantages of secularism, such as tolerance, social service, democracy and freedoms without having to renounce faith in God, true religion.
In any case, secularism is slowly disintegrating, although there is a main obstacle to that disintegration: nationalism. The brotherhood of men cannot be established when the fatherhood of God is ignored or denied.
A piece of information: during the first third of the 20th century, more human beings have been killed than during the entire Christian dispensation up to that time. An even more terrible destruction is yet to come.
In this section we are prophesied that after this period of materialistic secularism, after the current uprising against superstition, the truths of the gospel of Jesus will gloriously survive to illuminate a new and better path, but not with today’s paganized Christianity that needs a new and broader vision of the religion of Jesus, of his real life and teachings.
It is necessary that for this spiritual rebirth the religious leaders dedicate themselves exclusively to the spiritual regeneration of men, and stop dealing with social and material problems, because these social, moral, economic and political changes will come from the inspiration of those souls born in this new scenario.
Intelligent men and women are afraid of being subject to a religion, when they are threatened by one they rationalize it, institutionalize it and make it a tradition, and this is due to the fear of what it will do to them. In truth, one does not want to pay the price for selfishness, for comfort, since the religion of Jesus obliges them to transform their believers, to dedicate their efforts and energies to doing the will of the Father and to selflessly serve the fraternity of men. But there will come a time when man feels sufficiently disillusioned by the pursuit of selfishness and turns his gaze to the true gospel of the kingdom.
As Christianity languishes today, due to formalism, over-organization, intellectualism, and other non-spiritual tendencies, Urantia shudders into the abyss of one of its most exciting times of social readjustment, moral revival, and spiritual enlightenment.
Although Christianity has done a service to this world, today it is rather a hindrance even if unconsciously. It is practically impossible that the revival of the true teachings of Jesus stem from a reformation of this Christianity, which is anchored in ancient systems of thought and obsolete worship, and divided into sects against itself, which will not make the world capitulate. “unchristian”. On the other hand, although it has brought some beneficent powers to the planet, and arouses moral emotions in thoughtful men, it is full of inherent and acquired flaws, such as its alliances with commerce and politics and persecuting some casually-appearing truth-bearers. . Although certainly this Church has been maintained because many souls prefer an authoritarian religion full of rituals and consecrated traditions.
However, the mind of the current man in expansion requires enlightenment with a new understanding of the gospel of eternal salvation, this would be mainly making human beings participate in the transcendental gift of God in the form of man, that is, in the expression of the divine spark that exists in mortals: the Thought Adjuster, through free service and freedom-loving devotion, reaching out in love to the hand of our brethren to lead them to spiritual guidance, toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence.
Jesus did not found the so-called Christian Church, although this should not be despised. The true Church of Jesus: The brotherhood of Jesus, is invisible, spiritual and is characterized by Unity, although not necessarily uniformity. This fraternity must become a living organism that can use social organizations, but without being supplanted by them. There is no place in it for sectarian rivalries, no intergroup resentments, no claims of moral superiority and spiritual infallibility.
The great hope of Urantia is the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus that would unite the many families of his followers today.
The world needs to recover the true message of Jesus, which remains latent in Christianity despite the misrepresentations made throughout the centuries. It is curious that the revelators did not mention the revelation itself as the one in charge of carrying out this task.
You don’t need a new religion, but look for the commonalities of other religions. The true teaching of Jesus will reappear in the form of religion as a personal experience. In Europe there is a great moral vacuum, a consequence of secularism. This has freed us from the dominating religions but it has left us orphans of spirituality: we have abandoned our old pants as useless but we have not been able to find new pants; that’s why we are naked. The State is as guilty of this situation as the Church. It is clear that human beings need a religious education, but not as it has been understood until now; Perhaps it would be a good idea to teach the History of Religions or Philosophy of Religion in schools, which serves as a complement to the religious training received at home.
In Spain the struggle between secularism and the institutionalized Church is very significant. It is curious that the Church wants the State to take charge of teaching religion in schools. The important thing is personal religion, which is what makes there are as many religions as there are people. This personal religion makes itself known simply by setting an example.
At all times we must promote unity, but not uniformity. We must not dogmatize our beliefs or our customs, but go to the union in the heart. The manifestations of our religiosity can be different, the important thing is to feel them.
The Book was revealed to us to prepare the ground for a future age. That is why there is no point in doing aggressive proselytizing today. It is not we who find the Book, but the Book finds us.