© 2004 Meredith Sprunger
© 2004 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
Bishop John Shelby Spong in his book, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, cites evidence that religion-especially Christianity — is in dire need of being restructured. He points out that the concepts and expressions of Christian theology established in the prescientific era no longer make sense. Spong believes that early Christians were responsible for establishing the concept of a personal God, theism, which he rejects and in its place accepts Paul Tillich’s concept of God as the nonpersonal Ground of Being. He goes to great length in redefining Jesus, transcendence, the meaning of prayer, the basis of ethics, the future of the church, and eternal life. His understanding of God-consciousness comes close to relationships with the pre-personal Thought Adjuster.
Spong, along with many Christian theologians, recognizes that the prescientific understanding of God and religion in general must be restructured to make sense in our contemporary view of reality. Unfortunately, he is not aware of, or ignores, the vast new concept of reality presented in the Urantia Papers. The transition of religious concepts today needs not only the upstep required by our contemporary scientific-secular view of reality, it more importantly needs a transition to harmonize with the extensive picture of material-mindal-spiritual reality presented in the Fifth Epochal Revelation. This transcendent transition will no doubt take centuries to consolidate.
There are many signs that the beginnings of this transition is underway. In Religions in the Modern World edited by Linda Woodhead (Routledge, 2002), changes in the religions of the world as well as a view of the future is presented. The last section of the book discusses the de-secularization and globalization of religion and the spiritual revolution from “religion” to “spirituality.” While institutionalized religious traditions are not faring well today, interest in spirituality is thriving. There is a growing interest in spirituality both within institutionalized religion and in the general population. Spiritual experience — the influence of the Thought Adjusters, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, and the soul are increasingly more important than the external influence of institutional religion While religious institutions are important socially in establishing a culture, spirituality is the shaper of the individual.
We are living in exciting times with the privilege of experiencing the beginnings of a new spiritual paradigm on our world, along with the opportunity to influence the shape of the future.