© 1996 Meredith Sprunger
© 1996 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| Martin Gardner's The Great Cult Mystery a review | Volume 3 - No. 1 — Index | Reading The Urantia Book as a Religious Practice |
The purpose of revelation is to reveal and enlarge spiritual truth. All presentations of revelation are communicated in the intellectual-cultural frames of reference of the times in which they are given. These human concepts carrying the revelation are transitory, but the truth they proclaim is eternal. For instance, the 7-day creation story in the Bible which theologians now classify as “myth,” made sense in the simplistic cosmology of pre-scientific times and effectively transmitted the spiritual truth that God is the source of all creation.
Every epochal revelation and all religions giving expression to the truths of revelation have a history of development that have many commonalities because human nature tends to exhibit consistent patterns, and we can learn from studying these past religious developments. There is a tendency in the early stages of all personal and social responses to revelation to identify the temporal intellectual-scientific-cultural vehicle concepts with the enlarged spiritual truths presented. The enlarging spiritual vision is so captivating and fulfilling that individual religionists and groups not only identify the temporal vehicle concepts with the eternal truths, they regard both as infallible and inerrant. Such theological beliefs have come to be referred to under the rubric of “fundamentalism.” These fundamentalists are often dedicated, wonderful people.
Many individuals who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible have spent their entire lives attempting to harmonize its temporal human concept carriers with its eternal spiritual truths. It took centuries of experience and theological scholarship to finally separate the temporal Biblical carrier concepts associated with the Fourth Epochal Revelation from its eternal spiritual truths and prepare the planet for the Fifth Epochal Revelation. It is the eternal spiritual truths pointed to by the Bible which make it an enduring document, not its outdated scientific-cultural carrier concepts.
Students of the Fifth Epochal Revelation are now experiencing this same inclination to identify its scientific-cultural concepts with the enlarged and inspiring spiritual truths it presents. The historic dichotomy which our planet has experienced between science and religion no doubt inspired the revelators of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to present an integrated view of the relationships of science, philosophy, and religion in the universe. The mandates under which the revelators worked, in my judgment, are wise and spiritually sound. They were req-uired to use contemporary scientific frames of reference which they acknowledged would soon be in need of revision. They were instructed to use concepts indigenous to our culture and only use their own formulations when they could not find a human expression that was relevant to their purposes. They tell us that they used thousands of the highest human formulations of truth. The research of Matthew Block is verifying these statements and showing us the ingenious ways they have improved these human sources.
When Life Goes On and On
The pulsing flow of starlight,
The tidal pull of moon at night,
The waterfalls of valleys lush,
The rays of sushine’s rush—
Science says all seek entropy,
A state of dispersed energy.
That earth rotates on anon
It insists will too be gone
When the solar furnace busts.
No perpetual machine of life
Exists to run it forever rife
With mighty, incessant gusts,
All will end in piles of dusts.But in eternity God’s light
Pervades the halls of Paradise,
His potent power and force fuel
Universes here and beyond,
And when these systems each evolve
To His spirit’s prior purpose,
They too will revolve on and one.Robert Walker, Soquel, USA
The central thing to remember about revelation, as we have mentioned, is that its purpose is to reveal and enlarge spiritual truth. The accompanying scientific facts and cultural folkways used to carry and present these spiritual truths are transitory. It is the genius of revelation that eternal spiritual truths can be presented using temporal facts and changing cultural customs. The cosmological and metaphysical concepts of revelation are important because they are frames of reference which make its message relevant in the times in which the revelation is given. The enlarged spiritual cosmology of the Fifth Epochal Revelation is critically important for mainline, liberal Christianity—as well as traditional religions. Since contemporary Christology is rooted in prescientific material cosmology and an extremely simplistic spiritual cosmology, theologians are regarding the doctrine of exclusive salvation through faith in the post-resurrection Jesus as increasingly unbelievable.They are no longer able to affirm what has been called the “scandal of particularity.”
Christian theology is in desperate need of the spiritual cosmology presented in The Urantia Book to envision a metaphysical conception of reality that will enable theologians to comprehend the “glory of particularity” in the post-resurrection personality of Jesus. The Fifth Epochal Revelation “does synthesize apparently divergent sciences of nature and the theology of religion into a consistent and logical universe philosophy, a co-ordinated and unbroken explanation of both science and religion, thus creating a harmony of mind and a satisfaction of spirit which answers in human experience those questionings of the mortal mind which craves to know how the Infinite works out his will and plans in matter, with minds, and on spirit.” (UB 101:2.1).
The authors of The Urantia Book on UB 101:4.5-10 give an excellent description of the use of transitory knowledge and eternal truth in revelation.
Truth may be but relatively inspired, even though revelation is a spiritual phenomenon. While statements with reference to cosmology are never inspired, such revelations are of immense value in that they at least transiently clarify knowledge by:
- The reduction of confusion by the authoritative elimination of error.
- The co-ordination of known or about to be known facts and observations.
- The restoration of important bits of lost knowledge concerning epochal transactions in the distant past.
- The supplying of information which will fill in vital missing gaps in otherwise earned knowledge.
- Presenting cosmic data in such a manner as to illuminate the spiritual teachings contained in the accompanying revelation.
While the enlarged spiritual cosmology is basic in presenting expanded spiritual truth, the authors of The Urantia Book repeatedly warn against identifying the temporal scientific-cultural frames of reference of the book with its eternal spiritual truths. Urantia Book fundamentalists seem to have just as much trouble separating the temporal scientific-cultural-carrying vehicle concepts from the eternal truths of The Urantia Book as do the Biblical fundamentalists. They retort, “The Urantia Book is not the Bible!” Obviously not, but human mind makes the same identity responses linking the temporal and the eternal aspects of revelation. In all probability, they will spend their lives attempting to harmonize the book’s contemporary carrier concepts with its eternal spiritual truths.
If you shut up truth an bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.
Emile Zola, J’accuse
Martin Gardner’s recent book, Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery, is designed to undermine the credibility of The Urantia Book. To accomplish this purpose Gardner deals almost entirely with the human concept carriers, not the spiritual truths themselves. In actuality, history may show that it helped to focus attention on the real spiritual quality of The Fifth Epochal Revelation (which he totally ignores) that will ensure its recognition and appreciation for centuries to come. Although Gardner’s book abounds with misinformation, erroneous assumptions and fantastic speculations, it may be fortuitous that it appeared early in the Urantia movement.
Gardner is best known as the author of columns in the Scientific American and the Skeptical Inquirer. He is a professional debunker of psychic and esoteric phenomena. Gardner is an indefatigable researcher reporting facts, events, and rumors which make The Urantia Book appear in the worst possible light. Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery is a hodgepodge of information and speculation about Ellen White’s revelations, Seventh day Adventism beliefs, Oahspe revelations, numerology, scientific errors in The Urantia Book, deviant activities, and controversy in the Urantia movement. His book is focused on the scientific-cultural-carrier vehicle aspects of The Urantia Book and largely ignores its spiritual truths. He believes Wilfred Kellogg channeled The Urantia Book and Dr. Sadler edited and revised it. Since the supermortal authors of the Urantia Papers tell us they have used the ideas of thousands of human beings in the production of the book and research is confirming this fact, it would not be surprising if Dr. Sadler’s ideas were among this distinguished group. But, for many reasons, I am confident that Dr. Sadler did not write or revise the book.
Gardner attempts to denigrate the spiritual quality of The Urantia Book not by dealing directly with this issue but using many of the classic logical fallacies:
“Woe upon you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! for you are scrupulous to cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within there remains the filth of extortion, excesses, and deception. You are spiritually blind. Do you not recognize how much better it would be first to cleanse the inside of the cup, and then that which spills over would of itself cleanse the outside?”
For him who would fain teach the world
The world holds hate indeed
For Socrates the hemlock cup;
For Christ, Gethsemane.Don Marquis, Wages
Anyone who knew Dr. Sadler will recognize that these statements are ridiculous. Dr. Sadler was an exceptionally well balanced, rational individual. He did not express his opinion about an issue unless asked. He deliberately removed himself from leadership responsibilities in the Urantia Foundation and the Urantia Brotherhood and did not try to influence their decisions. He did everything he could to prevent his name from being associated with The Urantia Book. I was amazed at his ability to remove himself from leadership influence and allow younger people to assume responsibility without his interference. He was also a very competent leader and I assume he could be autocratic with anyone who wanted to alter the content of The Urantia Book. Christy (Emma Christiansen, a member of the contact commission that received the Urantia Papers) told me that Harold Sherman wanted to enter material on extrasensory perception in the book and was categorically refused.
Even though I think that Martin Gardner’s book contains many things which I think are erroneous and his evaluations with which I disagree, it is the first extensively researched public record of events surrounding the origin of The Urantia Book written by a person who is a skilled debunker and does everything possible to undermine credibility in its teachings. It is important in an open society to have such criticism available, and it helps prevent a cult mentality in the Urantia movement. The high spiritual quality of the Fifth Epochal Revelation will survive such attacks much as the spiritual truths of the Fourth Epochal Revelation survived the persecutions of the early Christian community.
We should encourage a critical approach to The Urantia Book. Since it purports to be the Fifth Epochal Revelation authored by supermortal personalities, it is important to have a clear understanding of the philosophical criteria of truth necessary in evaluating such claim. First of all, claim or authority is not a philosophical criterion of truth. Secondly, knowing the origin and authorship of a book may give some insights, but it is not a philosophical criterion of truth. Whether supermortals or human beings wrote the book, it must be evaluated by the quality of its content, not by what it claims, or who may have written it.
Man with his burning soul
Has but an hour of breath
To build a ship of Truth
In which his soul may sail
Sail on the sea of death
for death takes toll
Of beauty, courage, youth,
Of all but Truth.
John Masefield, Truth
The central objective in evaluating The Urantia Book is to assess the quality of its spiritual truth and insight. This must be done by individuals using their total capacity to evaluate its philosophic coherence and experiential spiritual relevance. Is the spiritual quality and are the insights of the book inferior to, equal with, or superior to our traditional sources of spiritual truth? During this period of testing, a consensus will gradually evolve regarding its quality. If the general opinion is negative, the book will fade away into obscurity. If the consensus is positive, continued evaluation will determine the level of its spiritual contribution. Is it just another useful spiritual resource, or does it have quality of revelation? My philosophic hypothesis is that if it has the spiritual quality of revelation, its influence will continue to grow in society throughout the world.
My personal view, after almost forty years of critical study and evaluation, is that The Urantia Book is of superior quality in at least four categories:
In short, The Urantia Book is the best view of an integrated universe, the best model of total reality that I have encountered.
Generations of scholars will be probing the human aspects and personalities whose concepts were the temporal carriers of the eternal spiritual truths of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. This is both interesting and appropriate research which may, along with the confines of the English language, shed some light on the limitations of the latest epochal revelation. But the real quality of The Urantia Book will be determined by its spiritual truths and insights. In my judgment they are without peer on our planet.
During the first forty years of its history the Urantia movement has evolved from a handful of readers in Chicago to hundreds of study groups and tens of thousands of readers throughout the world. Without mass publicity or promotion over 250,000 copies of The Urantia Book have been sold and translations are available in French, Spanish, and Finnish. Work continues on the Dutch and Russian translations, with editions of Korean, German, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian translations on the drawing board. Audio and computer versions of the book are available and numerous study aids have been published. Regional and International conferences are being held and secondary works are proliferating.
All this is impressive but of much greater importance is the tempering and structuring of the Urantia movement in preparation for its world-wide mission. The rugged struggle of these early years has established solid foundations for carrying a new paradigm of spiritual reality to humankind. The Urantia movement very early in its history has encountered most of the challenges that have threatened religious transitions down through history. We have received an experiential vaccination against these viruses which have threatened creative spiritual growth in the past. The Fifth Epochal Revelation has demonstrated its dynamic power in steering the movement repeatedly through critical periods and controversial encounters in our journey.
I can not change yesterday,
I can only make the most of today,
and look with hope towar tomorrow.
The Urantia movement has been confronted with centralized organizational control and we have witnessed the power of individual initiative and creative diversity to establish a pluralistic foundation for outreach ministry. We have escaped oligarchical-authoritarian direction in the triumph of participatory democracy and openness. We weathered the threat of legalistic-power strategies through the dominance of cooperative team work.
Soon after regional and national conferences were held, students of The Urantia Book were captivated and challenged by the intrigues of charismatic control of the Urantia movement. With the passing of time, we recognized the danger of charismatic influence and witnessed the emergence of evolutionary-rational decision-making. On the heels of this tempering experience, we were confronted by a more subtle form of charismatic influence in the captivating channeling movement among readers of The Urantia Book. Following the example of the Christian church in dealing with similar movements in its history, we have achieved the spiritual maturity to allow individual freedom to evaluate the authenticity of spiritual experience.
We are now entering the intellectual-spiritual struggle which took mainline Christianity centuries to largely resolve: distinguishing between the contemporary, fallible human carrier concepts used in revelation from its eternal spiritual truths. Martin Gardner’s book, Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery, may help to shorten this period in the Urantia movement. It may also help to guard against cult attitudes among those who have living faith in the enlarged spiritual truths of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.
The solid core of the Urantia movement has come through these tribulations with renewed dedication and balance. We have come of age. Spiritual freedom and participatory democracy have taught us there can be unity of purpose in the midst of intellectual and political diversity. The Fifth Epochal Revelation will make its way and overcome any barriers placed in its way. We are standing at the threshold of “one of the most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment” (UB 195:9.2) on our planet. The preliminary, orienting growth developments of the Urantia movement are largely behind us. The potential of an exciting outreach mission of the Fifth Epochal Revelation is awaiting us. The Most Highs have prepared us and our planet for the most thrilling vision of spiritual reality since Jesus of Nazareth walked on our world. This outreach mission will be many-faceted, pluralistic, and victorious!
| Martin Gardner's The Great Cult Mystery a review | Volume 3 - No. 1 — Index | Reading The Urantia Book as a Religious Practice |