© 1996 Ramon Barbosa
© 1996 The Fellowship for readers of The Urantia Book
By Ramon Barbosa
Outreach activities within the Urantia movement could benefit from a holistic attitude. Upon 16 years of observation of the episodes that have come and gone in the movement, I feel an upswell of gratitude for God’s all-wise plan mixed with grief for the human experience of error and misjudgment.
There is no excuse for divisiveness and petty strife among those of us who are fortunate to have had our lives upstepped by the fifth epochal revelation. This revelation can only be regarded as the greatest existing material evidence of the high regard in which we are held, and of the profound confidence that has been invested in our human potentials. Certainly, we don’t come with perfectly integrated personalities from the start, but, still, we know better than to hang ourselves with an egotistical noose.
There can be no one personality or elite group who can presume to be adequately qualified to authoritatively represent the unprecedented phenomenon of an epochal revelation in book form. Those of us who are cognizant of the blessed service rendered to us by the renewed presentation of the facts of divine reality and the life of our beloved Master on this world can only respond with one accord: “Father, may we become more and more worthy of your divine grace.”
Jesus, our beloved Master, is to each of us the only unfailing and eminently qualified leader, teacher, and partner in the everyday experience of living and revealing the spiritual dimension of his heavenly kingdom. Praise be to God for the honor and privilege of our participation. Surely ours is a high trust.
The Urantia Book is not meant to serve only as a source of spiritual and cultural teachings exclusively for those already born of the spirit. Rather have many individuals, as will untold millions in the future, become sublimely spirit-conscious as a result of exposure to the incomparable teachings found in the book.
This revelation is not exclusively the guide book for those who are already within the kingdom. It is for anyone with an ear to hear these spiritual truths. As a freely accessible resource, The Urantia Book will leaven the spiritual strata of the world by serving as one more, albeit very effective, catalyst for the faith-discovery of a personal relationship with God.
Jesus’ use of parables as a teaching method in his ministry was not meant to conceal teachings from anyone. His teachings were for everyone, even for all generations on all worlds. But only those who were sincerely searching could perceive the meanings of his parables. His intention was not, and is not, to exclude anyone.
Introducing The Urantia Book should not be withheld until one has presumed to judge that the individual to whom it is to be introduced is disposed to believe it is a revelation. Such an attitude is arrogant and smacks of elitism. There are many long-time students of the book who hold it in high regard, yet do not accept the book as a revelation. Such a disclosure should not shock or offend anyone.
What matters most is that the revelatory teachings of The Urantia Book are bringing the spiritual pressure of enlightenment into the thought stream of human religious consciousness.
A sincere heart and an objective, motivated, and inquiring mind are the only prerequisites for an individual to consider the teachings of The Urantia Book. The seed of the faith-discovery of a personal relationship with God may or may not germinate, but it will be sown.
The phenomenon of any one individual coming to the honest, spiritled conclusion that The Urantia Book is a revelation is exclusively a personal matter between man and God. Moreover, it is within the domain of that personal, spiritual relationship in which further decisions are made as to whether and to what degree an individual will participate in study groups and other social activities of the Urantia movement.
There will always be a low ratio of readers who choose to engage in study groups and social activities compared to the larger body of readers who choose to remain uninvolved with such a community. To decry this phenomenon is to suggest that the readership should exist primarily to expand the visible ranks of believers of the Urantia revelation rather than to expand the invisible, spiritual brotherhood of kingdom believers.
Most individuals consider themselves highly engaged with life. Some grapple with constantly changing circumstances, leaving very little time to interact socially with other readers. Some simply may not intend to become involved. Nonetheless, all may be, each in his own way, facilitating the momentum of the Urantia movement.
The objective of outreach should be the dissemination of spiritual truth, integrated with scientific and evolutionary information, and always with the focus on catalyzing the spiritual relationship between the individual and God. This sacred mission must always be based on the premise of a voluntary expression of interest.
The purpose of an ad in the paper posing a thought-provoking question along with a telephone number is not to impose a viewpoint upon passersby, but to invite potential inquirers to familiarize themselves with the spiritual teachings found in The Urantia Book. The aim of such ads is to arouse the curiosity of those who have been divinely prepared, who through their own advances have become potentially receptive to the advanced truths of The Urantia Book so that they may go in search of it. Between human invitation and divine leading comes into being a synergistic contribution to the Urantia movement, the momentum of which is ours only to facilitate, not to control.
Ramon Barbosa is a member of the First Society of Los Angeles. He also serves on the Southern California Outreach Committee, which places ads in publications inviting inquirers to reply to prerecorded phone messages with personal interpretations of teachings from The Urantia Book.