© 1999 Richard S. Omura
© 1999 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
Disseminating the teaching of the Fifth Epochal Revelation is a spiritual mission, a calling of love and dedication. This mission can be undertaken by spiritually motivated individuals and religious organizations. History demonstrates that only religious organizations, institutional religion, is effective in infusing spiritual teachings into civilization and culture. The Urantia Foundation and The Urantia Book Fellowship, by their own admission, are not spiritual organizations. Promoting The Urantia Book and organizing study groups may be laying the foundations for bona fide religious organizations, but the Urantia movement at present is lacking a religious organization dedicated to disseminating the teachings of the Fifth Epochal Revelation throughout the world.
The salient message of The Urantia Book is spiritual. And yet there are no representative groups or organizations that have established spiritual unity among Urantia Book readers/believers based on the teachings of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Readers/believers hungerfor group spiritual expression founded on the teachings they believe in. Nature abhors a vacuum. When there were no such avenues of group spiritual expression, one evolved: the Teaching Mission. But this spontaneous phenomena does not appeal to the bulk of Urantia Book readers and believers, and is not a bona fide religious organization, and so the vacuum to a large degree is unfilled.
History demonstrates that only religious organizations, institutional religion, is effective in infusing spiritual teachings into civilization and culture.
Various people in the Urantia movement have had visions of starting a “Urantia Church,” and the mission statement of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal is “To Promote Theological, Philosophical, and Polity Discussions Germane to An Appropriate Symbolism and Socioreligious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation,” but we are still lacking a spiritual organization dedicated to disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book throughout the world. Even though there are substantial dangers in institutionalizing these teachings, it is still a mighty force that must be used for the spiritual awakening and mobilization of the people on our world.
How will this spiritual vacuum in the Urantia movement be filled? Is it better to wait for religious organizations to evolve haphazardly or is it better to accumulate group wisdom and experiential insights augmented with information given to us by the Fifth Epochal Revelation in this process? Will our religious organizations be created like the cities of the old world, with a structure that is based on a random set of circumstances, or will it be like some of the cities in the United States that were planned and laid out with care?
We know that religious organization cannot be “created” but must evolve in our society. Socialized religion must evolve, as does individual religion; however, this does not preclude intelligent planning and wise preparation. A plant grows naturally, but it does grow better with proper cultivation and nurturing. And so should a socialized religion be nurtured among readers and cultivated to produce the healthiest fruits.
Marketing The Urantia Book is important, just as distributing Bibles was important in the development of Christianity. But selling books is quite different than the spiritual mission of teaching its concepts and values that will transform lives and eventually our entire society.
Marketing The Urantia Book is important, just as distributing Bibles was important in the development of Christianity. But selling books is quite different than the spiritual mission of teaching its concepts and values that will transform lives and eventually our entire society. There are and have been many admirable efforts at selling the words. These efforts are worthy and necessary, but I wonder, when is anybody going to start spreading the teachings?
If I wanted to teach carpentry in a land where carpentry is non-existent, I may at first want to publish a book on carpentry. But the art of carpentry will not flourish unless carpenters go out there and actually give hands-on experience on how it is to be done. Right now we have a group that publishes the book, the Urantia Foundation, and we have other groups that socialize people who have read that book; i.e., The Urantia Book Fellowship and the International Urantia Association. Who is there to actually do the hands-on spiritual training?
Let’s look at it in another way. Just imagine that all _The Urantia Book_s were suddenly destroyed, how would we begin to spread its teachings? It’s similar to what the apostles went through after Jesus went back home to our Father. They only had themselves to rely on. Even if Jesus had lived to a ripe old age in Nazareth, do you think he would have wanted the apostles going to the far ends of the earth saying, “You’ve got to go talk to the Master” (“You’ve got to read The Urantia Book”)? The idea is ludicrous. Jesus wanted them to teach and minister to those they met personally, according to their understanding of his gospel.
The idea is not to sell the book or to sell Jesus. The idea is to personally minister to others in our own words and through our own spiritual experience. Certainly the Bible, The Urantia Book, and other inspirational materials can be major sources of help in this ministry. We can engage in this mission as individuals or as a group. We can “pull on the rope of service” one at a time or we can pull in unison. Obviously, we are more effective when we pull in unison. And that means we need a unified, spiritual organization.
Spiritual evolution is a Supreme force in the universe. Negative attitudes and actions against spiritual growth will not prevail. The only thing that can prevent spiritual growth from happening is the free will choice of individuals. Conversely, spiritual growth can be enhanced by a supportive, spiritual organization, where as a group, we can engage in unselfish service, enlightened prayer, and loving worship. Such a religious organization can assist the individual in making wise choices and giving support in loving service.
The institutionalization of any religion is absolutely vital to its survival. “While it is true that the institutionalization of religion has usually detracted from its spiritual quality, it is also a fact that no religion has thus far succeeded in surviving without the aid of institutional organization of some degree, greater or lesser.” (UB 98:6.1) There have been various individuals and groups interested in forming a Urantia Church. The fear among some students of The Urantia Book that a Urantia Church would become a dogmatic, crystallized organization is highly unlikely if done according to the insights given us through The Urantia Book. The Urantia Book on UB 99:6.2 gives us wonderful guidelines on what to strive for and what to avoid in socializing a religion. I believe a certain amount of imagination, inventiveness, and purpose must go into guiding and nurturing the natural birth of this new socialized religion.
Creating religious organizations in the Urantia movement is not the same as creating a new religion. A new paradigm of religion based on the Fifth Epochal Revelation has already evolved in the hearts and minds of students of The Urantia Book. It needs to be integrated into a viable socialized religion. This new socialized religion will not be perfect. Even with whatever safeguards we can create to protect it from the dangers of institutional religion, it may degrade and crystallize in time, but hopefully not until it has transformed our civilization and culture.
A new paradigm of religion based on the Fifth Epochal Revelation has already evolved in the hearts and minds of students of The Urantia Book. It needs to be integrated into a viable socialized religion.
This new socialized religion based on the Fifth Epochal Revelation will initiate a new religious movement in the world. The Urantia Foundation will have as much powerover it as do Bible publishers over Christian churches — none. The Fellowship will also cease to have an organic function in this new religious movement, unless it turns itself into such a spiritual organization. Some of the Fellowship Societies are already moving in this direction. It would be inspiring, in my opinion, to change the Fellowship mission statement to reflect “the real purpose in the socialization of religion” stated on UB 99:6.2.
When such a spiritual organization is inaugurated, a new era in the dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book will have begun. It will be an era when the concepts themselves will come before the book. And living the teachings will come before the concepts. It will be a time when the spiritual messages in the book will begin to hold sway in the souls of the mortals of Urantia.
This new socialized religion based on the Fifth Epochal Revelation will initiate a new religious movement in the world. The Urantia Foundation will have as much power over it as do Bible publishers over Christian churches — none. The Fellowship will also cease to have an organic function in this new religious movement, unless it turns itself into such a spiritual organization.
But we’re not there yet. Many of us are still mired in negative thinking — how something or someone is trying to block off our avenues of spiritual outreach. That idea is a myth. Pure fantasy! Spiritual outreach cannot be effectively halted by opposition or laws. The avenue before us lies wide open. It is time we use our intelligence, our courage, our love, our wisdom and all the resources at our command to cultivate a spiritual organization that will fulfill the highest purposes of a socialized religion without succumbing to its dangers. The question that needs answering is not, “Can we do it?” This planet will undergo spiritual growth with us or without us. The question is, “Who will help?”
If you are willing to help, let us begin to think about the mission statement of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal: “To Promote Theological, Philosophical and Polity Discussions Germane to An Appropriate Symbolism and Socioreligious Expression of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.” How can we create an organizational structure that will incorporate “the real purpose of the socialization of religion” along with safeguards that prevent “the dangers of formalized religion?” This is the time for creative and insightful discussion. The seed has already been planted. The sprout will soon break the ground. In time it will need proper nourishment and direction. This is the time to plan with wisdom so that in the “fullness of time” we can act with courage and spiritual insight.
Richard S. Omura is a long time student of The Urantia Book, currently president of the First Society of Los Angeles, a General Councilor, and an advisor for the School of Meanings and Values. He is a production coordinator for Japanese television and has worked as a photographer, disc jockey, tour guide, and interpreter. Richard is currently working on a novel based on The Urantia Book.