© 2012 Richard S. Omura
© 2012 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Race and The Urantia Book | Volume 12, Number 1, 2012 (Summer) — Index | The Forgotten Urantian: Dr. Lena Sadler |
In the “Discourse on Religion” Joshua ben Joseph (Jesus) talks to his apostles on the religion of authority versus the religion of spiritual experience. He names the traditional faiths as religions of authority, based on intellectual assent.
At Jerusalem the religious leaders have formulated the various doctrines of their traditional teachers and the prophets of other days into an established system of intellectual beliefs, a religion of authority. The appeal of all such religions is largely to the mind.
He continues by talking about the religion of experience:
And now are we about to enter upon a deadly conflict with such a religion since we will so shortly begin the bold proclamation of a new religion—a religion which is not a religion in the present-day meaning of that word, a religion that makes its chief appeal to the divine spirit of my Father which resides in the mind of man; a religion which shall derive its authority from the fruits of its acceptance that will so certainly appear in the personal experience of all who really and truly become believers in the truths of this higher spiritual communion. [UB 155:5.12]
The above was given to us about two thousand years ago. Have we learned from this teaching?
It is my observation that many have not. I have been to many study groups, conferences, and other Urantia Book gatherings and I am dismayed that The Urantia Book is being turned into another religion of authority. In study groups, many readers take the text of the book as if it were scripture, and give it intellectual assent before getting the spiritual experience to truly understand it. Heated arguments in which the readers vociferously debate text of relatively little spiritual value are a good example. They are much like the theologians in the medieval days that used to argue about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin. The behavior pattern and baggage from being in traditional religions of authority are often carried over as they replace their scripture with The Urantia Book.
Religions of authority do not have to be old or traditional. A relatively new work such as The Urantia Book can be the foundation of a religion of authority just as much as any traditional scripture. And because humans have a propensity for taking the easy way out, it seems we are allowing this to happen.
Until the human race progresses to the level of a higher and more general recognition of the realities of spiritual experience, large numbers of men and women will continue to show a personal preference for those religions of authority which require only intellectual assent, in contrast to the religion of the spirit, which entails active participation of mind and soul in the faith adventure of grappling with the rigorous realities of progressive human experience. [UB 155:5.8]
While there are many Urantia Book readers who do not take the book as a religion of authority, there seem to be many more who do. I have talked with many, some even long-time readers, who claim that their religion is The Urantia Book. If this trend is not curtailed, the book will end up as another religion of authority, as Jesus’ teachings have become in the guise of Christianity.
The Urantia Book, as well as Jesus, talks of true religion as being a personal relationship with God, a living spiritual experience, rather than something written about in text.
True religion is an insight into reality, the faith-child of the moral consciousness, and not a mere intellectual assent to any body of dogmatic doctrines. True religion consists in the experience that ‘the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.’ Religion consists not in theologic propositions but in spiritual insight and the sublimity of the soul’s trust. [UB 101:2.13] (Bold print is mine.)
When we have such a true relationship with the Father, this becomes a new religion that is on a level far and above the religions of authority such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or any of the major denominations in the world today. As Jesus said, “a new religion–a religion which is not a religion in the present-day meaning of that word, a religion that makes its chief appeal to the divine spirit of my Father which resides in the mind of man.” [UB 155:5.12] This still holds true even after all these years. It was new back then, and it still is, because humans have not taken heed; the world has not embraced this new religion.
This is a very important point. This new religion is the point of The Urantia Book. But the revelators do not advise us to start a new Urantian denomination. Rather, the new religion has no name, no scripture, and no organization apart from the family of God. It is a real and personal relationship with God that transcends denominations. And just as we don’t have an institutional name for our personal relationship with our own biologic father, we don’t need a name for our relationship with God. It is a reality. It simply is.
Putting a label on it detracts from its transcendent reality.
The Urantia Book is not a religious denomination. The Urantia Book is the name of a book. Urantia is the name of our planet, Earth. Urantians are the inhabitants of Urantia. Let’s keep it that way.
There has been talk by those with a strong foundation in Christianity to piggyback the teachings of The Urantia Book into existing Christian denominations, and to use their infrastructure to further the teachings of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. This would be a backward step, a devolution of not only the teachings in the book, but also of Jesus’ teachings. (not to mention that it would be a step in the direction of making the Urantia movement another Christian sect). The religion of spiritual experience that The Urantia Book espouses transcends existing religions to such a large degree that asking traditional religions of authority to help disseminate The Urantia Book teachings would be like asking a primitive witch doctor to assist in modern brain surgery. Scary thought.
There is an ongoing effort to disseminate The Urantia Book. Much of this is geared toward selling or giving away the book. Do these efforts lead toward propagating another religion of authority or one of personal spiritual experience? How much effort is aimed at disseminating the religion of personal spiritual experience, which the book recommends?
When we go about our efforts to disseminate the book, let us be mindful that we are not spreading another religion of authority but rather one of experience. Let us spread the word that true religion can be had without books, scripture, institutions, and ecclesiastical authority, that we have the inner power to personally commune with the Creator of the Universe. And let us be able to affirm this to others based on our own experiences, rather than on something we read.
To disseminate the religion of experience is much harder than distributing text. Joshua ben Joseph: “Are you fearful, soft, and ease-seeking? Are you afraid to trust your future in the hands of the God of truth, whose sons you are? Are you distrustful of the Father, whose children you are? Will you go back to the easy path of the certainty and intellectual settledness of the religion of traditional authority, or will you gird yourselves to go forward with me into that uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths of the religion of the spirit, the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men?” [UB 155:5.13]
The Urantia Book is not the unadulterated and infallible word of God that many take it to be. There are many spiritual truths in it, but we must confirm them with our own spiritual experiences. And it is these personal experiences with God that constitute true religion, not the text of a book. Any effort to disseminate this new religion, the religion of spiritual experience, should be by our personal interaction with the souls of others—through personal service and ministry rather than by merely handing out books, which could lead to a religion of authority. There are many religionists in the world who are disseminating this new religion of experience, all without the benefit of the big blue book; can Urantia Book readers do any less? We must be careful in not turning The Urantia Book into another religion of authority, as it is seems to be slowly becoming.
Joshua ben Joseph: “I admonish you to give up the practice of always quoting the prophets of old and praising the heroes of Israel, and instead aspire to become living prophets of the Most High and spiritual heroes of the coming kingdom. To honor the God-knowing leaders of the past may indeed be worth while, but why, in so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme experience of human existence: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls?” [UB 155:6.7] (Bold prints are mine.)
The above paragraph can be made current by replacing “prophets of old” with “The Urantia Book,” and “Israel” with “Urantia.” However, in heeding this advice, I realized that I, myself, used quotes from the book. I hesitated to do so at first, thinking I should write this essay entirely using my own words; but as the current atmosphere in the Urantia movement is toward heeding the authority of the book, I included the quotes. Having said that, please make note that the content of this essay is based on my own personal experiences with God, affirmed and confirmed by The Urantia Book, and other secondary sources of information. The time will come when words of truth based solely on personal spiritual experience will be heeded as much or more than the words of religious authority. Until that time, insights gleaned from personal experience may have to be supported by works of authority, but not supplanted, for we should take care that the words of authority not be the sole basis for our religious convictions.
However, the reality is that many will take The Urantia Book as scripture, as a religion of authority. Maybe that cannot be helped, but those of us who know better should try to point the way so that more people will have a spiritual experience personally with God.
Joshua: “Now, mistake not, my Father will ever respond to the faintest flicker of faith. He takes note of the physical and superstitious emotions of the primitive man. And with those honest but fearful souls whose faith is so weak that it amounts to little more than an intellectual conformity to a passive attitude of assent to religions of authority, the Father is ever alert to honor and foster even all such feeble attempts to reach out for him. But you who have been called out of darkness into the light are expected to believe with a whole heart; your faith shall dominate the combined attitudes of body, mind, and spirit.” [UB 155:6.17]
Richard Omura has studied The Urantia Book for over thirty years. He has served as President of the Los Angeles society and as a General Councilor of the Fellowship. His latest work, The Whole Universe Book, is now available from Amazon or from the book’s website at: www.TheWholeUniverseBook.com.
| Race and The Urantia Book | Volume 12, Number 1, 2012 (Summer) — Index | The Forgotten Urantian: Dr. Lena Sadler |