© 1987 Robert Reno
© 1987 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
by Robert Reno
In the first part of his article Robert Reno shared some of his experiences as an army chaplain in South Korea.
In this second part he quotes from some of Asia’s religious leaders and finishes with an important message for us all:
Part II
I don’t believe I need to quote from The URANTIA Book on what it teaches as the religious challenge of our , but I would like to quote from a number of Asia’s eminent religious leaders presenting their thoughts and ideals at the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace:
“It is not through the power of military security systems that true security can be achieved in Asia; it is only through the spiritual unity of religious peoples in Asia that this goal can be obtained.”
“Our deliberations centre around. the vital subject of real and lasting peace and all that it means. The rich experience of the religious people assembled here would, I am sure, lead to decisions of a far reaching nature. They would be significant not only for Asia but the whole world.”
“We, no doubt, belong to different religions. At the same time, we are all members of the great family of humanity. The theme of this conference is “Religion in Action for Peace.” This means the translation of all our agreed precepts into practice. Such action is moat relevant in this nuclear age in order to save the human family from total disaster. All of us are agreed on this goal. It should, therefore, be easy for us to unite in common endeavour for peace… I have every hope that we shall take humanity a step forward on the road to a peaceful and fruitful living and a harmonious brotherhood.”
“Today the world is in a kind of crisis it has not known before. Does it not seem a strange irony of fate that our highest scientific advances should have taken humanity towards the total destruction of all its values; moral, ethical and spiritual?”
“We now, however, see signs everywhere of a questioning of the values of the modern secularized civilization. It is one of the more conspicuous aspects of the contemporary world crisis.” “…it is essential for us to re-examine material civilization, to try to define the true meaning of an advanced nation, and plumb afresh the meaning of humankind.”
“The key to save man from such disaster is to be found only in religious perception and moral intuition for the common good of all. For, behind and beyond all the religions of the world, there is spirituality and the experience of unmistakable oneness of existence. It is this experience of the oneness of the supreme power of God… which is the basis of all religions, and of universal morality. It is the blazing signpost of man’s transcendence to higher and nobler levels of consciousness.”
“There is great potential in the understanding of the broader perspectives of religion — not so much dogmas or doctrines which often encourage separation and disparity — for the achievement, in fact and in action, of unity and selfless service. The RCRP is requested to identify, collect and translate the tenets of all religions (emphasizing major points of agreement of which there are many).”
“By religion, I am not referring to any one of the established religions in particular. What I am referring to is the universality of spiritual values underlying all the established religions irrespective of the temporal context or terminology and context that may be a part of their tradition and practice. These values pertain, interalia, to the omnipresence, omniscience and the omnipotence of God. They also include the relation of men to God as son, daughter, servant, friend, beloved, or part of God himself as a constituent of the supreme reality that is God.”
“This is the religion that underlies all religions; and it is religion that leads man in the direction of God. Religion therefore, properly interpreted; and understood as the quest for God who seas Himself in all human beings and therefore regards the service of man as the most potent form of service to God…”
“This human value stems from the fundamental nature of the human as the son of God and Buddha. This value exceeds the value of every visible thing on earth.”
“Love of God is sought to be transformed into love of man who is made in this image of God; and worship of God is sought to be transformed into service of man…”
“It is the generally accepted view that various religions in the world are but different modes of experiencing the truth and different styles of expressing love, compassion, wisdom and understanding. This concept of religion is of practical value to the ACRP in its work…”
“Spiritual values have to be sought, identified, and then made use of for government, one’s personal conduct and one’s personal relations with other men… one supreme spiritual value is the use of oneself for other selves…”
“Therefore, a global strategy and world-wide project to awaken all dwellers of our planet earth to the awareness of their higher spiritual identity is an indispensable need and necessity.”
“… to initiate an inter-religious dialogue and creative understanding of our religious beliefs and customs so as to cope with the challenges of the modern societies…”
“The United Nations University is extremely interested in establishing a forum where such dialogue could begin, where the world’s academic and scientific communities could come together with the world’s leading religions in search of their common stake in the fate of this planet.”
“We must be faithful to our spiritual vision, and as true men of religion we must be ministers of universal integration. God belongs to all men. God is not partisan. The artisans of a renewed humanity in contemporary society must stress the universal and common destiny of mankind.”
One of the mast valuable of all experiences we could engage in as service to the Fifth Epochal Revelation, is to seek out, to make contact with, the leading social, philosophical and religious thinkers of today’s world, and to bring the influence of the revelation “as book” to them. The world is ripe! There are many leading social, philosophical and religious thinkers within all the world’s nations ready to receive advanced and enlarged religious truth. Many of these great world religious leaders periodically get together and hold conferences and inter-faith dialogues. Should we not have someone there to speak on behalf of the Fifth Epochal Revelation and the living gospel of Jesus?
It is obvious that at this time in the history of the movement, we are seeing an increasing awareness of the need for a more active, thought-out, world-wide outreach effort. There are many new creative and pioneering efforts moving towards such a vision of a more evangelistic orientation of outreach ministry.
This is an area of thought that is still as yet, largely unexplored and untried within our young movement, and I believe, is an issue of central importance to anyone seriously interested in the future role and mission of The URANTIA Book on the international level. Personally, whenever I reflect upon this issue, one thought comes to the forefront of my mind loud and clear, “potentialities and unlimited possibilities!”
If our goal is to move toward an increasingly more active and world-wide outreach ministry, it would be the better part of wisdom to do our homework well, so that our outreach and interface efforts are carried out within a context, that has a sense of relevancy to contemporary issues concerning the further development and evolution of philosophical and religious thought within today’s contemporary world.
There is a real need at this time in the history of the movement to achieve an accurate understanding of the world’s current social, cultural, philosophical and religious developments, forming the leading edge of the contemporary world’s evolutionary drive towards the next stage, and higher vision, of our largely “unrevealed” planetary destiny. To acquire this accurate and realistic appraisal of the current opportunities and possibilities that exist on the international level for these various forms of outreach ministry, development and interfacing dialogues — in short the establishment of a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious readership of The URANTIA Book — we must familiarize ourselves with the forward looking groups and individuals striving to realize the next stage of spiritual evolution upon our planet. If we remain sensitive and responsive in acknowledging the living truth in all faiths, it will all the more be easier to create an environment in which an atmosphere of meaningful exchange can take place. It is imperative that we meet the world’s faiths where they are, to infuse them with a new vision of where we’re going, based on the revelations of The URANTIA Book.
I say this with all sincerity and conviction of heart; the time to act has come, the season of the dawning of a new dispensation is here and now. We hold in our hands one of the most valuable resources for supplying meaningful direction to our fellow religionists on this as yet largely uncharted spiritual journey.
We, who live in the full awareness of the fifth Epochal revelation, who realize the clear light of the living gospel of Michael, can hardly stand by and do less than those who live in the light of the religions of tradition. Even now they are striving to break down the walls of tradition, and to find the living God!
There is taking place in today’s world one of the most unprecedented expressions of humanity to realize the Supreme and the Supreme to realize humanity, that Urantia has seen for over 2000 years. I have no doubt that the Gods foresaw this, hence, the gift of revelation to meet the reciprocal demands of the expending expression of the Supreme within the aspirations of humanity, and the aspirations of humanity within the supreme.
We are no longer infants in the revelation. We are adolescents, who ere just beginning to become aware of the potentials and possibilities of its significance, and our responsibilities thereto. Even the world is now passing through its spiritual adolescence and struggling for a new vision of spiritual maturity.
To the degree that we fail to bring an awareness of the revelation to those religionists of the world who are living spirituel lives and teaching on the same level as the revelation itself, to this degree we are failing to act upon the light we have been given and defaulting upon our responsibilities as recipients of the gift of the fifth Epochal Revelation. Freely have we received, and therefore, freely and willingly should we give.
I cannot say it in any plainer terms, than to say that we have a responsibility to participate in the common quest of our religionists as they sincerely strive to realize the next stage of religious evolution. Our responsibility is to lovingly bring to their awareness the great truths of the revelation, es well as the revelation itself. “… I send you the Spirit of Truth. He shall lead you into the enlarged truth, and I will go with you into all the world. I am with you always, and my peace I leave with you.”
“And when you go abroad to tell all nations the good news of this gospel, I will go before you, and my Spirit of Truth shall abide in your hearts. My peace I leave with you.”
“… I send you the Spirit of Truth, who shall soon be poured out upon all flesh, and who shall endow you with power from on high.”
“… Now that he has personally left the world, he sends in his place his Spirit of Truth, who is designed to live in man and, for each new generation, to restate the Jesus message so that every new group of mortals to appear upon the face of the earth shall have a new and up-to-date version of the gospel, just such personal enlightenment and group guidance as will prove to be an effective solvent for man’s ever-now and varied spiritual difficulties.”
“… his spirit, poured out upon all flesh, is a mighty world influence which leads man upwards and urges him onward. The spiritual forward urge is the most powerful driving force present in this world; the truth-learning believer is the one progressive and aggressive soul on earth.”
“… all received the new teacher, as did all the honest of heart throughout the whole world. This new teacher was bestowed upon mankind, and every soul received him in accordance with the love for truth and the capacity to grasp and comprehend spiritual realities.”
“The Spirit guides into ALL truth; he is the teacher of an expanding and always-growing religion of endless progress and divine unfolding.”
“The secret of a better civilization is bound up in the Mester’s teachings of the brotherhood of man, the good will of love and mutual trust.”
“Mankind can be unified only by the spiritual approach, and the Spirit of Truth is a world influence which is universal.”
“The coming of the Spirit of Truth purifies the human heart and leads the recipient to formulate a life purpose single to the will of God and the welfare of men. The material spirit of selfishness has been swallowed up in this new spiritual bestowal of selflessness… and now, signifies that the Jesus of history has become the divine Son of living experience.”
“Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women, who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings.”
“… the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men.”
“The call to the adventure of building a new and transformed human society by means of the spiritual rebirth of Jesus’ brotherhood of the kingdom should thrill all who believe in him as men have not been stirred since the days when they walked about on earth as his companions in the flesh.”
In closing, I would like to express my deep appreciation and sense of gratitude to all those who have made this outreach ministry here in South Korea possible. Such an endeavour does not owe its success to any one person, not to the few, but rather to the help and service of the many.
It has been through the many letters of kind and encouraging words of inspiration, that I have often been encouraged and uplifted, to carry on. I owe to these many people not only their words of encouragement, but also their generous support in the form of URANTIA Books and study aid materials so crucial to the success of such an endeavour.
I would also like to thank those of the URANTIA Brotherhood for keeping me supplied with URANTIA Books for library donations. It was due to your support that such a project has been a success here in South Korea.
I would like to give special thanks to the Jesusonian Foundation, without whom’s help and invaluable support the formation of study groups here in South Korea would have been impossible. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation to Don Guimond, for it was largely through his single handed efforts, that there was generated such a wide support throughout the movement for our outreach endeavours here in South Korea.
I have great hopes for the future unfolding of the revelation here in South Korea. It has been through the service of the many that these seeds for the future development of the revelation could be planted. There are great spiritual works waiting to be done in this “land of the morning calm”, so ripe for the revelation.
In the golden age of Asia
Korea was one of its lamp bearers.
And that lamp is waiting to be lighted once again
For the illumination in the East.Tagore (great Indian poet)
People who like to respond to this article can write to: Robert Reno, 620 s. 12th Street, Boulder, Co. 80302, USA.