© 1999 Seppo Kanerva
© 1999 Urantia Association International (IUA)
Seppo Kanerva, Heisinki, Findand
We may note that The Urantia Book does not come up with any explicit instructions concerning the dissemination of the revelation. We can, of course, study the methods employed in the dissemination of the four earlier revelations and then endeavour to apply the same methods in the dissemination of the fifth epochal revelation.
The first revelation, the Dalamatia teachings, was propagated through a method which involved inviting individuals from various tribes and peoples to Dalamatia where they received education, later to be sent back to their tribes as emissaries of a new and better life.
As concerns the second epochal revelation, the Edenic teachings, the method of dissemination was partly identical with that of the first revelation, but there was also the new feature of Adam and Eve organising about one hundred centres of culture and progress in various parts of the world. After the death of Adam and Eve the teachings were, through thousands of years, disseminated by a priesthood trained by Seth, the eldest surviving son born in the second garden. Seth’s grandson, Kenan, instituted a missionary service which spread the new teachings among the surrounding tribes, near and far (UB 76:3.4). The impact of the teachings of the Sethite priesthood began to wane only around 2500 BC.
The first disseminator of the third epochal revelation, Machiventa Melchizedek’s teachings, in the 19th century BC, was Abraham up until the end of his life, whereupon the Salem missionaries took over and continued spreading the good news for hundreds of years.
The dissemination of the 6th century BC “mini revelation” happened through prophets and the founders of the new religions of that epoch.
The disseminators of the fourth epochal revelation included the apostles, other disciples, the group of 70 teachers, the women evangelists and the other Jesus-trained followers and religionists in several corners of the Roman Empire. Long after Jesus’ earthly death, his teachings were finally committed also into writing. A particular role in the spread of this revelation fell upon the Pharisee Saul after he had—because of an unexplained experience—become Paul, the champion of his own understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Mainly through the efforts of Paul, and to a lesser extent through the activities of the apostles, and due to an unwitting distortion of Jesus’ teachings, Christianity and the Christian church gradually evolved.
We may, however, question the helpfulness of the methods employed in the propagation of the previous revelations as concerns the dissemination of the fifth epochal revelation. The fifth revelation was delivered to us as a book, and the depth of its teachings can hardly be forced into the patterns observed in the dissemination of the previous revelations. Not many of us can and will hit the road and start proclaiming the good tidings on street corners and market places. Even so, the teachings of the book do give a multifaceted portrayal of the ways a religious revelation wins the hearts of men: It is spread by all those who believe in the revelation, and the believers do it through their own lives, in their relationships with their fellow men, in their contacts with other humans. Dissemination happens in believers’ deeds, behaviour, speaking, and teaching.
An exhaustive reply to this question would require a presentation of factually all the teachings included in The Urantia Book. That is: I should read The Urantia Book to you within an hour, or come up with an exhaustive summary of its teachings. I shall not do so.
Each disseminator of the message will create his personal conception of what the message is that he endeavours to spread. It may, for example, be the gospel of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The message may be God’s love and our doing his will. The will of the Father is that each of us becomes perfect even as he is perfect, and God has reserved for man an eternal career so to enable him to achieve the goal of perfection. Man only needs to give his free-will consent to doing God’s will.
Of Jesus we are told that the burden of his message was: the fact of the heavenly Father’s love and the truth of his mercy, coupled with the good news that man is a faith-son of this same God of love. UB 132:4.2
Said Jesus:
“Simply go forth proclaiming: This is the kingdom of heaven—God is your Father and you are his sons, and this good news, if you wholeheartedly believe it, is your eternal salvation”. UB 141:6.4
“When you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple. Introduce men to God and as the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the fatherhood of God and the sonship of men”. UB 141:6.4
The truths above might do well as the message of even the modern disseminators.
In the teachings of The Urantia Book there is much that is of general religiosity and which the book holds in common with the doctrines of institutionalised religions. Secularism and the predominant material-mindedness, materialistic philosophy, and the unlimited confidence in the unaided mere human ways of solving the world’s problems, are facts which speak for—even call for—our propagating the message of general religiosity. A reader of The Urantia Book may, however, induce into the spreading of even this message of general religiosity details and features that no institutionalised religion is capable of providing. One such feature, figuring prominently in The Urantia Book, is the teaching about the character of genuine, true religion. The teaching of The Urantia Book is that true religion is personal, that it concerns man’s personal relationship with God; true religion does not signify that one adopts certain doctrinal tenets and lives in accordance with some preconceived rules of morality, nor does it signify observance of some given rituals. Personal, genuine, and true religion becomes manifest in man’s life. It will appear as fruits of the spirit. It will make such a religionist spiritually fragrant and attractive.
Jesus taught:
“Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life. ” UB 155:1.5
The revelation intimates that your religiosity is bound to be manifest and recognisable. We may, hence, conclude that you need not assert it or advertise it to others. If you feel a need to advertise, it is warranted to doubt if genuine faith truly exists. The quotations hereafter verify this statement:
Observing minds and discriminating souls know religion when they find it in the lives of their fellows. Religion requires no definition; we all know its social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual fruits. . . . One of the characteristic peculiarities of genuine religious assurance is that, notwithstanding the absoluteness of its affirmations and the stanchness of its attitude, the spirit of its expression is so poised and tempered that it never conveys the slightest impression of self-assertion or egoistic exaltation. . . . Thus do the words and acts of true and undefiled religion become compellingly authoritative for all enlightened mortals UB 102:2.1-2
Ostensible religiosity actually consists of a mere superficial—not internalised—mastery of certain dogmas and moral codes, and of critical attitudes towards one’s own life, but particularly towards the lives of others. Often in the light of these dogmas and codes, this religiosity ends up in fanaticism, intolerance and intolerableness, betrayal of intellectual honesty, isolation and lessened efficiency as a propagator of the saving message.
The precondition for anyone’s capability of disseminating the message through one’s spiritual fruits is of course that one has the faith that yields these fruits of the spirit. In the absence of the faith, the only method of propagating the message is that of preaching. The fifth epochal revelation explains in so many ways what the manifestations of faith and genuine religion, the fruits of the spirit, are. The exhaustive list appearing in paragraphs UB 101:3.5-17 of The Urantia Book is not quoted too often in discourses dealing with the ways that religion and spirituality manifest themselves in an individual.
These manifestations include: (1) Genuine religion causes ethics and morals to progress. (2) Religion produces a sublime trust in the goodness of God even in the face of bitter disappointment and crushing defeat. (3) True spirituality generates profound courage and confidence. (4) Genuine religion exhibits inexplicable poise and sustaining tranquillity. (5) Religion maintains poise and composure of personality in the face of maltreatment and the rankest injustice. (6) Religion maintains a trust in ultimate victory. (7) True faith does not weaken in the face of intellectual fallacies; she maintains an unshakable belief in God. (8) True religiosity has faith in the survival of the soul regardless of the contrary claims of science and philosophy. (9) Faith does not collapse under the crushing burden of civilizations. (10) Authentic faith contributes to the survival of altruism despite human selfishness, antagonisms and lusts. (11) Spirituality believes in the unity of the universe and divine governance, without worrying about the presence of evil and sin. (12) She continues imperturbably to worship God in spite of everything, and whatever happens. She dares to declare: “Even if he sacrifices me, I will serve him.” UB 101:3.16
Concerning religion, Revelation teaches us that its particular mark is certainty; its philosophical characteristic is coherence; its social fruits are love and service. UB 102:7.5
The morontia Jesus gave the following teachings in Tire in AD 30:
“but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. If professed believers bear not these fruits of the divine spirit in their lives, they are dead;” UB 193:2.2
A plea of religiosity in no way requires mastery of the Urantia Book, nor is it necessary to refer to its teachings, nor is it essential to possess the slightest revelatory knowledge; yet, mastering the teachings of The Urantia Book, referring to it, and being in possession of revelatory knowledge makes any advocacy of religiosity easier and gives it a solid foundation. When engaging in advocacy for religion it is very important to remember this part of revelatory knowledge which reminds us that religion is only interested in values. (UB 101:5.2;UB 103:1.4). It is much easier for men to agree on religious values—goals—than on beliefs—interpretations. [UB 103:1.4] Facts are the domain of science, not religion. The importance and significance of experience, as well as the evolutionary nature of our existence, are also useful aspects that it is good to remember and highlight in any propagation of the message when it is based on the revelation. A third factor will prove useful in an advocacy of religion based on revelation, namely, information about life after death, eternal life, and the purpose of earthly life; all this information is only found in Revelation. No institutional religion can give satisfactory answers to these questions.
The Urantia Book teaches us that man has free will. So no one can be forced to become religious. Multiple divine influences strive to assist man’s free will in choosing and thinking within the framework of the mind; these influences include the Thought Adjusters, the Spirit of Truth, and adjutant mental spirits. All that disseminators of a religious message can do is help someone take the decisive step and accept the idea that he is a son of God and that others are his brothers. No disseminator of this message can make this choice, this effort of will, in place of another.
Since The Urantia Book presents in its Introduction and in Parts I to III the fifth epochal revelation, and since Part IV is a restatement of the fourth epochal revelation, this implies that its teachings are of a highly revealing; they include new information, unknown to humanity, things that humanity alone and by evolutionary means could never have discovered. The teachings of The Urantia Book are therefore full of enormous potential. Through these teachings it is possible to rectify controversies and absurdities found in institutionalized religions. These absurd things and these controversies have become, for many seekers of truth, many thinkers and many sensible people, an effective obstacle blocking their progress in personal religious growth.
In addition to their revelatory value, these teachings, which provide the means to rectify the absurdities of the doctrines of institutional religions, can be used to correct inaccuracies, false notions, and absurdities both in science and in philosophy. Since the revelatory teachings are true, they can be exploited as a priori knowledge, which means that it is wise to try to obtain the same knowledge through traditional methods of scientific inquiry and through traditional methods of philosophical thought. Philosophy is based on certain assumptions that are tested in the way we think about reality and by making observations as to how these assumptions operate in that reality. Science is based on a large number of observations and results obtained during experiments; these observations and experiments require an explanation such that it provides a coherent view, in accordance with the laws of mathematics and logic. Revelation leads to a broadening of horizons, it opens new perspectives even in the field of logic, it offers knowledge that can never be discovered simply by scientific observations or methods of deduction.
The teachings of Revelation can decisively help us understand and correctly interpret evolutionary reality. They can prove extremely useful to man’s analysis of the evolution of humanity and thus help us find out what is going on and where we are going. The teachings of Revelation must be exploited as a priori knowledge and must be wisely applied to all human activities, to social life, politics, business, marriage, couple relationships, education, to culture, etc… they must be the basis of ethical and moral decisions, and what determines the direction in which we go. They must be applied in such a way, and be so linked to reality, that they become an integral part of evolution. Practically, this means that these teachings can hardly be applied to the fullest and with all rigor; we must settle for less, provided the trend and direction are correct.
A few examples will perhaps clarify what I mean. Revelation teaches us that humanity should strive to achieve a situation in which a single unified world government has power, in which a single institutional religion prevails, and in which only one language is spoken. This a priori knowledge is useful to anyone who has to decide about, say, the unification of Europe, the defense of national self-determination, the struggle for the independence of small nations, the measures taken to come to the rescue moribund languages, linguistic teaching, ecumenism — cooperation between institutionalized religions. It is good to note that this position, in a way, is also part of the “dissemination of the message”. Evolution does not mean moving in a straight line towards a given goal. No way. Evolution is slow, but it is terribly effective. (UB 81:1.3;UB 86:7.6) and it is made of many steps backwards and sideways, followed, moreover, by rapid progress.
Another example. Revelation teaches us that men are born unequal in abilities and dispositions and that there are considerable differences between races and even greater differences within races. Revelation is unequivocal in stating that certain people and groups of people are decadent and that their procreation should be restricted. Freeing humanity from these elements must be the goal. All of this goes against what is generally believed. We can also spread the message by refusing to act on erroneous beliefs, by daring to go against the mainstream, by putting our trust in and acting from a priori revelatory knowledge.
A third example. Revelation teaches us that evolution has a direction, that direction is upward and forward and, ultimately, toward something better. This teaching also goes against what is generally believed. There are even some who deny and refute any development. The goal of their activities is to return humanity to a primitive existence. This kind of pessimistic vision is fashionable, and in public discussions it enjoys a dominant, if not exclusive, role. As a result, we can also disseminate the message by refusing to act on these illusory notions and withholding our support from them. Rather, we should embolden ourselves to go against the mainstream and put our trust in and act on revelatory knowledge.
A fourth example. Revelation tells us that democracy is the most advanced form of government, and yet, at the same time, it warns us of the weaknesses and immediate dangers of democracy. Democracy has become such a sacrosanct phenomenon, such a taboo, that it is not politically correct to subject it to reasoned analysis. The dangers of democracy include, among others: the glorification of mediocrity, the choice of vile and ignorant power brokers, ignorance of the basic facts of social evolution, universal suffrage in the hands of indolent majorities and without education, the state of slavery in relation to public opinion, which has become a factor that few dare to confront, etc… Revelation underlines the responsibility of the individual, the significance of the individual, and the importance of individual choices. She urges us to question, analyze and if necessary confront public opinion and what is considered “politically correct”. Revelation tells us:
Well-organized and superior minorities have largely ruled this world. UB 81:6.14
The propagation of the message, therefore, also includes a well-reasoned attitude towards democracy and the courage, if necessary, to point out its weaknesses and the dangers inherent in it. A disseminator of truth should not be afraid of being in the minority.
Fifth example. The overrated adoration of democracy has also obscured the importance of the quality of leaders. The true quality of leaders is of vital importance, but unfortunately there are less than one percent of the world’s population who are capable of truly being leaders.
Leadership is vital to progress. Wisdom, insight, and foresight are indispensable to the endurance of nations. Civilization is never really jeopardized until able leadership begins to vanish. And the quantity of such wise leadership has never exceeded one per cent of the population. UB 81:6.42
Another revelatory teaching proclaims:
Most great religious epochs have been inaugurated by the life and teachings of some outstanding personality; leadership has originated a majority of the worth-while moral movements of history. And men have always tended to venerate the leader, even at the expense of his teachings; to revere his personality, even though losing sight of the truths which he proclaimed. And this is not without reason; there is an instinctive longing in the heart of evolutionary man for help from above and beyond. This craving is designed to anticipate the appearance on earth of the Planetary Prince and the later Material Sons. UB 92:5.5
It is politically correct to question the importance of leadership because leadership is—incorrectly—viewed as something antagonistic to democracy. The revelation, however, instructs us in the words of Jesus:
“In my universe and in my Father’s universe of universes, our brethren-sons are dealt with as individuals in all their spiritual relations, but in all group relationships we unfailingly provide for definite leadership. Our kingdom is a realm of order, and where two or more will creatures act in co-operation, there is always provided the authority of leadership. ” UB 181:2.16
Consequently, we may disseminate the message also in our refusing to act upon these illusory notions about democracy and denying our support from them. We should rather be emboldened to go against the mainstream putting our trust in the revelatory knowledge and acting upon it.
The scope of the efficacy of the propagation of the message depends on the propagating individual’s spirituality, faith, and capabilities of being convincing, yet to an equal extent it depends on the attitude of the target of the propagation effort. Some people are conformists: they willingly subjugate themselves to the dominance of tradition and authority. A great part of even those who view themselves as religious belong to this order of people. Likewise, a great part of those who do not view themselves as religious belong to this same category. They are slavishly obedient to traditions, hardly questioning anything; their bleak ideas they have adopted entirely from other people.
Some people again are happy with modest achievements, which are only just adequate to make everyday life balanced. At an early stage they stop pondering the deep issues of life and fail to progress beyond this level of modest achievements. Their relationship with God is almost dead. They believe that matters take care of themselves-struggle and effort are not needed. The number of those who fit into this characterisation is high.
Then again there are those who do think and ponder and advance up to the level of logical intellectualism. They do not, however, progress any further because they dare not take the step of faith, the stride of belief. They are prisoners of their cultural setting and their social network. The door of the cell is open, but they dare not walk away. Those who are engaged in the domains of science and culture are well represented within this category.
Within these three categories, faith is not excessively vibrant. They have a tendency to be fanatical, to persecute dissenters, and to be intolerant. Living faith does not foster bigotry, persecution, or intolerance. UB 101:8.3
Finally, the fourth category consists of those who have liberated themselves of all obstacles put by conventionalism and traditionalism and who have mustered the courage to think, act, and live honestly, loyally, and truthfully (UB 101:7.4). Those who belong to this group do not concern themselves so much with any specific beliefs or given modes of living as they concern themselves with discerning the truth of living, the good and right technique of reacting to the everrecurring situations of human existence (UB 101:9.5).
The revelation presents also another, slightly different, categorisation that classifies professed believers. In this categorisation, believers are classified either as indolent conformists or escapists and romantic sentimentalists, or finally as activists (UB 102:2.7-9).
Indolent conformists: There is no real religion apart from a highly active personality. Therefore do the more indolent of men often seek to escape the rigors of truly religious activities by a species of ingenious self-deception through resorting to a retreat to the false shelter of stereotyped religious doctrines and dogmas. . . . Intellectual crystallization of religious concepts is the equivalent of spiritual death. UB 102:2.7
Escapists and romantic sentimentalists: Again, there are other types of unstable and poorly disciplined souls who would use the sentimental ideas of religion as an avenue of escape from the irritating demands of living. When certain vacillating and timid mortals attempt to escape from the incessant pressure of evolutionary life, religion, as they conceive it, seems to present the nearest refuge, the best avenue of escape. But it is the mission of religion to prepare man for bravely, even heroically, facing the vicissitudes of life. . . . Mysticism, however, is often something of a retreat from life which is embraced by those humans who do not relish the more robust activities of living a religious life in the open arenas of human society and commerce. True religion must act. . . . Never will religion be content with mere thinking or unacting feeling. UB 102:2.8
Activists: But true religion is alive. . . . To keep pace in his life experience with the impelling demands and the compelling urges of a growing religious experience means incessant activity in spiritual growth, intellectual expansion, factual enlargement, and social service. UB 102:2.7
For a disseminator who approaches people with a revelatory message, the situation is not hopeless with regard to any of the classifications above. As targets, those of the first three groups are of course more difficult than the others, but the revelation does contain potentials which, if applied wisely, will penetrate even the most petrified heart. There is one exception: the situation is hopeless with regard to those who are spiritually dead. The fifth epochal revelation instructs: Intellectual crystallization of religious concepts is the equivalent of spiritual death. UB 102:2.7
There are, apart from the superhuman influences mentioned above, also a number of features and capacities in man himself which help him in truth recognition and message acceptance.
The endowment of reality sensitivity. The revelation unveils that man is endowed with a power to recognise reality, a truthful portraiture of that which exists:
All divisions of human thought are predicated on certain assumptions which are accepted, though unproved, by the constitutive reality sensitivity of the mind endowment of man. UB 103:7.11
The desire to know. The revelation intimates that human curiosity is purposeful:
Curiosity—the spirit of investigation, the urge of discovery, the drive of exploration—is a part of the inborn and divine endowment of evolutionary space creatures. These natural impulses were not given you merely to be frustrated and repressed. UB 14:5.11
Perfection hunger. There is in man a hunger for perfection, and that fact, of course, has its bearing on the dissemination of the message:
There must be perfection hunger in man’s heart to insure capacity of comprehending the faith paths to supreme attainment. UB 102:1.1
The craving for survival. Man has an inborn desire for survival, and that again constitutes the fundamental of faith:
The highest evidence of the reality and efficacy of religion consists in the fact of human experience; namely, that man, naturally fearful and suspicious, innately endowed with a strong instinct of self-preservation and craving survival after death, is willing fully to trust the deepest interests of his present and future to the keeping and direction of that power and person designated by his faith as God. That is the one central truth of all religion. UB 102:8.1
Religious tendencies are innate. Religious tendencies need not be created in any human being for it is an innate inclination:
The religious tendencies of the human races are innate; they are universally manifested and have an apparently natural origin. . . UB 103:0.2
Because religion is about spirituality, about one’s personal relationship with God, there is no language that could adequately discuss this value on the level of the mind. This is an aspect to recall when one is engaged in the propagation of the message. The fifth epochal revelation describes this paradox in these words:
Religious speculation is inevitable but always detrimental; speculation invariably falsifies its object. Speculation tends to translate religion into something material or humanistic, and thus, while directly interfering with the clarity of logical thought, it indirectly causes religion to appear as a function of the temporal world, the very world with which it should everlastingly stand in contrast. Therefore will religion always be characterized by paradoxes, the paradoxes resulting from the absence of the experiential connection between the material and the spiritual levels of the universe-morontia mota, the superphilosophic sensitivity for truth discernment and unity perception. UB 102:3.2
The message to disseminate is a revelation—the fifth epochal revelation and the restatement of the fourth epochal revelation—printed in a book, The Urantia Book. It is therefore worthwhile to study in what manner the revelation characterises itself.
. . . revelation (the substitute for morontia mota) leads to the consciousness of true reality . . . UB 102:3.5
Revelation liberates men and starts them out on the eternal adventure. UB 102:3.6
. . . revelation glorifies man and discloses his capacity for partnership with God. UB 102:3.7
. . . revelation portrays the eternal brotherhood, the Paradise Corps of the Finality. UB 102:3.8
. . . revelation is the assurance of personality survival. UB 102:3.9
Science indicates Deity as a fact; philosophy presents the idea of an Absolute; religion envisions God as a loving spiritual personality. Revelation affirms the unity of the fact of Deity, the idea of the Absolute, and the spiritual personality of God and, further, presents this concept as our Father—the universal fact of existence, the eternal idea of mind, and the infinite spirit of life. UB 102:3.11
. . revelation tends to make man Godlike. UB 102:3.14
Revelation unifies history, co-ordinates geology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, and psychology. UB 102:4.6
Jesus instructed his apostles in many ways. As concerns the dissemination of his message he said:
“When you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple. Introduce men to God and as the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the fatherhood of God and the sonship of men. ” UB 141:6.4
That night Jesus discoursed to the apostles on the new life in the kingdom. He said in part:
“Do not strive with men—always be patient. It is not your kingdom; you are only ambassadors. ” UB 141:6.4
“. . . how many times have I instructed you to refrain from all efforts to take something out of the hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to labor only to put something into these hungry souls? Lead men into the kingdom, and the great and living truths of the kingdom will presently drive out all serious error. When you have presented to mortal man the good news that God is his Father, you can the easier persuade him that he is in reality a son of God. And having done that, you have brought the light of salvation to the one who sits in darkness. Simon, when the Son of Man came first to you, did he come denouncing Moses and the prophets and proclaiming a new and better way of life? No. I came not to take away that which you had from your forefathers but to show you the perfected vision of that which your fathers saw only in part.” UB 141:6.2
About Jesus’ teaching methods we are told at least these aspects:
And this was his method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error. UB 132:0.4
In all his teaching Jesus unfailingly avoided distracting details. He shunned flowery language and avoided the mere poetic imagery of a play upon words. He habitually put large meanings into small expressions. For purposes of illustration Jesus reversed the current meanings of many terms, such as salt, leaven, fishing, and little children. He most effectively employed the antithesis, comparing the minute to the infinite and so on. His pictures were striking, such as, “The blind leading the blind.” But the greatest strength to be found in his illustrative teaching was its. naturalness. Jesus brought the philosophy of religion from heaven down to earth. He portrayed the elemental needs of the soul with a new insight and a new bestowal of affection. UB 159:5.17
The modern disseminator of the message will most certainly act in a wise manner if he endeavours to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching method, a method which in many ways is greatly different from the ways of human teaching.
Once the lives of individuals undergo profound changes, it will unavoidably bring about profound changes also in their actions. Today it is still difficult to discern changes which would be occasioned by any conscious efforts for world betterment founded on the teachings of The Urantia Book. We must not worry about this, much less feel guilty because of it, for the revelators themselves intimated that the revelation was delivered to us long before its worldwide impact. Everything, after all, depends on evolution.
And evolution is slow but terribly effective.