© 1976 Wesley James, Matthew Rapaport, Meredith Sprunger
© 1976 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
“Your revelation of truth must be so enhanced by passing through your personal experience that new beauty and actual spiritual gains will be disclosed to all who behold your spiritual fruits and in consequence thereof are led to glorify the Father who is in heaven.” (UB 176:3.7)
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and be led to glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (UB 140:3.13) So spoke Jesus to the apostles in the ordination sermon; and for over 1900 years since then, men have carried out this injunction according to their own enlightenment and conceptual capacity.
We, as Urantians, are individually faced with the challenge of how do we let our “light so shine” that others, on seeing it, may be tempted to follow suit, each according to his own understanding.
If we are to attract others to the URANTIA revelation, we can do so only by living its teachings, for all other avenues of persuasion are closed to us. We cannot live the teachings of The URANTIA Book until we become so saturated with them that we look out from within ourselves upon all that surrounds us and can logically interpret and evaluate all we behold from the viewpoint of the teachings we have so slowly absorbed.
—A rambling, itinerant Urantian
When Flip Wilson’s routines that used the phrase “the devil made me do it” were so popular, the phrase seemed to sum up the willingness of so many of us to blame outside influences for the problems and troubles in our lives, problems we create for ourselves. Since that time, the reaction of many of my friends and co-workers to the book and movie The Exorcist has reminded me how many people really believe there is an evil force in the universe that can make people react against their will. Without getting into deep theological explanations, I have tried to explain that we live in a well-ordered universe where our Universal Father’s love and spiritual presence make it impossible for such things to happen.
Of course we all have our own ‘devils’ to blame for our everyday problems; the teacher or the boss doesn’t like me; I’m too young or too old; the wrong race, wrong sex; I’m not smart enough; I’ve never done that before; I can’t do it, to name a few. With the application of a little of the faith we should be acquiring, we realize that while any or all of these excuses might be true for each of us alone, we are actually not alone. In other words, if I can’t solve the problems that confront me, there lives within me one who can, and will, if I sincerely seek his co-operation.
—Wesley James
“…the revelations of God flush upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows.” (UB 132:7.6)
How many men and women do we meet, who believe in God, yet behave as though his existence had no consequences for and in their lives? They live completely oblivious to his presence.
If God is, and he is God, then he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He may be far off, but he cannot be only far off-he must “be closer than hands, feet, or breath.” His existence must have consequences for the life of every individual.
God has a plan for the Universe of Universes. “He knows the end from the beginning.” There is a direction in which the whole is moving. God did not create and forever sustain the universe just to see what would happen. The awareness that there is a plan of universal progression, both for the individual and the universe, may be a first step in the conscious realization that God’s existence must mean something for each of us as we make decisions in our daily lives. It is not possible to live one’s life outside of God. For “In Him we all live and move and have our being.”
—Matthew Rapaport
“Carry on until I come,” (UB 176:3.6)
In the 21 years since its publication, The URANTIA Book has found its way into the hands of over 60,000 people who are searching for God. The growth of sales of the book can be compared to the parable of the sower, who “… cast good seed upon the earth;… and although he knew not how it came about, the plant came to fruit.” (UB 151:3.15) From very humble beginnings, sales have increased until they now average almost 10,000 books a year. By continuing to make The URANTIA Book as widely available as possible, through libraries, retail book stores, and by giving it as a gift, we can help to encourage a plentiful harvest.
“Do not forget that you are commissioned to go forth preaching only the good news. You are not to attack the old ways; you are skillfully to put the leaven of new truth in the midst of the old beliefs.” (UB 178:1.16)
The purpose and function of the Brotherhood School is determined by the nature and goals of the URANTIA Brotherhood. The URANTIA Brotherhood was organized to promote the study and dissemination of the teachings of The URANTIA Book among the peoples of the world. This purpose is being actualized primarily through the instrumentalities of individuals, study groups, and societies.
The URANTIA Brotherhood during the first twenty years of its existence has dedicated itself to a leavening, spiritual ministry. It is our conviction that this should always characterize the URANTIA Brotherhood’s relationship to society. Just as Machiventa Melchizedek exacted a pledge from each teacher never to organize exclusive congregations for worship or function as a priest, so we should never become a “church” or exercise an institutional ministry.
—Meredith Sprunger
Has The URANTIA Book changed your concept of prayer? What is the value of prayer to you? Is it a regular part of your life? If so, why? If not, what are your reasons? Send us your thoughts and feelings on this subject, as “Prayer” is being considered as a possible future topic of The URANTIAN Journal.
“Freely have you received; therefore freely should you give of the truth of heaven, and in the giving will this truth multiply and show forth the increasing light of saving grace, even as you minister it.” (UB 176:3.10)