© 1977 Buck and Arlene Weimer, Carolyn Kendall, Richard Keeler, Helena Sprague, Ron Schweitzer
© 1977 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
The time is upon us once again when most of the world’s Christians celebrate the traditional birth of Jesus Christ. Just the thought of it is enough to generate a spectrum of mixed emotions. Many of us may find it necessary to brace ourselves against the crass commercialism stimulated by the infiltrating profit motive. There is always the rush and crush of those final days, and at least one week of recuperation. And still others can look forward to the reunions with loved ones-for a chance to see and touch old friends-while exchanging gifts. But does Christmas have meaning in the universal scheme of things? And how important is it? How would a Mighty Messenger report the spectacle of Christmas in relation to the Supreme?
A Mighty Messenger would broadcast the events of Christmas in relation to the Supreme because we are presently living in the Age of the Supreme, from a universe viewpoint of time. The nutritions necessary in this fetal-stage growth of the Supreme are garnished from the experiences of the creatures of time and space. The reward for all this is that the Supreme will become the Creator’s first experiential deity; which is to be a complement to the trinity of existential deity.
— Buck and Arlene Weimer
There is a divine plan for every revelation. Revelators come to earth on missions, and for purposes, but there is an overriding plan, an ordained way, of carrying out these missions of new truth. What is the divine plan for “our” revelation?
We may be assured that the divine plan that was operative for Caligastia, Adam, Machiventa, and Jesus is again in effect for us. This encompassing plan for planets, revelators, and mortals might be thus stated:
Planetary evolution is established. It is upstepped by periodic revelation which is imparted by evolutionary techniques that are built upon existing foundations, and allowed to develop naturally.
Usually there is a pattern of growth with successive revelations, but as we know, the effect of the first and second epochal visitations was virtually wiped out. Progress ran solely along evolutionary lines until Machiventa Melchizedek came on an emergency mission to keep the truth of the one God alive on earth. He did not attempt to remediate the purposes of the aborted missions of the planetary prince and Material Son. Strange as it might seem to many, Jesus didn’t either. His supreme purpose was to further enhance the revelation of God the Father.
—Carolyn Kendall
What is love? “Love is the desire to do good to others.” (UB 56:10.21) It is the “…secret of beneficial association between personalities,” (UB 12:9.2) and “…does connote man’s highest concept of the mortal relations of respect and devotion…” This “… matchless affection of the living God for his universe creatures” is the “… supreme reality of the universe … ” (UB 2:5.11, UB 177:2.3) “… love is the greatest thing in the universe …” (UB 56:10.20)
Love is either human or divine. Human love may be sexual or non-sexual. If it is non-sexual, it is either parental or brotherly. All genuine love comes from God.
— Richard Keeler
A major component of human development is fear, both the instinctive responses coming out of the dim ages of the struggle for physical survival, and the learned reactions of our cultural endowment, particularly psychosocial, intellectual, and sometimes spiritual. The URANTIA Book teachings about fear and growth are both profound and practical. They can be considered from four viewpoints.
First, fear is a universal experience of the creatures of time and space. There are racial variations: Adamic children are not so subject to fear as the children of evolution. Personal experience confirms the universality of fear; no one has been free of it. Simple scrutiny turns it up in all arenas of human activity, among them business, politics, economics, family, the arts, recreation, international relations. In some human behavior fear may be subtle, Take elitism, for instance: it is not popular to be “elitist”; most of us react negatively to this, yet I submit some would find the array of personalities in the universe — sovereigns and princes and staffs and workers — elitist. There is a simple and complete difference between mortals and supermortals in reaction to a pyramidal organization chart: their response involves no fear.
— Helena Sprague
Recently, a Urantia Book student captured my attention when he asked, “How do I live a revelation?” The inquiry immobilized the group; one could perceive all sorts of non-answers gathering to attack the question nobody heard. The inquirer was asked to repeat his question, possibly with some elaboration. It came with strong vocal emphasis and active phrasing: “How do I live a revelation? I hold in my hands an epochal revelation 2097 pages long. I want to do something more than read it, I feel a responsibility to live it.” What a marvelous statement! Happily, no one proffered a “here’s the way it is — this is what you do” answer, or any of those neat and tidy sayings that slam the door of discussion.
I considered the question-statement for several day; afterward before I began to perceive its thrust, and then only after l asked the question of myself. Indeed, how do I live it? Here I am in an extraordinary state of dynamic upheaval — an epochal revelation has locked horns with an inert mortal of the realm; irresistible force meets immovable object to the 10th power! I started the search for a future answer by asking another question; “How do I want to live, temporally and eternally?” Now that the floodgates of choice were opened, the sandbags came out-my reflex reaction to a plethora of choice.
— Ron Schweitzer
“The god of universal love unfailingly manifests himself to every one of his creatures up to the fullness of that creature’s capacity to spiritually grasp the qualities of divine truth, beauty, and goodness.” (UB 1:4.5)