Urantia Book

intrepidlover said:
Does anyone know of this book? Do you have any comments on it?

I will explain why I have asked these questions if I receive a response.
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I have read a few sections of it, really don't know too much about it.
I have a copy around somewhere and I have been meaning to get around to it, but haven't had the time yet.
 
shawn said:
I have a copy around somewhere and I have been meaning to get around to it, but haven't had the time yet.
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Don't bother. The reason I posted this question is that I stumbled on a Urantia Book website: A new picture of Jesus, God, heaven, earth, & you: Urantia Book which has a discussion forum. The members believe Urantia Book is the latest spiritual revelation that outdates any other religious books and systems.

You can read the book online or download it from this website.

They have a skeptics forum but heaven help the skeptic if he is critical of UB as they call it.

The book comprises an extensive and excessively verbosely written cosmology listing spiritual beings and the alleged structure of the universe. It skims over Eastern religions, giving just the historical development without alluding to any of the core teachings.

There is a very detailed account of the life of Jesus including his boyhood, youth and young manhood, and continuing through his preaching period and death an resurrection. At this point I have not bothered to compare this in detail with the Gospels.

They do give an authentic account of the development of the religion of Christianity. But this is what did it for me -- their projections for the future:

Urantia Book Timeline - Dates + Events

Noting especially the following:

The Future +4 - Wars and rumors of wars will fade away as the teachings of Jesus, the Gospel of the Kingdom, permeate the hearts of mankind. "...peace on earth will not come until all are willing to believe and enter into their glorious inheritance of sonship with God." (The Urantia Book, 165:6.3)

The Future +5 - The races will have blended, resulting in a skin tone of an olive hue. (The Urantia Book, 52:3.7)

I am asking a friend who has some scientific knowledge to check the timeline of prehistory.

You might like to read portions of it out of interest or curiosity, but I think you will find as I did that the authenticity of its contents stretches the imagination a bit too much.
 
I've read portions of it and was on a forum with a guy who posted a lot of material from it..

What interested me was the source of the book and how that happened.. According to what I read a now unknown individual was in a somnambulistic state responding to questions over some years.. notes were taken and a group gradually developed around that.. All the original notes and materials from that period have apparently been destroyed.. I think the man who was directly involved had been an Adventist as I recall and he had some what you would call today odd ideas about eugenics and race mixing..

There's been a lot of controversies surrounding this material and a court case as well..

For myself was curious about this but I couldn't find a lot that really convinced me it was legit.. that is had anything resembling what I felt was a divine revelation....just my thoughts to share with you..
 
arthra said:
I've read portions of it and was on a forum with a guy who posted a lot of material from it..

What interested me was the source of the book and how that happened.. According to what I read a now unknown individual was in a somnambulistic state responding to questions over some years.. notes were taken and a group gradually developed around that.. All the original notes and materials from that period have apparently been destroyed
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My understanding is that the pages of the book known as "papers" materialized. If this is true, it would certainly make it a unique "revelation." They were not written down. Facsimiles of these originals are now available. Other major New Age tomes were done by automatic writing, or in the case of The Secret Doctrine by H.P.B. and the various books by Alice Bailey, these were supposedly dictated by Tibetan "masters" who may or may not have been on the physical plane.
arthra said:
I think the man who was directly involved had been an Adventist as I recall and he had some what you would call today odd ideas about eugenics and race mixing..

There's been a lot of controversies surrounding this material and a court case as well..
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Yes there has been some scandal and controversy.

Urantia Book - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
arthra said:
For myself was curious about this but I couldn't find a lot that really convinced me it was legit.. that is had anything resembling what I felt was a divine revelation....just my thoughts to share with you..
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I have come to regard Wikipedia as a reliable unbiased source of articles on most matters. Not everyone might agree with me but that is my considered opinion.

The Urantia Book - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The people who own and control the website A new picture of Jesus, God, heaven, earth, & you: Urantia Book resemble a cliquish cult. Anyone who dares to say a bad word about the book is chastised. I myself have been suspended for one month for having the audacity to suggest, in the Skeptics Forum, that the book could have easily been written by a science fiction writer.

All the members say the book has changed their lives. It is supposed to replace and supersede all other religious writings. I am currently of the opinion that the book is designed to brainwash those who take it seriously and read it thoroughly. I have established some opinions based on skimming through various portions of the book.

I think it is worth having a peek at just out of curiosity. It can be read online, and there is also a comprehensive online search facility. So it won't cost you anything to satisfy your curiosity. It can also be downloaded in a variety of formats, at no charge.

My primary criticism of the book is its excessively verbose style of writing. I think this may appeal to people who like to think they have an academic mind, but to a former journalist like myself, the major part of it is very poorly written.
 
I have read the Urantia book and I'll just make this brief observation: if I wanted to present a new spiritual theory without having to attribute or make reasoned theological arguments I would present the materiel as "channeled." Presenting material as revealed from some extra-earthly source relieves the author of the rigors of rhetorical inquiry. The fact that this literary technique seems to dominate in the realm of New Age spirituality suggests an inherent intellectual laziness both on the part of authors and readers.

Chris
 
Yes Chris,

I agree, Channelled often means, I made this up but am not admitting that. Back in the days of the prophets it was said G!d told me this, or in Paul's case, Jesus told me this.

Neither of those is acceptable today, you'd be locked up as a crack pot if you wrote down what G!d or Jesus told you. (Well NDW got away with it, as did ACIM) but for the most parts our modern day prophets, Ramtha, Abraham, Seth, etc channel a being.... even though often this being says 'they' also talked to the prophets and Jesus, and Paul and Mohamed and Bahaulla.....

I've actually attributed some of my 'non spiritual revelation' otherwise known as ideas to others, (physical, not nonphysical others) as in: "I learned this trick from someone a few years ago" (even though I just thought of it, or learned it in a dream), because attributing it to someone other than myself allowed the person I was working with not have a need to introduce ego, as I hadn't introduced ego, making the 'proposal' and implementation more readily accepted without prolonged discussion.


Oh, btw, back on target, have read Urantia, years ago. Think today much as I did then, someone needs to compose the best of these philosophies...as they all have pieces that have value.
 
It is a big thick book I have scene it for sale in new age book stores and would take some one a long time to read all the way through. desert rat
 
It's an exceedingly tedious read. I forced myself all the way through the Book of Mormon, but Urantia defeated me.
 
desert-rat said:
It is a big thick book I have scene it for sale in new age book stores and would take some one a long time to read all the way through. desert rat
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bob x said:
It's an exceedingly tedious read. I forced myself all the way through the Book of Mormon, but Urantia defeated me.
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hmm maybe I didn't read it all...

Book of Mormon wasn't that long....Urantia was given to me in a copied 8-11 format in 3 ring binders...long and had some really good points and speculation I thought at the time (as I recall)
 
Many years ago I read the book of Mormon. Its a easy read. I dont agree with all of it , but part about a white race in North America 10,000 years ago , before the Mormons came , is interesting . The realy big size of the Urantia book kept me form reading it. desert rat
 
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