The Keys of Knowlege 1998 - 2010

Joseph J. Dewey

Urantia Revisited

1998-11-12 19:32:00

We have had an interesting discussion about the Urantia Book and the desire to keep on track with our discussions of "The Immortal."

I think I should say a few words on this because this situation is likely to come up periodically not only from Urantia Readers, but also "A Course In Miracle" readers, Scientologists, Eckankar people, "born-again Christian and/or Bible believers, and so on. There are many people who are so enamored by a certain train of thought that they always feel they must be a missionary for that cause.

Here are our options in how we might handle this:

1. Let the person distract us from our true purpose.
2. Ignore the postings or as politely as possible tell the person to "cool it."

But there is a third alternative:

3. Incorporate this into a teaching and/or learning experience by examining the truth or falsehood in the teachings, but discourage others from posting large amounts of data that have little to do with the list.

I would suggest that we experiment with Number 3.

If it proves to be a beneficial or at least entertaining thread, then we will continue. If it proves a distraction and the majority are against it, then we can always change. The road to perfection is paved with many experiments and mistakes. I will personally participate with these challenges that come forward as time permits.

Before I comment let me say this. The Brotherhood of Light does not have it in their agenda to tell us what to think about the hundreds of channeled or inspired books out there. For one thing even the "true" books that are completely made up may still encourage the search for truth. We never want to discourage that search by some proclamation of "what is" by some outward authority:   God, the Brotherhood or whatever.

Therefore, any comments I make on the teachings of other groups will, with rare exceptions, come from myself and my own soul contact. My comments could be completely wrong. The only way to know for sure is to check with your own souls.

Back to Urantia...

There are several things that bother me about the Urantia book; and, I would be interested in hearing comments from a Urantia Reader.

1. When you ask advocates where the book came from they are very vague and give a very incomplete answer. When I was first introduced to Urantia I was told that the whole manuscript just appeared in completed form out of nowhere. Later, others told me a few more details; but it was all very sketchy.

   The truth is that a good portion of Urantia was channeled by mediums in the conscious state and other parts of it were papers written by normal mortal humans. My question is why do the Urantia people hide the fact that most of the book is channeled material?

2. One major difference between Urantia and the Aquarian Gospel and other metaphysical books is that the Aquarian Gospel teaches reincarnation, where Urantia teaches that we have only one life on this earth. The thing that amazes me about Urantia readers is that many of them believe in reincarnation yet continue to believe the Urantia Book is 100% true. This is not possible. If reincarnation is true then the Urantia book is completely wrong. This is an important point because its' teaching on the afterlife is a core belief.
3. Urantia teaches similar to the 7th Day Adventists that the soul sleeps at death -- that there is no spirit world for our astral or mental bodies to go to. It also teaches that if we are naughty then we will suffer complete annihilation. Only the good guys wake up to eternal life. What happened to the love of God that reaches out even to us rebels "WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:4)? This teaching in the Bible and other inspired works presents a much more logical God to me.
4. There are a number of definite errors in the book. For instance Urantia tells us that there cannot exist any element with over 100 electrons. Science has now discovered 111. Some over 100 may be short-lived but so are some under 100.
5. The Urantia book teaches a tremendous amount of data. Data that cannot be proven is easy to fabricate. The Brotherhood of Light, however, almost always reveal principles in their teachings. In all the 2000+ pages of Urantia I cannot find one new principle revealed or even an old one that is elaborated on.

   I would challenge Urantia readers to show me one principle taught in the book. Data is easy to materialize, but it takes the light of the soul to reveal a principle. For instance, "The Keys of Knowledge," as revealed in "The Immortal" and my other writings, and even other inspired writings such as those from Djwhal Khul [DK] through Alice A. Bailey, are centered around revealing principles.

   Key One:   You exist on a principle, not a piece of data.

   Key Two:   The Middle Way is found by understanding a principle. Data is not enough.

6. My greatest objection to Urantia is that I felt no soul contact while reading it and I felt no flashing forth of the intuitive self from the general data. There is a lot of fancy language to razzle-dazzle the personality, but that is not enough for a true seeker.

On the positive side I will say this. There are some truths to be found in the book but one has to use a lot of mental discernment, soul contact and have a scientific background to find it.

Urantia is also a good starting point in the search for truth for one who has just broken off from a standard restrictive religious belief.

If nothing else, it gives them a lot to think about.

Copyright © 1998 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved

Original on Joseph J. Dewey' website