The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

A forum to discuss the Urantia Book.
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:study: Quotes that highlight the UB's unity/uniformity ...
with 195:10.11 in particular ("Jesus brotherhood - invisible, spiritual") indicating that the UB's unity/uniformity is not meant as guidance for how humans should conduct their personal and group relations. In contrast, the UB does not suggest that nations' military groups (or schools or businesses or sports teams) have unity with uniformity unnecessary. Even 182:1.8 ("Jesus prayed ...") does not claim "Jesus taught ...".

:idea: This ongoing unity/uniformity deliberation is the proper business of an organization but not directly guided
by the seemingly associated UB text which refers only to spiritual matters: ;)


"All these religions have arisen as a result of man’s variable intellectual response to his identical spiritual leading. They can never hope to attain a uniformity of creeds, dogmas, and rituals - these are intellectual; but they can, and some day will, realize a unity in true worship of the Father of all, for this is spiritual, and it is forever true, in the spirit all men are equal."
(92:7.4 https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P092_7_4 )

"But since personality is unique - no two mortals being alike - it inevitably follows that no two human beings can similarly interpret the leadings and urges of the spirit of divinity which lives within their minds. A group of mortals can experience spiritual unity, but they can never attain philosophic uniformity."
(103:1.1 https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P103_1_1 )

"When a member of a social religious group has complied with the requirements of such a group, he should be encouraged to enjoy religious liberty in the full expression of his own personal interpretation of the truths of religious belief and the facts of religious experience. The security of a religious group depends on spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity."
(103:5.12 https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P103_5_12 )

"The kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men will create religious unity (not necessarily uniformity) because any and all religious groups composed of such religious believers will be free from all notions of ecclesiastical authority - religious sovereignty."
(134:4.6 https://www.theub.org/part-iv.html#P134_4_6 )

"the religion of the spirit will progressively draw men together and cause them to become understandingly sympathetic with one another. The religions of authority require of men uniformity in belief, but this is impossible of realization in the present state of the world. The religion of the spirit requires only unity of experience - uniformity of destiny - making full allowance for diversity of belief. The religion of the spirit requires only uniformity of insight, not uniformity of viewpoint and outlook. The religion of the spirit does not demand uniformity of intellectual views, only unity of spirit feeling."
(155:6.9 https://www.theub.org/part-iv.html#P155_6_9 )

"Jesus prayed for unity among his followers, but he did not desire uniformity."
(182:1.8 https://www.theub.org/part-iv.html#P182_1_8 )

"The true church - the Jesus brotherhood - is invisible, spiritual, and is characterized by unity, not necessarily by uniformity. Uniformity is the earmark of the physical world of mechanistic nature. Spiritual unity is the fruit of faith union with the living Jesus." (195:10.11 https://www.theub.org/part-iv.html#P195_10_11 )


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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Sandy »

That was wonderful, Rod! :cheers:
I hadn't really considered the difference between unity and uniformity in this way before and how it relates to the spiritual progression of Urantia. Thank you for taking the time to research and write this. In many ways, this is very encouraging. :sunflower:
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: Re: https://religionnews.com/2023/08/16/fro ... rs-it-all/
"From interfaith vegans to inclusive heathens, religious Parliament offers it all"

"Down the hall, near a booth from the Archdiocese of Chicago, another group of folks
who study The Urantia Book, a spiritual text first published in the 1950s, ran a booth
with paperback and hardcover copies of the book, both in English and in Spanish." 8)

:idea: Entertaining subtlety of the "I am not of this world. Follow me." poster at this booth
is that the guidance can also be claimed by one's thought adjuster. And a new poster
could be created for Jesus: "I was not of this world, but now I am."

"I am the real vine."
"I am the living way."
"I am the living water."
"I am the bread of life."
"I am the good shepherd."
"I am the light of the world."
"I am the desire of all ages."
"I am the door to eternal life."
"I am the resurrection and the life."
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
"I am with you always."

"This unique episode was all the more engrossing because he was at this time
still the carpenter of Nazareth, boatbuilder of Capernaum, scribe of Damascus;
he was still the Son of Man" (129:4.1)

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: "It is high time that man had a religious experience so personal and so sublime
that it could be realized and expressed only by 'feelings that lie too deep for words'." (99:5.9)


:idea: About 'nigh' that rhymes with 'high' (and both can refer to time) ...

Re: https://www.theidioms.com/high-time/

"Romans 13:11 (KJV)
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."

"originated in the 13th century and it refers to the warmest time in the day. Since people of that era were mostly farmers, this time marked the turning point in the day when you must have either gotten so much work done on the land or you begin doing so immediately."

Re: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=KJV

"Matthew 24:32-33 (KJV)
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."


:idea: About 'nigh' as used in the Urantia Papers (but not once as ' nigh ') ...

The number of times (69) 'well-nigh' is used in the UB is "well-nigh unbelievable",
but high time to note its commonality amongst so many Papers! This suggests
editorial supervision of the developing UB manuscript that was well-nigh on high,
especially since 'well-nigh' was rarely copied from a UB source! :o

One UB Paper contains 'high time': 99
UB Papers containing 'well-nigh (52)':
Foreword, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 15, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27,
28, 30, 35, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 55, 56, 57, 68, 74, 75, 77,
87, 89, 101, 106, 110, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129, 143, 145,
148, 149, 155, 157, 161, 172, 177, 185, 186, 189, 190

:idea: A memorable 'well-nigh' in the UB:
"All our efforts to enlarge the human concept of God would be well-nigh futile except for
the fact that the mortal mind is indwelt by the bestowed Adjuster of the Universal Father
and is pervaded by the Truth Spirit of the Creator Son." (2:0.3)


:hithere Significant evidence that "editorial supervision on high"
is the reason for such quality rewrite of Speer's writing:

:study: Re: https://ia800300.us.archive.org/26/item ... 00spee.pdf
"Studies of the Man Christ Jesus", by Robert E. Speer, 1896, p.207

"Jesus well-nigh exhausts the possibilities of language in asserting and describing His mission* from the Father."

:study: UB Paper 161 - "Further Discussions with Rodan" (161:2.9)

"He well-nigh exhausts the possibilities of language in reiteration of his claims of intimate association* with the heavenly Father."

* Paper 120 - The Bestowal of Michael on Urantia, 1. The Seventh Bestowal Commission

"Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be concerned with but one thing, the unbroken communion between you and your Paradise Father; and it will be by the perfection of such a relationship that the world of your bestowal, even all the universe of your creation, will behold a new and more understandable revelation of your Father and my Father, the Universal Father of all." (120:1.4)

:idea: Interestingly, the rewrite effectively clarifies that the Father did not give Jesus this mission - it's the nature of these divine Sons of God to reveal God in their bestowal missions. Thus, Speer reflects what Jesus taught his apostles (what they perceived/remembered) - not what UB authors knew about Jesus' divinity and his bestowal missions required to earn him title of "Master Son". Editing, well-nigh evidence that humans did not directly participate in writing UB Papers. ;)


:study: About Paper 119 - The (7) Bestowals of Christ Michael ...

Why have no sources been found for this Paper?
Because Paper 119 is part of this epochal revelation!,
what only UB authors knew about Jesus' divinity!


:study: "Cannibalism was once well-nigh universal among the evolving races." (89:5.3)
Paper 89 — Sin, Sacrifice, and Atonement

Good evidence that the UB author of Paper 89 (or project editor on high) referred to another source(s)
to justify inclusion of "well-nigh universal cannibalism" when phrase was not in primary source for Paper 89:

"The Science of Society", (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1927),
by William Graham Sumner and Albert Galloway Keller

:idea: This inclusion suggests that the UB editorial team presented truth as found in various human sources,
deleting that which was not true and including/paraphrasing that which was true. This type of multi-source analysis
would have been quite difficult in the pre-internet decades! This also suggests UB authors had access to well-nigh ;)
ALL that humans had written in the past. "Well-nigh unbelievable"! 8)

Additional support of "well-nigh universal cannibalism" as fact:
Re: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/ ... rldlit.pdf
"Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism"

:idea: Refers to Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" (1918)
and "well-nigh universal cannibalism".


:hithere UB authors acknowledge the sources of the Papers (when not "revelation") ...

"In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind." (0:12.11)

"I am the secondary midwayer of onetime attachment to the Apostle Andrew, and I am authorized to place on record the narrative of the life transactions of Jesus of Nazareth as they were observed by my order of earth creatures, and as they were subsequently partially recorded by the human subject of my temporal guardianship." (121:0.1)

:idea: Acknowledgments that human writings ("expression by the human mind") and Jesus' life as observed by the midwayers were the sources
of the UB Papers. Such acknowledgments infer that ALL human writings and midwayer observations were available to author the Papers.
And "ALL human writings" suggests that NO human then living (or now) had access to so much written material :!:


:hithere Humans did not participate in writing the UB Papers" ...

Re: https://www.urantia.org/urantia-foundation/history
"A History of the Urantia Movement", By Dr. William S. Sadler

"The Papers were published just as we received them.
The Contact Commissioners had no editorial authority :!:
Our job was limited to 'spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.' "

:idea: Despite the sources since discovered, humans did not edit that into the Papers.
However ... Dr. William S. Sadler was not unfamiliar with "well-nigh" in his book:
"The physiology of faith and fear; or, The mind in health and disease" (1912) :o


:hithere Dr. Sadler was more than proofreader of the UB manuscript (new theory) ...

The widespread use of "well-nigh" in Dr. Sadler's "The physiology of faith and fear"
hints that his mind was used similarly to how midwayer messages are created.
While the material was presented by unseen celestials, Dr. Sadler may have
been authorized to restate it for better readability and consistency
across all the Papers.


Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: About the "He Gets Us" campaign ...

Re: https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/he-get ... -an-agenda

"How can we rediscover the life and teachings of Jesus, the world’s most radical love activist?
That is our agenda at He Gets Us: to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment
to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus."

Re: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/arti ... -campaign/
"What You Should Know About the ‘He Gets Us’ Campaign"


:idea: That the creator of our universe "Gets Us" is understatement:

Re: https://www.theub.org/part-ii.html#P033_1
"Because of the name associated with his seventh and final bestowal on Urantia,
he is sometimes spoken of as Christ Michael." (33:1.1)

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: Re: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/arti ... -campaign/

"The campaign is 'hoping to start a movement to put the Jesus of the Bible front and center in our culture,'
said Jason Vanderground, president of Haven, the marketing firm that created the He Gets Us ads."

"Over the past month, the ad campaign has received considerable criticism from secular media,
as well as from Christians on the left and the right." :o

:idea: "Jesus of the Bible" - one more time in revival - may not be sufficient to restart this movement.
Revelatory Jesus may need to Get Us ... since revelatory Jesus is pre-Bible, pre-religion history. ;)

The greater problem with commercialized Jesus may be that "He Gets Us" becomes perceived
as one of many ad campaigns with more commercial than spiritual value. "Past month criticism"
hints that other sensitivities are now being aroused.

At least, "He Gets Us" to deliberate openly about Jesus is indeed momentum :!:

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Sandy »

I was curious after reading the posts on the "He Gets Us" campaigns. So I did a smidgeon of digging just now on the "He Gets Us" campaign and the Servant Foundation. I did find a few things that may be of interest to those who prefer not to give to hate groups in in way shape or form.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/arti ... -campaign/
"He Gets Us is an initiative of Servant Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that operates under the name “The Signatry.” According to the tax filing, “The Signatry exists to inspire and facilitate revolutionary, biblical generosity.”
Who does Signatry contribute to?
https://www.newsweek.com/biggest-christ ... ps-1370055
“The Signatry’s most recent 990 form covers from April 2020 to March 2021. In this period, it earned $627 million in funding and donated $391 million. The National Christian Foundation, a Georgia-based nonprofit donating to churches and charities, received the largest amount at $50.8 million. The Signatry also donated $48.1 million to Every Home for Christ, a nonprofit providing funds to Christian groups around the world. Other beneficiaries include Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal advocacy group supporting anti-LGBTQ legislation and Live Action, an anti-abortion organization that has been banned on multiple social media platforms for spreading misinformation and conspiracies.”
What does The National Christion Foundation fund support?
https://www.newsweek.com/biggest-christ ... ps-1370055
"Donor-advised funds allow individuals sending the tax deductible contributions to remain anonymous from the IRS and instruct where they want the payments to be sent. For those donating via NCF, this meant sending money to 23 organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled hate groups. Most of the hate organizations that received money from the NCF opposed LGBT rights. The report also found that the NCF donated to anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant organizations."
"Organizations receiving the most funds from NCF included the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has advocated for sterilizing transgender individuals, and the Family Research Council, which has advocated conversion therapy. Members of the Family Research Council including Tony Perkins, the organization's president, have sought to link pedophilia and homosexuality."
xxSandy
“We measure and evaluate your Spiritual Progress on the Wall of Eternity." – Guardian of Destiny, Alverana.
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/arti ... sible.html
"Theoretical physicist: here's why life after death is IMPOSSIBLE" :o

"That's because there are no particles and forces that could contain the information in your brain after you die ...
There is no way for that knowledge of who you are before you died to persist after your life comes to an end."

:hithere Indirectly explains why the experiential human soul must exist at death
to continue the existence of 'you' into advancing spirituality. 8)

Apparently, evidence of soul is immaterial: ;)
"Material science cannot demonstrate the existence of a soul"
https://www.theub.org/part-iv.html#P133_6_7

"During the mortal life in the flesh the soul is of embryonic estate; it is born (resurrected)
in the morontia life and experiences growth through the successive morontia worlds."
https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P066_4_9

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

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Re: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/after-school-satan

"ASSC (After School Satan Club) exists to provide a safe and inclusive alternative to the religious clubs that use threats of eternal damnation to convert school children to their belief system. Unlike our counterparts, who publicly measure their success in young children's 'professions of faith', the ASSC program focuses on science, critical thinking, creative arts, and good works for the community."

:idea: However, since Satan no longer exists*, the (After Satan School Club) is the reality
and therefore not influenced by this fallen angel who is forever unable to participate. :o

* Re: https://board.1111angels.com/viewtopic. ... 09#p195550

"The tribunal of the case of Gabriel vs. Lucifer before the courts of the Ancients of Days had already begun before The Urantia Book was given to the Forum group in Chicago in the early 1930's. Completion of the universe judicial decree, wherein all participants had either repented and had been rehabilitated or, as in the case of Lucifer, Satan, Caligastia , Dalagastia, had spurned Divine mercy and were annihilated."

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: The new non-religion religion,
just around the corner? :scratch:

"One God One Family" aka "God One" 8)

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:study: Re: https://www.barna.com/research/most-ame ... rit-exist/
"Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist" :o

"Americans who consider themselves to be Christian have a diverse set of beliefs -
but many of those beliefs are contradictory or, at least, inconsistent." :?

:idea: Makes it easier to understand why the UB is swimming upstream in Christianity.
In such polls, God presence within (adjuster) is not the Holy Spirit (third person of Trinity)
but may be considered the same presence. Yet this unique God presence - not Holy Spirit -
seems the golden thread that would be effective antidote to Satanism as well as
"the tie that binds" humanity into the family of Jesus' true church. ;)

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

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:study: Re: https://www.skywatchtv.com/2023/09/14/i ... -adam-eve/
"Mysterious Indecipherable Script Of The Massive Inga Stone Dated To The Time Of Adam And Eve"

Re: https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifac ... one-006442
"The Mysterious Indecipherable Script of the Inga Stone"
"Dating back in origin at least 6,000 years, the stone is a worldwide wonder."

:? Apparently, Inga Stone associates with a different Adam and Eve story ...
"Adam and Eve arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D. 1934, 37,848 years ago."
(UB, https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P074_0_1 )

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

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Re: https://bccatholic.ca/voices/brett-powe ... tolic-mode

"The recently published book 'From Christendom to Apostolic Mission' could have been subtitled 'A Tale of Two Modes'
as it proposes shifting the Church into a new mode that acknowledges that, 'Christendom no longer exists' (Pope Francis)."

"Historians might not agree when Christendom began to deteriorate,
but most would speculate that it ended in the 1960s in North America." :o

:idea: Actually, a timely sabbatical for Christendom while the new Jesus-focused story gets better dissemination
(and acceptance), by which even Christendom gets "new & improved" perspective. 8)

Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:study: Quick investigation of the myth of Atlantis ...

Paper 74 - Adam and Eve
"Adam and Eve arrived on Urantia, from the year A.D. 1934, 37,848 years ago."
( https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P074_0_1 )

[Adam and Eve defaulted about 100 years later]

Paper 73 - The (first) Garden of Eden
"... The peninsula had been overrun by these lower-grade Nodites for almost four thousand years after Adam left the Garden when, in connection with the violent activity of the surrounding volcanoes and the submergence of the Sicilian land bridge to Africa, the eastern floor of the Mediterranean Sea sank, carrying down beneath the waters the whole of the Edenic peninsula. Concomitant with this vast submergence the coast line of the eastern Mediterranean was greatly elevated ... The sinking was not sudden, several hundred years being required completely to submerge the entire peninsula." ( https://www.theub.org/part-iii.html#P073_7_1 )

[4,000 years after Adam left the first Garden, it began to sink slowly and was completely submerged several hundred years later]

Re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history
"The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script."


:idea: Thus, when Plato told the story of Atlantis around 360 B.C. (long after the beginning of recorded history), the first Garden of Eden had been submerged about 33,000 years! This hints that Plato's knowledge of the Mediterranean would have been limited to its much later geography. And this may explain the later merging of the myth of Atlantis and the myth of the Bible's Garden of Eden:

Re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis (world's first record of a Garden of Eden)
"modern scholars, especially from the 19th century onward, place the books' authorship in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, hundreds of years after Moses is supposed to have lived. Based on scientific interpretation of archaeological, genetic, and linguistic evidence, most mainstream Bible scholars consider Genesis to be primarily mythological rather than historical."


:sunflower: However, Atlantis and the Bible's Garden of Eden seem related, at least by myth,
with Atlantis more myth than Genesis (which probably refers to the second Garden of Eden). 8)

:study: Other web pages mention that the Mediterranean had risen and fallen significantly many times during those thousands of millennia. This occurred because of opening/closing of the Gibraltar Strait, increasing/decreasing evaporation, and increasing/decreasing flow of rivers into the Mediterranean ... oft due to climate change! ;)

:study: Re: https://www.scielo.org.mx/img/revistas/ ... 01-gf3.png
Latakia on this map seems to hint the beginning of a "long narrow peninsula", but various articles about the complex geology of this area suggest that the first Garden is now well submerged!

"The architectural plans for Eden provided homes and abundant land for one million human beings." (73:5.1)
(this "abundant land" would necessarily represent more area than what "narrow peninsula" suggests) ;)


:sunflower: Considering that the Garden's narrowest portion of neck was 27 miles wide and that 12,000 miles of paved road existed,
this long narrow peninsula would had to have stretched for several hundred miles to accommodate so much road mileage :!:

:study: Re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Cyprus

"These animals are thought to have arrived on the island as a result of being swept out to sea while swimming off the coast of the nearby mainland." (or perhaps they walked across from the mainland via the Garden's long narrow peninsula) ;)

"The houses had a foundation of river pebbles, the remainder of the building was constructed in mudbrick ...
Sometimes several round houses were joined together to form a kind of compound.."

(There were a trifle over five thousand brick buildings in the various sectors ...
Seven was the largest number of houses composing any one cluster in the park" (73:5.2)

:study: Re: https://www.bu.edu/asor/pubs/books-monographs/swiny.pdf
"The Eearliest Prehistory Of Cyprus"

"The circular, or at least curvilinear domestic structures of the village clustered on the upper reaches of the hill, surrounded, in an early phase of the settlement, by a substantial encircling wall and a ditch cut in the havara (secondary limestone ) immediately outside it ... As for domestic architecture, the basic architectural unit is a structure with a circular ground plan and not a rectangular one as seen in most contemporaneous villages in the Near East."

"Seven was the largest number of houses composing any one cluster in the park" (73:5.2)
(clustering of brick domestic structures was common in both the Garden and Cyprus) ;)


:idea: New conjecture: Cyprus may contain archaeology that relates to the first Garden of Eden!
Now, Cyprus seems the ideal location for new instruction/museum about the first Garden. 8)
And Bento Goncalves, Brasil has certain appeal as location for the third Garden of Eden:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g68 ... tions.html

Postscript: "(In the Garden,) religious and sexual training were regarded as the province of the home, the duty of parents." (74:7.2)
(much later, the world "advanced" to institutions of religion and now non-binary sexual education in public schools) :roll:


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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Re: https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/ ... led-123778
"Church in AI takeover as sermon led by ChatGPT"

"The idea to create an AI-generated worship service came from my belief that the church should not only be aware of the most pressing issues of our world, but also to actively engage in them"

:idea: This highlights that ChatGPT responds according to its promnpts (this time probably prompted to comment on social/political issues). While a request not so aligned with Jesus' attitude about such issues*, a church today does not have to be so Jesus-focused ... apparently.

* "And if Jesus were on earth today, living his life in the flesh, he would be a great disappointment to the majority of good men and women for the simple reason that he would not take sides in present-day political, social, or economic disputes. He would remain grandly aloof while teaching you how to perfect your inner spiritual life so as to render you manyfold more competent to attack the solution of your purely human problems." (140:8.17)


:hithere Speaking of chatbots ...

Re: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/ceo- ... 17269.html
"CEO who replaced 90% of his support staff with an AI chatbot says copy-paste jobs are gone"

"Shah made headlines in July for announcing over Twitter that he had laid off 90% of his customer support staff and replaced them with a chatbot he said outperformed them. It was a no-brainer for me to replace the entire team with a bot ... that is like 100 times smarter, that is instant, and that cost me like 100th of what I used to pay to the support team."

:idea: Good societal economics until such layoffs reduce customers because of widespread, chatbot-fueled unemployment.
Not to worry! Unemployed? Let a chatbot critique your résumé, vis-à-vis current job opportunities. :roll:


Rod :)
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: The uplifting conditions necessary for Michael's return seem to be getting so distant in recent years
that a Melchizedek style emergency visitation comes to mind, especially when reckless modification of human DNA
is now occurring; modification that seriously threatens future life on 606 of Satania! From this perspective alone,
20:4.5 hints that such degrading conditions will not be tolerated much longer.

From another perspective, Three down, Now we go! (constraint by the past is a choice in our Master Son's domain).
"At the end of trial, those found guilty and rejected mercy, Lucifer, Satan, Caligastia and Daligastia chose annihilation." :(


:hithere Here's a nice theme song and salient UB quotes for this discussion ...

Re: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgFZlvIFXGY
"Message To Michael - Dionne Warwick"

"The Jerusem sending station is located at the opposite pole of the sphere. All broadcasts to the individual worlds
are relayed from the system capitals except the Michael messages, which sometimes go direct to their destinations
over the archangels’ circuit." (46:3.4) 8)

"for a Michael-bestowal world becomes the individual and personal ward of a Master Son and,
as such, is wholly subject to his own plans and rulings." (20:4.5) :roll

:idea: Thus, our Michael-bestowal world should expect events not revealed in the UB ...
and 46:3.4 states Michael's own messages "sometimes go direct to their destinations".


:study: More contemplation ...

"Certain wise men of earth knew of Michael’s impending arrival. Through the contacts of one world with another,
these wise men of spiritual insight learned of the forthcoming bestowal of Michael on Urantia." (119:7.6)

@ This was probably not called "channeling" in those days. :roll:

"sympathy issue applies to 'every present and future citizen of Norlatiadek' " (54:5.9)

@ Suggests that we'll be graduating from Havona long before final adjudication
(adjudication will not be completed during the current universe age). :o

"Rebellion, such as has three times occurred in Nebadon, cannot occur during your absence from Salvington on this bestowal.
For the period of the Urantia bestowal the Ancients of Days have decreed that rebellion in Nebadon shall be invested
with the automatic seed of its own annihilation." (120:1.6)

@ What explains why final adjudication of the Lucifer rebellion will not occur for a long time when a rebellion
that occurred during Michael's Urantia bestowal would have been immediately marked for annihilation?

:idea: Best guess: Michael as Master Son will act as he desires, not necessarily as recorded in the UB. ;)


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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Re: https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/pope-francis ... us-christ/

(Pope Francis) "Avoid the temptation of a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ
outside the communion and mediation of the church."

:idea: Controversial, but historical Catholicism's insistence on its spiritual role as mediator.
Revelation now permits "the church" to transition to nurturing (not mandated) guidance,
with this transition especially paced to the needs of local parishioners. ;)

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: Are these Angels Messages sources of truth?
Here are UB quotes that suggest "Indeed!" ...

"The revelation of truth, whether by direct personal ministry of the Spirit of Truth,
by the world bestowal of divine Sons, or through the revelations of the written word." (101:2.6)


:idea: On the one hand ...
"Even the bestowal of Christ Michael on Urantia did not immediately set aside the temporal consequences
of these serious blunders in the earlier administration of the world." (50:6.5)

:idea: On the other hand ...
"a Michael-bestowal world becomes the individual and personal ward of a Master Son
and, as such, is wholly subject to his own plans and rulings." (20:4.5)


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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:idea: It's now conceivable that, since no human author was acknowledged in the Urantia Papers,
Dr. Sadler could have been limited contributor to the material compiled and edited by the celestial team.

Since Dr. Sadler was not Editor-in-Chief, that editor had the option to be named as Editor
but chose to remain anonymous. Also, that Dr. Sadler did not take credit (via final publication)
for any contribution to the Papers suggests that no human was in charge of the project
prior to the signoff by the celestial team. After all, Dr. Sadler did indeed take credit
for all of his own professional publications. ;)

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Revealed Authorship of the Urantia Papers

Foreword - Definitions and Limitations of Terminology

0:12.11 In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.

0:12.12 Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably embrace the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced co-ordination of planetary knowledge. Accordingly, in making these presentations about God and his universe associates, we have selected as the basis of these papers more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings. Wherein these human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present, are inadequate to portray the truth as we are directed to reveal it, we will unhesitatingly supplement them, for this purpose drawing upon our own superior knowledge of the reality and divinity of the Paradise Deities and their transcendent residential universe.

0:12.13 We are fully cognizant of the difficulties of our assignment; we recognize the impossibility of fully translating the language of the concepts of divinity and eternity into the symbols of the language of the finite concepts of the mortal mind. But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings. But even more certainly we know that these spirits of the Divine Presence are able to assist man in the spiritual appropriation of all truth contributory to the enhancement of the ever-progressing reality of personal religious experience — God-consciousness.

0:12.14 [Indited by an Orvonton Divine Counselor, Chief of the Corps of Superuniverse Personalities assigned to portray on Urantia the truth concerning the Paradise Deities and the universe of universes.]

Part I - The Central and Superuniverses (Papers 1-31)

Sponsored by a Uversa Corps of Superuniverse Personalities
acting by authority of the Orvonton Ancients of Days.

31:10.21 [Jointly sponsored by a Divine Counselor and One without Name and Number authorized so to function by the Ancients of Days on Uversa.]

31:10.22 These thirty-one papers depicting the nature of Deity, the reality of Paradise, the organization and working of the central and superuniverses, the personalities of the grand universe, and the high destiny of evolutionary mortals, were sponsored, formulated, and put into English by a high commission consisting of twenty-four Orvonton administrators acting in accordance with a mandate issued by the Ancients of Days of Uversa directing that we should do this on Urantia, 606 of Satania, in Norlatiadek of Nebadon, in the year A.D. 1934.

Part II - The Local Universe (Papers 32-56)

Sponsored by a Nebadon Corps of Local Universe Personalities
acting by authority of Gabriel of Salvington.

56:10.22 [Presented by a Mighty Messenger visiting on Urantia, by request of the Nebadon Revelatory Corps and in collaboration with a certain Melchizedek, the vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia.]

56:10.23 This paper on Universal Unity is the twenty-fifth of a series of presentations by various authors, having been sponsored as a group by a commission of Nebadon personalities numbering twelve and acting under the direction of Mantutia Melchizedek. We indited these narratives and put them in the English language, by a technique authorized by our superiors, in the year 1934 of Urantia time.

Part III - The History of Urantia (Papers 57-119)

Sponsored by a Corps of Local Universe Personalities
acting by authority of Gabriel of Salvington.

119:8.9 This paper, depicting the seven bestowals of Christ Michael, is the sixty-third of a series of presentations, sponsored by numerous personalities, narrating the history of Urantia down to the time of Michael’s appearance on earth in the likeness of mortal flesh. These papers were authorized by a Nebadon commission of twelve acting under the direction of Mantutia Melchizedek. We indited these narratives and put them in the English language, by a technique authorized by our superiors, in the year A.D. 1935 of Urantia time.

Part IV - The Life and Teachings of Jesus (Papers 120-196)

Sponsored by a commission of twelve Urantia midwayers
acting under the supervision of a Melchizedek revelatory director.

121:0.1 ACTING under the supervision of a commission of twelve members of the United Brotherhood of Urantia Midwayers, conjointly sponsored by the presiding head of our order and the Melchizedek of record, I am the secondary midwayer of onetime attachment to the Apostle Andrew, and I am authorized to place on record the narrative of the life transactions of Jesus of Nazareth as they were observed by my order of earth creatures, and as they were subsequently partially recorded by the human subject of my temporal guardianship. Knowing how his Master so scrupulously avoided leaving written records behind him, Andrew steadfastly refused to multiply copies of his written narrative. A similar attitude on the part of the other apostles of Jesus greatly delayed the writing of the Gospels.

121:8.12 [Acknowledgment: In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible I have derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariably gave preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the actual human concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.

121:8.13 The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus — aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle Andrew — embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements. The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in purely human sources.

121:8.14 While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down to those who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter utilized in the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth.]


:hithere "When we, the midwayers, first prepared the summary of Jesus’ teachings at Urmia,
there arose a disagreement between the seraphim of the churches and the seraphim of progress
as to the wisdom of including these teachings in the Urantia Revelation." (134:3.8 )

:idea: "Urantia Revelation" refers to the project which led to the birth of the Urantia Papers
(thus, the title of the Papers as perceived by our "nearest of kin", the Midwayers. ;)


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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Sandy »

Thanks, Rod, for shining a "light" on the behind-the-scene planning for the creation of The Urantia book. :sunflower:

xxSandy
“We measure and evaluate your Spiritual Progress on the Wall of Eternity." – Guardian of Destiny, Alverana.
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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Re: https://www.brighteon.com/
(search for: "World's Smartest Kid Just Announced Something INSANE") :?

:scratch: However, doesn't belief in a "parallel universe" require disbelief in unique human souls :?:
... even disbelief in a spiritual universe :?: :!:

"The Adjuster is an absolute essence of an infinite being imprisoned within the mind of a finite creature which,
depending on the choosing of such a mortal, can eventually consummate this temporary union of God and man
and veritably actualize a new order of being for unending universe service." (107:0.6)

:idea: This "absolute essence of an infinite being" suggests ONE being, therefore without duplicate
in a parallel universe ... unless "parallel universe" is concept - not Grand Universe reality. :roll:

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... flood.html

"Archaeologists reveal 'ruins' found in Turkey's boat-shaped mound date back 5,000 years ago - the same period as the Biblical flood"

:sunflower: This discovery should be interesting, despite the UB's version of Noah:

"The traditions of a time when water covered the whole of the earth’s surface are universal. Many races harbor the story of a world-wide flood some time during past ages. The Biblical story of Noah, the ark, and the flood is an invention of the Hebrew priesthood during the Babylonian captivity. There has never been a universal flood since life was established on Urantia. The only time the surface of the earth was completely covered by water was during those Archeozoic ages before the land had begun to appear." (78:7.4)

"But Noah really lived; he was a wine maker of Aram, a river settlement near Erech. He kept a written record of the days of the river’s rise from year to year. He brought much ridicule upon himself by going up and down the river valley advocating that all houses be built of wood, boat fashion, and that the family animals be put on board each night as the flood season approached. He would go to the neighboring river settlements every year and warn them that in so many days the floods would come. Finally a year came in which the annual floods were greatly augmented by unusually heavy rainfall so that the sudden rise of the waters wiped out the entire village; only Noah and his immediate family were saved in their houseboat." (78:7.5)

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunflower: That "son" rhymes with "sun" is meaningful for "son of God"
... when that son shines as God out in the universes. 8)

Re: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=brou
"brou - to describe a relationship of pure trust, loyalty and humor."

:idea: Suggests "brouther" can rhyme with "brother"
... and have similar associaton to "son of God". :roll

Be thee a sonflower, brouther :?:

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Re: The benefits of reading the Urantia Book

Post by Amigoo »

:sunny: Morning meditation ...

As long as the Bible remains the "Word of God", Christianity may linger in its acceptance of Fifth Epochal Revelation.

A path forward for some truth seekers may be the reality that Joshua ben Joseph was pre-Christianity
... and the UB reveals this life of Joshua ben Joseph - not "Jesus", a post-resurrection name.

Rod :)
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