This is a commentary on the first of 11 essays by
Dale Essary against the Urantia Book
http://www.ubhoax.org/
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A BIBLICAL EVALUATION OF THE UB
by Dale E. Essary
Mr. Essary writes:
INTRODUCTION
“I portray the reality and truth of the Father’s nature and attributes with unchallengeable authority; I know whereof I speak.”
(A “Divine Counselor,” alleged celestial author of Papers 1 through 9 of The UB, 1:7.9)
*******
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
(The Apostle John, from the Holy Bible, 1John 4:1)
My replies are indented:
Testing the spirits sounds like a great idea..., maybe. But even if you could, test them against what? Against previously settled ideas and beliefs? That’ll never work.
The panoply of human literature produced through the ages is rife with fictional as well as non-fictional “revelations” claiming celestial authorship.
So what? Everyone already knows that. You have stated the obvious with flowery words. It’s filler.
The epic poetry of old produced a rich history of a common convention: the descent of an emissary god or angel from heaven bearing a message to earth’s inhabitants.
Now that you mention it, that sounds much like the story of Jesus, doesn’t it? In fact, non believers make that same point.
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, produced in the eighth century B.C., often repeat the theme of an immortal who has occasion to leave Mount Olympus, ethereal abode of the Greek gods, for the theater of human plight.
Non believers use that same argument to argue against the New Testament stories of Jesus. Why are you using it here? To try to discredit the Urantia Book? If so, you’re on shaky, even hypocritical ground.
Likewise, Virgil’s first-century B.C. epic the Aeneid has the Roman gods dispatching their emissaries to earth on missions of aid and comfort to mere mortals. In these classics, the hero of the story assumes the highest honor of receiving divine knowledge by way of celestial authorization, typically in the form of a literal descent from on high.
And that’s exactly what non believers do and say, about the Jesus story.
(I have snipped several more irrelevant paragraphs of this sort.)
But unlike all of these messages from on high, in which a human being openly claims to be the author through whom the spirits have channeled their inspired message, The UB’s alleged human conduit remains unknown.
Why would anyone need to know the subject’s name? To what end? Idle curiosity? Something new to ridicule, and to say, “Is not this [fill in the blank], the son of [fill in the blank], whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I was the subject/conduit for the Urantia revelation?” (Paraphrase of John 6:12) Or so that someone could say, “By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority to do these things?” Maybe we need to know the person’s name so that we can have another Paul strutting around saying, “This is MY gospel, and anyone who preaches any other gospel, even if it be an angel from heaven, let him be accursed!” I don’t think so. It’s one of the best things about the Urantia Book, that there has not been and will not be any personality cult built around the person of the “messenger.” And last, the Urantia Book wasn’t channeled.
Instead, it is the alleged celestial contacts themselves who claim direct authorship of the written word, having used the alleged human contact only as their unwitting instrument of communication.
Well, stories have it in some Urantia circles that when the celestials finally decided to get the job done, they simply materialized the Papers inside a safe, sans human.
And where exactly do you get off with such misrepresentation that the subject was “unwitting”? The Urantia Papers say that he was “unconcerned.” That’s quite a far meaning from unwitting. Have you even read the Urantia Book?
It is this uniqueness of alleged authorship that sets The UB apart from all other supposed revelations, and by which it arouses a sense of curiosity and intrigue for many.
That’s not the only thing that sets it apart, as a careful and honest reading will show, but just as the mysteries of Jesus’ incarnation will never be revealed to you, so too will the method that God’s government used to impart the Urantia revelation probably forever remain a mystery.
A Firm Foundation
This evaluation of The UB is written from the perspective of one who believes in the time-honored doctrine of the inerrant inspiration of the Bible, and in Scripture being the basis for truth regarding the nature of God and His plan for mankind’s salvation.
I am embarrassed for you, and for all those like you, who in your willful ignorance believe in “the time-honored doctrine of the inerrant inspiration of the Bible,” etc. Why don’t you at least do the intellectually honest thing and find out what serious Bible scholars and theologians know about the Bible? Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong’s “Rescuing The Bible From Fundamentalism” would be a good place to start. And while we all know what the term “time-honored” means, in this case it’s a misleading expression on one hand, and just wrong on the other. “Time” of course, cannot honor anything. And the doctrine mentioned above of inerrant inspiration of the Bible has also been “time-dishonored” and rejected by millions of thoughtful people. It is only “time-honored” to those who believe it.
This doctrine of inerrancy posits that God superintended the writing of Scripture so that human authors, using their own style, personalities, and resources, wrote down word for word exactly what God intended them to write in the originals.
And it’s unbelievable to any thoughtful person that another human being with a brain could swallow that story, especially after reading very much of “the Bible” at all. Here below, presented for your consideration and edification is a wonderful example of the doctrine of inerrancy that posits that God superintended the writing of Scripture so that human authors, using their own style, personalities, and resources, wrote down word for word exactly what God intended them to write in the originals. Yeah, this is what God wanted these writers to write, according to Christians!:
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her, neither she be taken [with the manner]; And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth [part] of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it [is] an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD: And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put [it] into the water: And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which [is] the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse: And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness [with another] instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: But if thou hast gone aside [to another] instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot [them] out with the bitter water: And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter. Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar: And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof, and burn [it] upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, [that], if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. This [is] the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled; Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.” -Numbers 5:11-5:31, KJV
(some snippage)
…it is the intent of this series to demonstrate that The UB and the Bible are incompatible with one another in that they teach diametrically opposing views regarding the nature of God, the nature of Man, and the interrelationship between the two.
The Urantia Book is not supposed to be completely compatible with the Bible, just as the truth that Jesus brought to our planet was not completely compatible with what the Jews thought they knew. If the Urantia Book was “completely compatible” with the Bible, it would BE the Bible and obviously it can’t be NEW revelation and be the Bible at the same time. It claims to be NEW revelation. It does not claim to be the Bible, no matter what that term means or who is using it for their very own. The Urantia Book is a new revelation of religious truth to our backward planet, and thus, it could not possibly agree with or agree to, all of the errors and blasphemies in the Bible. In fact, it can’t agree to any. Really, whether it’s “compatible” or not depends on the willingness to embrace new truth by any given individual. If you take a herd of horses to a watering hole, some will be thirsty and some will not.
It will also be demonstrated through other series on this website that The UB is an inferior document based both on its own merit and upon direct comparison with both modern scientific enlightenment and the Bible.
That will be a good one to watch for. And I hope for your sake that you somehow come to your senses. Perhaps you’ll have an experience such as Paul is alleged to have had on the Damascus Road where God said: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”, because that’s what you’re doing to this new revelation from God. I imagine that Saul had similar ideas about early Christian beliefs, that they were “inferior,” before his conversion.
Testing the Spirits
By all means, we should give due diligence to the celestial revelators’ challenge to the reader’s sense of reality. And so, it is in the spirit of the prophet Elijah, who challenged the prophets of Baal to a demonstration of their supernatural prowess on Mount Carmel, that this volume provides a response to The UB authors’ bold claims. By all means, let us give the revelators audience as they make their case for the Gods of Urantia. If the celestials lack the propensity to demonstrate the veracity of their Gods, then perhaps the very existence of these phantom authors should be placed in question as well. And in the process of exposing their empty theology, perhaps they deserve to have their existence slain from the minds of those whose loyalty they have undeservedly earned.
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” You should rein in your diatribe. And how might you propose to have the existence of the revelators “slain” from the minds of those who already know of them? You aren’t planning on killing anyone over this, are you? Because that’s the context that the word “slain” is usually used.
Why is such an endeavor necessary? After all, many who have become familiar with both The UB and the Bible claim that the two are compatible with one another.
Like who would that be? Who are those “many”? I’m not one. In my opinion, they are only compatible if Christians give up their Pauline error and their quaint creation and anti-evolution beliefs, etc. In any case, people are entitled to their opinions. If some think they’re compatible and some don’t, then some think they are and some don’t that’s all. This is why they make both chocolate and vanilla ice cream. And what difference does it make if *some* do think they are compatible?
A common selling point of The UB is that it merely affirms the central Christian concepts of an eternal, trinitized God (Father, Son, and Spirit) and an afterlife with Paradise as the destination for those who have faith in God.
A common selling point, you say? By whom? To whom? Yes, the Urantia Book affirms the Trinity and an afterlife in Paradise eventually. Is that a “selling point”? The Trinity would hardly be a “selling point” to Jews and Moslems. It’s simply part of the book, it just is. Some like it and some don’t. That doesn’t make it “a common selling point.” It’s really too bad that you have to put this awful slant on everything. Christians aren’t the only people in the world who are going to read the Urantia Book. The world does not revolve around Christianity. (t is quaint how Catholics are SO Catholic-centric, with their appearances of the Virgin Mary, etc!, but fundamentalist Christians are just as wrapped up in self centered delusion and the imagined importance of their place in the world.
This all indeed sounds to be quite in agreement with biblical teachings at first, until one learns that all these concepts have been given new meanings that are quite antethetical to basic Christianity.
Who cares? “Biblical teachings”? Which “biblical teachings”? It doesn’t matter if it agrees with “biblical teachings” or not. It wasn’t written to agree with them, it was written to correct our records and fill in the blanks. How come your “biblical teachings” don’t agree with the Jews’ “biblical teachings”? How come your sect’s “biblical teachings” don’t agree with the Jehovah’s Witnesses “biblical teachings” or the Mormon’s “biblical teachings” or the Seventh Day Adventist “biblical teachings”? Christianity embodies one of Jesus’ great statements:
“…if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” -Mark 3:25
The rest of the world will hardly come to a sect divided Christianity which preaches the false gospel of Paul.
Christianity as it now exists is doomed. The good new is that, like the Phoenix, it may rise again after it crashes and burns because it now has the new information in the form of the Urantia revelation that it needs to nourish the new seed, the real religion of Jesus. Once Christians truly embrace the real Jesus and his real gospel and once they come together, Christianity will finally succeed. But it’s going to be a rough road getting there, painful, like the pangs of childbirth.
It is also said of The UB that it is a supplement to, or at least a clarification of, the concepts presented in the Bible,
Yes, that’s true, it’s a clarification and expansion, though hardly a “supplement.” But “said” by whom? Who says these things? Meredith Sprunger? Meredith used to write pamphlets for the movement years ago. I suspect that’s what you’re reading. It’s OK, but it’s just Meredith’s ideas. We haven’t conferred sainthood on him yet or said that his words are the word of God. To say, “It is also said of the UB…” is largely a meaningless, hearsay expression. Lots of things are “said” about a lot of things by a lot of people.
and the student will see the beauty in both once the “proper” perspective is realized.
It’s hard to say what any given “student” will or won’t see. In fact, it’s impossible to say in advance. I know from experience. Some are ready and open and searching for new truth, and some are not. Who has said that “the student will see the beauty in both once the “proper” perspective is realized.”? I’d like to know who said that, if anyone other than you. And I suspect that the “proper perspective” is your particular fundamentalist Christian sect’s belief perspective. Or are you exaggerating and embellishing? Some have said that the Bible was written by Lucifer, and that it’s an abomination. Have you heard that? Don’t ask me who said it though, I’m just spreading “what some have said,” like you are.
But this assertion ignores the obvious problem posed whenever a new “revelation” comes along attempting to ride on the coattails of biblical inspiration.
There are two errors in the sentence above. The “assertion” that the student will see the beauty in both once the “proper” perspective is realized” has not been validated as to a source. Even if it really has a source, it’s just someone’s opinion. And second, though it may seem so, the Urantia revelation is not riding on the coattails of biblical inspiration. The Urantia Book is a new revelation of religious truth to our planet from God’s government. That’s why it has so much more information about the Trinity, about Paradise, about our afterlives on the Mansion Worlds, about Adam and Eve, about the Lucifer Rebellion, about Creator Sons, about the life and teachings of Jesus, and so on, and that’s why it corrects so many errors of religious thought that have crept into the world over the centuries. IT’S A NEW REVELATION!
The Bible makes a compelling claim for its own divine inspiration.
Nonsense. It does not. Where? Which Bible? The Jewish Bible? The Catholic Bible? The Jehovah’s Witness Bible? The Bible of your particular Christian sect? It doesn’t matter. It makes no such compelling claim. Two thirds of the world’s population is NOT Christian. After 2,000 years of Christianity’s sectarianism, bloody wars, burnings at the stake, and the false gospel of Paul, two thirds of the world is not Christian. How compelling is that? “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” -Matthew 7:16 And how many of the one third remaining are just Christian in name only? Maybe half? And how many of the half that are left are Catholic? Probably half, again. There are plenty of people who call themselves Christians but who don’t attend church or have a good idea of the Christian doctrines that their particular Christian sect incorporates.
At the same time, The UB claims to have been revealed to the human race by representatives of God’s celestial agents, and therefore infers that it, too, is divinely inspired (or at least divinely sponsored).
Yes, that’s exactly right. It is divinely sponsored.
However, the Bible asserts that it is a complete revelation, and that no more “letters from God” are forthcoming.
Which part of “the Bible” asserts that? The Jewish part? The Christian New Testament part? If it’s in the Jewish part, then how come the New Testament was added? If it’s in the Christian New Testament part, then obviously the Jews, whose Old Testament scriptures make up 4/5ths of the combined, merged “Bible” don’t agree with you. Yes, that’s too bad if it says that. If so, it’s simply wrong. It’s well known by Biblical scholars that people have added words to the Bible though the years because of their own agendas. But God is not bound by such nutty statements as that. I’m not arguing with you and saying it doesn’t say it. But it doesn’t matter. The new “letters from God” are here, in the “person” (if you will) of the Urantia Book. Thus, the Bible is wrong again. Imagine! Someone slipped into the scriptures a sentence that God had finished speaking to mankind forever, and people actually believe it. It’s like the early 20th century head of the patent office who said around 1900: “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Therefore, regardless of a person’s predisposition on whether the Bible is indeed the one true Word of God, it would seem prudent to test the validity of The UB’s claim by any and all means available prior to accepting it as an augmentation of the former.
Sure, test it if you can, but don’t expect signs and wonders. You’ll not get those. But test it honestly. Otherwise you do yourself a disservice and you run the risk of rejecting a new revelation from God, just as the Pharisees did. And of course in the long run it comes down to faith. And I doubt if anyone in the world has a “predisposition on whether the Bible is indeed the one true Word of God.” Such dispositions necessarily are “post-dispositions,” after the brainwashing and indoctrination.
Indeed, the Bible instructs us to “test all things” (1Thes. 5:21) and, yes, to even “test the spirits” (1John 4:1) for validity.
It’s too bad that neither of your quotes above are from Jesus. And it’s also too bad that you continue to use phrases like “the Bible instructs us…” when all you really mean is the writings of Paul and others after Jesus’ death, and those writings only “instruct[s] us” if the “us” are Christians. But about such things as testing, here’s what Jesus really does say:
153:2.11 “…the truth never suffers from honest examination.” Honest examination is the best you can hope for. Seriously, you cannot test spirits.
And…
146:3.2 True and genuine inward certainty does not in the least fear outward analysis, nor does truth resent honest criticism. You should never forget that intolerance is the mask covering up the entertainment of secret doubts as to the trueness of one’s belief. No man is at any time disturbed by his neighbor’s attitude when he has perfect confidence in the truth of that which he wholeheartedly believes. Courage is the confidence of thoroughgoing honesty about those things which one professes to believe. Sincere men are unafraid of the critical examination of their true convictions and noble ideals.”
Even The UB itself mimics this admonition with the following: “. . . the truth never suffers from honest examination . . . .” (153:2.11);
You are quite mixed up on this issue. The Urantia Book does not mimic the Bible in this regard or any other regard. The universe records show that Jesus himself said this 2,000 years ago. And as the saying goes, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” No doubt many men have had this same idea since the beginning of time on earth. There is probably no great thought, or statement uttered that has not been thought of or uttered before.
and “The modern age will refuse to accept a religion which is inconsistent with facts . . .” (195:9.5). Therefore, lest we disappoint the alleged celestial authors of The UB, let us heartily accept their challenge to a rigorous examination of their testimony!
Sure, knock yourself out! But you will only disappoint them, I suspect, if you continue on with your modern day Pharisee act and Saul-like persecution of God’s new revelation. And even then, it’s not really their problem. It’s your problem. The Urantia Book is here to stay. Get used to it. The more you persecute it, in all likelihood, the more it will thrive.
Context, Context, Context
Context is important when reading the Bible.
Here come the caveats. And yet, Christians constantly quote from “the Bible” out of context. They do it when it suits them, but when others do it they’re quick to jump on them. There are many stand alone statements however that need no context, such as: “Thou shalt not kill.” Nevertheless, Christians are one of the biggest killing groups on earth. I even had one Christian tell me that “Thou shalt not kill” didn’t really mean that. He said it meant “Thou shalt not murder.” Killing was actually OK, he said, but murder was bad. So, anything can be gotten around.
(snip)
Knowing how to read the Bible takes practice and devotion.
Oh, I can well imagine! It must be very very difficult. It should probably be left to high priests and shamans, not mere people who might not get it right or understand it properly. And part of this complex knowledge that should be known before reading the Bible is probably so that after you have read it you can explain to the Jews what their book really says. The Urantia Book, on the other hand, can be read by anyone and everyone. The only qualification anyone needs to read the Urantia Book, is how to read. Alternatively, it can be listened to in audio format. And there are no caveats or proper ways to read or listen. Just do it! After that it’s between them and God.
There are two basic approaches to reading Scripture. Exegesis allows the text to speak for itself, or in other words, it seeks to draw the originally intended meaning solely from the text. Proper exegesis takes into consideration everything that shapes communication in written form, including historical background, literary context, and language (grammar, lexical meanings of words, etc.). Making the effort of exegetic interpretation shows respect for the original text. Eisegesis, on the other hand, is reading into a text a meaning its original author never intended. Engaging in eisegesis shows no respect for the original text or its author. Nobody likes to be misinterpreted or to have improper assertions, motivations, or conclusions attributed to us by careless reading of what we have written. We show respect for God’s Word, therefore, by handling it with care and seeking to hear what it says without inserting our own thoughts, traditions, desires, or beliefs in the place of God’s word.
“God’s word,” huh? Well how come your Christian interpretation of “God’s word” doesn’t agree with the Jews’ interpretation? You’re doing FAR too much explaining about the “proper” way to read “the Bible”! Anyone can see that the “proper” way is your way, the way that leads to the interpretation that your particular Christian sect adheres to.
What Christian sect do you belong to, by the way? No doubt it’s some “fundamentalist” offshoot of the mother Church, the Catholic Church? You non Catholic Christians are really just fallen away Catholics you know, all of you in your rebellious, breakaway sects. If you want to be a Christian, why not choose to be a real one? Why not rejoin the mother Church? In your heart you know they’re right, the one true church. The Catholic Church traces it’s authority directly back to Peter, the first Pope, who was appointed by Jesus.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” -Matthew 16:18
The World Almanac lists all the popes all the way back to time zero, and sure enough, Peter was the first. And, “according to the Bible” Jesus said: “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” meaning the Holy Catholic Church. And yet here all of you breakaway fundamentalist rebels look down your noses at God’s only authorized church. Some “fundamentalists” don’t even consider Catholics to be Christians. What a mess. If you rejoined the fold and got back to your roots you could discover the intercessory power of praying the Rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the benefits of wearing your Saint Christopher medal and your scapular and doing The Stations of the Cross and lighting votive candles, etc. Why wait? How long will you remain apostate from the one true Church, and why? Pride? Error? The only church authorized by Jesus needs you. And if you rejoined the mother Church, you’d find that your Bible would contain even more books, because the Catholics believe that even more books are a part of the Bible than your rebel group believes.
The UB is loaded with flagrant examples of runaway eisegetic license. Though its authors are quick to quote liberally from Scripture, they rarely do so with regard to its historical and grammatical context. One need not read very far into the pages of The UB to get a sense of the redactory license the so-called celestial authors have bestowed upon themselves. The UB interacts profusely with the Bible and devotes much of its time reinterpreting the meaning of many concepts and facts presented in Scripture. For example, in the very first paragraph of the very first Paper we read this “revelation:”
The revelators just tell the truth, that’s all. Sorry if that is not what you believe, or if the truth doesn’t match your previously settled ideas..
“The truth about the Universal Father had begun to dawn upon mankind when the prophet said: ‘You, God, are alone; there is none beside you. You have created the heaven and the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts; you preserve and control them. By the Sons of God were the universes made. The Creator covers himself with light as with a garment and stretches out the heavens as a curtain.’” (1:0.1; emphasis added)
Without properly citing the biblical verses quoted, the “Divine Counselor” who “presented” these words has burdened the verses with completely new meanings (for which the details and reasons will be forthcoming). To demonstrate the Counselor’s gross revisions, I present the cited verses as they appear in the New King James translation of the Bible:
It doesn’t really matter what “the Bible” says, or what is your interpretation of what “the Bible” says. The Urantia Book corrects the Bible as necessary, using both human records and universe records. Furthermore, the part of the Bible you quote below is the Jewish scriptures, the Hebrew Bible, and you are not qualified to interpret them. I suggest you contact a Rabbi. And why should the Divine Counselor have to cite the biblical verses quoted you say he quoted? The Hebrew scriptures were written in Hebrew. What is quoted is in English. And there are 500 different English versions. If I quote “scripture” and say, “Thou shalt not kill,” do I have to cite the chapter and verse? If I say “Do unto others as you would have done unto you” must I cite the chapter and verse? The “scriptures” are not copyrighted or copyrightable. And the Bible is a collection of works added together over time. No doubt the Divine Counselor is referencing an even earlier writing than what’s in the Bible, and/or maybe the version of the quote wasn’t written by the author supposedly given in the Bible. Your logic is also akin to saying that a first grade teacher has to cite her sources to the class if she tells them that 2 + 2 = 4. The Divine Counselor uses quote marks, presumably meaning it’s a direct quote of something, not a paraphrase. Can you show any English translations of the Hebrew scriptures that were in existence in 1955 (when the Urantia Papers were first published) that exactly matches the wording of the quotes? If not, that may well show that the quotes are not of Biblical origin and that they predate the Bible (meaning the Old Testament of the Jews gathered together as an organized group of writings). You show your Christian-Bible-centric ego view of the world by assuming the quotes are from the Bible at all, or are from the Bible exclusively. If it WAS from the Bible, the “prophet” mentioned was a Jew not a Christian. But here’s a newsflash: There are other holy books and other holy men on earth who have also had such insights. The quotes could easily be from the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita or from Confucius or Lao-tze or any number of “scriptures,” or prophet sources. They could have multiple sources, they could be composites. The Divine Counselor is under no obligation to cater to Christian assumptions or to explain every quotation source to you. Other people of other religions live on this planet, and God loves them all. He’s “no respecter of persons” don’t you know? And below, you should be ashamed of yourself for assuming so much, that you know so very much about the Divine Counselor’s sources, and that they could only have come from the Hebrew scriptures, which you now call the Christian Bible. What incredible Christian arrogance!
“You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You. . . . By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. . . . You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.” (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 33:6, 104:1,2; emphasis added).
I reject your two chapter and verse citations above on principle, the idea that your Christian assumptions about the sources must be correct. That’s faulty. The ideas may well be in the (Hebrew) Bible, but that is almost certainly not their original source (and/or not their only source), any more than the source of an article in the Reader’s Digest is the Reader’s Digest. What do you know about the true source of any book, chapter, or verse in the Hebrew Scriptures that was written three or four thousand years ago or more and then found their way into the collection we have today? The source document author of a verse in the Hebrew scriptures might well be an Egyptian whose name is unknown to you and/or which has been lost to the world completely, and such a document could date from hundreds of years earlier than it first appeared in any Hebrew collection of stories. The Divine Counselor needs to explain all this to you? In footnotes? Or endnotes? After each quote? And maybe give a couple pages of biographical information on each separate source? And all this just to prove something (what?) to you? And if it was a source unknown to you, or that you disagreed with, the next thing you’d probably do would be to accuse the Divine Counselor of fabricating the whole thing. I don’t think so. And last, I have NO idea what the 104:1,2 reference you give above is supposed to relate to.
I’ve snipped your some of your irrelevant commentary here. Be thankful. Yes, the Divine Councilor WILL and MUST revise our erroneous religious ideas. That’s the whole purpose of the Urantia revelation. No one is going to apologize or defend such revisions. They’re supposed to be there.
“The Father rules through his Sons; on down through the universe organization there is an unbroken chain of rulers . . . who direct the destinies of the evolutionary spheres of the Father’s vast domains. It is no mere poetic expression that exclaims: . . . ‘The Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men.’” (3:5.2)
Now compare the biblical verse which the Divine Counselor misquotes: “. . . the Most High rules the kingdoms of men . . . ” (Dan. 4:17, 25, 32). Notice the subtle yet profound change in meaning between the two versions. The prophet Daniel was referring to God Himself (see also Dan. 5:21), while the Divine Counselor is introducing a sort of celestial consortium. Again this notion begs many a question: Why even refer to Scripture at all if it does not fit the paradigm that the author is introducing? Why tamper with the biblical passages (and covertly at that) without giving due explanation? Is the “Divine Counselor” citing from a heretofore-undiscovered manuscript that would render the modern translations of the Bible inaccurate? We must assume for one thing that the author is quite familiar with these biblical passages, but for some reason feels compelled to “adjust” them to their “correct” form. However, note that the “Divine Counselor” does not suggest that the modern English versions of Daniel’s verses are faulty; he merely tweaks them as he goes along, in hopes that nobody would dare question his authority for doing so. As we shall see, this trend continues throughout The UB with ever-increasing frequency and sophistication.
Do you read ancient Hebrew? Have you ever lived in (been immersed in) the literate Hebrew culture of 3,000 years ago? If not, how is it that you know so much about whether the “original manuscripts” say “Most High” or “Most Highs”? Perhaps this is like your “Elohim” error, where Elohim in Genesis 1:1 means “Gods” not God. Yes, most certainly the Divine Counselor has access to sources unknown to you. Furthermore, whether it’s “Most High” or “Most Highs” will not affect anyone’s eternal survival. But this is a Christian forte, arguing over jots and tittles.
There’s no need for the Divine Councilor to hold your hand at every turn or statement made, or to include long philosophical discourses about why a plural word is used in the Papers in contrast to a singular word used in the English King James, one of many, many versions of “the Bible,” and a fair distance removed from the Hebrew. I think we’ve already established that you don’t know all that much about the Hebrew scriptures and Hebrew plural word forms such as “Elohim.” Or do you? And how hard would it be for a simple letter “s” to get dropped over the millennia of documents being hand copied and recopied and lost in fires and earthquakes, and wars, etc? One thing you can be sure of, absolutely positive, and that’s that the Divine Counselor did not “misquote” what you refer to in such an egotistical proprietary way as “the Bible” (even though it’s the Hebrew Bible really, and not a Christian text at all). How did you get so arrogant about such things that you would dare to suggest that a high being in God’s government has misquoted a Bible verse, simply because it’s not the exact same wording you’re accustomed to in the particular sect version of the “Bible” you read? Unbelievable! Do you know anything about the sacred scriptures of other religions, what’s in them? The Urantia Papers are replete with explanations and disclaimers about how and why the revelation is presented the way it is. And it’s certainly outrageous of you to suggest a motive for the Divine Counselor (“in hopes that nobody would dare question his authority”) or to say that he “covertly” tampered with the Biblical text. If he did use the Biblical text and if he needed to correct it from the true original sources, he did. The Urantia book is declared a new revelation to begin with. That’s all the explanation you need. Nothing is hidden or covert. When you read the text you know that you are going to read new, corrected and expanded revelatory information. This very open, opening statement in the revelation cannot be repeated in front of every new piece of information given or corrected in the book, or it would be a 100,000 page book instead of 2,000 pages:
0:0.1
IN THE MINDS of the mortals of Urantia—that being the name of your world—there exists great confusion respecting the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity. Human beings are still more confused and uncertain about the relationships of the divine personalities designated by these numerous appellations. Because of this conceptual poverty associated with so much ideational confusion, I have been directed to formulate this introductory statement in explanation of the meanings which should be attached to certain word symbols as they may be hereinafter used in those papers which the Orvonton corps of truth revealers have been authorized to translate into the English language of Urantia.
Read it once, absorb it, and figure that it applies throughout the whole book. And here are more disclaimers, -all of the rest of them as far as I know. Read them all and understand them and try to get over your proprietary feelings for quotes in the Urantia Papers that you feel must have come from the Christian Old Testament. Oops, my mistake. It’s not the Christian Old Testament! It just seems that way after enough interaction with Christians.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
0:12.10 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 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.
0:12.12 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.
0:12.13 [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.]
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.]
130:1.4 (In this narrative of the personal work of Jesus with his fellow mortals on this tour of the Mediterranean, we shall, in accordance with our permission, freely translate his words into modern phraseology current on Urantia at the time of this presentation.)
134:5.1 [While the Master's teaching concerning the sovereignty of God is a truth--only complicated by the subsequent appearance of the religion about him among the world's religions--his presentations concerning political sovereignty are vastly complicated by the political evolution of nation life during the last nineteen hundred years and more. In the times of Jesus there were only two great world powers--the Roman Empire in the West and the Han Empire in the East--and these were widely separated by the Parthian kingdom and other intervening lands of the Caspian and Turkestan regions. We have, therefore, in the following presentation departed more widely from the substance of the Master's teachings at Urmia concerning political sovereignty, at the same time attempting to depict the import of such teachings as they are applicable to the peculiarly critical stage of the evolution of political sovereignty in the twentieth century after Christ.]
And here are still other qualifiers showing the nature of “the way it is” in the Urantia Book: “in substance saying,” “restated in modern phraseology,” “Summarized and restated in modern phraseology,” “summarized and restated in modern language as follows,” “condensed, rearranged, and restated presentation,” and “condensed, combined, and restated in modern phraseology,” etc.
It’s simply the Divine Counselor’s (and any other of God’s agents) job to tell you the truth.
Once in a great while, an alleged celestial author will simply invent a biblical quote out of thin air to validate a theological concept, such as the passage below:
“It is literally true: ‘In all your afflictions he is afflicted.’ ‘In all your triumphs he triumphs in and with you.’” (1:5.16)
The first quote is loosely taken from a biblical passage that reads: “In all their afflictions He was afflicted . . .” (Isaiah 63:9). The verse is considered a Messianic passage prophesying the suffering that the Messiah would endure. The second quote has no biblical equivalent whatsoever. But it sure sounds good coming from a “Divine Counselor,” does it not?!
What enormous, unbelievable Christian ego-arrogance and hubris that assumes that the entire universe revolves around this or that Christian sect’s certainties, that all truth comes from the Christian Old Testament (oops, my mistake again), and that only the Christian “Bible” should be quoted (see below) or mined for truth, etc It’s really mind boggling. It’s strange that heads that are so inflated and so self righteous and cock-sure don’t simply explode. I guess that’s the nature of being today’s Pharisees. Like the Pharisees of old, Christian fundamentalists know it all.
Another advantage of not properly referencing quoted biblical verses when one should is that the reader may not be aware of where the biblical quotations end and the extra-biblical citations begin.
As noted earlier, you assume far too much about “biblical verses” and “biblical quotations.” If they don’t match any English translations existent in 1955, then they are not biblical quotations at all, but probably originate from authors and documents that pre-date the “biblical” collection. They just seem to be “biblical quotations” to you because that’s all you know, that’s your sole reference point. The Divine Counselor has access to documents and sources that you know nothing about. And the idea that the scriptures of other world religions are “extra-biblical” is laughable in the way it assumes that what is “biblical” is all that matters in the religious universe. Thank God for the “extra-biblical” in the world.
An excellent example of this deceptive maneuver can be found in a paragraph of a section discussing the infinite nature of the Universal Father, which is repeated below with the appropriate biblical and extra-biblical verses appropriately referenced:
“‘There is but one God, the infinite Father [1Cor. 8:6], who is also a faithful Creator [1Pet. 4:19].’ ‘The divine Creator is also the Universal Disposer [Atharva Veda 13.4.3,12,20], the source and destiny of souls [Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad 3.9.1,10]. He is the Supreme Soul [Bhagarata Purana 11.18.32], the Primal Mind [Bhagavada Gita 10.12,13,1,16], and the Unlimited Spirit of all creation [Vishnu Purana 1.1.35].’ ‘The great Controller makes no mistakes [Shi Jing 3.3.3.12.8-10]. He is resplendent in majesty and glory [Koran 57:3].’ ‘The Creator God is wholly devoid of fear and enmity. He is immortal, eternal, self-existent, divine, and bountiful [Jopji preamble].’ ‘How pure and beautiful, how deep and unfathomable is the supernal Ancestor of all things! [Tao-Teh-King 4.2,1]’ ‘The Infinite is most excellent in that he imparts himself to men [Tao-Teh-King 41,3]. He is the beginning and the end, the Father of every good and perfect purpose [Yasna 31.8].’ ‘With God all things are possible [Matt. 19:26]; the eternal Creator is the cause of causes [Vishnu Purana 1.1.35].’” (2:1.2)
As we can clearly see now that we have donned our magic decoder spectacles, the “Divine Couselor” pays tribute to the sacred writings of several other world religions in this treatise of “God’s” infinitude, including those of Hinduism (Atharva Veda, Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, Bhagrata Purana, Bhagavada Gita, Vishnu Purana), Islam (Koran), Sikhism (Jopji), Taoism (Tao-Teh-King, Shi Jing), and Zoroastrianism (Yasna). Unfortunately, all these other world religions consider “God” as unknowable and/or impersonal. To be sure, these verses do no harm to the infinite character and power of the God of the Bible.
There it is again, your unbelievable proprietary-ness, not just about “the Bible” this time, but about God, as if your Christian sect owned God, who is, by the way and in reality, the God of everyone and the God of the Universe, not simply “the God of the Bible” or the Father Christian.
However, two strikes must be entered against the plagiaristic author of this treatise. First of all, we have no need for these extra-biblical citations
And there THAT is again, the incredible ego idea that other religious scriptures are “extra-biblical” as if that means something bad. The authors of the Urantia Book DO have need of “these extra-biblical citations.” The Urantia Book is meant for the entire world, all of God’s family on Earth who love him.
to learn of God’s infinite attributes, because there are plenty of biblical verses that settle the matter.
The Divine Counselor is not concerned simply with portraying God from a biblical standpoint. The Divine Counselor is speaking to all of God’s children on earth, not just Christians. Your hubris borders on insanity, in my opinion.
The other is that this blind attempt at ecumenism is deceptive both in its intent and its method. What tangled webs these celestial minds weave!
I’m quite sure at some point you’ll have to atone for you smears on the Urantia Papers and the Divine Counselor, et al, but in the meantime you should know that the Urantia Book is a message for all mankind, Jews, Moslems, Mormons, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, etc., everyone. And everywhere the soil is fertile the seed of this new revelation will take root. It’s not just for fundamentalist Christians, and in that light, it’s certainly not a “blind attempt at ecumenism.” Shame on you.
Snip (irrelevant material)
A Proper Perspective
Many concepts and characters portrayed in The UB are described herein, not to promote or acknowledge them as reliable sources of information, but to make the reader conversant with the pertinent issue(s) and to provide a better understanding when dialoguing with a UB devotee. It is both because of the sometimes subtle changes in the meanings behind Christian terminology used by the authors of The UB and its broad scope of concepts covered (overt and covert alike) that a study of its contents requires those who are unfamiliar with its teachings to undergo a topical survey.
“Christian terminology”? It’s ALL ABOUT YOU (fundamentalist Christians), isn’t it? God is the Father Christian and God wrote “the Bible” even the Hebrew part and even if the Hebrews aren’t Christians, it doesn’t matter, it’s the Christian Old Testament now and you know more about it than the Jews do.
What many promoters of The UB are counting on is a degree of uncertainty (if not an abject unfamiliarity) with even the rudimentary concepts of a Christian’s faith tenets, in an effort to disarm his or her ability to provide an answer to what will undoubtedly be a challenge to their beliefs.
There it is again, it’s all about you: “a Christian’s faith tenets.” The universe revolves around fundamentalist Christian sects as they are practiced on this one very small planet in a very far corner of the universe. Better think again.
It is this author’s hope that this and other series on this website will help provide the necessary means for preparing the Christian reader with a gentle yet firm response to those challenges (1Pet. 3:15).
Yes, yes, it’s “the Christian reader.” That’s what it’s all about. And, again, too bad you don’t quote Jesus.
These writings also hopefully provide a means of exposing the erroneous teachings of The UB to the Urantian devotee and, to whatever degree he or she has invested spiritually and/or emotionally into it, assessing its intrinsic worth as a document worthy of faithful adherence thereto.
You can’t expose the erroneous teachings of the Urantia Book because there are none. In fact in reality the situation is that it’s the Urantia Book which is exposing erroneous Christian teachings and biblical error to the Christian/Biblical devotee, and, to whatever degree he or she has invested spiritually and/or emotionally into his or her Christian sect’s Bible beliefs, helping that person to re-assess those beliefs’ intrinsic worth as worthy of faithful adherence thereto.
It all comes down to faith, brother. You can’t prove the Urantia Book wrong by using the Bible no matter how much you believe “the Bible” or your sect’s version-interpretation of it, or how much you believe “the Bible” is a Christian document, or that your sect knows more about the Old Testament than the Jews, or that God is the Father Christian, etc.
Norm.