I was searching through the dusty shelves of the university library over lunch today when I came across a copy of The Urantia Book. Have you heard of it?
It is one of those books I had heard of in New Age circles but never read before, so I sat down and, boy, is it looooong. I had no idea how looooong it was. It even makes the Book of Mormon look like a light read. But I was in for another surprise, like the Book of Mormon, it too presents an alternative Jesus. Does that grab your attention?
The Urantia Foundation in Australia describes it thus:
The Urantia Book, first published by the Urantia Foundation in 1955, was authored by celestial beings as a special revelation to our planet, Urantia.
The book’s message is that all human beings are one family, the sons and daughters of one God, the Universal Father. It instructs on the genesis, history, and destiny of mankind and on our relationship with God. It also presents a unique and compelling portrayal of the life and teachings of Jesus, opening new vistas of time and eternity, and revealing new concepts of Man’s ever-ascending adventure of finding the Universal Father in our friendly and carefully administered universe.
The Urantia Book’s view of science, philosophy, and religion is perhaps the clearest and most concise integration of these subjects available to contemporary man. There is little question among the over 400,000 people who have purchased, read, and who study the Book: The Urantia Book has the capacity to make a significant contribution to the religious and philosophical thinking of all peoples; it truly has the potential to shape world destiny.
Over and over, people from around the world have discovered that the Book has profoundly impressed and changed their lives – inspired and stimulated them to reach new levels of spiritual growth and enhanced living.
While almost every generation produces a number of people who pose as the bearers of a ‘new revelation,’ it is surprising that The Urantia Book does not advocate a new organised religion. Its viewpoint builds upon the religious heritages of the past and present, encouraging a personal, living religion based on faith and service to one’s fellows.
Note the phrase, “carefully administered universe” in the above text. They are not joking. I got the distinct impression that the universe, according to The Urantia Book, is governed by a celestial accountant. Not being an accountant type I am therefore still struggling to see the appeal so I went looking at a few sites:
Urantia related webpages
- The Urantia Book Fellowship
- Urantia Association International
- Urantia Book Related Websites
- Directory of Global Urantia Resources
Urantia related videos
- What is Urantia?
- Urantia Book paper
- Urantia Book Diagrams
- Urantia Foundation trustee
- A Sample Workshop
- What the Urantia Book means to me
- Hilvania, Urantia Book reader
But I am still struggling.
Here is a thought experiment though: if a Urantia book reader engaged you in conversation, over God, Jesus and the nature of the universe, what would you say?
Curious Christian 
matt i did a little reading in/on Urantia some years ago. as i remember it was pretty wild. engaged in such a conversation I guess I’d just try to look for some common elements of universal importance, like love.
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I remember chatting to a few people and reading a bit of it myself. Wow, it is long, with very confusing terminology.
It was funny hearing humans referred to as underdeveloped in a backwater section of the galaxy that is so advanced and meaningful.
Jon Klimo’s book Channelling is a great study of the channelling phenomenon in general and worth reading by anyone looking to grapple with the subject as well as specific movements like the Urantia bunch.
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I’ve been reading the Urantia Book for almost a year now. It took me 3 moths to read it straight through, it is a very long book but it is fascinating. The end result is a greater understanding of how our universe works, the process of evolution, and most importantly it shows us just how involved God really is in our everyday lives. In the Bible, Jesus says ‘The kingdom of God is within you’, in the Urantia Book we learn just what that means.
I once was blind, but now I see.
Thanks for the links – you have some I wasn’t even aware of. There aren’t too many blogs out there so I started one, just writing my thoughts about the Urantia Book on my new blog – PlanetUrantia.com.
The Urantia community organizes get togethers at least once a year in the US and in many other countries. There will be a large gathering in Los Angeles and a smaller one in Kansas this coming July. These get togethers are centered around education with numerous classes being held during the day on a variety of Urantia Book subjects.
My opinion of the book is that I think it enhances Christianity in particular and all other religions in general. It is very difficult to change ones perception of the universe, but the Urantia Book does so brilliantly. We have been taught to believe that the Bible is the inspired and infallible word of God and if anyone says anything that’s not in the Bible then it must be false. Did you know there are two creation stories in the book of Genesis? Even Jewish people know more about creation than Christians do, they have even more history in their records. Instead of looking at it as infallible, we should realize that it’s really a collection of memories written from memory (no tape recorders back then). The message, the philosophy, of the Bible is what is important. And yes, God and Jesus do really exist, and their story is even more wonderful than ever.
One might look at the The Urantia Book as sort of an update – an update on all religions – it even describes how all the various religions came to be. I hope you’ll give it a chance and read it straight through.
Osri
From the UB:
Love is infectious, and when human devotion is intelligent and wise, love is more catching than hate. But only genuine and unselfish love is truly contagious.
The Urantia Book,
Paper 100:4.6
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