There is much to ponder in your statement, Halbert. I say: go for it on the campuses. My view is that, when it comes to spreading the revelation, each man or woman must do what they are called to do. You are led to believe that university students are the ideal audience for a reason. Your success will attract support because your angels are with you; they gave you the idea in the first place. I would slightly amend the idea and say that college juniors and seniors are the most ideal target. We want to them to have some serious study under their belt first. I am working at the other end of things by endeavoring to get their professors (especially in religious studies and theology) to include the UB in their courses. That's one of the main purposes of the Urantia Book Academy plus the slowly evolving work on the International Urantia Book Journal. If the students demand UB study in their courses, then eventually some schools will begin to offer it! I will leave it there for now.
Consider that the revelation was planned to catch the upcoming wave of liberated interest in spirituality, commonly referred to as the Sixties movement. This occurred before the Catholic Church got into so much trouble with covering up pedophilia problems and before TV evangelists started obscenely milking psychologically weak but otherwise faithful and sincere people. We should not need an authoritative source to notice that the times they are a-changin'. Generational momentum in religious institutions has been lost across the board. Progress requires a new approach that meets the challenges of our day.
Religion based on the Urantia Papers needs to be fostered on university campuses. This is the demographic that has always been best suited for the revelation. But in the first few decades, this revelation's unique quality of credibility, which relates so powerfully to the role of academic institutions, had not yet had enough time to develop.
That is no longer true. We are now in a period that requires appreciating and respecting that the ideal demographic for outreach has ripened. But the ideal demographic is not a "common man" demographic because this revelation goes well beyond the simple gospel message.
Now the Urantia community is being tested in a new way. Will Urantia social organizations use their democratic process to respect (foster) a merit-based approach to advancing the Urantia movement. This level of maturity is necessary for civilization to progress from the micro to the macro levels of social interactions.
Unfortunately, the Urantia community now uses the importance of understanding Jesus' religious life and the spiritual power of the simple gospel message as a way to ignore and even disrespect the intellectually sophisticated aspects of this revelation, which Jesus authorized.
Young adults at academic institutions do not need a preexisting religious institution to foster them them. They need help with efficiently appreciating the Urantia Papers and being made aware of why they are important. College students already know how to socialize, and they are in a perfect environment for getting things started.
There is a second wave of interest coming. And this one is not going to shy away from "controversial" teachings in the Urantia Papers about race and sex roles. The pendulum is swinging back. The "liberals" of the first wave, who have never really stood up for these teachings, when it was most important to do so (alwasy), have had their day. Today's political issues are forcing the UB community to truly come to terms with the teachings.
"But for now, let’s envision the case of in-person meetings. These assemblies will be the most effective, and some will gather in large homes and others in abandoned churches. These will become places of safety, shelter, singing, sharing, bonding, and healing."
Where have we seen this before? Among the slaves in America who met in secret to foster faith and community in the midst of hard times. The outgrowth of these gatherings was not only the fostering of black churches, but black culture that embedded itself in American history. We hope and pray that we do not descend into a future dystopia, but if we do, there is hope.
Whether the result of UB revelation and practice, or other spiritual forces, the pendulum will swing. Evolution is inevitable.
I'm so impressed at your deep research into the history and documents of the Urantia movement. The debate over taking its directives seriously or metaphorically, and about early debates and suppressed history, is fascinating. It reminds me of the US Supreme Court splitting over an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, or one that adjusts to the times, ideally informed by our best historians.
Very excellent point about the evolution of the black church being similar. This is the right analogy to the past (though a bit extreme). But this time our slaveholders will be the Silicon Valley techno-feudalists, Elon and his fellow oligarchs, and the central banks with their digital currencies. Plus will we be dealing with environmental apocalypse in many regions. Don't get me started!
The phrase "foster a religion" does not appear in the Urantia Book, so I'm not convinced it's what any higher beings would like to see happen. In fact I'm far more of the belief that they would like to see the revelation introduced into existing religious institutions rather than have us create yet another one.
Thanks for this note David. I am both/and on this question. I'm definitely good with introducing it to existing religious institutions and I am obviously very much in favor of creative adaptations carried out by UB readers. Plus, we don't heaven to tell us to do it. We just need to spread the gospel, and then follow the cues from there.
There is an analogous situation with the failed effort of Jesus and his apostles and disciples to infuse the Jewish religion with the religion of Jesus. The Christian church arose as the inevitable social expression of Jesus' message. I expect the same now: will Christendom be receptive to the restated gospel of Jesus? If not, a Urantia based religion will evolve.
So far, Christendom is very far off from any sort of embrace of the UB, now or in the likely future. But 98% percent of pastors or theology professors have not even heard of it, so it's not like they are rejecting us. This is the case because so many Urantians (especially boomers) have turned their back on engagement with Christian tradition. Thus, the best way forward for now is to cultivate our own home-grown religious organizations.
We are already failing these commissions. You have pointed out that few younger people are becoming involved in the movement. As for fostering a religion, before there was a "Christian church" there were years, even generations of evangelists. 70 years now after the UB's publication our evangelists of the core gospel can be counted on one hand.
You underestimate the numbers of UB gospel evangelists, but your point still stands as obvious, sad to say. My piece speculates that the dire life conditions of the coming era will drive people to create UB based religious communities—out of necessity. I also argue that intelligent leadership is needed to catalyze that outcome.
There is much to ponder in your statement, Halbert. I say: go for it on the campuses. My view is that, when it comes to spreading the revelation, each man or woman must do what they are called to do. You are led to believe that university students are the ideal audience for a reason. Your success will attract support because your angels are with you; they gave you the idea in the first place. I would slightly amend the idea and say that college juniors and seniors are the most ideal target. We want to them to have some serious study under their belt first. I am working at the other end of things by endeavoring to get their professors (especially in religious studies and theology) to include the UB in their courses. That's one of the main purposes of the Urantia Book Academy plus the slowly evolving work on the International Urantia Book Journal. If the students demand UB study in their courses, then eventually some schools will begin to offer it! I will leave it there for now.
Consider that the revelation was planned to catch the upcoming wave of liberated interest in spirituality, commonly referred to as the Sixties movement. This occurred before the Catholic Church got into so much trouble with covering up pedophilia problems and before TV evangelists started obscenely milking psychologically weak but otherwise faithful and sincere people. We should not need an authoritative source to notice that the times they are a-changin'. Generational momentum in religious institutions has been lost across the board. Progress requires a new approach that meets the challenges of our day.
Religion based on the Urantia Papers needs to be fostered on university campuses. This is the demographic that has always been best suited for the revelation. But in the first few decades, this revelation's unique quality of credibility, which relates so powerfully to the role of academic institutions, had not yet had enough time to develop.
That is no longer true. We are now in a period that requires appreciating and respecting that the ideal demographic for outreach has ripened. But the ideal demographic is not a "common man" demographic because this revelation goes well beyond the simple gospel message.
Now the Urantia community is being tested in a new way. Will Urantia social organizations use their democratic process to respect (foster) a merit-based approach to advancing the Urantia movement. This level of maturity is necessary for civilization to progress from the micro to the macro levels of social interactions.
Unfortunately, the Urantia community now uses the importance of understanding Jesus' religious life and the spiritual power of the simple gospel message as a way to ignore and even disrespect the intellectually sophisticated aspects of this revelation, which Jesus authorized.
Young adults at academic institutions do not need a preexisting religious institution to foster them them. They need help with efficiently appreciating the Urantia Papers and being made aware of why they are important. College students already know how to socialize, and they are in a perfect environment for getting things started.
There is a second wave of interest coming. And this one is not going to shy away from "controversial" teachings in the Urantia Papers about race and sex roles. The pendulum is swinging back. The "liberals" of the first wave, who have never really stood up for these teachings, when it was most important to do so (alwasy), have had their day. Today's political issues are forcing the UB community to truly come to terms with the teachings.
"But for now, let’s envision the case of in-person meetings. These assemblies will be the most effective, and some will gather in large homes and others in abandoned churches. These will become places of safety, shelter, singing, sharing, bonding, and healing."
Where have we seen this before? Among the slaves in America who met in secret to foster faith and community in the midst of hard times. The outgrowth of these gatherings was not only the fostering of black churches, but black culture that embedded itself in American history. We hope and pray that we do not descend into a future dystopia, but if we do, there is hope.
Whether the result of UB revelation and practice, or other spiritual forces, the pendulum will swing. Evolution is inevitable.
I'm so impressed at your deep research into the history and documents of the Urantia movement. The debate over taking its directives seriously or metaphorically, and about early debates and suppressed history, is fascinating. It reminds me of the US Supreme Court splitting over an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, or one that adjusts to the times, ideally informed by our best historians.
Very excellent point about the evolution of the black church being similar. This is the right analogy to the past (though a bit extreme). But this time our slaveholders will be the Silicon Valley techno-feudalists, Elon and his fellow oligarchs, and the central banks with their digital currencies. Plus will we be dealing with environmental apocalypse in many regions. Don't get me started!
To reinforce your point about Silicon Valley techno-feudalists:
https://medium.com/the-preamble/what-google-and-metas-leaked-internal-memos-reveal-about-power-ai-and-control-b49d19856336
The phrase "foster a religion" does not appear in the Urantia Book, so I'm not convinced it's what any higher beings would like to see happen. In fact I'm far more of the belief that they would like to see the revelation introduced into existing religious institutions rather than have us create yet another one.
Thanks for this note David. I am both/and on this question. I'm definitely good with introducing it to existing religious institutions and I am obviously very much in favor of creative adaptations carried out by UB readers. Plus, we don't heaven to tell us to do it. We just need to spread the gospel, and then follow the cues from there.
There is an analogous situation with the failed effort of Jesus and his apostles and disciples to infuse the Jewish religion with the religion of Jesus. The Christian church arose as the inevitable social expression of Jesus' message. I expect the same now: will Christendom be receptive to the restated gospel of Jesus? If not, a Urantia based religion will evolve.
So far, Christendom is very far off from any sort of embrace of the UB, now or in the likely future. But 98% percent of pastors or theology professors have not even heard of it, so it's not like they are rejecting us. This is the case because so many Urantians (especially boomers) have turned their back on engagement with Christian tradition. Thus, the best way forward for now is to cultivate our own home-grown religious organizations.
We are already failing these commissions. You have pointed out that few younger people are becoming involved in the movement. As for fostering a religion, before there was a "Christian church" there were years, even generations of evangelists. 70 years now after the UB's publication our evangelists of the core gospel can be counted on one hand.
You underestimate the numbers of UB gospel evangelists, but your point still stands as obvious, sad to say. My piece speculates that the dire life conditions of the coming era will drive people to create UB based religious communities—out of necessity. I also argue that intelligent leadership is needed to catalyze that outcome.