Hi, my name is Andy, and

4 posts · 2 participants · started Sep 4, 2015, 3:52 PM

1. A

   AndyParticipant
   Sep 4, 2015, 3:52 PM

   I’ve been reading Urantia for maybe four years now, sometimes off and on. I had the “Maybe it’s true! No – it must be fake!” back-and-forth sometimes, but now I think it’s fair to say I’m a true believer. I live in Spokane, Washington (USA!) with my wife, and I attend a pretty humble church in the Disciples of Christ tradition. Excellent forum you run here.

   The eternal God is our refuge.
   He is a faithful Creator.

2. V

   VernParticipant
   Sep 7, 2015, 1:58 PM

   Andy wrote:  I’ve been reading Urantia for maybe four years now…

   Hi Andy welcome,

   I’m Vern, I live in Canberra, capital of Australia, and I’ve been reading The Urantia Book for over fourty years now… Not that I’m a real slow reader, hahaha.  In fact, I raced through it the first time when I was 25 and felt the meaning of the words resonate to my soul, just lapped it up. I still get that recognition response inside after many readings, many conferences with other readers over the years and hundreds of study group sessions. Yet, I still get a sense the people of world are only just beginning to become aware of the potency of its transformative potential in the hearts and minds of this generation of readers in preparation for that moment of critical mass when it moves out of the period of grace and relative anonymity that these first 60 years have granted. This is definitely a long term project. We have the privilege of being the pioneer generation reviving the Teachings of Jesus by faith in his message of sonship with the Father.

   In your reading what has been of particular interest to you so far?
3. A

   AndyParticipant
   Sep 7, 2015, 2:20 PM

   What is it about the UB that holds my attention so well. I think one thing would have to be the style of writing. The celestials write so differently than anyone else out there. Truthfully the closest comparison I can make is to Jane Austen – lots of sentences with clause after clause, a knowledgable “explaining the questions of the world” approach. But truly it’s in a class of its own.

   When I first found the book I started with Book 4. I love how dense it is. Such a full picture of Jesus, his personality and his life. And I only recently have built up the mental fortitude to read through Book 1, with its very scientifc, hierarchical lists of universe geography and the *many* orders of spiritual beings.

   I’ve been concerned for a long time about being a good person; that’s been one of the central motivations of my life. I want to be Good, I want other people to see and understand goodness and kindness and joy in me, and maybe most importantly I want to be able to look at myself and respond with respect and appreciation to what I see. And I find one-of-a-kind goodness in the UB.

   The eternal God is our refuge.
   He is a faithful Creator.

4. V

   VernParticipant
   Sep 7, 2015, 3:07 PM

   Andy wrote: one-of-a-kind goodness

   Yes the book is beautifully written by those who know whereof they speak. Some of the longest sentences I’ve ever come across as a concept is elaborated. I early found my mind being taken on a journey of comprehension to the full philosophic limit and then some more, till I had to let the finer details be sorted out by my Thought Adjuster who would, in the fullness of time, provide me with deeper spirit understanding of the significant inner meaning.

   One of my burning questions was to know who Jesus was, it took less than a page for that “aha yes of course” moment of truth registry.

   The delight of experiencing a revelation is discovery of thing, meaning, value. You speak of becoming a good person, that is to my thinking accepting the Father’s call to perfection, positive response to what is good, true and beautiful.

   Love after all, is the desire to do good to others.

   The goodness of God is compellingly attractive, a great God is fearsome but a good God is adorable.

   In the physical universe we may see the divine beauty, in the intellectual world we may discern eternal truth, but the goodness of God is found only in the spiritual world of personal religious experience. In its true essence, religion is a faith-trust in the goodness of God. God could be great and absolute, somehow even intelligent and personal, in philosophy, but in religion God must also be moral; he must be good. Man might fear a great God, but he trusts and loves only a good God. This goodness of God is a part of the personality of God, and its full revelation appears only in the personal religious experience of the believing sons of God. ^{[Paper 2:6.1, page 40:5]}

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