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From the start I found this book fascianating. It immediately makes a claim to have come from high sources and proceeds to live up to any expectation one might have after hearing that claim. It leads us into a gigantic universe inhabited with intelligent loving personalities who's only job, it seems, is to look after planets like ours as if we were their children needing guidance as we begin our universe career. Then I read that our planet (they call earth Urantia) has had a series of setbacks way in the past like the default of Adam and Eve and the Lucifer rebellion that have left us with wars and confusion. The good news is that the whole book, while painting a picture of where we have come from, goes to great lengths to show where we are going and how we humans can get there. And where we are going is a much better place than where we are now. The bonus section is the last 700 pages which is nothing less than a day by day account of the whole life and teachings of Jesus! If you ever wondered what really happened in those scenes dimly viewed in the Biblical account, you are in for a treat. Not only do the authors say what happened in great detail, they also provide running commentary on what was really going on in the minds of the various participants of the dramatic scenes that unfold. It doesn't matter what religion or non religion you are. I found what I didn't even know was missing, something so sublime and inspiring that words fall short of being able to describe the experience. All I can say is JUST READ THE URANTIA BOOK!!!Read full review
People who actually read The Urantia Book usually end up reading it multiple times, reading it for life. I've been reading this book for 31 years at the time of this writing, 29 years as an isolated reader before joining one of the many small study groups which exist all around the world. The book is "self authenticating." It covers many huge topics such as cosmology, the birth of our planet, its geological stabalization, life implantation, evolution, spirituality, sociology, science, and the matchless life of Jesus of Nazareth. Within this book we get the entire life of Jesus, year by year, not merely the partial, incomplete, and inconsistent versions we have in the New Testament. This book is large, intimidating, and ponderously yet beautifully written. At first it may well seem inpenetrble. Without the benefit of a study group, it can be slow and tedious reading, but ultimately worth all the effort. I can think of two "third party works" based on the Urantia Book that will lead new readers into the essence of much of the book without overwhelming them. They are: Adam and Eve - A Tragic Love Story and Gospel Gospel, both by Louis J Bartolomeo. These books honor the essence of the Urantia Book using more simplified language and sentence structure. This book will expand your comprehension of "everything" while challenging many old, entrenched, and out of step notions. Not for the timid, but definitely for the sincere seeker. Enjoy the adventure!Read full review
The Urantia Book is simply the BEST book on the planet. It's 2097 pages long and is a great vocabulary builder. It can be a challenge to read and understand, and consequently isn't for everyone. However, reading it will be a priceless experience for those who persevere. I really appreciate the literary style and have acquired a greater command of the english language thanks to the UB. Urantia is the name that the afterlife gives our planet. The UB is divided into four parts. And each part is divided up into smaller "papers" or chapters, each written by a different celestial personality. The first part is about God and all His omnificent attributes. The second part is about the physical cosmos, the material foundation for God's personality to act upon. The third part of the book is a narrative of the complete history of our planet from it's solar creation, up to the times of Jesus of Nazereth. The first three parts are all equally fascinating and stimulating, but they are just the background for the fourth part, which is the real story of the Son of Man/Son of God, Michael of Nebadon, or as we know him, Jesus. Most books are about a given subject or topic, but the UB is about everything! Some people read it sequentially from front to back, but I find it rewarding to read in any order. Reading it will leave you with an eternal perspective. Our culture polarizes religion and science, but the UB unites them both under one cosmic truth. It is not a "new age" book, but was first written in 1935 and first published in 1955. You can read it online and learn more about it on the Urantia Foundation website. The UB is not a religion in and of itself. It is a revelatory belief system. There is no club to join, no leader to follow, no rituals to perform, and no dues to pay. It's just a book to help you understand who you are and where you're going. Although rooted in Jesus, the UB is not just about Christianity. The Bible and Christianity are focused on the messenger, not the message. The UB helps to understand the religion "of" Jesus, not the religion "about" Jesus. Jesus' gospel is based on the Brotherhood of Man, (ALL men & women) and the Fatherhood of God. His miraculous birth and resurrection are not the lessons he came here to share. His resurrection was an example of what we ALL get to go through. There is an eternal ascension career waiting for us all when we die, an eternal existence of perfecting growth and the discovery of eternal spiritual truths. Religion is the experience of the relationship between creature and creator. God already has a relationship with you; Are you willing to reciprocate? The UB doesn't solve your everyday material problems, but it will give you an eternal spiritual perspective that puts these earthly problems in their place, and fills you with hope for an adventurous, gratifying, immortal afterlife, and that hope, faith, and understanding will give new meaning to your mortal life. The mantra of the book is truth, beauty, and goodness. These are the highest comprehensible elements of Diety. And they become the mental filter through which all ethics, values, and morals pass. Study the table of contents and find something that interests you. Reading the Urantia Book will help to make you a better person, and that will help to make a better planet for developing personalities. I have been reading and re-reading the UB for 30 years, and I learn something new every time I open it up.Read full review
This is the book the world has been waiting for. It is that "impossible" book that I had always hoped to find, but never really expected to see. It is the perfect synthesis of religion, science, philosophy, history and metaphysics that fills the world's great need for advanced revealed truth. This book is not for the timid of thought or action. It is not for those who are content with orthodox religions and traditions. This is the book that will satisfy those who seek beyond the shallow and pat answers that are the general result to probing questions about life and it's meaning. The Urantia Book addresses questions about our origins and destiny in ways that can only be described as super-humanly insightful. However, unless one has read extensively into the best of the world's philosophy and thought this may not be readily apparent. Those who seek knowledge, wisdom and understanding will truly find it here. After spending 25 years with this text I can only conclude that it is the most strikingly unique book ever written. I deem it to be precisely what it claims to be - the Fifth Epochal Revelation of our Creative Source to mankind. This is a book that has the power to enhance, enrich and change your life forever. That prospect will both attract some people and repel others. How will it affect you? Are you ready for the Urantia Book?Read full review
The Urantia Book is the most profound book I've ever read. The authors claim it to be a revelation. But don't let another boy who cried wolf, or revelation, be a stumbling block. I found this book as a doubting, soon to be an agnostic, while serving in the USMC, in 1980. My faith in organized religion, as I knew it then, had been destroyed when my Pastor said, after I handed him a dinosaur fossil, that fossils were put here by the Devil to confuse us. As a young man, who craved to understand science, philosophy & religion, his answer didn't convince me. When I found the Urantia Book, it had answers to such compelling questions as, "Why are we here?"; "Where do we go when we die?"; "Who was this guy named Jesus?"; "Is there really a great divide between science & religion as so many people want us to believe?" and many more thought provoking topics. The Urantia Book is not easy to read. Many who attempt to read it from the beginning fail to get to the end. The first 200 pages are some of the most mentally complex & paradigm challenging text I've ever tackled. But the later papers that purports to share the story of the life and teachings of the man we know as Jesus is so heartwarming & convincing, I challenge anyone to read the last 1/3 of the book devoted to his life & message & then claim they remain unconvinced of the book's authenticity or fail to become a true follower of The Son of Man and Son of God: Jesus. The book introduces us to his sublime, august personality & makes him a character you want to know & want to devote your life to learn more of, perhaps even shall I say, Follow. The book reveals many missing pieces of the puzzle. The Bible gives us the message of people who were greatly influenced by Jesus, or just his message or his ability to knock one off a horse and blind one briefly. These messages are significant & have unquestionably changed the face of the earth as we know. But they lack when it comes to clearly stating the Message OF Jesus not the Message ABOUT Jesus. There is a difference. The message ABOUT Jesus is that he, as he said he would, rise from the dead in 3 days. The message OF Jesus is that we ARE ALL Children of God & there is a Fragment of God within each one of us. That fragment indwells everyone: not merely those who become followers of today's Christianity. WE ARE ALL Children of the same GOD. GOD respects none more than another. What’s important is that we recognize we are Faith Children of God & then equally all brothers and sisters of the same Creator & then live a life accordingly. Just having a Fragment of God within us is not enough. It's a gift with much potential but it’s our willful consecration of choice to do the will of our Heavenly Creator that brings us to the potential of immortality. God provides this fragment to become one with, in eternity. How Jesus lived is equally, if not more, important than how he died. He showed us the best example of what a human being can become, if one wholeheartedly dedicates one's life to doing the Will of God. This conscious choice to willingly dedicate our thoughts, actions, & interactions with others, brings us to a state of Grace that grows more real with each decision; with what is the highest absolute potential: personality survival. We cannot BE another Jesus. We will not be asked that at our moment of reckoning, but we will be asked if we were good stewards with all the gifts we were given. “How did you treat my ChildRead full review
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