The Urantia Book

Cino said:
Thanks!

How do an adherents of the Urantia Book call themselves?

How, if at all, do you organize? Are there gatherings, feasts, or study circles? Is there an organization? A group of Elders or the like?
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i shall answer you too later on, Cino...
 
also, a man (Meredith), associated with the URANTIA movement almost from the beginning, wrote this related to the origin of URANTIA (but there's so very much more, of course), found here as well (https://web.archive.org/web/20140116120753/http://www.freeurantia.org/Appendix_A.htm):
Affidavit of Dr. Meredith Justin Sprunger



MEREDITH J. SPRUNGER

4109 PLAZA DR

FORT WAYNE, IN 46806

219-745-4363



Oct. 24, 1998



AFFIDAVIT



I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the following are my recollections about the authorship, and the issues surrounding the authorship, of The Urantia Book.



Following my discovery of The Urantia Book in December of 1955, and after introducing it to a number of clerical colleagues and friends, I spent years researching with them the historical aspects of the book. We quickly discovered the Urantia Papers were received by a small group of people in Chicago. Their leader was Dr. William S. Sadler. Dr. Sadler was a highly respected psychiatrist and college teacher in the graduate school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For almost thirty years Dr. Sadler was also a lecturer in Pastoral Counseling at McCormick Theological Seminary.



On May 7, 1958, our group of ministers had an appointment with Dr. Sadler to discuss the phenomena associated with the origin of the Urantia Papers. My personal association with Dr. Sadler continued until his death in 1969. In the course of this friendship, we had many candid conversations about the materialization of the Foreword and the 196 Papers that were eventually published as the text of The Urantia Book. It is important to point out that in this regard Dr. Sadler was a professional researcher of unquestioned integrity.



Dr. Sadler categorically declared that there was no known psychic phenomena attached to the origin of the Urantia Papers. The final text of the Urantia Papers was materialized in written form, but it was not channeled or spoken, nor was it the product of automatic writing. Dr. Sadler stated that although the Thought Adjuster (a fragment of God that indwells all normal human minds) of the "contact personality" was somehow engaged in the materialization process by spiritual beings, the contact person was totally unaware of this activity. Neither this contact person, nor any other human, wrote any of the text nor authored or originated any material used in the revelatory text of the Urantia Papers, which consist of the Foreword and the 196 Papers.



Although Dr. Sadler was emphatic that no known psychic phenomena were associated in any way with the authorship of the Urantia Papers, he admitted that he was baffled as to precisely how the text of the Urantia Papers was materialized into the English language. He was very clear in his conviction that no human being edited, selected, or had any creative input whatever into the authorship of the Urantia Papers, nor in the arrangement of the text of The Urantia Book, which consists of the Foreword and Papers one through 196. Dr. Sadler was crystal clear that the members of the contact commission had no editorial authority whatever, and their responsibility was confined to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Members of the forum were not even permitted to see the original materialized documents, and they had no input in their authorship. Dr. Sadler was convinced that the Urantia Papers are exactly what they purport themselves to be, an epochal revelation authored solely by celestial beings.



I have studied The Urantia Book in depth for over forty years, and I am likewise convinced that the authorship of the text was superhuman, and that it was materialized by unprecedented means that are not fully understood. In my best professional and personal opinion, I am absolutely convinced there was no human authorship or creative input, and there were no human editorial decisions involved with the materialization of the Urantia Papers. I believe the truth of what Dr. Sadler wrote -- and personally disclosed to me numerous times: the Urantia Papers were published just as received, and the contact commission had no editorial authority whatever, and its role was confined solely to the clerical tasks of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Neither did the forum members contribute to the creative contents of the Urantia Papers. The forum was similar to a modem focus group in that they were used by the celestial authors solely as a gauge to measure human understanding.



Dr. Sadler was also absolutely clear about two related things: (1). Absolutely no human name or names should ever be attached to the authorship or materialization of the Urantia Papers and the publication of The Urantia Book. Even the printer, R. R. Donnelley and Sons, was not permitted to place an indicia in the first edition which stated their identity. (2.) No human being knows, or ever knew, the exact method by which the Urantia Papers were materialized. We can only be categorically certain that there was no human authorship, no human editorial involvement, nor any human activity in creating, selecting and/or arranging the Urantia Papers, which consist of the Foreword and Papers one through 196 inclusive, and which constitute the text of The Urantia Book.



Dr. Sadler made it plain to me that the revelators, held total authority over the process by which the Urantia Papers were materialized. The revelators suggested the submission of questions, and, at one point after the contact commission and forum had read some of the papers, requested that more significant questions be developed and asked by the contact commission. Dr. Sadler said that in a particular session a celestial personality who claimed to be a student visitor to our planet stated to the commission: "If you people realized what a high spiritual source you are now associating with you would stop making these puerile investigations to detect fraud and would ask some significant questions about the nature and reality of the universe." It was at this point the forum was engaged by Dr. Sadler to help him formulate appropriate questions in answer to the challenge of the revelators. The forum had originally been assembled by the Sadler family as an group of lay persons who gathered together in Dr. Sadler's home for tea and an hour or two of informal discussion and social exchange. The revelators soon answered the questions the forum had asked, and these answers were presented to the forum by the contact commission. Shortly after this the revelators directed Dr. Sadler and the contact commission to make the forum a closed group, and required each member to take a vow of secrecy about their knowledge of what the contact commission was doing and what information the revelators had disclosed to the forum through the contact commission "The forum, as it were, was taken away from us" wrote Dr. Sadler. He was indicating that the general discussions in the forum ceased, and the revelators henceforth directed the agenda of the group through the contact commission, and used the forum essentially as a focus group for the Urantia Papers.



Dr. Sadler said no forum member except members of the contact commission, was ever present during any of the contacts with the revelators. He also said that only one "sleeping subject," or person was involved throughout the entire process of materializing the text of the Urantia Papers.



Dr. Sadler told me that at one point he and his son Bill wrote a draft for an introduction to the Urantia Papers, and submitted it to the revelators. At a contact session with the revelators they were told that although they meant well, such submissions were not acceptable, and the revelators made the comment, referring to the introduction written by Dr. Sadler and Bill Sadler, Jr.: "A candle cannot light the sun." At the proper time, the humans were assured, an introduction to the book would be materialized. When the revelators produced the Foreword to the Urantia Papers, Dr. Sadler stated that he and his son realized the inadequacy of their own attempt to write an introduction.



Dr. Sadler and his son were, however, given permission to compose a Table of Contents for The Urantia Book. Bill Sadler compiled the titles as they appeared in the Papers, and the section headings from the Papers, and he briefly outlined some of the material that was originated in the Urantia Papers, and incorporated it into a Table of Contents for The Urantia Book. Dr. Sadler and other members of the contact commission assured me that no human wrote, edited, or arranged any of the text of the Urantia Papers, which consist of the Foreword and all of the Papers from Paper one through Paper 196 inclusive. Dr. Sadler told me that one individual, not a member of the contact commission but rather a member of the forum, who made suggestions to "improve" the Urantia Papers was vigorously informed by the revelators (through the contact commission) that no human additions to the Urantia Papers would be allowed. Dr. Sadler said that every possible precaution was taken to see that the text of the Urantia Papers was presented just as the revelators had authored and materialized it.



It should be emphasized that there is not now, nor has there ever been, a human authority on the content or the origin of the Urantia Papers. However, Christy often requested that I reply to many of the letters Urantia Foundation received from readers requesting information on the origin of the Urantia Papers. As these requests increased, I produced a paper on the essentials of the origin of the Urantia Papers, which constitute the text of The Urantia Book. This paper was approved by Urantia Foundation, printed, and freely distributed for several years by both Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood.



In regard to outreach efforts by Urantians, the following statement was written by Dr. Sadler under the heading, Distribution of The Urantia Book: "However, one thing should be made clear: While it is the policy of the Brotherhood to work slowly in the distribution of the book, nothing is done to interfere with the energetic and enthusiastic efforts of any individual to introduce The Urantia Book to his friends and associates."



Signed,



Meredith Justin Sprunger





ADDENDA TO AFFIDAVIT:



MEREDITH JUSTIN SPRUNGER is a minister in the United Church of Christ and a college professor, now retired from pastoral and teaching responsibilities. For many years Dr. Sprunger was active as a counselor and psychological consultant, holding a Private Practice Certificate in Psychology in the State of Indiana. He has served congregations in the Midwest and taught at Elmherst College and Indiana Institute of Technology, functioning as the head of the Department of Psychology, chairman of the division of Liberal Arts, and as President.



Dr. Sprunger has served as a Field Representative, Chairman of the Educational and Fraternal Relations Committees, and President of the Urantia Brotherhood. He is founder and Executive Director of The Christian Fellowship for Students of The Urantia Book, and Executive Editor of The Spiritual Fellowship Journal. Dr. Sprunger is the only living professional educational colleague of Dr. William S. Sadler associated with The Urantia Book.
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LuisMarco said:
sorry, Guys, i delayed without wanting to...

Ella S., not false, it's outdated scientific information (and as you can see in this following quote too, URANTIA, besides giving outdated science knowledge and information, gave us advanced, ahead-of-its-time science):Where's that advanced science¿, here: UBannotated.com (and elsewhere)...
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Hm.

LuisMarco said:
Excuse me, Ella, how old are you¿, in one of my few previous posts i gave my age, but i'm just asking you out of curiosity, ooops!. :)
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Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?

Just heckling you. I'm 22. And a half.
 
Cino said:
This is an invitation to @Norm and anyone else who's interested to discuss the Urantia Book.

I know next to nothing about this revelation (I hope this was the appropriate term, happy to be corrected).

To start things off, where does the name "Urantia" come from?
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Urantia seems to be a coined word, from English, maybe Latin, etc., from root words such as Uranus, Urania, and so on, apparently meaning "heavenly body." The "Revelators" (celestial authors of the book, if you will) have a lot of such coined words, such as "Salvington" "Edentia" and so on. It seems that we can relate to them better.
 
RJM said:
@Norm
@LuisMarco

Can anyone link an unadulterated pdf copy of the book (without interspersed commentary) that people can read?
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Uh, ALL copies of the Urantia Book are supposed to be unadulterated and they are not supposed to have any interspersed commentary, AT ALL. I would be careful if you find such copies. Here is a site that contains the text of the book, not a pdf, but there may be those out there too. Try this: https://bigbluebook.org/

And the reason I post this site, as opposed to Urantia Foundation's site or the Urantia Fellowship's site is because it's "clean." That is to say, it's not asking for donations, it's not saying "Join here" and so on. It seems to be free from outside influences and pressures and agendas.
 
Cino said:
Thanks!

How do an adherents of the Urantia Book call themselves?

How, if at all, do you organize? Are there gatherings, feasts, or study circles? Is there an organization? A group of Elders or the like?
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We seem to have settled on calling ourselves "Urantians." Too bad that it sounds so much like Unitarians and Universalists and (any others?).

No, not much organizing, no churches, etc., though there has been some attempts made. Yes, some larger gatherings in the year, sometimes every 3 years, the Fellowship puts them on. I went to one outside of Montreal in 1999. There were about 700 of us, it was nice to be with people who pretty much has the same idea as I had. There are two "main" organizations, The Urantia Foundation and the Urantia Book Fellowship (which used to be The Urantia Brotherhood before the schism. LOL.) Urantia Foundation spun off a syncophantic sub group called the UAI or something like that to replace the no-longer-obedient Urantia Brotherhood after the big breakup. Urantia Foundation has a board of "trustees" (sic) (used to be 5 but there may be more now, appointed for life) that operate something like the Pope and his minions, appointed by God to be the sole bosses of everything. The Urantia Book Fellowship has 30 some (I think) people on what they call the general council, a somewhat democratic organization modeled on the Presbyterian setup, I think.

Sorry, I didn't see your post about creating this group for several days, but thanks again for creating it.
 
seattlegal said:
Have at it, young lady. I've found a few claims in it that are easily refutable today,
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Like what? Put them up here please.

...but might not have been to the western English-speaking world at the time the papers were composed. There are points that I do agree with, and some I disagree with. Not enough to draw me in to thoroughly study it.
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Let's hear them.
 
Ella S. said:
I have to talk about Paper 90, I'm sorry.

"Shamanism" wasn't a religion.
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Not a religion? Not ever? Not 10,000 years ago? Not 100,000 years ago?

The book calls it an "evolutionary religion" in that paper.
 
Ella S. said:
After reading through the book, I think the term "adherents of the Urantia Book" might not be an adequate phrase.
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When people ask me what I am, I say "I am a follower of Jesus." "Oh, you're a Christian then?" No. Christians are followers of Paul's teachings ABOUT Jesus. I am a follower of Jesus and HIS teachings about God the Father and our place in God's family.

Much of the book emphasizes what it refers to as "the religion of personal experience" and spirituality as a personal relationship and communion with God. There's quite a bit of antagonism towards the idea of organized religion strewn throughout it.

The book itself is quite nonsectarian. It seems to be written more with the intent to help people modify their existing faith rather than adopt a wholly new one.
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Yes, pretty much.

After a brief look into the subject online, however, the book is a central text in a few different groups here and there.
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Which are those, Ella?
 
Ella S. said:
My final question is; the Urantia Book outright says that much of its scientific and historical knowledge is wrong and that the authors supposedly know that it's wrong.

I understand not giving the information if you're forbidden to but why give false information?
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Ella, a lot of times bible people will say, "The bible says..." and then they don't quote where the bible says what they say the bible says. Similarly, to your statement above, I searched for the term "scientific and historical" in The Urantia Book and couldn't find it. Yes, I know generally what you're going for but I think you should find it and quote the book, copy and paste it, and then we can the better talk about it.

Also, as far as I know, the Revelators have not given any "false information." Again, please quote the book, word for word.
 
wil said:
I still.dont know.what the 5 are. Another link to the same post wont help.
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In my own words...
The Fifth, The Urantia Papers.
The fourth, The visit of Jesus
Third, Melchizedek, 4000 years ago.
Second, Adam and Eve
First Caligastia, the Planetary Prince.

From the book:

92:4.4 There have been many events of religious revelation but only five of epochal significance. These were as follows:

92:4.5 1. The Dalamatian teachings. The true concept of the First Source and Center was first promulgated on Urantia by the one hundred corporeal members of Prince Caligastia’s staff. This expanding revelation of Deity went on for more than three hundred thousand years until it was suddenly terminated by the planetary secession and the disruption of the teaching regime. Except for the work of Van, the influence of the Dalamatian revelation was practically lost to the whole world. Even the Nodites had forgotten this truth by the time of Adam’s arrival. Of all who received the teachings of the one hundred, the red men held them longest, but the idea of the Great Spirit was but a hazy concept in Amerindian religion when contact with Christianity greatly clarified and strengthened it.

92:4.6 2. The Edenic teachings. Adam and Eve again portrayed the concept of the Father of all to the evolutionary peoples. The disruption of the first Eden halted the course of the Adamic revelation before it had ever fully started. But the aborted teachings of Adam were carried on by the Sethite priests, and some of these truths have never been entirely lost to the world. The entire trend of Levantine religious evolution was modified by the teachings of the Sethites. But by 2500 B.C. mankind had largely lost sight of the revelation sponsored in the days of Eden.

92:4.7 3. Melchizedek of Salem. This emergency Son of Nebadon inaugurated the third revelation of truth on Urantia. The cardinal precepts of his teachings were trust and faith. He taught trust in the omnipotent beneficence of God and proclaimed that faith was the act by which men earned God’s favor. His teachings gradually commingled with the beliefs and practices of various evolutionary religions and finally developed into those theologic systems present on Urantia at the opening of the first millennium after Christ.

92:4.8 4. Jesus of Nazareth. Christ Michael presented for the fourth time to Urantia the concept of God as the Universal Father, and this teaching has generally persisted ever since. The essence of his teaching was love and service, the loving worship which a creature son voluntarily gives in recognition of, and response to, the loving ministry of God his Father; the freewill service which such creature sons bestow upon their brethren in the joyous realization that in this service they are likewise serving God the Father.

92:4.9 5. The Urantia Papers. The papers, of which this is one, constitute the most recent presentation of truth to the mortals of Urantia. These papers differ from all previous revelations, for they are not the work of a single universe personality but a composite presentation by many beings. But no revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete. All other celestial ministrations are no more than partial, transient, and practically adapted to local conditions in time and space. While such admissions as this may possibly detract from the immediate force and authority of all revelations, the time has arrived on Urantia when it is advisable to make such frank statements, even at the risk of weakening the future influence and authority of this, the most recent of the revelations of truth to the mortal races of Urantia.
 
Norm said:
There are two "main" organizations, The Urantia Foundation and the Urantia Book Fellowship (which used to be The Urantia Brotherhood before the schism. LOL.) Urantia Foundation spun off a syncophantic sub group called the UAI or something like that to replace the no-longer-obedient Urantia Brotherhood after the big breakup.
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Thanks for the candor and the details. I find this kind of histotical backdrop fascinating, and by seeing how people try to incorporate such revelations into famiar structures, the picture becomes much more alive.

Since you mentioned early Christianity, Pauls role etc. - what do you think will prevent Urantia from taking a similar course? Many revealed faiths seem to face similar challenges in the second and third generation of adherents. Do the Papers address this?
 
Cino said:
Thanks for the candor and the details. I find this kind of histotical backdrop fascinating, and by seeing how people try to incorporate such revelations into famiar structures, the picture becomes much more alive.
Since you mentioned early Christianity, Pauls role etc. - what do you think will prevent Urantia from taking a similar course?
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Yes, good questions. Urantia Foundation already tried to take this course. Luckily, it was stopped for the time being when they sued a believer and he sued them back and they lost their copyright and thus control over the readership. They had even gotten so outrageously out of line that they sent some believers letters saying, "We do not wish to sell Urantia Books to you." But human nature seems to work against steering away from that course. (Some) humans want control. They want to be the new boss. They want to be important.

Urantia Foundation believes that they and they alone were appointed by God to shepherd the revelation. When people disagreed with that, Urantia Foundation sued them, took them to law in spite of the fact that in The Urantia Book there is a story about one of the apostles complaing to Jesus about other people preaching the gospel that were not trained by Jesus and the apostles. He wants to forbid them, but Jesus said, "Forbid him not." Still, Urantia Foundation kept it up. But they finally lost in court when the US Supreme Court declined to hear their case after a US District Judge and jury ruled against them and their copyright.

The problem for Urantia Foundation was that for 50 years they told the believers one thing about the authorship of The Urantia Book and they told the US Copyright Office something different. They could not have gotten a copyright if they had told the truth.

The thing about Paul is that Jesus never heard of Paul. Never heard of Paul, never mentioned Paul, never endorsed Paul to anyone. No one ever heard of Paul until Paul showed up talking about Paul. Paul admitted to being a con-man (2Co 12:16) and yet they still followed him and still do to this day. Paul preached a powerful message and as Mark Twain said something close to: "It's easier to fool someone than to convince them that they have been fooled."

Many revealed faiths seem to face similar challenges in the second and third generation of adherents. Do the Papers address this?
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Yes, again, it seems to be human nature, some sort of ego flaw, for some to need to be in control and to elevate themselves, and for others to follow. The Urantia Book talks a lot about "the religions of authority" and how some folks prefer that to, as I think Ella mentioned, "the religion of personal experience," "ROPE" as some are taking to calling it.
 
For all interested 'non-technical' persons, it's very recommended to skip perhaps the Foreword to URANTIA, except page 1 and the rest in pg 2, and except a few others, or less-than other complete pages thereof.
 
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Norm said:
The thing about Paul is that Jesus never heard of Paul. Never heard of Paul, never mentioned Paul, never endorsed Paul to anyone.
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On the other hand, you pointed out how in the Urantia book there is the story of the unauthorized teacher, and Jesus saying "forbid him not"? Same pattern, different context? But when to apply it, and when not? Just wondering, I have no stakes in this.

Norm said:
The problem for Urantia Foundation was that for 50 years they told the believers one thing about the authorship of The Urantia Book and they told the US Copyright Office something different. They could not have gotten a copyright if they had told the truth.
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Interesting, and funny (to those not involved in such law suits). Again, parallels to other faiths in recent times - human nature, as you point out.

What are the teachings like - do they address day to day concerns, dietary rules, an ideal society?
 
Norm said:
The thing about Paul is that Jesus never heard of Paul. Never heard of Paul, never mentioned Paul, never endorsed Paul
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Jesus wasn't around. However Paul says Christ knocked him off his horse and blinded him, to convert him over to spreading Christianity instead of murdering Christians as he had been doing.

Paul says he spent 15 days with Peter and met Jesus's brother James, who endorsed him as an apostle.

Etc, etc ...
Norm said:
Mark Twain said something close to: "It's easier to fool someone than to convince them that they have been fooled."
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And Lincoln is incorrectly attributed with: You can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Paul must have been very clever to invent Christianity that has such a great impact on history? Lots of folks try to invent religions, but they never last long ;)
Perhaps Paul just spoke the truth?
Norm said:
Paul admitted to being a con-man (2Co 12:16)
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He was bring heavily ironic in the contextL* He also called himself a fool.

*As in: we conned you by actually working and supporting ourselves, instead of hitting on you for free board and lodging like those others did ...
 
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