Worship, Thought Adjuster
Communion
By Vincent Ventola
(Quotations used in this paper are from The URANTIA Book, copyright 1955
by Urantia Foundation, all
rights reserved, and are used by permission.
Interpretations and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent
those of Urantia Foundation.)
My hope, is to leave you with
questions, not answers. And that these
would be questions for you to ask yourself.
That the nature of these questions would lead you to examine your dally
habits of prayer and worship. But even more critical, that these questions
would lead to the silent witnessing of your own thoughts, opinions, and habit
patterns of thinking and acting.
If we created a topical study group, we might examine
how you think and feel about worship, thought adjuster communion, and the born
again experience.
We could take the Concordex,
and read and study all of the admonitions and warnings concerning the lower
tendencies of the human type of mind.
Read and study the many admonitions regarding the social problems of
religion, and the dangers of over intellectualizing one's religious beliefs.
We could research the Jesus papers and read all
of the Master's warnings and admonitions to the apostles, scribes, Sadducees,
and Pharisees regarding their systems of teaching. Pay special attention to the conflict of the
Pharisees and Sadducees as they clashed with the Master's teachings - his new
and living religion of the spirit and their older religion of ceremony,
tradition, and authority.
Give these words new meaning and value. Pretend he is warning all readers of the
URANTIA Book. Pretend all of those
admonitions are directed to you, as an individual. And to all of us, as a
group.
Consider how these admonitions pertain to the fostering
or impeding of your worship, your thought adjuster communion, and your born
again experience.
From page 1949, Section 5. The Spirit of
Truth.
“The true child of universe
insight looks for the living spirit of truth in every wise saying. The god-knowing individual is constantly
elevating wisdom to the living-truth levels of divine attainment; the
spiritually unprogressive soul is all the while dragging the living
truth down to the dead levels of wisdom and to the domain of mere exalted
knowledge.'
What does this mean? How do we apply it?
After we gathered and discussed all of our study and
research, I would assign these questions: what is the difference studying The
URANTIA Book on an intellectual level in contrast to studying The URANTIA Book
with the eye of the spirit?
What did Jesus mean when he
asked the Apostle: ·Thomas, Thomas, how long before you will acquire the
ability to listen with the ear of the spirit? "(Page 1605)
What are your spiritual habits and practices?
In the Lord's Prayer, what does Jesus mean when he
states, “And forgive us every one our debts as we also have forgiven our
debtors”? (Page 1620 )
And finally, what are the fruits of the spirit? And what are their opposites?
Here is a good example of one of the master's teachings
and admonition. (Pages 1732-33 )
“You must cease to seek for the
word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic
authority. Those who are born of
the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence
it appears to take origin. Divine truth
must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds which
accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of
God. And that is just the reason why I
have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by
acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child
that I commend to you but rather the “spiritual simplicity” of such an
easy-believing and fully-trusting little one.
It is not so important that you should know about the fact of god as
that you should increasingly grow in the ability to “feel the presence of God.”
Allow me to conduct a little experiment and make a few
select changes in the previous quote:
“You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the
pages of the URANTIA Book. Those who are
born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God
regardless of whence it appears to take origin.
Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel
of its bestowal is apparently human.
Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theories of God
presented in the URANTIA Book, while they spiritually fail to realize the
presence of God.
And that is just the reason why I have so often taught
you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual
attitude of a sincere child. It is not
the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the
“spiritual simplicity” of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one.
It is not so important that you should know about the
facts of God presented in The URANTIA Book, as that you should increasingly
grow in the ability of ‘feel’ the presence of God.”
To continue this experiment, when you read and study the
many admonitions and warnings in The URANTIA Book, apply this technique of
"substitution" and see if the results are not quite jolting. Perhaps this exercise will help us all to
reawaken our minds and humble ourselves as we seek to study and live these
teachings.
One thing I noticed in studying many of the Master's admonitions, is that he would often include statements about
being “born of the spirit” or “reborn” or “born again.” He would warn against a particular habit
of thinking, a limiting perception of the mind, and then contrast this with
talk about being “born again.”
His references to the born again experience are so
plentiful, one must question, is he speaking symbolically or is he being quite
literal? And if he is, what does he
really mean when he talks about being “born again”?
Rodan of Alexandria states: (pg. 1782)
“I see in the teachings of Jesus, religion at its best. This gospel enables us to seek for the true God and to find him. But are we willing to pay the price of this entrance into the kingdom of heaven? Are we willing to be born again? To be remade? Are we willing to be subject to this terrible and testing process of self-destruction and soul reconstruction? Has not the Master said: “Whoso would save his life must lose it. Think not that I have come to bring peace but rather a soul struggle”? True, after we pay the price of dedication to the father's will, we do experience great peace provided we continue to walk in these spiritual paths of consecrated living.”
Listen to what Jesus said to the young man who was afraid (Page 1438).
“This day, my son, you are to be
reborn, reestablished as a man of faith, courage, and devoted service to man,
for God's sake. And when you become so
readjusted to life within yourself, you become likewise readjusted to the
universe; you have been born again - born of the spirit - and henceforth will
your whole life become one of victorious accomplishment. Trouble will invigorate you; disappointment
will spur you on; difficulties will challenge you; and obstacles will stimulate
you.”
Page 1602. To Nicodemus, Jesus said:
“Already does the spirit of the
Father in heaven indwell you. If you would be led by this spirit from
above, very soon would you begin to see with the eyes of the spirit, and then
by the wholehearted choice of spirit guidance would you be born of the spirit
since your only purpose in living would be to do the will of your father who is
in heaven. And so finding yourself born of the spirit and happily in the
kingdom of God, you would begin to bear in your daily life the abundant fruits of
the spirit.”
One more quote, spoken during the Master's eighteenth morontia appearance. (Page 2054):
“Salvation is the free gift of
god, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth
the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. And the fruits of the divine spirit which are
yielded in the lives of spirit-born and god-knowing mortals are: loving
service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened
honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing
goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.”
“If professed believers bear not
these fruits of the divine spirit in their lives, they are dead; the spirit of
truth is not in them; they are useless branches on the living vine, and they
soon will be taken away.”
Born again. Seeing with the eyes of the spirit. The fruits of the spirit. What does he mean? What are the fruits of the spirit? What are their opposites?
Page 1610, Lesson of
Self Mastery:
“If, then, my children, you are
born of the spirit, you are forever delivered from the self-conscious
bondage of a life of self denial and watchcare over
the desires of the flesh, and you are translated into the joyous kingdom of the
spirit, whence you spontaneously show forth the fruits of the spirit in your
daily lives; and the fruits of the spirit are the essence of the highest type
of enjoyable and ennobling self-control, even the heights of terrestrial mortal
attainment - true self mastery.”
1860-61 “On this afternoon the master
distinctly taught a new concept of the double nature of the kingdom in that he
portrayed the following two phrases:
“First. The kingdom of God in this
world, the supreme desire to do the will of God, the unselfish love of man
which yields the good fruits of improved ethical and moral conduct."
“Second. The kingdom of God in
heaven, the goal of mortal believers, the estate wherein the love for God is
perfected, and wherein the will of God is done more divinely.”
Jesus taught that, by faith, the believer enters the kingdom now. In the various discourses he taught that two things are essential to faith-entrance into the kingdom:
1. Faith, sincerity. To
come as a little child, to receive the bestowal of sonship
as a gift; to submit to the doing of the Father's will without questioning and
in the full confidence and genuine trustfulness of the Father's wisdom i to come into the kingdom free from prejudice and
preconception; to be open-minded and teachable like an unspoiled child.
2. Truth hunger. To thirst for righteousness, a change if mind, the acquirement of the motive to be like god and to find god.
Jesus taught that sin is not the child of a defective nature but rather the offspring of a knowing mind dominated by an un-submissive will regarding sin, he taught that God has forgiven; that we make such forgiveness personally available by the act of forgiving our fellows. When you forgive your brother in the flesh, you thereby create the capacity in your own soul for the reception of the reality of God's forgiveness of your own misdeeds.
Earlier
I asked you to study about mind and the habits of mind - and I questioned why
Jesus
included in his believer's prayer statements about asking for
and giving forgiveness.
When we ask for forgiveness we
humble ourselves. We admit imperfection
and our deep need for the higher power of God.
We become as a child. Humility. The opposite of pride.
Is not the quality of the seeking child, humble? Open to learning? Hungering?
I believe the born again experience is a process, where the human mind
is gradually spiritized by the Thought Adjuster.
That the new mind, responds in thought and action, in the manner which
allows for the ever deepening experience of thought adjuster communion.
Page 1220 Since this
inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the
responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous
and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy
children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by
prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?
The very qualities which foster Thought Adjuster contact
- are the habits and thoughts of the new mind.
The born again mind. The mind
that is increasingly free from the thoughts and actions which arise from fear,
anxiety, pride, envy, and all of the opposites of the fruits of the spirit.
The mind that feels the hunger
and thirst of the adjuster for worship. For the
worship experience lifts the mind up to the superconscious
realms, above which rests the Thought Adjuster.
Here, contact is made and communion is received, no matter how conscious
or unconscious we are of the Adjuster - this experience is real.
Page 65 The fact that you are not intellectually conscious of close and intimate contact with the indwelling adjuster does not in the least disprove such an exalted experience. The proof of fraternity with the divine adjuster consists wholly in the nature and extent of the fruits of the spirit which are yielded in the life experience of the individual believer. “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Page 2097 “The great challenge of modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine monitor that dwells within the human mind. Man's greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness - contact with the divine presence.”
Page 65 “As the soul of joint mind and Adjuster creation becomes increasingly existent, there also evolves a new phase of soul consciousness which is capable of experiencing the presence, and of recognizing the spirit leadings and other supermaterial activities, of the Mystery Monitors.”
Page 1766 “When my children once become
self-conscious of the assurance of the divine presence, such a faith will
expand the mind, ennoble the soul, reinforce the personality, augment the
happiness, deepen the spirit perception, and enhance the power to love and be
loved.”
In The URANTIA Book, we are encouraged and challenged to
do all we can to foster deeper Adjuster awareness. And we are cautioned against the folly of
religious fanaticism and the dangers of elevating dreams, feelings, and
thoughts, to the heights of mystical and divine communications.
The key will always be in the balance of loving
service. Understanding and applying the
teachings of Jesus will always act as a system of checks and balances, thus
assuring our efforts will provide us with increased mental well-being and
health. A careful study of Paper 110:
Relation of Adjusters to Individual Mortals contains an abundance of information
regarding erroneous concepts of Adjuster guidance.
Page1209 “It is to the mind of perfect poise, housed in a body of clean habits, stabilized neural energies, and balanced chemical function - when physical, mental, and spiritual powers are in triune harmony of development - that a maximum of light and truth can be imparted with a minimum of temporal danger or risk to the real welfare of such a being.'
The topic of Thought Adjusters is one that we could easily spend all year studying. Of course, that might not be helpful. In fact, over intellectualizing and speculating might even take us away from our goal of greater Thought Adjuster awareness and deeper Thought Adjuster communion.
Page 1120 “Intellectual
crystallization of religious concepts is the equivalent of spiritual death.”
Page 1121 “The intellectual factors of religion
are important, but their over-development is likewise sometimes very
handicapping and embarrassing. Religion
must continually labor under a paradoxical necessity: the necessity of making
effective use of thought while at the same time discounting the spiritual
serviceableness of all thinking.”
Wouldn't it be ironic, if the over-study of The URANTIA
Book turned it into the greatest obstacle to your own Thought Adjuster
communication and spiritual growth? Is
it not possible to misuse this very revelation and make the same mistakes as
did the scribes and Pharisees and Saduccees with
their belief systems?
How does one read The URANTIA BOOK with the eye of the spirit? When you read the facts in the book, how much time do you take to discern the meaning? When you discover the meaning, how deeply do you search for the value. How do you apply what you have learned?
Page 1105 “Religion lives and prospers, then, not
by sight and feeling, but rather by faith and insight. It consists not in the discovery of new facts
or in the finding of a unique experience, but rather in the discovery of new
and spiritual meanings in facts already well known to mankind.”
Does your study group ever feel like a history
class? Or a science
class? When you read part four,
does it feel like you are reading a historical novel about someone who lived two thousand years ago? Are you in a mental rut in your approach to
The URANTIA Book? At study group, do you
no longer ask questions but are the first one to volunteer all of the answers?
Consider the following quote.
Page 1094 “Remember, year by year progress through an established
educational regime does not necessarily mean intellectual progress, much less
spiritual growth. Enlargement of vocabulary does hot signify development
of character. Growth is not truly
indicated by mere products but rather by progress. Real educational growth is indicated by
enhancement of ideals, increased appreciation of values, new meanings of
values, and augmented loyalty to supreme values.”
When we consider the topics of worship, Thought Adjuster
communion, and the born again experience - let's not only look at our own
personal thoughts and practices, but let us also consider our group
consciousness as students of the fifth epochal revelation. I have purposely omitted the word teacher.
Whatever your group experience may be with The URANTIA
Book, study group, society meetings, regional conferences, national
conferences, international conferences, general council meetings, executive
committee meetings, governing committee meetings, and even trustee meetings -
consider, re-examine, and reevaluate the group experience. Has the group been born again? Are we bearing the fruits of the spirit? How do we spend our time together? Have we maintained a balance? Is our group approach mostly
intellectual? Spiritual?
On the personal level: how do you live your day in the
world? On the personal level: your inner
life: what is going on in the mind arena?
How do you deal with stress? Anxiety? What are
your spiritual practices? Do you take
the time to commune with the father? Do
you make the time? Or are you too
busy? Or tired?
“Look to your Master. Even now
he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out
energy. The secret of all
this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of
combined meditation and relaxation.
Meditation makes contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the
capacity for spiritual receptivity. And
this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God
for the mind of self, constitutes worship.”
“When these experiences are
frequently repeated, they crystallize into habits, strength-giving and
worshipful habits, and such habits eventually formulate themselves into a
spiritual character.”
“These practices are difficult
and time consuming at first, but when they become habitual, they are at
once restful and timesaving. The more
complex society becomes, and the more the lures of civilization multiply, the
more urgent will become the necessity for God-knowing individuals to form such
protective habitual practices designed to conserve and augment their spiritual
energies.”
Page 1095 Religion in Human Experience.
“Religious habits of thinking
and acting are contributory to the economy of spiritual growth. One can develop religious predispositions
toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned
reflex. Habits which favor religious
growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of
religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful
problem solving, sharing one's spiritual life with one's fellows, avoidance of
selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of
God.”
As you can see, these qualities are all livable. They are not concepts to consider. They must be consciously chosen,
decisions must be made, and acted upon.
One lives these qualities.
Page 1192 “The Thought Adjusters would like to
change your feelings of fear to convictions of love and confidence; but they
cannot mechanically and arbitrarily do such things; that is your
task. In executing those decisions which
deliver you from the fetters of fear, you literally supply the psychic fulcrum
on which the Adjuster may subsequently apply a spiritual lever of uplifting and
advancing illumination.”
Imagine that you are a Thought Adjuster. You are standing in the middle of a circular
pond. The pond is the mind of your human
subject. The waters are very still. So still that you can see clear to the sandy
floor below. Your subject is
worshipping. Your subject is in a state
of silent receptivity. He/she is not
praying or thanking - there is no self intrusion. Body, mind, and soul are all at one with the
Father. And you are able to illuminate
the pond of the mind. Your subject is
aware of your presence and yet, remains almost indifferent. Calm. Centered. So much so that your
human subject creates no thought ripples in the pond. The state of worship continues. And you are
able to uplift his/her hind with a steady stream of the water of life. Higher thinking and
spiritual truth which your subject will act upon in the outer world.
Imagine you are a Thought Adjuster. Standing in the middle of a
circular pond. The pond is the
mind of your human subject. On the
shores surrounding you are 70 duplicates of your subject. They all look the same. Each one represents a different thought or
mood or emotion of your subject. You are
aware that this has been a time of great trial.
Your subject must make a series of decisions, many of which are
critical.
The seraphic guardians have led your subject to the pond
of the mind. They urged him/her to
pray. To still the waters of doubt and
anxiety and a low self image. To seek your council.
He/she begins to utter a prayer but something triggers
off a thought of anger. One of the
duplicates on the shore tosses a rock of anger into the mind pond. The ripple effect begins. While you try to calm the waters another
duplicate tosses in a stone of dishonesty.
Another tosses in a rock of restlessness and discontent. The ripples build. Two duplicates join together and throw in a
large boulder of revenge. Now the pond
becomes murky and cloudy. The duplicate
subjects are out of self control. The
clouds overhead hide the sun and an emotional storm is brewing. Your subject is despairing because you have
deserted him/her. You try to find a
clearing in the pond and beam a thought adjustment, urging your
subject to pray for a “mind exchange” - urging your subject to stop resisting
and to allow the true picture and the real motives to come forth. But this time, for the time being, you can do
very little to assist your mortal subject.
Perhaps tonight, while your subject sleeps, you may be able to weave
some comfort and inspiration into his/her mind.
You pray your subject will not use drugs or alcohol or the poisons of
despair and anger to avoid facing the real issues. You will wait. You are always there.
Page
206 Relation of Adjusters to
Individuals.
“I cannot but observe that so
many of you spend so much time and thought on mere trifles of living, while you
almost wholly overlook the more essential realities of everlasting import,
those very accomplishments which are concerned with the development of a more
harmonious working agreement between you and your adjusters. The great goal of human existence is to
attune to the divinity of the indwelling adjuster; the great achievement of
mortal life is the attainment of a true and understanding consecration to
the eternal aims of the divine spirit who waits and works within your mind.
The ideal life is one of loving service rather than an existence of fearful apprehension.”
There is a considerable amount of material regarding the
Adjuster's problem in working within the human mind. And we understand that some of these problems
have been complicated because our races are so unusually admixed. But I would like you to consider the
following:
Imagine giving your child a
precious gift. It is something that child
will never tire of. It is a gift your son or daughter will treasure
forever. And always will this gift grow
in meaning and value. You take great
care in wrapping this present and you remember when your father first passed on
this gift to you.
The package is beautiful. Your child is filled with wonder and awe and
great anticipation. As a parent, would
you go through all this trouble to present your child with a gift in a box that
could never be opened?
There is a great deal of support
and encouragement in The URANTIA Book to inspire and challenge us. And though we now do accept these teachings
in good faith, the time will come during this life on earth, when our insight
and illumination will be conscious and experiential. And once more, we will be born again.
Page 303 Conductors of Worship.
“Worship is the
highest privilege and the first duty of all created intelligences.”
Page 1616 Teachings About
Prayer and Worship.
“Worship is effortless
attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion.”
“Worship - contemplation of the spiritual - must alternate with service, contact with material reality.”
Prayer is self-reminding -
sublime thinking; worship is self-forgetting - superthinking.”
“Although the apostles grasped
only a few of his teachings at the camp, other worlds did, and other
generations on earth will.”
I believe it will take us all a very long time to fully
understand worship. But it takes no time
at all to worship where and as we are now.
Jesus would not tell the apostles when to pray or worship. But they saw him go off alone on an almost
daily basis to pray and worship.
Worship is such a personal and
intimate experience because it takes us to the heart of our individual communion
with our Father. He desires us to be in
personal communion with him. He has
indwelt us so this may happen.
Page 64 “What a mistake to dream of God far off in the skies when the spirit of the universal father lives within your own mind.”
Only you can search your mind and soul and examine your
practice and thoughts regarding worship as a very real technique, and as the
language by which you commune with God…with your Thought Adjuster. My only comment,
would be to urge you to remember that relaxation increases you capacity for
spiritual receptivity. And that prayer
and thanksgiving carve out deeper channels which will greatly heighten your
worship experiences.
Page
998. Social Repercussions of Prayer
“But prayer need not always be individual. Group or congregational praying is very effective in that it is highly socializing in its repercussions. When a group engages in community prayer for moral enhancement and spiritual uplift such devotions are reactive upon the individuals composing the group; they are all made better because of participation. Even a whole city or an entire nation can be helped by such prayer devotions. Confession, repentance, and prayer have led individuals, cities; nations, and whole races to mighty efforts of reform and courageous deeds of valorous achievement.”
Earlier I asked you to think about your individual
habits of worship and to also consider our group habits. At this point, I will share with you my
purely personal observations and some of the comments newer readers have made
through the years. And also to note some
interesting reactions of those who have been reading The URANTIA Book for ten
years or longer.
Only to give you a time line, I found the book in 1970. Our movement has been public since 1955. Study groups and conferences and organizational meetings have been taking place for some 30 years, give or take a few.
When one considers the amount of time spent studying the
book, socializing, and dealing with organizational matters, the time we spend
together growing and developing in our practice of group worship is seriously
imbalanced. I am happy that many readers
have satisfying group worship experience in the church or temple of their
choosing, but the absence of it in our movement's structure is almost as severe
as the separation of church and state.
We pride ourselves in not being a church or
religion. We boast that we have no
priesthoods, lording ecclesiastical authority over our heads. We have been set free. But what have we done with this new and
liberating freedom?
Personally, I find the obligatory moments of silence we take before study groups or monthly meetings or conferences, much less than satisfying. Is our fear of ritual so great that we avoid the responsibility of developing new forms?
I believe we have already made the same kind of blunder
with this revelation that the apostles have when they preached the religion
about the glorified and risen Master, and forgot about his teachings.
We are taught spiritual unity and not uniformity. We know the Master tells us we will not think
alike. And since action usually follows
thought, our action will not be alike either.
Is our agreement that The URANTIA Book is the Fifth
Epochal Revelation our only bonding glue?
We all seem to agree on what it is, and we spend an enormous amount of
time trying to figure out what to do with it.
But what about the spiritual glue of our movement? The unifying times of group prayer,
thanksgiving, and worship - when the intellect shuts down and all conflicts are
put aside? When, as a group, we seek
God's will and grow together in silent receptivity and worship.
Consider the thousands of hours spent at organizational
meetings. Consider the time spent
studying. Socializing. Why after 30 years is so little time spent in
group worship?
Page 1091 “Jesus did not require of his followers that they should periodically assemble and recite a form of words indicative of their common beliefs. He only ordained that they should gather together to actually do something - partake of the communal supper of the remembrance of his bestowal life on Urantia.”
Do you not find it a little peculiar,
that as a group - just to speak locally - our society no longer shares
in the remembrance supper? Study groups
are autonomous - but I do find it disturbing that some groups never experience
or allow time for group worship or remembrance suppers. It simply is not present. Or rarely present. Or maybe once a year on
August 21st.
We are missing a great opportunity. The very light we can shine could be
illuminated a hundred times. And by our
fruits, others would want to join us. We
may all have the intellect which feast on The URANTIA
Book, but I pray we nourish our hearts and souls as a group.
Many readers, new and old, have stated that study groups
have become dry. They love the book -
but study sessions never seem to deal with the personal problems of day
to day living. There is never
room or time to get personal and to share these individual concerns with the
group and seek for group wisdom.
I recently attended a study group where there was no
discussion at all. The main goal seemed
to be to storm through the reading and attain the goal of finishing the entire
paper.
Is it possible, that our young movement, imprinted with
many of the habits and practices of our preconditioned minds, and a certain
amount of movement history and tradition - and the influence of the early
readers and their ways of initiating study groups and conferences and the
proper Urantia sense of decorum - have already spun a
cocoon around ourselves?
In our study of paying special attention to numerous
admonitions and warnings, I would like to 'update' page 1092: 6. Institutionalized Religion.
Please note: substitutions and deletions are mine. This is done for study purposes only.
“But as Urantia
Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood becomes
institutionalized, its power for good is curtailed, while the
possibilities for evil are greatly multiplied.
The dangers are: fixation of beliefs and crystallization of sentiments;
accumulation of vested interests with increase secularization; tendency to
standardize and fossilize truth; diversion of religion from the service of God
to the service of itself; inclination of leaders to become administrators
instead of ministering; tendency to form sects and competitive divisions;
establishment of oppressive authority; creation of the aristocratic 'chosen
people' attitude; fostering of false and exaggerated ideas of sacredness; the routinizing of religion and the petrification
of worship; tendency to venerate the past while ignoring present demands;
failure to make up-to-date interpretations of religion; entanglement with
functions of secular institutions; it creates the evil discrimination of
religious castes; it becomes an intolerant judge of orthodoxy, it fails to hold
the interest of adventurous youth and gradually loses the saving message of the
gospel of eternal salvation.
Does the Urantia movement restrain men in their personal spiritual activities instead of releasing them for heightened service as kingdom builders?”
I would like to leave you with
this quote from page 1092:
“There is a real purpose in the socialization of religion. It is the purpose of group religious activities to dramatize the loyalties of religion; to magnify the lures of truth, beauty, and goodness; to foster the attractions of supreme values; to enhance the service of unselfish fellowship; to glorify the potentials of family life; to promote religious education; to provide wise counsel and spiritual guidance; and to encourage group worship.”
I pray we all grow in guidance and wisdom. This paper is written in love and with
respect for all who have served, now serve, or will serve, our Father and the
Fifth Epochal Revelation.