For URANTIA
Book Study Groups
Part I
Papers
1-5
Table
of Contents
PAPER 1: THE UNIVERSAL FATHER 4
PAPER 2: THE NATURE OF GOD 7
PAPER 3: THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD - - 11
PAPER 4: GOD'S RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE. 14
PAPER 5: GOD'S RELATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL. - 16
Preface
Very seldom does any URANTIA Book study group have an insurmountable problem in understanding selections from The URANTIA Book. Even for beginning groups, ordinarily the most common lack is not in good answers, but in good questions to stimulate discussion. Accordingly, this guide has been written to help study group moderators initiate interesting interchange on the papers their groups are reading.
In creating this study guide, the authors had to think through the characteristics of a good question. We arrived at four important criteria: A good question
- is understandable,
is interesting to both new and long-time readers,
- does not have a obvious answer, and
- is useful to discuss.
Although many URANTIA Book topics are fundamentally intellectual, where possible the questions in this booklet are oriented to direct the study group's discussion along lines which encourage the sharing of personal spiritual experience.
This guide lists questions without giving answers, because we believe that readers should look to the book and their personal experience for answers. There are no official interpretations to the teachings of The URANTIA Book -- the book speaks for itself.
No one has any greater appreciation of The URANTIA Book than the authors do of this booklet, so do not be disturbed if some questions seem to challenge even its basic premises. Truth has nothing to fear, and we felt that a no-holds-barred approach to discussion provides superior interest, excitement and challenge.
The Moderator's Job
Anyone can read The URANTIA Book on his own; the study group moderator's task is to inveigle everyone present into contributing so that all members grow by verbalizing their own thoughts and hearing others' aspirations.
The search is what is important - it doesn't matter all that much whether we agree. Unlike many other religious groups, URANTIA study groups are tolerant of a wide diversity of opinion. We find spiritual unity in our mutual love of God, not in intellectual uniformity. The moderator should encourage the group to look for commonalities and themes in what has been read, but not try to force a consensus. You should encourage everyone to be transparent and honest in their answers and comments, to speak from their hearts as well as their minds.
The most common format for group study is simply to read a section of the paper you have chosen and then get discussion going by asking the group a question about it.
If one person seems to be hogging the floor, tactfully head him off by asking whether there might be any comments from people who haven’t yet spoken. Such a situation also provides a good time to ask Sam what he thinks, if Sam hasn't said much recently.
No matter how interesting the discussion might be, it is almost always better to (gently) shut it off and return to reading The URANTIA Book after 10 minutes if discussion threatens to go on much longer than that. But don't attempt to do any certain number of questions at a meeting. It's far better to struggle with a few core issues than to rush past many more. If some questions look too easy, look again to determine if a deeper answer might have been sought.
To use this booklet as moderator, you should review the paper you will be presenting along with the related questions ahead of time, and check the questions which emphasize the points you are trying to convey. Several don'ts: Don't necessarily ask every question -- there are often too many. Don't be at all concerned if you don't know the answer to a question -- the authors of this guide probably don't either! Don't hesitate to supplement the listed questions with your own or questions from your group. Give precedence to spontaneous questions, for people are more interested in their own questions than someone else's. Don't disapprove of others' answers -- if you do it may be the last time they speak. Your job as moderator is to moderate, and accordingly it's normally best for you not to interject your own opinions too often. Lastly, don't be afraid of brief silent periods where people might be digesting a previous selection or question.
Above all, have fun reading your URANTIA Book, which contains spiritual treasures, ours for the finding!
This study guide could greatly improve with future editions if readers will be kind enough to send in particularly interesting questions, which have come up in their study groups. Please do that for the benefit of those who may use this booklet in future years.
PAPER 1
THE UNIVERSAL
FATHER
21:7 What does it mean to say that God is the Infinite Upholder? At 55:19 we read that a “collapse” would occur if God should retire as upholder. Does this mean that the universes would disappear as a thought might leave someone ‘s mind, or that they would collapse more gradually if Paradise ceased sending forth energy to sustain them, or what?
21:7 How do we "receive the divine affection"?
21:26-29 What would it be like to be "perfect in our sphere here on earth?
21:26-29 What is the process by which we come to have "only one supreme ambition, just one consuming desire?"
21:29-31 How did God the Father tell us to become perfect?
22:1-5 How do we "strive" for the attainment of perfection? Can anyone give an example from personal experience?
1. THE FATHER'S NAME
22:37-40 What might a person try to give God, other than his dedication?
22:40 What does it mean to say that "In God, man lives, moves, and has his being"?
22:42,43 How or when does a "decision" constitute "worship?"
23:1 What names is God known by in the various religions of our planet, and what does each name signify with respect to that religion's concept of the Father?
2. THE REALITY OF GOD
23:40-46 At any stage in his spiritual growth, has anyone present ever held any of the concepts of God listed here, such as "reality idealized"? If so, what persuaded you to expand that definition?
24:9-12 What are the parallels between intellectual capacity, spiritual urge, and personality craving as they relate respectively to God-consciousness, God-seeking, and the wholehearted desire to do the Father's will?
24 13-17 Why can the existence of God never be proved by scientific experiment or logic?
24:13-17 If the concept of God is indispensable even to the hope of personality survival, how was Lucifer able to successfully deceive so many with his openly proclaimed Manifesto denying God's existence? (ref. p. 603.)
24:18 What does it mean to know God?
24:20-24 In the days before the universal bestowal of Thought Adjusters at Pentecost, could a non-Adjuster-indwelt person know God?
24:43 Through what mechanisms does the Universal Father act directly? [Also see 25:35-39]
3. GOD IS A UNIVERSAL SPIRIT
25:17-19 Why cannot material man see God and live?
25:42-45 What causes spiritual attainment to inevitably result from our choosing to do the Father's will?
26: 9 Where the phrase "mind yielded to spirit," is used to describe the process our minds must undergo to survive, what is the significance of the word “yielded”? What other words might we substitute for it without loss of meaning?
4. THE MYSTERY OF GOD
26:21-26 What is mysterious about the Adjusters indwelling?
27:2-11 If God has revealed himself to us up to our full capacity, how can we expand our capacity?
5. PERSONALITY OF THE UNIVERSAL FATHER
27:20-26 What is personality?
28:12-14 How do we perfect our faith?
28: 25 We read that "God is personality. Is personality God?
28:31 How can we be a friend of God? What similarities would there be to our being someone's earthly friend?
28:40-42 How does reason infer and imply the personality of God?
29:5-7 What are the philosophic dilemmas of materialism and pantheism?
29:17-18 Are there ethical implications to the fact that personality is the revelation of God?
29:25-29 What is a "personality struggle"? How does the Father directly participate in ours?
6. PERSONALITY IN THE UNIVERSE
30:22-24 Why can't a loving person reveal himself to a loveless person?
30:24-27 Can we make progress in knowing God without being "wholly consecrated to the effort"? Does that half-hearted or partial devotion which is unavailing cover everything up to 100% total dedication? If so, why?
30:26-27 What is a "personality value"?
30: 32-34 Why shouldn't a God-knowing man describe his spiritual experience to convince unbelievers?
7. SPIRITUAL VALUE OF THE PERSONALITY CONCEPT
31:1 Well, what is the spiritual value of the personality concept?
31:11 What is "progressive reciprocal spiritual communion"?
31:17-18 If only persons can love and be loved, how can we accurately describe our experience of "loving" our dogs or cats?
32:9-12 Why were the Ancients of Days apparently involved in the formulation of The URANTIA Book?
PAPER 2
THE NATURE OF GOD
33:8-10 What can we do to see ourselves more as children of God?
33:11-15 Why is the religious life of Jesus more enlightening and spiritually edifying than any revelation of ideas or ideals?
1. THE INFINITY OF GOD
33:35 What is your concept of infinity? How would you define or describe it?
34:13-14 What does it mean to say, "With God all things are possible?
34:17-19 How imperfect, improper, and incomplete are our appraisals of ourselves?
34:20-22 What does the "demand" for God in the master universe refer to?
34:26-29 How detailed is God's divine plan? Is it of a fairly general nature, such as, for example, that mortal man shall live and die on evolutionary planets and proceed to Paradise, or does his plan cover much, or even all aspects of our individual day-to-day lives?
34:31 Why is eternity referred to as a circle?
34: 32 How can all time be present at any given moment, even to God?
2. THE FATHER'S ETERNAL PERFECTION
35: 32 What does the word perfection mean when use to describe the Universal Father?
36:19-21 In what way(s) did Lucifer attack the Father's "whole scheme"? [See p.601 for the Lucifer Manifesto.]
3. JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
36: 38 What is justice? What is righteousness? Is there any difference?
37: 6-8 Is punishment always an inevitable consequence of wrongdoing? Does God (theTrinity) “meet out” punishment to wrongdoers, or is reality simply structured to cause that response, or what?
37:9-11 What is the "last analysis" in which sin-identified individuals have destroyed themselves by becoming wholly unreal? In what way have they become unreal? Does such unreality pertain to physical, morontial or mental existence, or just spiritual?
37:19-38 What "direct act" of the judges causes a being's extinction? Is it an energy zap of some kind? A withdrawal of upholding? What?
37: 34 Upon cessation of life, do you imagine that an isolated personality is absorbed into the Supreme as a drop of water merges with wine, or does it maintain a discrete form and proceed to a certain place?
4. THE DIVINE MERCY
38:6-8 Are mercy and justice two separate attitudes of God which he must balance, or is it only our point of view which necessitates giving them different names? Could justice merely be mercy that hurts?
38:10 What is the significance of the fact that God pardons us?
38:17-18 If our need is wholly sufficient to insure the full flow of our Father's mercies, what purpose does it serve for us to pray to him about our needs?
38:19-20 Can anyone give a personal example of how their improved understanding of someone made possible forgiveness and love?
5. THE LOVE OF GOD
39:11-13 In relation to a human family, is "chastening us for our own profit" more a fatherly than a motherly trait?
39:16-18 How does God 'blot out our transgressions?
39:22-26 How can we become more willing to submit ourselves to the leading of the indwelling spirit? What is the role of dependence in the spiritual life?
39:48-49 Can anyone relate an experience in which loving was a direct response to being loved?
40:8-9 God forever seeks our welfare; how can we become more mindful of others' welfare?
40:12-13 Can anyone give an example to illustrate the statement God is love, but love is not God"?
40:13-16 What was there about Michael's life, as opposed to what he taught, that made it our greatest revelation of the Father's love?
40:28-29 What do adherents of a religion lose who believe merely in a kingdom of good instead of a personal God?
6. THE GOODNESS OF GOD
40:35-36 Religion is defined here as a faith-trust in the goodness of God. Can you think of any other good definitions?
40:38-39 Can anyone who used to believe in God out of fear describe what caused that to change?
40:45-48 How can we successfully convey the idea of a loving heavenly Father to someone who had a bad relationship with his earthly father?
41:1 Why and how does God's goodness lead us to repentance?
41:5 What is meant by the statement "Taste and see that the Lord is good"?
41:6-7 How does God heal the brokenhearted?
41:18-19 Can a person continue to give love indefinitely without ever receiving it in return?
41:20-24 If Jesus anonymously returned to our society today, would he avoid discussion of the atonement doctrine, or attack it?
41:31-32 Why does God hate sin?
41:35 Is it possible for a human being to separate the sinner and the sin, the rapist from the rape, the robber from the theft? Realistically, are we able to love the sinner and hate the sin?
7 DIVINE TRUTH AND BEAUTY
42:7 How can we appreciate the fact that all finite knowledge and creature understanding are relative without becoming ethical relativists, without losing sight of the eternal nature of the truths Jesus taught?
42:12-13 What is certainty? How do we become certain of anything?
42:28-29 What does it mean to say that truth is replete and symmetrical?
42:33-34 How may we make practical use of the injunction to “always look for the creative design which is behind... universe phenomena”?
42:39-41 Can anyone give a personal example of something he initially thought was true, but could not “act out," and which eventually brought disappointment and sorrow?
42:41-42 What is it like to experience the "spiritual flavor" of divine truth?
43:16-21 Can anyone give an example of an "overstressed and isolated morality"?
43:22 In what way is the religious challenge of our age any different from the religious challenge of Jesus' age?
43:34-37 What makes a person happy?
PAPER 3
THE
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
44:2 What is the difference between the "attributes" of God set forth this paper and the 'nature" of God described in Paper 2?
44:3-4 If God is everywhere present, why can't we see him?
1. GOD'S EVERYWHERENESS
45:11-12 What does it mean to say of God that "his spirit speaks from within us"? How does it speak? How can we hear it better?
45:14-15 How can we "dwell in love"?
45:15-17 What "consequences of evil thinking" do we "torment" the Thought Adjuster with?
45:31-35 How does all creation inherently "adhere and consist" in God?
45:35-41 How can the Unqualified Absolute be the repository of uncreated universes of the eternal future? What "exclusive agencies" does it use to "intrude" upon the universes of the past, present and future?
46:7-11 What is meant by "God's presence"?
46:11-18 In what way might a quarantine conserve or safeguard "phases" of God's presence, since he neither removes Thought Adjusters nor withdraws his gift of personality from planets or systems which have plunged far into spiritual darkness?
2. GOD'S INFINITE POWER
47:7-9 Might this other form of non-spiritual energy referred to have been discovered since this paper was written?
47:47-48 Have you known anyone who blamed God for a bad thing in his life? Did you succeed in saying anything that to convinced him that the bad thing was not caused by God? What?
48:6-7 What “family discipline” are we exposed to here on Urantia?
48:13-23 How can we improve our understanding of the purposes of God?
48:27-30 What are the distinctions, if any, between 1 (the nature of God) and, 2 (the will of God)?
3. GOD’S UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE
49:23-24 Why might God not choose to foreknow events of sin?
49:23-26 Why doesn't God's foreknowledge of events abrogate our freedom?
4. GOD'S LIMITLESSNESS
50:24-30 Can anyone share an experience where he felt "the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father's love"?
50:27-30 What is the difference between the quality and the quantity of a spiritual experience?
50:33-34 Is there any approach to God other than by and through love?
5. THE FATHER'S SUPREME RULE
50:44-47 Why didn't God act independently upon the default of either Caligastia or Adam and Eve? (Or did he?)
51:5-6 How do "The Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men"? How is their exercise of authority consistent with the principle of God's respect for man's freedom to act as he chooses, even wrongly?
51:7-9 If God's plan prevails in the destiny of a planet, would he permit our planet to be destroyed, as by a nuclear war?
51 18-47 Can anyone relate a personal story based on any of the nine inevitabilities? For example, where grappling with hardships led to courage, or where encountering situations of social inequality led to altruism?
51:27 Is "the grandeur of trust" intended to be equivalent to hope?
51:28 Is faith the supreme assertion of human thought?
51:32 Can anyone relate a personal story about an expected place that the love of truth lead him to?
51:18-47 Is this an inclusive list of life's major "inevitabilities"? If not, what are some others?
52:1-10 Are there useful political implications for us in the value God places on human freedom? To what extent can or should responsible human government tolerate evil or error in the name of freedom?
52:18-19 Are there qualities other than faith and hope by which we earn ascension status?
52:23-24 Would you exchange your lot with one of the perfect citizens of Havona?
6. THE FATHER'S PRIMACY
52:38-43 Is there an implied promise from God in his reservation of ultimate authority?
52:45 If the universe was not inevitable, what does its creation tell us about the nature of God?
53:19 What is the relationship, if any, between the question of whether the Paradise Father suffers, and the question raised at 49:23-24 of whether God chooses to foreknow events of sin?
53:27 As they relate to God, define a few of the terms power, form, energy, process, pattern, principle, presence, and idealized reality.
PAPER 4
GOD'S RELATION TO
THE UNIVERSE
54:3-10 What is your concept of God's eternal purpose?
54:11-16 If the affectionate dedication of the human will to the doing of the Father's will is man's choicest gift to God (22:37-40), what is the choicest gift a citizen of Havona can give the Father?
1. THE UNIVERSAL ATTITUDE OF THE FATHER
54:29-32 Can a human being contribute to providence?
55:9-10 Can anyone relate an experience about how things unexpectedly worked together for good when the events and circumstances themselves seemed tragic?
59:19-20 If God should retire as present upholder of all creation," would the universes poof away into nothing instantaneously, or would they slowly wind down? Having been created, do the universes have an independent existence from God, or are they held as a thought in his mind?
59:13-17 This paragraph attributes the actions of providence to deliberate co-ordination of intelligent entities. At 2062:45 - 2063:5 the theory seems to be that goodness and faith are inherently triumphant, that is, by their very nature. At 606:44 - 607:3 we read that “[T]he kingdom of order, the intellect of loyalty, and the spirit of truth [are] inherently triumphant over rebellion, self-assertion, and so-called personal liberty…” Is providence brought about by premeditated action, or is it inherent in the nature of things? Or are both views correct?
2. GOD AND NATURE
56 22 As used here, what do the terms “nature” and “physical habit” include?
56:41-45 In what ways have "experimental plans, executive blunders, and insurrectionary errors" affected nature on Urantia?
57:7-9 How does continuing evolution modify nature by diminishing evil and error, since evil and error are not ordinarily considered to be in the physical realm?
57:16-19 Are there any nature worshippers these days?
57:23-27 Can anyone give an illustration of how “defect-interruptions” might facilitate human understanding?
3. GOD'S UNCHANGING CHARACTER
57: 37 In what ways, if any is God truly like man? If he is, does this afford us any insight into human nature?
58:3-5 How has the Lucifer rebellion confused, distorted or perverted our concept of God?
58:15-19 Are there similarities between our heavenly Father's attitude toward our failures, and the attitudes of good earthly parents toward their children's?
4. THE REALIZATION OF GOD
59:18-19 Who instructed the Divine Counselor to portray God as the Universal Father?
59:25-27 What does the adjective "tender" suggest in characterizing God's nature
59:31-34 Why does it require revelation to show that the Cause of science and the Unity of philosophy are the God of religion?
59:38-43 What does it mean to “challenge” recurring episodes of existence?
59:38-43 Is the admission of need implied in the clause “Even if I cannot do this” an essential part of the formula of faith-victory set forth? Is God promising us anything here?
5. ERRONEOUS IDEAS OF GOD
60:3-6 If the distinctions between Creators and local administrators is so important, why didn't Jesus talk more on the subject? What difference does it make?
60:24-30 Might the concept of sacrifice and atonement have been an acceptable transition belief for the time in which the Apostle Paul taught it? After all, it worked to convert a large part of the Roman world to a vastly higher religion, didn't it?
60:24-30 Given the forcefulness of The URANTIA Book's denunciation of the atonement doctrine, is this something we should openly denounce when we introduce the book to mainline Christians?
60:24-30 Did anyone present ever believe in the atonement doctrine? Could you share a personal story about how that belief changed?
60:41-45 What is the real problem with the atonement doctrine?
PAPER 5
GOD'S
RELATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL
62:9-11 How do we "attempt communion" with God?
1. THE APPROACH TO GOD
62:24-26 What is a "spiritual difference"?
62:28-29 How oblivious is the average URANTIA Book reader now to the presence of the Universal Father?
62:35 What might happen if, all else remaining the same, God began revealing himself to us more rapidly?
62:37 - 63:5 What is suggested about God's nature when we read that he “yearn[s]” for us to be with him?
63:37 - 63:5 What do you imagine it will be like to actually "stand in the presence of the Father"? (At 63:48 - 64:2 it is figuratively described as "face to face ")
63 6-10 For someone living an active life (in business, for example), must communion with the Father's spirit necessarily be occasional, or might it be continuous?
63:25-30 If we are slightly less than wholeheartedly and unreservedly consecrated, can we still know God and experience assurance? If we are only 99% consecrated, do we experience a pro rata 99% of the assurance possible?
63:31-36 How do we increase our desire to know God and become like him, and become more spiritually motivated?
63:38-39 Is the statement that God has a “place” on Paradise to receive us, literal or poetic?
63:39-44 What would it be like to have a religious philosophy in which God was not approachable?
63: 45-48 Is the statement that we may “swing around [the circuit of the seven universes] countless times" intended as a hint about the length of the average Paradise ascent? (See 165:33-39). How long do you think, on average, does it take to get to Paradise?
64: 6-10 How do our willful decisions separate us from God? How can we become less perverse, self-assertive, intolerant and unspiritual?
64:12-13 What actually happens when man's final doom is sealed?
64:11-16 Is it possible to minister spiritually to someone who has no desire to do God's will?
64:21-24 What does the phrase “if you yield to the leadings of the spiritual forces” imply as to the processes of spiritual growth?
2. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
64: 26 Is “the physical presence of the Infinite” another way to say “nature”?
64:29-31 Why do so few people consecrate themselves to doing the divine will?
64: 32 What does “spirit-born” mean? Is there any implication in this sentence that God does not live in sons which are not born of the spirit?
64:34-38 What is the personality circuit?
64:42-43 What happens in a person's spiritual life if he only “dream[s] of God far off in the skies”?
65; 8-11 Are we humanly aware of when the soul begins to recognize the Adjuster?
65:12-13 In what way does our experience of Adjuster communion involve moral status?
3. TRUE WORSHIP
65:18-24 Are there any human attachments or relationships that are similar to true worship directed to the heavenly Father?
65:25-26 Who is in the "Son's spiritual organization"?
65:38-46 Why does the Heavenly Father enjoy our worship?
65:38-46 How often do we really engage in true worship as described here, which "asks nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper"?
66:6-9 What is our role in "work[ing] out the details of [our] earthly sojourn with the intelligences of the Infinite Spirit"?
66:19-21 What are the “powers of the human personality”?
66:19-21 How can we allow our souls to dominate our human personalities?
66:21-23 To what extent can we free our minds of material limitations while we yet live on earth?
66:30-35 Are there connotations of passivity in saying that the material mind “assents” and “consents” to worship? Does the material mind do anything other than get out of the way and allow worship to happen?
66:33-35 How can we stimulate our souls more into craving and initiating worship?
4. GOD IN RELIGION
66:42-45 Reconcile the definition of religion given here as 'divinity attainment predicated on humanity service" with Jesus' statement on 1931:8-18 in which service is identified as a byproduct of inner spiritual transformation.
66:46-47 What does it mean to have “unity in human experience”?
67:1-4 Are there any parallels between polytheism becoming monotheism with primitive man, and discipleship becoming apostleship in the religion of Jesus?
67:5-10 How would it change the way a person lived for him to identify himself with the universe?
67:11-14 Do philosophy and art always intervene between our non-religious and religious activities, or only certain types of philosophy and art? If only certain types, which would and which wouldn't?
67:21-22 Is the religion of Jesus salvation from self in any ways other than through deliverance from isolation?
67:24-25 How does love embrace truth, beauty and goodness?
67:26-29 Do the religions of the world have spiritual value other than to the extent that they are valid approaches to the religion of Jesus?
67:34-37 In practice, do people's differing concepts of their religion much influence their attitudes in life situations?
67:44 -68:2 In the type of Christianity you are most familiar with, does the Hebrew concept, the Greek concept, or the religion of Jesus dominate?
68:8-12 How does God actively show his affection toward us?
5. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD
68:18-22 How do we sincerely strive to be like God?
68:26-30 Can anyone relate an experience where worship lead to consciousness of universe fellowship?
68:37-38 Can social service cause moral thinking and religious living?
68:39-41 Why isn't the “adoration of the abstract beautiful” equivalent to the worship of God?
69:1-2 To what extent should parents permit religion to be optional with their young children?
69:3-5 Why can't the material mind understand spiritual experience?
69:6-9 Which concept can a child grasp easier, immanence or transcendence?
69:17-18 How does religious experience unify human consciousness?
69:20-21 What is suggested by the use of the word “thrive” to describe our experience of divine companionship?
69:26-29 What does it feel like to experience the personality of God?
69:35-39 Is the URANTIA movement sufficiently open to “intelligent criticism and reasonable philosophic interpretation”?
69:35-39 What would happen to a religion which became “a thing apart in the totality of human experience”? Can you think of any historical examples?
69:42-43 Is it that our minds must believe God, or that our minds must believe certain things about God?
69:42-43 Does anyone present have any doubt about his eternal survival?
70:5-10 What causes a person to seek for God?
6. THE GOD OF PERSONALITY
70:30-32 When does a human child receive personality?
71:13-15 In our lives, to what extent does the Father “stand aside”?
71:19-24 If, as we read at 51:5, “The Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men”, how is that reconciled with the “absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will”?
71:28-30 Do we really feel drawn toward God's Paradise presence?