The Urantia Book?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Caesar
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Caesar

Guest
I was browsing the bookshelf in our front hall today, seeing whether I could find anything interesting amongst the dust, and I came across a large hardcover volume called The Urantia Book. It has been in my mother’s little book collection since before I was born, but I had never bothered with it before.

Today however I flipped through and found that this is obviously a theological work, and from the brief random bits I read it seems to be Christian. Some parts seem to discuss social and political ideas in terms of religion.

Anyway, what is this? Is it Catholic? Should I read it?
 
Well, based on the website that Joey found, I guess that reading it or not depends on whether you like science fiction. 😃

Looks pretty weird to me.
 
It’s** not** Christian, and it’s definitely not Catholic.
My understanding is that it is another “channelled” book…You know? Somebody says that “this is what the spirits tell me”??
I’d leave it alone. It’s a fraud…Yes, I have known of people who :eek: got mixed up in it. They ended up deeply confused.
 
Zooey said:
It’s** not** Christian, and it’s definitely not Catholic.
My understanding is that it is another “channelled” book…You know? Somebody says that “this is what the spirits tell me”??
I’d leave it alone. It’s a fraud…Yes, I have known of people who :eek: got mixed up in it. They ended up deeply confused.
Click to expand...
Correct. From what I have read, it is New Age in beliefs.
 
Yup, definately not Catholic! Sounds almost like Scientology actually.
 
The Uranitia book is basically a pile of nonsense compiled by an ex-SDA man who believed it was communicated to him by angelic spirits, and it contains a fairly weird mix of science fiction, 19th century scientific theory, theosophy and syncretic Christian beliefs. Martin Gardener wrote a book somewhere which analyses and debunks it quite thoroughly.
 
It’s a UFO-oriented religion, similar to Raelianism, Scientology, and so many others. I knew at least one long ago. It’s not Christian.
 
The urantia book is a very impressive book. Sci-fi or revelation…it is either legit, or authored by a genius. Contains a very compelling portrayal of Jesus life. Is it Christian? Depends who is doing the defining. It is a fact that a copy resides in the Vatican library. I would suggest not relying on others second hand opinions ,and read it yourself. Personally, I believe a reading of the Jesus section makes me a better Christian…that’s a fact 😛
 
stonetower said:
The urantia book is a very impressive book. Sci-fi or revelation…it is either legit, or authored by a genius. Contains a very compelling portrayal of Jesus life. Is it Christian? Depends who is doing the defining. It is a fact that a copy resides in the Vatican library. I would suggest not relying on others second hand opinions ,and read it yourself. Personally, I believe a reading of the Jesus section makes me a better Christian…that’s a fact 😛
Click to expand...
As you are telling us not to rely on secondhand opinions about the book I assume when you say it is a fact the Vatican has a copy in its library that you have personally seen this book in the Vatican library otherwise what you say would be a secondhand opinion!!
 
Thistle~ well, although I didn’t see it, I did call and ask. So, assuming the librarian didn’t lie, it’s there. Which doesn’t mean the Pope reads it or anything…the library is huge…just an interesting fact.
I do believe first hand knowledge is important with the urantia book. Much of what is said on critical web sites simply isn’t true (including “facts” in Gardner’s book-although he does some good research). Most just rely on what they hear about the book.
It claims to be written by divine beings (angles,etc-not “aliens”) as a major revelation for our world. True, any such claim should have people looking at the book with a critical eye. But remember Jesus made some amazing claims too…and the priests of his day rejected him…the Torah said no prophet would arise from Nazareth, and the Jewish Messiah was certainly not supposed to be Son of God and son of man! So the priests attributed his good works to Satan and killed him, but the truth seekers of his day heard and accepted him (even though by doing this they were cast out of the synagouge).
I’m Catholic…went to Catholic grammer school and high school in addition to CYO. True, a lot of the urantia books appears far fetched (research in progress:rolleyes: ) but the life and teachings of Jesus section is the most compelling and real account of his life I have ever read. The whole book is very intelligently written, by someone with a superb command of English. It is an impressive and unusual book and should not be grouped with the usuall mediocre and fraudulent channelling material.
 
Caesar said:
I was browsing the bookshelf in our front hall today, seeing whether I could find anything interesting amongst the dust, and I came across a large hardcover volume called The Urantia Book. It has been in my mother’s little book collection since before I was born, but I had never bothered with it before.

Today however I flipped through and found that this is obviously a theological work, and from the brief random bits I read it seems to be Christian. Some parts seem to discuss social and political ideas in terms of religion.

Anyway, what is this? Is it Catholic? Should I read it?
Click to expand...
It’s a cult book. My mother belonged to a Urantia Book club for a while, and I also attended it. It’s a religion unto itself, but it borrows many ideas from a variety of schools of thought.

The Urantia Book teaches, among other things, that Jesus is the “Chief Angel” (analogous to St. Michael the Archangel) of Heaven. That He travels from planet to planet, taking on the form of the dominant intelligent species, and teaching them The Way. That the planet Earth is the only one where He ever got crucified for His teachings, and that this is the reason that beings from other planets don’t communicate with us or include us in their planetary councils, etc.

(Earth is also the only planet where our original parents committed sin. Apparently, we’re just bad seed all the way around.)

The book is incredibly well put together, and very compelling. Someone went to a great deal of work and effort to compile it.
 
stonetower said:
Thistle~ well, although I didn’t see it, I did call and ask. So, assuming the librarian didn’t lie, it’s there. Which doesn’t mean the Pope reads it or anything…the library is huge…just an interesting fact.
I do believe first hand knowledge is important with the urantia book. Much of what is said on critical web sites simply isn’t true (including “facts” in Gardner’s book-although he does some good research). Most just rely on what they hear about the book.
It claims to be written by divine beings (angles,etc-not “aliens”) as a major revelation for our world. True, any such claim should have people looking at the book with a critical eye. But remember Jesus made some amazing claims too…and the priests of his day rejected him…the Torah said no prophet would arise from Nazareth, and the Jewish Messiah was certainly not supposed to be Son of God and son of man! So the priests attributed his good works to Satan and killed him, but the truth seekers of his day heard and accepted him (even though by doing this they were cast out of the synagouge).
I’m Catholic…went to Catholic grammer school and high school in addition to CYO. True, a lot of the urantia books appears far fetched (research in progress:rolleyes: ) but the life and teachings of Jesus section is the most compelling and real account of his life I have ever read. The whole book is very intelligently written, by someone with a superb command of English. It is an impressive and unusual book and should not be grouped with the usuall mediocre and fraudulent channelling material.
Click to expand...
The book is available to read online and frankly its largely fiction. Another one who thinks he knows all about the childhood of Jesus.
Stick to proper Catholic books and forget books like this written by weirdos.
 
Jmcrae~
I agree it is well put together.
Not a cult though-in the sense that you are pressured to join/give $,etc. In fact ,just the opposite…hard to find info, or people who read it.

You said:
*The Urantia Book teaches, among other things, that Jesus is the “Chief Angel” (analogous to St. Michael the Archangel) of Heaven. That He travels from planet to planet, taking on the form of the dominant intelligent species, and teaching them The Way. That the planet Earth is the only one where He ever got crucified for His teachings, and that this is the reason that beings from other planets don’t communicate with us or include us in their planetary councils, etc.

(Earth is also the only planet where our original parents committed sin. Apparently, we’re just bad seed all the way around.)*

Since I have read this book-took a year-I can comment fairly (I believe) accurately on its contents.Comment:
~Jesus isn’t “chief angel” He is a “Creator Son of God”
~It teaches that Jesus incarnated in 6 different forms of universe life (essentially angels) before incarnating as the babe in Bethlehem.
~ Planet earth is the only planet he got crucified on because he was never incarnated as a human being on any other planet!
~Jesus being crucified doesn’t separate us from other planets with intelligent life. This happened because of the Lucifer rebellion, and the fact our planetary prince enlisted under Lucifers cause.
~If your refer to Adam & Eve. We are not the only planet were they defaulted. In the urantia book. Adam & Eve were no myth. but they were not the first humans…they were sent to blend with mortals. Pretty amazing stuff.
Anyway, here is a urantia book tidbit re the faith of Jesusmercy.urantia.org/papers/paper196.html:
 
stonetower said:
Jmcrae~
I agree it is well put together.
Not a cult though-in the sense that you are pressured to join/give $,etc. In fact ,just the opposite…hard to find info, or people who read it.

You said:
*The Urantia Book teaches, among other things, that Jesus is the “Chief Angel” (analogous to St. Michael the Archangel) of Heaven. That He travels from planet to planet, taking on the form of the dominant intelligent species, and teaching them The Way. That the planet Earth is the only one where He ever got crucified for His teachings, and that this is the reason that beings from other planets don’t communicate with us or include us in their planetary councils, etc.

(Earth is also the only planet where our original parents committed sin. Apparently, we’re just bad seed all the way around.)*

Since I have read this book-took a year-I can comment fairly (I believe) accurately on its contents.Comment:
~Jesus isn’t “chief angel” He is a “Creator Son of God”
~It teaches that Jesus incarnated in 6 different forms of universe life (essentially angels) before incarnating as the babe in Bethlehem.
~ Planet earth is the only planet he got crucified on because he was never incarnated as a human being on any other planet!
~Jesus being crucified doesn’t separate us from other planets with intelligent life. This happened because of the Lucifer rebellion, and the fact our planetary prince enlisted under Lucifers cause.
~If your refer to Adam & Eve. We are not the only planet were they defaulted. In the urantia book. Adam & Eve were no myth. but they were not the first humans…they were sent to blend with mortals. Pretty amazing stuff.
Anyway, here is a urantia book tidbit re the faith of Jesusmercy.urantia.org/papers/paper196.html:
Click to expand...
It’s been a long time - I think I was 16 years old the last time I opened it up. But I remembered the Michael the Archangel part because when I went to Sacred Heart for the first time (August 3, 1991), what drew me inside was that they were praying the St. Michael prayer - and I had to go in there and find out how they knew about him - I had thought that it was just a Urantia Book secret; I didn’t know there were other people who knew about him. 🙂

That’s when I met Father Myles, and really got my theology straightened out. 😛
 
Okay, I just have to laugh. I was a bored four-year-old, and already pretty literate, but I pulled it off some used-bookshelf just to give it a whirl. I raced right through it, and promptly declared it horsepuckey. 😛

Fortunately, I found some good reads back in the stacks later (like I could be crowbarred out of a bookstore without some even then), but the memory of the sheer nonsense remains crystal-clear, and I wish I could just dump that recall in the landfill.

Opinionated? Me? Oh never, certainly no tendencies towards such! 😉
 
Nepenthe said:
Okay, I just have to laugh. I was a bored four-year-old, and already pretty literate, but I pulled it off some used-bookshelf just to give it a whirl. I raced right through it, and promptly declared it horsepuckey. 😛
Click to expand...
Smart kid! 👍
Fortunately, I found some good reads back in the stacks later (like I could be crowbarred out of a bookstore without some even then), but the memory of the sheer nonsense remains crystal-clear, and I wish I could just dump that recall in the landfill.
Click to expand...
Opinionated? Me? Oh never, certainly no tendencies towards such! 😉
Click to expand...
I think for me the tipoff was the “Morontian mansions” - I figured someone was pulling a practical joke.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top