The Later Evolution of Religion

 

The Foundations of Religious Faith Live Book Reading

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Early Evolution of Religion

 

The Delay at Ramah

 

The delay at Ramah

146:3.1 (1641.3)At Ramah, Jesus had the memorable conversation with the elderly Greek sage who taught that science and philosophy were sufficient to meet the needs of human experience. Jesus listened with patience and sympathy to this Greek teacher, acknowledging the truth of many things he said, but when the Greek had finished, Jesus pointed out to him that in his discussion of human existence, he had failed to give an explanation of the “whence, why, and whither,” adding, “Where thou hast ceased, we begin. Religion is a revelation to the soul of man, dealing with spiritual realities that thought alone could never discover or fully fathom. The efforts of the intellect may reveal the facts of life, but the gospel of the kingdom unfolds the truths of existence. Thou hast discussed the material shadows of truth, wilt thou now listen while I tell thee of the eternal, spiritual realities that shed these passing time-shadows of the material facts of mortal existence? For more than an hour, Jesus taught this Greek the saving truths of the gospel of the kingdom. The ancient philosopher was receptive to the Master's approach, and being sincere and honest in heart, he soon believed this gospel of salvation.

146:3.2 (1641.4)The apostles were somewhat dismayed at the open manner in which Jesus agreed with many of the Greek's propositions, but Jesus said to them afterwards, when they were among themselves again, “Children, do not be surprised that I was tolerant of the Greek's philosophy. True, genuine inner certainty is not in the least afraid of outside analysis, nor does truth take offence at honest criticism. One must never forget that bigotry is a mask to disguise the fact that one secretly doubts the correctness of what one believes. No one will ever be upset by his neighbor's disposition if he has perfect confidence in the truth of what he sincerely believes. Courage is the confidence that comes from absolute honesty about the things one says he believes in. Sincere people are not afraid of a critical examination of their true beliefs and noble ideals.

146:3.3 (1641.5)On the second evening at Ramah, Tomas asked Jesus the following question, “Master, how can anyone who only believes in your teaching really know, really be sure, that this gospel of the kingdom is true?

146:3.4 (1641.6)And Jesus said to Tomas, “Your assurance that you have become a member of the family of the Father's kingdom, and that you will live forever with the children of the kingdom, is entirely a matter of personal experience - faith in the word of truth. Spiritual assurance is the equivalent of your personal religious experience in the eternal realities of divine truth, and is otherwise equivalent to your intelligent understanding of the truth realities, plus your spiritual faith confidence, and minus your honest doubt.

146:3.5 (1642.1)'The Son is naturally endowed with the life of the Father. Because you are endowed with the living spirit of the Father, you are therefore sons of God. You survive your life in the material world of the flesh because you become identified with the living spirit of the Father, the gift of eternal life. Very many already had this life before I went forth from the Father, and many more received this spirit because they believed my word; but I tell you that when I return to the Father, he will send his spirit into the hearts of all men.

146:3.6 (1642.2)'Although you cannot see the divine spirit working in your consciousness, there is a practical method of discovering to what extent you have transferred control over the faculties of your souls to the instruction and guidance of this indwelling spirit of the Heavenly Father, and that is the degree to which you love your fellow men. This spirit of the Father shares in the love of the Father, and according to the degree to which it controls human beings, it certainly leads you in the direction of worshiping God and loving your fellow man. At first you believe that you are sons of God because my teaching has made you more aware of the inner indications of our Father's indwelling presence, but soon the Spirit of Truth will be poured out on all flesh, and it will live among men and teach all men, just as I now live among you and speak the words of truth to you. And this Spirit of Truth, speaking for the spiritual gifts to your souls, will help you to know that you are sons of God. It will witness unceasingly, together with the indwelling presence of the Father, your spirit, which will then dwell in all men as it now dwells in some, telling you that in truth you are sons of God.

146:3.7 (1642.3)'Every child of the earth who follows the instruction of this spirit will eventually know the will of God, and he who surrenders to the will of my Father will live forever. The way from life on earth to the eternal state has not been made clear to you, but there is a way, there has always been a way, and I have come to make that way new and alive. He who enters the kingdom already has eternal life - he will never perish. But much of this you will understand better when I have returned to the Father and you can see your present experiences in retrospect.

146:3.8 (1642.4)All who heard these blessed words were greatly encouraged. Jewish teaching had been confused and uncertain regarding the survival of the righteous, and it was invigorating and inspiring for the followers of Jesus to hear these very clear and positive words of assurance regarding the eternal survival of all sincere believers.

146:3.9 (1642.5)The apostles continued to preach and baptize believers, while also remaining faithful to their custom of making visits from house to house, encouraging the downcast, and caring for the sick and suffering. The apostolic organization was expanded, in that each of Jesus' apostles now had one of John's apostles as an associate. Abner was Andrew's associate, and this plan remained in effect until they went to Jerusalem for the next Passover.

146:3.10 (1642.6)The special instruction that Jesus gave them during the stay at Zebulun had primarily to do with further discussions of mutual obligations in the kingdom and included teaching designed to make clear the differences between personal religious experience and the friendly relationships that flow from social religious obligations. This was one of the few times the Master ever discussed the social aspects of religion. Throughout his life on earth, Jesus gave very little instruction to his followers regarding the socialization of religion.

146:3.11 (1643.1)The inhabitants of Zebulun were of mixed race, hardly Jewish nor pagan, and few of them really came to believe in Jesus despite the fact that they had heard of the healing of the sick at Capernaum.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

The Task of Christianity

 

The task of Christianity

195:9.1 (2082.6)Do not overlook the value of your spiritual heritage, the river of truth that has continued to flow through the ages, even into the barren times of a materialistic, secularist age. Take care that in all your praiseworthy efforts to free yourself from the superstitious beliefs of past centuries, you hold on to the eternal truth. Be patient, however! When the present revolt against superstition is over, the truths of the gospel of Jesus will continue to gloriously illuminate a new, better way.

195:9.2 (2082.7)But paganized, socialized Christianity is in need of a new contact with the uncontaminated teaching of Jesus: it is languishing because it lacks a new vision of the Master's life on earth. A new, fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is meant to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and overthrow the world domination of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia now stands trembling on the threshold of one of its most amazing, exciting epochs of social reordering, moral revival and spiritual enlightenment.

195:9.3 (2082.8)Even though the teaching of Jesus was highly modified, it has survived the mysteries at the time of his birth and the ignorance and superstition of the dark Middle Ages, and is even now slowly triumphing over the materialism, mechanism, and secularization of the twentieth century. And such times of great trial and impending defeat are always times of great revelation.

195:9.4 (2082.9)Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who dare to rely solely on Jesus and his incomparable teaching. If Christianity continues to neglect its spiritual mission while it remains preoccupied with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance will have to wait for the arrival of these new teachers of the religion of Jesus, who will devote themselves exclusively to the spiritual renewal of men. And then these souls born of the spirit will soon provide the leadership and inspiration needed for the social, moral, economic and political reorganization of the world.

195:9.5 (2083.1)The modern age will refuse to accept a religion that is not true to fact and not in harmony with its highest conceptions of truth, beauty and goodness. The hour has come for a rediscovery of the true, original foundation of today's distorted, compromised Christianity - the real life and teaching of Jesus.

195:9.6 (2083.2)Primitive man lived in superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern civilized man becomes terrified at the thought that he could be controlled by strong religious beliefs. Thinking man has always been afraid of falling into the grip of a religion. Whenever a strong, moving religion threatens to control him, he invariably tries to rationalize it and make it into a tradition and an institution, hoping thus to control it. By this procedure, even revealed religion becomes a man-made and man-controlled religion. Modern, intelligent men and women shun the religion of Jesus because of their fear of what it will do to them - and to them. And there is every reason for such fears. Indeed, the religion of Jesus controls and transforms its believers, for it demands that men devote their lives to the pursuit of knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven, and it requires that the energies of life be unselfishly placed in the service of the brotherhood of men.

195:9.7 (2083.3)Selfish men and women simply will not pay such a price, even for the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered to mortal man. Only when man is sufficiently disillusioned by the grievous disappointments associated with the foolish, deceitful pursuit of selfish ends, and when he has discovered how unfruitful formalized religion is, will he be inclined to turn sincerely to the gospel of the kingdom, the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.

195:9.8 (2083.4)The world needs more first-hand religion. Even Christianity - the best religion of the twentieth century - is not just a religion about Jesus; it is largely a religion that people experience secondhand. They accept their religion entirely as handed down by their accepted religious teachers. What an awakening the world would experience if it could see Jesus as he really lived on earth and learn firsthand his life-giving teaching! Descriptions of beautiful things cannot move as deeply as seeing them, nor can the words of a profession of faith inspire man's soul as much as the experience of knowing the presence of God. But expectant faith will always keep open the door of hope of man's soul, so that there the eternal, spiritual realities of the divine values of the worlds above may enter.

195:9.9 (2083.5)Christianity has dared to lower its ideals in the face of the challenge of human greed, war-mongering, and the desire for power; the religion of Jesus, however, stands firm as the unstinted, transcendent spiritual call that asks the best in man to rise above all these legacies of animal evolution, and by grace, to reach the moral heights of true human destiny.

195:9.10 (2083.6)Christianity is in danger of slowly dying because of formalism, overorganization, intellectualism and other non-spiritual tendencies. The modern Christian church is not the brotherhood of dynamic believers to whom Jesus instructed to continually bring about the spiritual transformation of successive generations of people.

195:9.11 (2083.7)So-called Christianity has become both a social, cultural movement and a religious belief and practice. The river of modern Christianity draws its water from many an ancient pagan swamp and many a barbarian wetland; many ancient cultural catchments drain into the cultural stream of our time, in addition to the high plains of Galilee which are assumed to be its source area.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

The Nature of God

The Nature of God 2:0.1 (33.1)INASMUCH as man’s highest possible concept of God is embraced within the human idea and ideal of a primal and infinite personality, it is permissible, and may prove helpful, to study certain characteristics of the divine nature which constitute the character of Deity. The nature of God can best be understood by the revelation of the Father which Michael of Nebadon unfolded in his manifold teachings and in his superb mortal life in the flesh. The divine nature can also be better understood by man if he regards himself as a child of God and looks up to the Paradise Creator as a true spiritual Father. 2:0.2 (33.2)The nature of God can be studied in a revelation of supreme ideas, the divine character can be envisaged as a portrayal of supernal ideals, but the most enlightening and spiritually edifying of all revelations of the divine nature is to be found in the comprehension of the religious life of Jesus of Nazareth, both before and after his attainment of full consciousness of divinity. If the incarnated life of Michael is taken as the background of the revelation of God to man, we may attempt to put in human word symbols certain ideas and ideals concerning the divine nature which may possibly contribute to a further illumination and unification of the human concept of the nature and the character of the personality of the Universal Father. 2:0.3 (33.3)In all our efforts to enlarge and spiritualize the human concept of God, we are tremendously handicapped by the limited capacity of the mortal mind. We are also seriously handicapped in the execution of our assignment by the limitations of language and by the poverty of material which can be utilized for purposes of illustration or comparison in our efforts to portray divine values and to present spiritual meanings to the finite, mortal mind of man. All our efforts to enlarge the human concept of God would be well-nigh futile except for the fact that the mortal mind is indwelt by the bestowed Adjuster of the Universal Father and is pervaded by the Truth Spirit of the Creator Son. Depending, therefore, on the presence of these divine spirits within the heart of man for assistance in the enlargement of the concept of God, I cheerfully undertake the execution of my mandate to attempt the further portrayal of the nature of God to the mind of man.

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'Our Religion'

 

'Our Religion'

131:10.1 (1453.3)After the great effort of putting together this compilation of the world religions' teaching on the Paradise Father, Ganid set to work formulating what he considered a summary of the beliefs concerning God to which he had come through the teaching of Jesus. The young man was in the habit of referring to these beliefs as “our religion. Here is what he wrote down:

131:10.2 (1453.4)'The Lord our God is one Lord, and you must love him with all your mind and heart, doing your utmost to love all his children as yourself. This one God is our heavenly Father in whom all things exist and who dwells by His Spirit in every sincere human soul. And we who are the children of God must learn to entrust our souls to him as to a faithful Creator. With our heavenly Father, all things are possible. Since he is the Creator and made all things and all beings, it could not be otherwise. Although we cannot see God, we can know him. And by living daily according to the Father's will, we can reveal him to our fellow men.

131:10.3 (1453.5)'The divine riches of God's character must be infinitely deep and eternally wise. We cannot fathom God with our knowledge, but we can know him in our hearts through our personal experience. Even though his righteousness is beyond all comprehension, even the humblest man on earth can receive his grace. As the Father fills the universe, he also dwells in our hearts. Man's consciousness is human, mortal, but man's spirit is divine, immortal. God is not only all-powerful, but also all-wise. If our earthly parents, yet inclined to evil, can love their children and bestow good gifts upon them, how much more must the good Father in heaven love his children on earth with wisdom and bestow appropriate blessings upon them.

131:10.4 (1454.1)'The Father in heaven will not allow even one of his children to perish on earth if that child has a desire to find the Father and truly desires to be like him. Our Father loves even the wicked and is always lenient toward the ungrateful. If only more people could know of the goodness of God, they would certainly want to repent of their bad ways of life and give up all known sin. All good things descend from the Father of the Light, in whom there is no mutability, nor hint of reversal. The spirit of the true God is in man's heart. His intention is that all men will be brothers. When people begin to grope for God, it proves that he has found them, and that they are seeking knowledge about him. We live in God and God dwells in us.

131:10.5 (1454.2)'It will no longer be enough for me to believe that God is the Father of all my people: from now on I will believe that he is also my Father. I will always seek to worship God with the help of the Spirit of Truth, who is my helper when I have become truly God-knowing. But in first of all, I am going to practice to worship God by learning to do God's will on earth; that is, I am going to do my best to deal with every fellow human being exactly as I think God would want me to. And when we live this kind of life in the flesh, we may ask many things of God, and he will fulfill the desire of our heart, so that we will be all the better able to serve our fellow men. And all this loving serving of the children of God, increases our ability to receive and experience the joys of heaven, the high pleasures of the service of the spirit of heaven.

131:10.6 (1454.3)'I will thank God every day for his unspeakable gifts; I will praise him for his wonderful works to the children of men. To me he is the Almighty, the Creator, the Power and the Mercy, but the most beautiful thing is that he is my spirit-Father, and as his earthly child I will go out once to see him. And my teacher has said that by seeking Him, I will become as He is. By faith in God, I have found peace with him. This new religion of ours is very joyful and brings lasting happiness. I trust that I will be faithful even unto death, and will surely receive the crown of eternal life.

131:10.7 (1454.4)'I am now learning to examine all things and to adhere to what is good. All that I would have people do for me, I will do for my fellow men. By this new faith I know that man can become a son of God; however, sometimes it frightens me to think that all men are my brothers, but it must be true. I do not see how I can rejoice in the fatherhood of God while refusing to accept the brotherhood of men. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If that is true, then all men must be my brethren.

131:10.8 (1454.5)'From now on I will do my good works in secret; also I will pray most when I am alone. I will not judge, so as not to be unfair to my fellow men. I am going to learn to love my enemies; I have not yet really mastered this exercise of being God-like. Although I detect God in these other religions, I find that in “our religion” his beauty comes out better, that here he is more loving, more merciful, more personal and more positive. But above all, this grand, glorious Being is my spiritual Father: I am His child. And by no other means than my honest desire to be like Him will I finally find and eternally serve Him. At last I have a religion with a God, a wonderful God, and he is a God who preserves forever.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book            

True God's Religion

 True God's Religion

99:4.3 (1089.11)True religion is a meaningful way of living dynamically face to face with the ordinary realities of everyday life. But if religion is to stimulate the development of individual character and promote the integration of personality, it must not be standardized. If it is to stimulate the evaluation of experience, and serve to make truths appealing, it must not be stereotyped. If religion is to promote supreme loyalties, it should not be formalized.

99:4.4 (1089.12)Whatever upheavals may accompany the social and economic growth of civilization, religion is real and useful if it cultivates in the individual man the experience in which the sovereignty of truth, beauty and goodness prevails, for this is the true spiritual understanding of the supreme reality. And through love and worship of God this acquires meaning as friendship with men and sonship with God.

99:4.5 (1090.1)After all, it is more by what a person believes, than by what a person knows, that his behavior is determined and his personal achievements are controlled. Purely factual knowledge has very little influence on the average person unless that knowledge is emotionally activated. But the activation emanating from religion is supra-emotional, unifying the entire human experience at transcendental levels by contacting, and releasing, spiritual energies into the mortal's life.

99:4.6 (1090.2)In the twentieth century with its psychological uncertainty, in the economic upheavals, moral crosscurrents and sociological torrents of the transitions in a scientific epoch that come upon man like whirlwinds, many thousands of men and women have become humanly disrupted; they are anxious, restless, fearful, uncertain and confused; as never before in world history they need the consolation and stabilization that healthy religion provides. In the face of unparalleled achievements in science and technical development, there is spiritual stagnation and philosophical chaos.

99:4.7 (1090.3)When religion becomes more and more a private matter - a personal experience - there is no danger in this, provided it does not lose its motivation for selfless, loving social service. Religion has suffered from many secondary influences: the sudden mixing of cultures, the intermingling of faiths, the reduction of church authority, changes in family life, all in addition to urbanization and mechanization.

99:4.8 (1090.4)The greatest spiritual danger for man consists in partial progress, the predicament of unfinished growth: the abandonment of the evolutionary religions of fear, without immediate grasp of the revelatory religion of love. Modern science, specially psychology, has weakened only those religions that rely to a very large extent on fear, superstition and emotion.

99:4.9 (1090.5)Transitions are always accompanied by confusion, and there will not be much peace and tranquility in the world of religion until the great struggle between the three warring religious philosophies is over:

99:4.10 (1090.6)1. the spiritualistic belief (in a providential Deity) of many religions;

99:4.11 (1090.7)2. the humanistic and idealistic belief in many philosophies;

99:4.12 (1090.8)3. the mechanistic and naturalistic beliefs in many branches of science.

99:4.13 (1090.9)These three partial ways of approaching the reality of the cosmos must ultimately be harmonized with each other through the revelatory presentation of religion, philosophy and cosmology, which describes the triune existence of spirit, consciousness and energy that emanates from Paradise Trinity, and achieves time-space union within the Godhead of the Supreme.

A Thought for Consideration from The Urantia Book

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