Quotations from the Urantia Book
PONDER OVER THESE QUOTATIONS FROM THE URANTIA BOOK
The periodic, spontaneous, group, and other special outbursts of supreme adoration and spiritual praise enjoyed on Paradise are conducted under the leadership of a special corps of primary supernaphim. (0304-01)
While the Isle of Paradise contains certain places of worship, it is more nearly one vast sanctuary of divine service. Worship is the primary and dominant passion of all who climb to its blissful shores…(0303-06)
Worship is the highest joy of Paradise existence; it is the refreshing play of Paradise. What play does for your jaded mainds on earth, worship will do for your perfected souls on Paradise. The mode of worship on Paradise is utterly beyond mortal comprehension, but the spirit of it you can begin to appreciate even down here on Urantia, for the spirits of the Gods even now indwell you, hover over you, and inspire you to true worship. (0304-03)
The purpose of education should be acquirement of skill, pursuit of wisdom, realization of selfhood, and attainment of spiritual values. (0806-01)
Urantians should get a vision of a new and higher cultural society. Education will jump to new levels of value with passing of the purely profit-motivated system of economics. Education has too long been localistic, militaristic, ego exalting, and success seeking; it must eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing, and cosmic grasping. (0806-03)
Teachers must be free beings, real leaders, to the end that philosophy, the search for wisdom, may become the chief educational pursuit. (0806-04)
The human mind does not well stand the conflict of double allegiance. It is a severe strain on the soul to undergo the experience of an effort to serve both good and evil. The supremely happy and efficiently unified mind is the one wholly dedicated to doing of the will of the Father in heaven. (1480-04)
Jesus told a philosopher from Epheus about the soul: “The soul is self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world. Self-consiousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. A stangnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul of man is distinct from the divine spirit which dwells within the mind. The divien spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and that is the occationof the birth of the soul. (1478-04)
Ganid was, by this time, beginning to learn how his tutor spent his leisure in this unusual personal ministry to his fellow men, and the young Indian set about to find out the motive for these incessant activities. He asked, “Why do you occupy yourself so continuously with these visits with strangers?” And Jesus answered: “Ganid, no man is a stranger to the one who knows God. In the experience of finding the Father in heaven you discover that all men are your brothers, and does it seem strange that one should enjoy the exhilaration of meeting a newly discovered brother? To become acquainted with one’s brothers and sisters, to know their problems and to learn to love them, is the supreme experience of living.” (1431-01)
Day by day Jesus interpreted the lectures to Ganid (at the Alexandria museum-my remark); one day during the second week of the young man exclaimed: “Teacher Joshua, you know more than these professors; you should stand up and tell them the great things you have told me; they are befogged by much thinking. I shall speak to my father and have him arrange it.” Jesus smiled, saying: “You are an admiring pupil, but these teachers are not minded that you and I should instruct them. The pride of unspiritualized learning is a treacherous thing in human experience. The true teacher maintains his intellectual integrity be ever remaining a learner.” (1433-02)
Jesus made plain to his apostles the difference between the repentence of so-called good works as taught by the Jews and the change of mind by faith – the new birth – which he required as the price of admission to the kingdom. He taught his apostles that faith was the only requisite to entering the Father’s kingdom.
John asked Jesus, “Master, what is the kingdom of heaven?” And Jesus answered: “The kingdom of heaven consists in these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in th e effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God – to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.” (1585-07)
“I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all.” (1588-04)
He next explained that the “kingdom idea” was not the best way to illustrate man’s relation to God; that he employed such figures of speech because the Jewish people were expecting the kingdom, and because John had preached in terms of the coming kingdom. Jesus said: “The people of another age will better understand the gospel of the kingdom when it is presented in terms expressive of the family relationship – when man understands religion as the teaching of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, sonship with God.” Then the Master discoursed at some length on the earthly family as an illustration of the heavenly family, restating the two fundamental laws of living: the first commandment of love for the father, the head of the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the children, to love your brother as yourself. And then he explained that such a quality of brotherly affection would invariably manifest itself in unselfish and loving social service. (1603-05)
After Jesus and Mathew had finished talking, Simon Zelotes asked, “But, Master, are all men the sons of God?” And Jesus answered: “Yes, Simon, all men are the sons of God, and that is the good news you are going to proclaim.” (1585-05)
He taught morality, not from thr nature of man, but from the relation of man with God. (1585-06)
“Verily, verily, I say to you, when the Father’s will is your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the Father’s will becomes truly your will, then you are in very truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an established experience in you. When God’s will is your law, you are noble slave subjects; but when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father’s will becomes your will, and you are elevated to the high position of the free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom.” (1588-05)
Jesus answered to Peter: “You have heard it said by those who teach the law: ‘You shall not kill; that whosoever kills shall be subject to judgment.’ But I look beyond the act to uncover the motive. I declare to you that every one who is angry with his brother is in danger of condemnation. He who nurses hatred in his heart and plans vegence in his mind stands in danger of judgment. You must judge your fellows by their deeds; the Father in heaven judges by the intent.” (1576-04)
…the Master spoke further: “If any man would come up after me, let him disregard himself, take up his responsibilities daily, and folow me. For whosoever would save his life selfishly, shall lose it, but whosoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s, shall save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Be not ashamed of me and wy words in this sinful and hypocritical generation, even as I will not be ashamed to acknowledge you when in glory I appear before my Father in the presence of all the celestial.” (1760-02)
“This new kingdom is like a seed growing in the good soil of a field. It does not attain full fruit quickly. There is an interval of time between the establishment of the kingdom in the soul of man and that hour when the kingdom ripens into the full fruit of everlasting righteousness and eternal salvation.(1536-09)
“And this kingdom which I declare to you is not a reign of power and plenty. The kingdom of heaven is not a matter of meat and drink but rather a life of progressive righteousness and increasing joy in the perfecting service of my Father who is in heaven. For has not the Father said of his children of the world, “It is my will that they should eventually be perfect, even as I am perfect.” (1536-10)
“John came preaching repentence to prepare you for the kingdom; now have I come proclaiming faith, the gift of God, as the price of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. If you would but believe that my Father loves you with an infinite love, then you are in the kingdom of God.” (1537-04)
The new commandment of Jesus to the Apostles: “You well know the commandment which directs that you should love one another; that you love your neighbor even as yourself. But I am not wholly satisfied with even that sincere devotion on the part of my children. I would have you perform still greater acts of love in the kingdom of the believing brotherhood. And so I give you this new commandment: That you love one another even as I have loved you. And by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you thus love one another.” (1944-04)
“When I give you this new commandment, I do not place any new burden upon your souls; rather do I bring you new joy and make it possible for you to experience new pleasure in knowing the delights of the bestowal of your heart’s affection upon your fellow men. I am about to experience the supreme joy, even though enduring outward sorrow, in the bestowal of my affection upon you and your fellow mortals.” (1944-05)
The multitudes who listened to the Master’s teachings were divided in their opinions. Some said he was a good man; some that he was truly the Messiah; others said he was mischievous meddler, that he was leading the people astray with his strange doctrines. (1790-02)
PONDER OVER THESE QUOTATIONS FROM THE URANTIA BOOK
The periodic, spontaneous, group, and other special outbursts of supreme adoration and spiritual praise enjoyed on Paradise are conducted under the leadership of a special corps of primary supernaphim. (0304-01)
While the Isle of Paradise contains certain places of worship, it is more nearly one vast sanctuary of divine service. Worship is the primary and dominant passion of all who climb to its blissful shores…(0303-06)
Worship is the highest joy of Paradise existence; it is the refreshing play of Paradise. What play does for your jaded mainds on earth, worship will do for your perfected souls on Paradise. The mode of worship on Paradise is utterly beyond mortal comprehension, but the spirit of it you can begin to appreciate even down here on Urantia, for the spirits of the Gods even now indwell you, hover over you, and inspire you to true worship. (0304-03)
The purpose of education should be acquirement of skill, pursuit of wisdom, realization of selfhood, and attainment of spiritual values. (0806-01)
Urantians should get a vision of a new and higher cultural society. Education will jump to new levels of value with passing of the purely profit-motivated system of economics. Education has too long been localistic, militaristic, ego exalting, and success seeking; it must eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing, and cosmic grasping. (0806-03)
Teachers must be free beings, real leaders, to the end that philosophy, the search for wisdom, may become the chief educational pursuit. (0806-04)
The human mind does not well stand the conflict of double allegiance. It is a severe strain on the soul to undergo the experience of an effort to serve both good and evil. The supremely happy and efficiently unified mind is the one wholly dedicated to doing of the will of the Father in heaven. (1480-04)
Jesus told a philosopher from Epheus about the soul: “The soul is self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world. Self-consiousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. A stangnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul of man is distinct from the divine spirit which dwells within the mind. The divien spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and that is the occationof the birth of the soul. (1478-04)
Ganid was, by this time, beginning to learn how his tutor spent his leisure in this unusual personal ministry to his fellow men, and the young Indian set about to find out the motive for these incessant activities. He asked, “Why do you occupy yourself so continuously with these visits with strangers?” And Jesus answered: “Ganid, no man is a stranger to the one who knows God. In the experience of finding the Father in heaven you discover that all men are your brothers, and does it seem strange that one should enjoy the exhilaration of meeting a newly discovered brother? To become acquainted with one’s brothers and sisters, to know their problems and to learn to love them, is the supreme experience of living.” (1431-01)
Day by day Jesus interpreted the lectures to Ganid (at the Alexandria museum-my remark); one day during the second week of the young man exclaimed: “Teacher Joshua, you know more than these professors; you should stand up and tell them the great things you have told me; they are befogged by much thinking. I shall speak to my father and have him arrange it.” Jesus smiled, saying: “You are an admiring pupil, but these teachers are not minded that you and I should instruct them. The pride of unspiritualized learning is a treacherous thing in human experience. The true teacher maintains his intellectual integrity be ever remaining a learner.” (1433-02)
Jesus made plain to his apostles the difference between the repentence of so-called good works as taught by the Jews and the change of mind by faith – the new birth – which he required as the price of admission to the kingdom. He taught his apostles that faith was the only requisite to entering the Father’s kingdom.
John asked Jesus, “Master, what is the kingdom of heaven?” And Jesus answered: “The kingdom of heaven consists in these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in th e effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God – to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.” (1585-07)
“I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all.” (1588-04)
He next explained that the “kingdom idea” was not the best way to illustrate man’s relation to God; that he employed such figures of speech because the Jewish people were expecting the kingdom, and because John had preached in terms of the coming kingdom. Jesus said: “The people of another age will better understand the gospel of the kingdom when it is presented in terms expressive of the family relationship – when man understands religion as the teaching of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, sonship with God.” Then the Master discoursed at some length on the earthly family as an illustration of the heavenly family, restating the two fundamental laws of living: the first commandment of love for the father, the head of the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the children, to love your brother as yourself. And then he explained that such a quality of brotherly affection would invariably manifest itself in unselfish and loving social service. (1603-05)
After Jesus and Mathew had finished talking, Simon Zelotes asked, “But, Master, are all men the sons of God?” And Jesus answered: “Yes, Simon, all men are the sons of God, and that is the good news you are going to proclaim.” (1585-05)
He taught morality, not from thr nature of man, but from the relation of man with God. (1585-06)
“Verily, verily, I say to you, when the Father’s will is your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the Father’s will becomes truly your will, then you are in very truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an established experience in you. When God’s will is your law, you are noble slave subjects; but when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father’s will becomes your will, and you are elevated to the high position of the free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom.” (1588-05)
Jesus answered to Peter: “You have heard it said by those who teach the law: ‘You shall not kill; that whosoever kills shall be subject to judgment.’ But I look beyond the act to uncover the motive. I declare to you that every one who is angry with his brother is in danger of condemnation. He who nurses hatred in his heart and plans vegence in his mind stands in danger of judgment. You must judge your fellows by their deeds; the Father in heaven judges by the intent.” (1576-04)
…the Master spoke further: “If any man would come up after me, let him disregard himself, take up his responsibilities daily, and folow me. For whosoever would save his life selfishly, shall lose it, but whosoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s, shall save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Be not ashamed of me and wy words in this sinful and hypocritical generation, even as I will not be ashamed to acknowledge you when in glory I appear before my Father in the presence of all the celestial.” (1760-02)
“This new kingdom is like a seed growing in the good soil of a field. It does not attain full fruit quickly. There is an interval of time between the establishment of the kingdom in the soul of man and that hour when the kingdom ripens into the full fruit of everlasting righteousness and eternal salvation.(1536-09)
“And this kingdom which I declare to you is not a reign of power and plenty. The kingdom of heaven is not a matter of meat and drink but rather a life of progressive righteousness and increasing joy in the perfecting service of my Father who is in heaven. For has not the Father said of his children of the world, “It is my will that they should eventually be perfect, even as I am perfect.” (1536-10)
“John came preaching repentence to prepare you for the kingdom; now have I come proclaiming faith, the gift of God, as the price of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. If you would but believe that my Father loves you with an infinite love, then you are in the kingdom of God.” (1537-04)
The new commandment of Jesus to the Apostles: “You well know the commandment which directs that you should love one another; that you love your neighbor even as yourself. But I am not wholly satisfied with even that sincere devotion on the part of my children. I would have you perform still greater acts of love in the kingdom of the believing brotherhood. And so I give you this new commandment: That you love one another even as I have loved you. And by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you thus love one another.” (1944-04)
“When I give you this new commandment, I do not place any new burden upon your souls; rather do I bring you new joy and make it possible for you to experience new pleasure in knowing the delights of the bestowal of your heart’s affection upon your fellow men. I am about to experience the supreme joy, even though enduring outward sorrow, in the bestowal of my affection upon you and your fellow mortals.” (1944-05)
The multitudes who listened to the Master’s teachings were divided in their opinions. Some said he was a good man; some that he was truly the Messiah; others said he was mischievous meddler, that he was leading the people astray with his strange doctrines. (1790-02)