Aphrodite
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Member # 2573
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posted 07-23-2005 10:11 PM
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Criticism
The book has not received a great deal of formal critical analysis due to its obscurity. From a skeptical point of view, the book contains numerous factual errors regarding the science it describes, and many passages have been documented as plagiarized from other sources. The book is not silent on these issues. Regarding the factual errors, the so-called supernal authors admit that "within a few short years many of our statements regarding the physical sciences will stand in need of revision in consequence of additional scientific developments and new discoveries. These new developments we even now foresee, but we are forbidden to include such humanly undiscovered facts in the revelatory records." Regarding the passages plagiarized from other sources, The Urantia Book states in its Forward that it freely used "human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present".
The book on occasion makes unsettling statements on racial issues, and at one point even claims that youth should be encouraged to study eugenics. A sample statement: "As long as present-day races are so overloaded with inferior and degenerate strains, race intermingling on a large scale would be most detrimental, but most of the objections to such experiments rest on social and cultural prejudices rather than on biological considerations."
A number of outsized claims are made by the book about its own importance. The book matter of factly states that it is the Fifth Epochal Revelation in human history, the fourth revelation having been the life of Jesus Christ. It describes that "Truth is always a revelation: autorevelation when it emerges as a result of the work of the indwelling Adjuster; epochal revelation when it is presented by the function of some other celestial agency, group, or personality."
Much has been made of the mystery surrounding the origin of the book, by those who have read it. According to Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery by Martin Gardner, the Contact Commission originated with a group of former Seventh-day Adventists. He suspects that The Urantia Book was channeled through Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a physician and friend of Sadler's. Some others suspect that the "Contact Personality" -- who slept throughout all of the contact transactions -- was Edgar Cayce. Sadler and other Contact Commission members, now all deceased, always claimed that the 196 Papers which comprise the published book were physically materialized. This materialization, paper by paper, was said to have been carried out over more than a decade. A group of Dr. Sadler's friends and colleagues who originally began meeting for intellectual discussions, became a sort of focus group for the revelators. The were known as the Forum, and their entire function was to devise questions about the material. Only the material whose purpose was purportedly to educate Sadler and a few others in the new spiritual and cosmological concepts -- all of which preceded the reception of the Papers -- may be said to have been "channeled", although the Contact Personality's mind is said in The Urantia Book to have been used in its reception.
Adherents
Many people find the doctrines of The Urantia Book to be compelling for their detailed attempts to reconcile the innumerable discrepancies between modern science and religion. The Urantia movement does not purport to advocate any organized religion. By strict definition, adherents of the Urantia Book could be considered by some as involved in a cult, however in practice there are not many of the characteristics normally associated with cults. There is not a central charismatic figure, there are no hidden mysteries, there are no rituals or ceremonies, and there is not a teaching that the book's followers are chosen people whereas all others are lost. The book cautions against practices associated with mysticism, rather than encouraging them. The book teaches that believers are to be both friendly and respectful of the humanity of, as well as the divinity in, all others. It teaches that since all people are children of a universal Paradise Father, spiritually all people are brothers and sisters. Its readers say The Urantia Book contains many advanced spiritual concepts that are conducive to growth.
Critics argue that, despite the claims of the Urantia movement not to be an organized religion, it is a religion and has an organisation. These critics would say that claiming not to be a religion does not make one not a religion -- one is a religion if one teaches doctrines religious in nature. Indeed, they would note that it may bbe useful for a religion to deny itself being a religion, to overcome any opposition to religion in potential adherents.
Adherents
Many people find the doctrines of The Urantia Book to be compelling for their detailed attempts to reconcile the innumerable discrepancies between modern science and religion. The Urantia movement does not purport to advocate any organized religion. By strict definition, adherents of the Urantia Book could be considered by some as involved in a cult, however in practice there are not many of the characteristics normally associated with cults. There is not a central charismatic figure, there are no hidden mysteries, there are no rituals or ceremonies, and there is not a teaching that the book's followers are chosen people whereas all others are lost. The book cautions against practices associated with mysticism, rather than encouraging them. The book teaches that believers are to be both friendly and respectful of the humanity of, as well as the divinity in, all others. It teaches that since all people are children of a universal Paradise Father, spiritually all people are brothers and sisters. Its readers say The Urantia Book contains many advanced spiritual concepts that are conducive to growth.
Critics argue that, despite the claims of the Urantia movement not to be an organized religion, it is a religion and has an organisation. These critics would say that claiming not to be a religion does not make one not a religion -- one is a religion if one teaches doctrines religious in nature. Indeed, they would note that it may be useful for a religion to deny itself being a religion, to overcome any opposition to religion in potential adherents.
External links
The Urantia Foundation
A brief description of Urantia and its origins* The Urantia Book
Registry of Urantia Organizations
Retrieved from "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urantia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urantia--------------------
"He who controls others maybe powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.” - Lao Tsu
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Posts: 238 | From: Minnesota | Registered: Jul 2005
