By Richard Keeler, Trustee, Urantia Foundation, Wyoming, USA
Editor's Note: Richard Keeler shared an article from Wikipedia on The Urantia Book and Christianity. Kristina Stoianova, (London, United Kingdom) and Paul Tsekar, (Yaounde, Cameroon) comment on the article.
Do you know that if you go to Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urantia_Book [2] on the Internet, you can read a comparison between The Urantia Book and Christianity? If you want to know what it says, please read on.
The Urantia Book shares the following general concepts with most Christian faiths:
- God is the creator of all reality
- God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite, and eternal
- God is described as a loving personality – "God is love"
- God is a single deity that exists in a Trinity of three persons
- God has a vast "heavenly host"
- Believers who have a personal relationship with God are "born of the spirit"
- Those having faith in God survive death
- Angels and divine personalities exist and are sent to guard and minister to people throughout their lives.
Some differences with Christianity include:
- Jesus' crucifixion is not considered an atonement for the sins of humanity. The crucifixion is taught to be an outcome of the fears of religious leaders of the day, who regarded his teachings as a threat to their positions of authority.
- God is never wrathful or angry. He is a personality entirely motivated by Father-like love.
- Jesus is the human incarnation of "Michael of Nebadon," one of more than 700,000 "Paradise Sons" of God, or "Creator Sons." Jesus is not considered the second person of the Trinity as he is in Christianity. The book refers to the Eternal Son as the second person of the Trinity.
- Jesus was born on earth through natural means of conception instead of a virgin birth.
- Jesus did not walk on water or perform some of the miracles that are attributed to him in The Bible.
- Jesus commissioned twelve women (and later more) as religious teachers, who were permitted to travel about with Jesus and his apostles on their preaching missions.
- Jesus rose from the dead in a "more glorified form", reflective of a transitional state between material and spiritual existence known as "morontia". As with all mortals, his physical body was subject to decomposition, but celestial beings removed his body from the tomb for the dissolution of his remains through a process of "accelerated time."
- The book states that Jesus may return to the world many times. This contrasts with traditional Christian eschatology, in which Jesus returns only once.
RESPONSE TO WIKIPEDIA by Kristina Stoianova from London, United Kingdom
I consider myself to be a new reader of The Urantia Book as I have been reading the book for only four years. But for me, this book is everything.
We can compare The Urantia Book with the sacred books of other religions, and I agree that, of all of them, Christianity is most closely associated with it. This is mainly because of the importance of Jesus in and to both of them.
I think that the Wikipedia article will help many people who are searching for the truth. It will help them see that Jesus—Michael of Nebadon—is more than what The Bible says he is. He loves not only Christians but all of us, regardless of our religion, even persons with no religion. I hope this article will make people more curious and encourage them to discover The Urantia Book.
RESPONSE TO WIKIPEDIA by Paul Tsekar (Yaounde, Cameroon)
Christianity is an organization established by Jesus' followers after his departure from this world and was founded with the good intention to perpetuate Jesus' teachings and to make them popular in the world. Christianity has suffered much over the years, first from persecution by Jewish leaders and later by some political and religious leaders. Some religious leaders have used Christianity – and even made changes to The Bible—as a means to exercise power over their believers.
These manipulations of Christianity and the twisting of Jesus' teachings have continued to this day. Take the Jehovah Witnesses for example. Their Bible, which is called the New World Version, is about 50% different from the Bible. Why? In order to make the Bible agree with their beliefs and doctrines. Numerous Christian denominations exist, each with its own doctrines, which explains why there is so much disunity among Christians.
In my opinion, The Urantia Book contains the only accurate account of the life and teachings of Jesus.