By Rick Lyon, Indiana, United States
What does The Urantia Book mean to me? Everything. But what does “everything” mean?
I discovered The Urantia Book in the trash. I live in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where the book is printed. Part of my job at the steel mill, where I worked at the time, was to haul waste from our water treatment plant to the landfill each morning. The company that prints the book also brought their trash to the landfill, which included reject books from the printing presses. One morning, out of their trash, I picked up a big, thick book with no cover and read “The Life and Teachings of Jesus.” At that moment my life was changed. I took the book home, duct taped it back together, and after several hours of reading it, I exclaimed to my wife, “This is what I have been looking for!”
So, the very first thing The Urantia Book was to me was a validation of my inner beliefs; a justification for my rejection of my parent’s religion; and a feeling like the roof was opening on a domed football stadium, revealing a star-filled sky that I knew was there but had never seen before.
Through The Urantia Book, I discovered an intimacy with God―an intimacy that I was never told about―an intimate relationship based not on “the fear of God” but the love of God―God’s personal love for me as an individual and my personal love for Him. Nothing within me or about me is hidden from God.
The Urantia Book has led me into a life of service. Much of it involves my work with Urantia Association International. The rest of it involves my personal service with individuals. I speak with others about who God is and what He is. I give books away. I study with others so we can share our evolving understanding of the teachings of the Urantia Papers and how we can apply them in our daily lives.
The Urantia Revelation has led me to do things I never thought I could do or would do. Because of the service opportunities this book brought to me, I have friends all over the world and have traveled to places I would only have read about otherwise.
Last spring I toured Israel with 38 students of The Urantia Book, including my grandson Ethan. While Ethan and I have always been close, those two weeks brought us even closer together. During this time we shared and explored our “intimate” religious beliefs. This experience with Ethan, thanks in part to The Urantia Book, brought me a joy inexpressible with words.
Because of my study of The Urantia Book, I know that other people are just like me; they are different from me, but we share a spiritual unity. We are all children of God, brothers and sisters of the same Father. We are just at different points on our journey. And what a magnificent journey it is, “an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery.” (159.6) 14:5.10
The Urantia Book reveals the purpose, value, and meaning of tribulation and affliction, a purpose different from the ideas of punishment or retribution that I was taught in Sunday school. The Urantia Book even goes so far as to say that “the greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.” (556.14) 48:7.14
In 2010, I lost my son Brad. Brad was a very happy and loving person but autistic. The Urantia Book gave us believable answers to emotional questions that my family, and probably all families with handicapped members, ask themselves.
This collection of 196 Papers teaches us many important and helpful things. Some of the most important are that we are the light of this world; the salt with a saving savor. We can be a revelation of who God is to others, of what our relationship should be with others, and that we are so much more than what we see in the mirror.
It is from the life and teachings of Jesus that I know what lies ahead for me, and I look forward to it and embrace it wholeheartedly. I no longer fear it. God truly loves me, and I love Him. I desire to be increasingly like Him and to serve him―forever.
What does The Urantia Book mean to me? Everything.