SpiritualFamily.Net: Discussion topics

What can I do to increase my faith, to turn it a strong, living and experiential faith?

Jeannie Vazquez — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 22:20:41 +0000

There is a question that frequently arises between the UB Students: What can I do to increase my faith, to turn it a strong, living and experiential faith? I think the answer lies in the teachings about the faith of Jesus and how he attained it, and can be complemented by Jesus teachings about prayer and worship.

“In the Master’s life on Urantia, this and all other worlds of the local creation discover a new and higher type of religion, religion based on personal spiritual relations with the Universal Father and wholly validated by the supreme authority of genuine personal experience. This living faith of Jesus was more than an intellectual reflection, and it was not a mystic meditation.” 196:0.4 (2087.4)

“Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. … He lived just such a life of prayerful consecration to the doing of his Father’s will and ended his life triumphantly with just such a prayer. The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship — unbroken communion with God — and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices.” 196:0.10 (2088.5)

Living faith, then, is the outcome of a genuine personal experience in our spiritual relations with the Universal Father. And Jesus attained this religious life by “intelligent prayer and sincere worship — unbroken communion with God.”

To attain a genuine, living faith, we need a sublime and genuine religious experience with God, attaining the consciousness of having found God in our soul. (1121.6) If Jesus attained his magnificent living faith through intelligent prayer and worship, I think we can (and should) do the same.

We understand enough about prayer, reflective meditation and thinking, but true worship is a new concept to us. And it is an essential part of the religious experience that will allow us to attain a living faith. I think there are two essential elements in this communion with the Father:

Our mind consents to worship God if we hunger and thirst for God righteousness, if we want to do His will wholeheartedly.
We need to know and understand the teachings about the true worship technique.

The main characteristics of the true worship technique, according to The Urantia Book teachings, are:

Self-forgetting – superthinking. (1616.9) 143:7.7 “Prayer is self-reminding — sublime thinking; worship is self-forgetting — superthinking.”
Effortless attention, centered in the presence of God in our superconsciousness. (1616.9) 143:7.7 “Worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion.”
Restfulness, relaxation which renews the mind. “Relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity”. This means relaxation of body and mind. (1616.5) 143:7.3; (1774.4) 160:1.12
Expect nothing. (65.5) 5:3.3
Ask nothing. (65.5) 5:3.3
The inner self (the soul) must be intent upon God. 131:4.5 (1448.4)
Silent receptivity (mental silence). (150.2) 13:4.3

Superthinking means transcend thinking and attain the superconscious level of our mind. To transcend thinking we need to forget ourselves, rendering our will to God, focusing in Him the mind attention, in inner silence. It requires body and mind relaxation.

196:3.34 (2097.2) The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind. Man’s greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well-balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness — contact with the divine presence. Such an experience constitutes God-consciousness, an experience mightily confirmative of the pre-existent truth of the religious experience of knowing God. Such spirit-consciousness is the equivalent of the knowledge of the actuality of sonship with God. Otherwise, the assurance of sonship is the experience of faith.

God bless you all. Your sister,

Jeannie.

Early Urantia Movement History Reconsidered

David Kantor — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 01:51:16 +0000

Early Urantia Movement History Reconsidered

I recently came across two rather disturbing but very interesting, well-written books that shed light on the early years of the Urantia movement. These are “The Religious Crisis of the 1960s” by Hugh McLeod, and “The Origins, Nature, and Significance of the Jesus Movement” by Kevin John Smith.

Both books focus on religious and cultural transformations taking place in America, Europe, and Australia between 1957 and the late 1970s.

This was a period of time during which millions of people turned out to hear Billy Graham preach. The Second Vatican Council was held in Rome between 1962 and 1965 as church leadership struggled to find ways of adapting teaching and practice to be more relevant. Major academic efforts were under way to try and discover Jesus separate from the dogma and tradition which had grown up around him. The greatest expansion in higher education in American history took place during this time. The sexual revolution, new theological explorations, political radicalization in the anti-war movement, social radicalization in the civil rights movement, and a changing economic climate all contributed to a period of profound social change.

The experimentation with and embrace of eastern religions was an unprecedented event in American religious history which, combined with growing religious pluralism, contributed to the beginning of the decline of the church as an important social institution. Religious activism on college campuses was at an all-time high in the late 1950s and by the 1960s Campus Crusade for Christ was a major player in universities across America.

Religious books as a proportion of all books sold peaked in 1958.

The theological writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Francis Schaeffer’s work at the L’Abri community in Switzerland attempted to bring fresh intellectual insights and contexts to Christianity. From June 12 to June 17, 1972 more than 100,000 high school and college students gathered together in Dallas at Explo '72 where Campus Crusade offered a training program in personal evangelism for young people.

The Jesus movement subsequently developed into an influential undertaking which, along with the rapid growth of charismatic Protestantism, changed approaches to worship, teaching, and belief across the board in both Protestant and Catholic churches as well as spreading a revitalized Christian message into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The youthful leaders of the Jesus movement are now ministers and administrators in the trans-denominational urban mega-churches that dot the American religious landscape.

And during this period of time Urantia leaders were suing readers who were attempting to bring the Urantia Book into the conversation, trying to prevent readers from distributing books, advocating a no-publicity go-slow policy—during this period of time which religious scholars now consider to have been the most significant period of readjustment of religious and spiritual values in American history.

McLeod and Smith's books amount to nothing less than a damning indictment of early Urantia movement leaders who failed to embrace the opportunities of their time, failed to appreciate the degree to which the revelators held back publication of the book so that it would coincide with this period of post-war social and religious readjustment.

These same leaders (may their souls rest in peace) then proceeded to establish policies based on second-hand fragments of apocryphal notes rather than on the robust and aggressive evangelistic imperative with which the revelation itself challenges its readers. In the process an unprecedented opportunity to bring a saving revelation to the world was lost; a world which was fully mobilized (and probably prepared by the seraphim) to seek new religious and spiritual insights.

Competent, experienced leaders with financial means and wide-spread connections in media, anxious to get the revelation out to the world such as Clyde Bedell, Harold Sherman, and Sek Seklemian were marginalized and ostracized. Even Dr. Sadler was reprimanded and restrained in his efforts to make the revelation relevant to Christianity. Mediocrity came to dominate. And a reluctance to fully engage the world still remains today in the administrative hideaways of Urantia institutions. Future generations will not look kindly on the 'leadership' of the early years of this revelation, its hagiographic preoccupation with the forum and the contact commissioners, and the lost opportunities of a lifetime.

Inform yourself by spending some time with Smith and McLeod and become more familiar with the sociological and cultural aspects of our undertaking--especially if you're a young reader envisioning a lifetime of serving the revelation. Question everything. Refuse to perpetuate fear and mediocrity.

It’s not too late to re-evaluate the world views of our institutions and redirect them to more productive ends--all Urantia is waiting.

About the Author

Hi dear friends, greetings to all. I would like to share with you some thoughts about spiritual leadership, that could be helpful to understand what it truly means to be an Urantia Book leader and teacher:

Jeannie Vazquez — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 23:51:50 +0000

Understanding what it truly means to be an Urantia Book leader and teacher

Hi dear friends, greetings to all. I would like to share with you some thoughts about spiritual leadership, that could be helpful to understand what it truly means to be an Urantia Book leader and teacher:

The Urantia Book speaks about effective and wise leadership in civilization, nation life, society and culture, to material success, etc. But spiritual leadership is clearly something different, and it is what the Urantia movement needs most. It requires "faith, love, and devotion to truth—hunger and thirst for righteousness—the wholehearted desire to find God and to be like him." The Urantia Book, 156:5.7

Says the Urantia Papers: RELIGION does need NEW LEADERS, SPIRITUAL men and women who will dare to depend SOLELY on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of THESE NEW TEACHERS of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world. 195:9.4 (2082.9)

Friends, please observe: The revelator is not talking about social leaders. The revelator said that THE NEW RELIGION LEADERS WILL BE THE NEW TEACHERS, they must be spiritualized men and women. Then, there cannot be any Urantia Book related leadership if there are no profound KNOWLEDGE AND TRUE PRACTICE of the religious life of Jesus and the revelator's teachings (spiritual = spirit-born men and women that live the religion of the spirit, based on true worship and service).

Why is the leadership established by Jesus and the revelators in the matters related to the spiritual brotherhood spiritual? Because it consists in guiding others into the kingdom, and to do it we must walk in the clear light of living truth. Living truth only can be known experientially within ourselves, in the spiritual communion with the Father, but we need also to have a clear understanding of the revealed truth.

The second part of the paragraph, “… who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world” refers to the human beings spiritually regenerated by the work of the leader-teachers as “these spirit-born souls” who will “quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.”

The leader-teachers “will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men”, they will not be devoted to reorganize the world. The social, moral, economic and political reorganization of the world will be a natural consequence of the inner personal religious experience of the believer soul in the communion with God, the spiritual transformation.

181:2.16 (1958.3) "When the Master had finished speaking to James Zebedee, he stepped around to the end of the table where Andrew sat and, looking his faithful helper in the eyes, said: “Andrew, … In my universe and in my Father’s universe of universes, our brethren-sons are dealt with as individuals in all their spiritual relations, but in all group relationships we unfailingly provide for definite leadership. Our kingdom is a realm of order, and where two or more will creatures act in co-operation, there is always provided the authority of leadership."

The Master was not speaking about social leadership. He was talking about the leadership in the group relationships within the divine kingdom, the spiritual brotherhood. To be a leader in the spiritual relations of the Father's kingdom implies to be also a teacher, both things are inseparable. To be a leader in the Father’s kingdom means to guide our siblings to the kingdom and continue guiding them in the path of the personal and spiritual growth. To do this we must be able to: know, understand, live and teach the revelation. There is only one way that these leaders-teachers can arise, it is depending solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings, living the religion of the spirit, studying the truth, spiritualizing themselves and teaching the living truth to their siblings. Then will this person, fully dedicated to do the will of the Father, receive from Michael and/or the Father the authority of leadership. Spiritual leadership, thus becoming the new human teachers of truth by the very lives they live.

It is impossible to do spiritual work without spiritual power, because only the spirit-born human beings have the Spirit of Truth in their souls. Jesus said …”this Spirit of Truth will become your power-multiplying fulcrum.” 178:1.6 (1930.3)

“…Salvation is the free gift of God, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures… IF PROFESSED BELIEVERS BEAR NOT THESE FRUITS OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT IN THEIR LIVES, THEY ARE DEAD; THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS NOT IN THEM; they are useless branches on the living vine, and they soon will be taken away." 193:2.2 (2054.3)

156:5.2 (1738.1) …: “In order TO YIELD THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, YOU MUST BE BORN OF THE SPIRIT. You must be taught by the spirit and be led by the spirit if you would live the spirit-filled life among your fellows. …”

In this way grows the spiritual brotherhood and the revelation triumphs, through the true spiritual leaders attracting the seekers of the divine truth that yearn for God, guiding them to the kingdom of the Father, because they live a truth-coordinated life and show forth the fruits. The spiritual brotherhood leadership is based on the knowledge of the living truth and in the real experience of the conscious contact with God, which bears the transforming fruits of the spirit.

This allows us to have a controlled, directed, and constructive inner life, through our conscious elevation to the worshipful contact in the superconsciousness, by which the spiritual and divine concepts and values can be brought to the human consciousness level, manifesting the divine spiritual fruits to our siblings. This spiritual growth bears witness that God reigns in the heart of the leader-teacher or believer, God having already idealized, ennobled, and spiritualized them.

So, when the revelator says in the Mandate “leaders and teachers,” he is talking about only ONE kind of server. The souls born of the spirit, thanks to the efforts of the leader-teachers service, will “quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world” because these outcomes of Jesus’ religion are “the natural outworking of this inner experience of the soul as it manifests the fruits of the spirit in the spontaneous daily ministry of genuine personal religious experience.” 140:10.6 (1585.4)

The human institutions cannot be transformed by a simple act of the human will. They can be transformed by human beings spiritualized and really guided by God in the spontaneous daily ministry of a genuine personal religious experience. Spontaneous means to seek the communion with God with an open heart, with hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness, longing sincerely to be like God. This ministry implies to nourish daily the soul in the inner experience of meditating on - praying to – and worshiping the Father, and manifesting the spiritual fruits in our daily services to our siblings.

16:6.8 (192.4) 3. Worship — the spiritual domain of the reality of religious experience, the personal realization of divine fellowship, the recognition of spirit values, the assurance of eternal survival, the ascent from the status of servants of God to the joy and liberty of the sons of God. This is the highest insight of the cosmic mind, the reverential and worshipful form of the cosmic discrimination.

God bless you all. Your sister, Jeannie Vázquez de Abreu.

The Training of Teachers And Leaders, According to the Teachings of The Urantia Book.

Jeannie Vazquez — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 22:15:42 +0000

By Jaime Díaz Page

(Mexico)

A Melchizedek of Nebadon teaches us “There must be perfection hunger in man’s heart to insure capacity for comprehending the faith paths to supreme attainment.” (Paper 102, page 1118:4)

This is an essential precondition to become an Urantia Book leader-teacher or study group host. These teachers and hosts should know as much as possible the Urantia Book teachings and train spiritually themselves as taught by Jesus and the revelators, as a condition to disseminate successfully the teachings and attain the acceptance of the revelation in our world.

The Master outlined the principles that should guide and impel those who teach the divine truth. An instructor of the revelation must be trained through the spiritualization of the soul, the enlightenment of the mind, the acquirement of wisdom and spiritual discernment. It is not enough to study the revelation to attain these goals; it is necessary the spiritual preparation as the ideal support for the revelation knowledge. The regular preparation in the intimate and spiritual worshipful communion with God, with all our heart, gradually brings us spiritual insight and everything we need to serve God and his revelation. The service to the humanity will be enhanced by the ennobling association of the human mind and the indwelling spirit, the Thought Adjuster. (Paper 178, page 1931:4) This is the religion of the spirit, in which the man communes with God, receiving both the water and bread of the divine life.

The Book must be brought to the truth-seekers through the example of appropriately qualified persons who show in their lives the spiritual fruits described in the revelation, so when the truth-seekers hear them, they trust and believe them, consequently dedicating themselves to the study and practice of the spiritual teachings designed to attain the soul development and survival.

Jesus endeavored to make clear that he desired his disciples, having tasted of the good spirit realities of the kingdom, so to live in the world that men, by seeing their lives, would become kingdom conscious and hence be led to inquire of believers concerning the ways of the kingdom. All such sincere seekers for the truth are always glad to hear the glad tidings of the faith gift which insures admission to the kingdom with its eternal and divine spirit realities. (Paper 141, page 1593:4)

Jesus teaches us that the hunger and thirst for rectitude of the souls who discern the truth drives them to do the Father’s will, to find God and to become like him. Regular and sincere communion with God will produce human beings adequately qualified, trained and coordinated with God the Father. Those who aspire to take their fellows by the hand, to teach them the truths of the spirit, must be guide by their own indwelling Spirit. They must seek to experience the divinity within themselves and be inspired by their Thought Adjusters, gradually incorporating the teachings of Jesus and the revelators, so this Spirit can manifest himself through their human personality, yielding the fruits of the spirit in their lives.

The service to the people who search God must be the result of the sublime and superior transformation that occurs in the hearts of the spirit-born men, with the help of the Spirit of Truth and the living faith, through the communion with God. To the successful of this truth-seeking ministry to humankind, this service must be anchored on God and must be carried out in his name and for the welfare and happiness of His creatures. The potential instructors who want engage themselves in the spread of the divine truth should be filled with “loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.” (2054.3) 193:2.2 They must be sincere, always humble; their spirit fruits and their example must inspire and motivate those who seek the divine truth.

Let us consider this teaching: The pursuit of mere knowledge, without the attendant interpretation of wisdom and the spiritual insight of religious experience, eventually leads to pessimism and human despair. (Paper 195, page 2076:8) The potential instructor of the truth should live the religion of Jesus in his daily life, because it demands living and spiritual experience, not mere traditional beliefs, emotional feelings or philosophic concepts, the true religion of the spirit requires that men attain actual levels of real spirit progression. (Paper 160, page 1782:3)

It is valid to say that “the religion of Jesus” and “doing the will of God” is the same thing. The worship of God and the service of man is the sum and substance of the religion of Jesus. We are taught that the highest levels of self-realization are attained by worship and service, that true religion is the act of an individual soul in its self-conscious relations with the Creator. Jesus exhorted his followers to exercise experiential faith and admonished them not to depend on mere intellectual assent and credulity.

Our world discovers in the Master’ life a new and higher type of religion, a religion based on personal spiritual relations with the Universal Father and wholly validated by the supreme authority of genuine personal experience. (Paper 196, page 2087:4)

Jesus said that The will of God is the way of God, partnership with the choice of God in the face of any potential alternative. To do the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like God. (Paper 130, page 1431:2) And the revelators tell us that to do the will of God is man’s willingness to share his inner life with God, the indwelling Adjuster. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity. (Paper 160, page 1772:2) He who is full of faith worships truly when his inner self is intent upon God. (Paper 131, page 1448:4)

Jesus founded the religion of personal experience in doing the will of God and serving the human brotherhood. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transforming experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of God, the Infinite. Paper 146, page 1641:1) Conclusion: if we worship God, we will become like him through the divine qualities that arise in our soul.

Jesus said: “By daily living the will of the Father in heaven, we can reveal him to our fellow men” We cannot do spiritual work in the absence of spiritual power. And you can do neither of these, even when their potential is present, without the existence of that third and essential human factor, the personal experience of the possession of living faith. (Paper 158, page 1758:5)

Jesus teaches us that if the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the pit; that if you would guide others into kingdom of the Father, the guide himself must walk in the clear light of living truth. This implies knowing and living the divine truth, associating ourselves with the indwelling Adjuster. Jesus taught us that we should let our light so shine that our fellows will be guided into new and godly paths of enhanced life. Our light should not shine to draw attention to self. Jesus tells us that we can use our vocation as an effective “reflector” for the dissemination of this light of life.

We are told that religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings, that these new instructors will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of man. We can do this applying wholeheartedly the teachings of Jesus in ourselves, finding God, being born from the spirit and being led by the inner Spirit, through our own effort, in union with God. These instructors are forged walking the spiritual path shown by Jesus of Nazareth.

Those who feel the call in their heart trust in the Lord, and he will do the work with them.