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So…the false doctrines related to the Armageddon mythologies are many. Unfortunately so many of them are far too focused on lists of what we must “give up” or do or stop doing or not do to be saved from damnation and eternal suffering at the hands of an angry and justice-seeking wrathful Deity.
Original sin, humanity’s collective guilt, personal and group atonement, and obedience to strict doctrinal standards of conduct to be worthy of “salvation”…all these and more primitive beliefs are related to or derivatives of such fear based superstitions.
Truly, it is our heart that matters and our hopes and ideals and God’s affection and mercy will deliver the adventures of our destiny over time. Experiential Wisdom and spiritization take time.
We are given sufficient time to respond to our inherent Deity Connections which deliver truth, beauty, and goodness by our personal fruits of the Spirit – kindness, generosity, duty, loyalty, idealism, morality, forgiveness, and love…all of which has but one source…
…our Deity Connections! It is only by our heartfelt responses to our Deity Connections that delivers and makes possible our hopes and ideals and duty and loyalty and morality and sacrifice and generosity and kindness and mercy…and love for others.
2:6.4 (41.2)The concept of God as a king-judge, although it fostered a high moral standard and created a law-respecting people as a group, left the individual believer in a sad position of insecurity respecting his status in time and in eternity. The later Hebrew prophets proclaimed God to be a Father to Israel; Jesus revealed God as the Father of each human being. The entire mortal concept of God is transcendently illuminated by the life of Jesus. Selflessness is inherent in parental love. God loves not like a father, but as a father. He is the Paradise Father of every universe personality.
2:6.5 (41.3)Righteousness implies that God is the source of the moral law of the universe. Truth exhibits God as a revealer, as a teacher. But love gives and craves affection, seeks understanding fellowship such as exists between parent and child. Righteousness may be the divine thought, but love is a father’s attitude. The erroneous supposition that the righteousness of God was irreconcilable with the selfless love of the heavenly Father, presupposed absence of unity in the nature of Deity and led directly to the elaboration of the atonement doctrine, which is a philosophic assault upon both the unity and the free-willness of God.
2:6.6 (41.4)The affectionate heavenly Father, whose spirit indwells his children on earth, is not a divided personality—one of justice and one of mercy—neither does it require a mediator to secure the Father’s favor or forgiveness. Divine righteousness is not dominated by strict retributive justice; God as a father transcends God as a judge.
2:6.7 (41.5) God is never wrathful, vengeful, or angry. It is true that wisdom does often restrain his love, while justice conditions his rejected mercy. His love of righteousness cannot help being exhibited as equal hatred for sin. The Father is not an inconsistent personality; the divine unity is perfect. In the Paradise Trinity there is absolute unity despite the eternal identities of the co-ordinates of God.
So…some of my favorite lessons given to us in the Papers are the many presentations of the ancient origins of ‘modern’ mythologies, many of which become religious doctrines.
The so-called Christian doctrines of Armageddon and end of the world beliefs originated long before John’s time. So many pagan beliefs and mythologies became Christianized much later.
For example:
98:5.1 (1082.2)The Phrygian and Egyptian mysteries eventually gave way before the greatest of all the mystery cults, the worship of Mithras. The Mithraic cult made its appeal to a wide range of human nature and gradually supplanted both of its predecessors. Mithraism spread over the Roman Empire through the propagandizing of Roman legions recruited in the Levant, where this religion was the vogue, for they carried this belief wherever they went. And this new religious ritual was a great improvement over the earlier mystery cults.
98:5.2 (1082.3)The cult of Mithras arose in Iran and long persisted in its homeland despite the militant opposition of the followers of Zoroaster. But by the time Mithraism reached Rome, it had become greatly improved by the absorption of many of Zoroaster’s teachings. It was chiefly through the Mithraic cult that Zoroaster’s religion exerted an influence upon later appearing Christianity.
98:5.3 (1082.4)The Mithraic cult portrayed a militant god taking origin in a great rock, engaging in valiant exploits, and causing water to gush forth from a rock struck with his arrows. There was a flood from which one man escaped in a specially built boat and a last supper which Mithras celebrated with the sun-god before he ascended into the heavens. This sun-god, or Sol Invictus, was a degeneration of the Ahura-Mazda deity concept of Zoroastrianism. Mithras was conceived as the surviving champion of the sun-god in his struggle with the god of darkness. And in recognition of his slaying the mythical sacred bull, Mithras was made immortal, being exalted to the station of intercessor for the human race among the gods on high.
98:5.4 (1082.5)The adherents of this cult worshiped in caves and other secret places, chanting hymns, mumbling magic, eating the flesh of the sacrificial animals, and drinking the blood. Three times a day they worshiped, with special weekly ceremonials on the day of the sun-god and with the most elaborate observance of all on the annual festival of Mithras, December twenty-fifth. It was believed that the partaking of the sacrament ensured eternal life, the immediate passing, after death, to the bosom of Mithras, there to tarry in bliss until the judgment day. On the judgment day the Mithraic keys of heaven would unlock the gates of Paradise for the reception of the faithful; whereupon all the unbaptized of the living and the dead would be annihilated upon the return of Mithras to earth. It was taught that, when a man died, he went before Mithras for judgment, and that at the end of the world Mithras would summon all the dead from their graves to face the last judgment. The wicked would be destroyed by fire, and the righteous would reign with Mithras forever.
Salut à vous tous
Je te remercie Bradly pour toutes ces précisions, et je suis content d’avoir lancé la discussion sur ce sujet.
“Hi all of you
Thank you Bradly for all these clarifications, and I’m glad to have started the discussion on this subject.”
You are so very welcome Jean! The UB/LU delivers us tadpoles assurance of God’s affection for all the beloved children of time!!
Yes Mark…indeed so.
And what of Jean’s question about Armageddon and John’s vision of Jerusem which became the Biblical Book of Revelations?
4. The Return of Michael
176:4.1 (1918.4) Of all the Master’s teachings no one phase has been so misunderstood as his promise sometime to come back in person to this world. It is not strange that Michael should be interested in sometime returning to the planet whereon he experienced his seventh and last bestowal, as a mortal of the realm. It is only natural to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, now sovereign ruler of a vast universe, would be interested in coming back, not only once but even many times, to the world whereon he lived such a unique life and finally won for himself the Father’s unlimited bestowal of universe power and authority. Urantia will eternally be one of the seven nativity spheres of Michael in the winning of universe sovereignty.
176:4.2 (1918.5) Jesus did, on numerous occasions and to many individuals, declare his intention of returning to this world. As his followers awakened to the fact that their Master was not going to function as a temporal deliverer, and as they listened to his predictions of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the downfall of the Jewish nation, they most naturally began to associate his promised return with these catastrophic events. But when the Roman armies leveled the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and dispersed the Judean Jews, and still the Master did not reveal himself in power and glory, his followers began the formulation of that belief which eventually associated the second coming of Christ with the end of the age, even with the end of the world.
176:4.3 (1918.6) Jesus promised to do two things after he had ascended to the Father, and after all power in heaven and on earth had been placed in his hands. He promised, first, to send into the world, and in his stead, another teacher, the Spirit of Truth; and this he did on the day of Pentecost. Second, he most certainly promised his followers that he would sometime personally return to this world. But he did not say how, where, or when he would revisit this planet of his bestowal experience in the flesh. On one occasion he intimated that, whereas the eye of flesh had beheld him when he lived here in the flesh, on his return (at least on one of his possible visits) he would be discerned only by the eye of spiritual faith.176:4.4 (1919.1) Many of us are inclined to believe that Jesus will return to Urantia many times during the ages to come. We do not have his specific promise to make these plural visits, but it seems most probable that he who carries among his universe titles that of Planetary Prince of Urantia will many times visit the world whose conquest conferred such a unique title upon him.
176:4.5 (1919.2) We most positively believe that Michael will again come in person to Urantia, but we have not the slightest idea as to when or in what manner he may choose to come. Will his second advent on earth be timed to occur in connection with the terminal judgment of this present age, either with or without the associated appearance of a Magisterial Son? Will he come in connection with the termination of some subsequent Urantian age? Will his second advent on earth be timed to occur in connection with the terminal judgment of this present age, either with or without the associated appearance of a Magisterial Son? Will he come in connection with the termination of some subsequent Urantian age? Will he come unannounced and as an isolated event? We do not know. Only one thing we are certain of, that is, when he does return, all the world will likely know about it, for he must come as the supreme ruler of a universe and not as the obscure babe of Bethlehem. But if every eye is to behold him, and if only spiritual eyes are to discern his presence, then must his advent be long deferred.
176:4.6 (1919.3) You would do well, therefore, to disassociate the Master’s personal return to earth from any and all set events or settled epochs. We are sure of only one thing: He has promised to come back. We have no idea as to when he will fulfill this promise or in what connection. As far as we know, he may appear on earth any day, and he may not come until age after age has passed and been duly adjudicated by his associated Sons of the Paradise corps.
176:4.7 (1919.4) The second advent of Michael on earth is an event of tremendous sentimental value to both midwayers and humans; but otherwise it is of no immediate moment to midwayers and of no more practical importance to human beings than the common event of natural death, which so suddenly precipitates mortal man into the immediate grasp of that succession of universe events which leads directly to the presence of this same Jesus, the sovereign ruler of our universe. The children of light are all destined to see him, and it is of no serious concern whether we go to him or whether he should chance first to come to us. Be you therefore ever ready to welcome him on earth as he stands ready to welcome you in heaven. We confidently look for his glorious appearing, even for repeated comings, but we are wholly ignorant as to how, when, or in what connection he is destined to appear.
2. The Master’s Second Coming
176:2.1 (1914.2) On several occasions Jesus had made statements which led his hearers to infer that, while he intended presently to leave this world, he would most certainly return to consummate the work of the heavenly kingdom. As the conviction grew on his followers that he was going to leave them, and after he had departed from this world, it was only natural for all believers to lay fast hold upon these promises to return. The doctrine of the second coming of Christ thus became early incorporated into the teachings of the Christians, and almost every subsequent generation of disciples has devoutly believed this truth and has confidently looked forward to his sometime coming.
176:2.2 (1914.3) If they were to part with their Master and Teacher, how much more did these first disciples and the apostles grasp at this promise to return, and they lost no time in associating the predicted destruction of Jerusalem with this promised second coming. And they continued thus to interpret his words notwithstanding that, throughout this evening of instruction on Mount Olivet, the Master took particular pains to prevent just such a mistake.
176:2.3 (1914.4) In further answer to Peter’s question, Jesus said: “Why do you still look for the Son of Man to sit upon the throne of David and expect that the material dreams of the Jews will be fulfilled? Have I not told you all these years that my kingdom is not of this world? The things which you now look down upon are coming to an end, but this will be a new beginning out of which the gospel of the kingdom will go to all the world and this salvation will spread to all peoples. And when the kingdom shall have come to its full fruition, be assured that the Father in heaven will not fail to visit you with an enlarged revelation of truth and an enhanced demonstration of righteousness, even as he has already bestowed upon this world him who became the prince of darkness, and then Adam, who was followed by Melchizedek, and in these days, the Son of Man. And so will my Father continue to manifest his mercy and show forth his love, even to this dark and evil world. So also will I, after my Father has invested me with all power and authority, continue to follow your fortunes and to guide in the affairs of the kingdom by the presence of my spirit, who shall shortly be poured out upon all flesh. Even though I shall thus be present with you in spirit, I also promise that I will sometime return to this world, where I have lived this life in the flesh and achieved the experience of simultaneously revealing God to man and leading man to God. Very soon must I leave you and take up the work the Father has intrusted to my hands, but be of good courage, for I will sometime return. In the meantime, my Spirit of the Truth of a universe shall comfort and guide you.
176:2.4 (1915.1) “You behold me now in weakness and in the flesh, but when I return, it shall be with power and in the spirit. The eye of flesh beholds the Son of Man in the flesh, but only the eye of the spirit will behold the Son of Man glorified by the Father and appearing on earth in his own name.
176:2.5 (1915.2) “But the times of the reappearing of the Son of Man are known only in the councils of Paradise; not even the angels of heaven know when this will occur. However, you should understand that, when this gospel of the kingdom shall have been proclaimed to all the world for the salvation of all peoples, and when the fullness of the age has come to pass, the Father will send you another dispensational bestowal, or else the Son of Man will return to adjudge the age.
176:2.6 (1915.3) “And now concerning the travail of Jerusalem, about which I have spoken to you, even this generation will not pass away until my words are fulfilled; but concerning the times of the coming again of the Son of Man, no one in heaven or on earth may presume to speak. But you should be wise regarding the ripening of an age; you should be alert to discern the signs of the times. You know when the fig tree shows its tender branches and puts forth its leaves that summer is near. Likewise, when the world has passed through the long winter of material-mindedness and you discern the coming of the spiritual springtime of a new dispensation, should you know that the summertime of a new visitation draws near.
176:2.7 (1915.4) “But what is the significance of this teaching having to do with the coming of the Sons of God? Do you not perceive that, when each of you is called to lay down his life struggle and pass through the portal of death, you stand in the immediate presence of judgment, and that you are face to face with the facts of a new dispensation of service in the eternal plan of the infinite Father? What the whole world must face as a literal fact at the end of an age, you, as individuals, must each most certainly face as a personal experience when you reach the end of your natural life and thereby pass on to be confronted with the conditions and demands inherent in the next revelation of the eternal progression of the Father’s kingdom.”
176:2.8 (1915.5) Of all the discourses which the Master gave his apostles, none ever became so confused in their minds as this one, given this Tuesday evening on the Mount of Olives, regarding the twofold subject of the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. There was, therefore, little agreement between the subsequent written accounts based on the memories of what the Master said on this extraordinary occasion. Consequently, when the records were left blank concerning much that was said that Tuesday evening, there grew up many traditions; and very early in the second century a Jewish apocalyptic about the Messiah written by one Selta, who was attached to the court of the Emperor Caligula, was bodily copied into the Matthew Gospel and subsequently added (in part) to the Mark and Luke records. It was in these writings of Selta that the parable of the ten virgins appeared. No part of the gospel record ever suffered such confusing misconstruction as this evening’s teaching. But the Apostle John never became thus confused.
176:2.9 (1915.6) As these thirteen men resumed their journey toward the camp, they were speechless and under great emotional tension. Judas had finally confirmed his decision to abandon his associates. It was a late hour when David Zebedee, John Mark, and a number of the leading disciples welcomed Jesus and the twelve to the new camp, but the apostles did not want to sleep; they wanted to know more about the destruction of Jerusalem, the Master’s departure, and the end of the world.
Another source of the Christianized myth of Armageddon is the Prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem delivered by the Master:
The Urantia Book
Paper 176
Tuesday Evening on Mount Olivet
176:0.1 (1912.1) THIS Tuesday afternoon, as Jesus and the apostles passed out of the temple on their way to the Gethsemane camp, Matthew, calling attention to the temple construction, said: “Master, observe what manner of buildings these are. See the massive stones and the beautiful adornment; can it be that these buildings are to be destroyed?” As they went on toward Olivet, Jesus said: “You see these stones and this massive temple; verily, verily, I say to you: In the days soon to come there shall not be left one stone upon another. They shall all be thrown down.” These remarks depicting the destruction of the sacred temple aroused the curiosity of the apostles as they walked along behind the Master; they could conceive of no event short of the end of the world which would occasion the destruction of the temple.
176:0.2 (1912.2) In order to avoid the crowds passing along the Kidron valley toward Gethsemane, Jesus and his associates were minded to climb up the western slope of Olivet for a short distance and then follow a trail over to their private camp near Gethsemane located a short distance above the public camping ground. As they turned to leave the road leading on to Bethany, they observed the temple, glorified by the rays of the setting sun; and while they tarried on the mount, they saw the lights of the city appear and beheld the beauty of the illuminated temple; and there, under the mellow light of the full moon, Jesus and the twelve sat down. The Master talked with them, and presently Nathaniel asked this question: “Tell us, Master, how shall we know when these events are about to come to pass?”
1. The Destruction of Jerusalem
176:1.1 (1912.3) In answering Nathaniel’s question, Jesus said: “Yes, I will tell you about the times when this people shall have filled up the cup of their iniquity; when justice shall swiftly descend upon this city of our fathers. I am about to leave you; I go to the Father. After I leave you, take heed that no man deceive you, for many will come as deliverers and will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled, for though all these things will happen, the end of Jerusalem is not yet at hand. You should not be perturbed by famines or earthquakes; neither should you be concerned when you are delivered up to the civil authorities and are persecuted for the sake of the gospel. You will be thrown out of the synagogue and put in prison for my sake, and some of you will be killed. When you are brought up before governors and rulers, it shall be for a testimony of your faith and to show your steadfastness in the gospel of the kingdom. And when you stand before judges, be not anxious beforehand as to what you should say, for the spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should answer your adversaries. In these days of travail, even your own kinsfolk, under the leadership of those who have rejected the Son of Man, will deliver you up to prison and death. For a time you may be hated by all men for my sake, but even in these persecutions I will not forsake you; my spirit will not desert you. Be patient! doubt not that this gospel of the kingdom will triumph over all enemies and, eventually, be proclaimed to all nations.”176:1.2 (1913.1) Jesus paused while he looked down upon the city. The Master realized that the rejection of the spiritual concept of the Messiah, the determination to cling persistently and blindly to the material mission of the expected deliverer, would presently bring the Jews in direct conflict with the powerful Roman armies, and that such a contest could only result in the final and complete overthrow of the Jewish nation. When his people rejected his spiritual bestowal and refused to receive the light of heaven as it so mercifully shone upon them, they thereby sealed their doom as an independent people with a special spiritual mission on earth. Even the Jewish leaders subsequently recognized that it was this secular idea of the Messiah which directly led to the turbulence which eventually brought about their destruction.
176:1.3 (1913.2) Since Jerusalem was to become the cradle of the early gospel movement, Jesus did not want its teachers and preachers to perish in the terrible overthrow of the Jewish people in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem; wherefore did he give these instructions to his followers. Jesus was much concerned lest some of his disciples become involved in these soon-coming revolts and so perish in the downfall of Jerusalem.
176:1.4 (1913.3) Then Andrew inquired: “But, Master, if the Holy City and the temple are to be destroyed, and if you are not here to direct us, when should we forsake Jerusalem?” Said Jesus: “You may remain in the city after I have gone, even through these times of travail and bitter persecution, but when you finally see Jerusalem being encompassed by the Roman armies after the revolt of the false prophets, then will you know that her desolation is at hand; then must you flee to the mountains. Let none who are in the city and around about tarry to save aught, neither let those who are outside dare to enter therein. There will be great tribulation, for these will be the days of gentile vengeance. And after you have deserted the city, this disobedient people will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all nations; and so shall Jerusalem be trodden down by the gentiles. In the meantime, I warn you, be not deceived. If any man comes to you, saying, ‘Behold, here is the Deliverer,’ or ‘Behold, there is he,’ believe it not, for many false teachers will arise and many will be led astray; but you should not be deceived, for I have told you all this beforehand.”
176:1.5 (1913.4) The apostles sat in silence in the moonlight for a considerable time while these astounding predictions of the Master sank into their bewildered minds. And it was in conformity with this very warning that practically the entire group of believers and disciples fled from Jerusalem upon the first appearance of the Roman troops, finding a safe shelter in Pella to the north.
176:1.6 (1913.5) Even after this explicit warning, many of Jesus’ followers interpreted these predictions as referring to the changes which would obviously occur in Jerusalem when the reappearing of the Messiah would result in the establishment of the New Jerusalem and in the enlargement of the city to become the world’s capital. In their minds these Jews were determined to connect the destruction of the temple with the “end of the world.” They believed this New Jerusalem would fill all Palestine; that the end of the world would be followed by the immediate appearance of the “new heavens and the new earth.” And so it was not strange that Peter should say: “Master, we know that all things will pass away when the new heavens and the new earth appear, but how shall we know when you will return to bring all this about?”
176:1.7 (1914.1) When Jesus heard this, he was thoughtful for some time and then said: “You ever err since you always try to attach the new teaching to the old; you are determined to misunderstand all my teaching; you insist on interpreting the gospel in accordance with your established beliefs. Nevertheless, I will try to enlighten you.”
The unfortunate Christian mythology of Armageddon originated with the Apostles who could not, or did not, understand the nature of the “kingdom” and superimposed the Jewish tradition of a material kingdom onto the spiritual kingdom of the family of God and creation. It also incorporated many diverse elements with origins in universe reality and invented a conglomeration of facts into the fiction of myth.
There actually will be heaven on earth…eventually. But it will come slowly by evolutionary forces of epochal progress and not suddenly by apocalyptic destruction. Jesus will return again. And there are dispensational resurrections. So much that is true is nonetheless severely distorted by misunderstanding and ignorance and prejudice.
And thus, we are taught, is the importance, meaning, purpose, and value of epochal revelation.
The UB teaches that a wide angle lens-view of world history reveals a rather obvious trajectory of social evolutionary progress that has experienced a rapidly increasing momentum. Such a transformation should encourage humanity about the future and give us a glimpse and glimmer of our potential.
The UB says that planetary potential is really an inevitable global destiny managed quite capably by the Most Highs and their many celestial agencies of planetary progress by the evolutionary and experiential process. This planned process of progressive evolution is contradicted by the primitive beliefs in Armageddon and the end of times teachings of apocalypse.
We are taught that evolutionary progress and experiential wisdom are God’s plan and will and method in the universes of time and space. On the material worlds of human origin, the human race is the very purpose of all bio evolution and social evolutionary progress is likewise a very specific and managed process with an inevitable outcome according to God’s plan, will, and a specific strategic method.
Such a reality perspective is certainly supported by the Jesusonian Gospel which teaches a loving, merciful, patient, gentle, kind, affectionate, and personally paternal relationship between every personality and God and the universal family which naturally results from that relationship of the each and the all to God and to one another.
Jesus taught us about the fact and function of the Kingdom of Heaven as present and real, here and now… not something to happen or come later. Apocalyptic traditions defy universe realities on so many levels and in so many ways!!
Time and space is an experiential place for the evolutionary perfecting process by the spiritized purification of motive, intentions, and priorities and the expressions of better and better freewill choices due to trial and error determinations which reduce the consequences of suffering by our personal and collective wisdom.
Or so I understand the UB to teach.
The doctrinal and creedal mythology of Armageddon is a fascinating and complicated and confounding construct of many different elements of evolutionary religion and apocalyptic traditions, embraced and promoted primarily by fundamentalist and evangelical Christian denominations (a specialty of the Baptist church of my youth and family for many generations before).
The Urantia Papers do not address the specific belief and doctrine of Armageddon but certainly does contradict it in many ways and does explain its historical origins and elemental components. This study and discussion will focus on those elements as presented by the Papers and include related research about the doctrinal apocalyptic mythologies.
In many important ways and elements, the myth of Armageddon is about the struggle between good and evil, especially and specifically about the rebellion begun and led by Lucifer. That dispute is long over already according to the Papers and was a pretty minor event in a very small, if local, corner of creation. Can’t happen in the future because it’s over already.
True we still suffer some after effects and lingering repercussions but the rebellion is over and, according to the UB, there is never any true or real battle or “war” between the reality or realization of God’s will and way and the unreality of sin and evil. And we, personally and collectively, suffer from immaturity and inexperience and self importance and materialism and the suffering of reaping what we sow, the hammer and anvil of evolutionary progress.
In other ways the myth of Armageddon is about the inevitable destiny of planetary Light and Life and the succession of epochs and dispensational progress described in the Papers (please read Papers 52 and 55) which are experienced on every evolutionary world like our own – all 7 trillion of them!!
Unfortunately, so much of Christianity embraces so much that contradicts the Jesusonian Gospel within the Bible and the traditions of the parables and teachings of the Master. Christians must choose who and what to believe – Jesus? Or not Jesus? Armaggeddonism is a rejection of Christ and the embrace of the most primitive of gods and ancient superstitions.
The cult of angry gods and blood sacrifice and revenge and damnation and hell fire and eternal suffering and chosen people. So primitive. So self serving. So lazy!!!!!
And yet…so….traditional. Evolutionary religion maintains and defends its traditions first. Each packages a variation and different set of primitive beliefs, creeds, and doctrines from the benign to violent and bloody.
The rapture symbolizes the new chosen few. The chosen ones represent those cleansed by blood atonement. That sacrificial lamb somehow appeases original and racial sin (human race). Peace and progress is a trick of the Devil while violence and suffering and destruction are the way of God.
The Urantia Papers are not needed to find the absurdity of such nonsense. I found it as a youth squirming below the pulpit of fear and fiery brimstone while pondering the assurances and teachings of Jesus in my little red letter KJV.
Here’s a link to a keyword search for “end of the world”:
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book/search?keys=End+of+the+world
The Christianized version(s) of the rapture and end of world apocalypse comes from Jewish and Mithraic (Roman) traditions. The Paulinian perspective was from a Roman Jew and that paganization of the story about Jesus completely distorted the actual good news and Epochal Revelation delivered by Jesus.
I believe this perspective and these traditions were the foundation for the Christianized version(s) of the end of the world apocalyptic beliefs and doctrines.
Urantia Book students know that planetary evolutionary destinies are eventual Light and Life, not mass punishment by some wrathful vengeance of retribution.
Apocalyptic beliefs are ancient in origin and not Christian inventions. The original vision and personal revelation given to John was never a Prophecy of the future. But it has been co-opted by doctrinal distortion and the priesthood to literally scare the hell out of people and subjugate them by fear.
47:10.2 (539.4) John the Revelator saw a vision of the arrival of a class of advancing mortals from the seventh mansion world to their first heaven, the glories of Jerusem. He recorded: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and those who had gained the victory over the beast that was originally in them and over the image that persisted through the mansion worlds and finally over the last mark and trace, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of deliverance from mortal fear and death.” (Perfected space communication is to be had on all these worlds; and your anywhere reception of such communications is made possible by carrying the “harp of God,” a morontia contrivance compensating for the inability to directly adjust the immature morontia sensory mechanism to the reception of space communications.)
47:10.3 (539.5)Paul also had a view of the ascendant-citizen corps of perfecting mortals on Jerusem, for he wrote: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the grand assembly of Michael, and to the spirits of just men being made perfect.”
170:1.7 (1858.9) Just before the advent of Jesus on earth, the Jews combined and confused all of these ideas of the kingdom into their apocalyptic concept of the Messiah’s coming to establish the age of the Jewish triumph, the eternal age of God’s supreme rule on earth, the new world, the era in which all mankind would worship Yahweh. …….
139:4.14 (1555.7)When in temporary exile on Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation, which you now have in greatly abridged and distorted form. This Book of Revelation contains the surviving fragments of a great revelation, large portions of which were lost, other portions of which were removed, subsequent to John’s writing. It is preserved in only fragmentary and adulterated form.
Greetings Jean!
My understanding is that the biblical version of John’s personal revelation is incomplete and heavily edited and intentionally contorted by later additions.
John did not receive a prophetic vision of the future and did not write an Epochal Revelation.
The UB says that the vision of John had nothing at all to do with our world or any future events anywhere at any time.
The doctrine of apocalypse is an interesting topic for study. It originates from the primitive myth and superstition of an angry God punishing humanity for its sins and the eternal condemnation of the many while giving grace to the few who appease God by their/our obedient subordination and submission to doctrinal beliefs.
Or so I understand.
Google translation:
“Hi all
I don’t know if I’m in the right section, but that’s my question.
I am interested in the relationship between the UB and the apocalypse of John of the bible
What does the UB say on this subject?”
I haven’t found a quote which states the physical body is completely consumed when fusion occurs while still alive in the flesh. Rather, it seems to have something to do with someone making “The Choice” (like Enoch) and being taken directly to the mansion worlds even if some of their body is left behind.
Thank you for your participation!
Randy
Greetings Randy!
I appreciate your intentions and effort to relate this phenomena to the Papers. Mark’s wiki reference was very helpful in its contribution to context.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion
I’m not certain/convinced that “spontaneous human combustion” actually exists, but certainly “translation” itself is clearly described in the UB as having increasing frequency during the planetary eras of Light and Life, and even prior to that.
I found this from Mara’s post above, which does indicate that burned corpses or body parts are not related to mortal fusion and translation:
(622.6) 55:1.6 On presettled worlds, planets without morontia temples, these fusion flashes many times occur in the planetary atmosphere, where the material body of a translation candidate is elevated by the midway creatures and the physical controllers.
I agree with Mara that there really is nothing truly “spontaneous” about mortal translation, and as you already stated, such events are not random or accidental either.
It is interesting to note (also in Paper 55) that the deeper into Light and Life a planet progresses the less frequently do the souls of translated folk go to the Mansion Worlds. This is due, I believe, to the personal spiritization and psychic circle progress achieved by individual people and the progressive, evolutionary spiritualization of those worlds.
I appreciate your being here Randy. Not all human mysteries have fact, truth, or reality as their source. There is also fantasy, fiction, imagination, and fabrication by primitive peoples of things seen or heard about by myth, fable, and legend.
Deciphering which is which and speculations about realty are fascinating fun! Scientific inquiry will eventually reduce confusions and eliminate the primitive errors and superstitions of prior ages…but until science discovers God and the intentional functionality of Divine purpose and plan of progressive evolutionary realities in time, human science will remain, primarily, as the blind leading the blind… IMHO.
Bradly.