“What is Urantia?” It’s not a trick question. It’s one we have encountered ever since we started keeping a copy of The Urantia Book on our shelves. It’s a question we get asked when our friends and families find out that we take our precious vacation resources and spend them on Urantia conferences. The same question takes many forms, from “What is The Urantia Book?” to “What is your religion?” We each come up with our best answer, hopefully one that is true to our own life and inspires thoughtful questions and conversations. I have been using some form of the same answer for about six years now.
“Urantia is about a personal relationship with God that propels a person into service.”
It works for me. I see it as a reformulation of “The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.” In Paper 142, The Passover at Jerusalem, Jesus is visiting with a Greek Jew and tells him, in part, that we should be engaged in
…two great privileges: sincere worship of the infinite Creator, the Paradise Father, and loving service bestowed upon one’s fellow men. [Paper 142:4:2, page 1600.3]
In essence, The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. But Jesus adds one more teaching to this sentence. He says that these two great privileges are the expression of a single supreme duty. “Worship” and “service” are two expressions of the same motivation. “Worship” and “service” are two ways we attempt to fulfill the supreme mandate, “Be you perfect, as I am perfect.”
The Association is in the middle of a three-year study of the theme, “Living the Teachings.” In Tallinn, Estonia in July 2019 there will be a conference dedicated to the study of this supreme duty and its two expressions: “international, qualitative growth and external, quantitative growth.” I hope you are able to join me in Tallinn to explore these themes together.
In service,
Chris Wood