Customer Reviews

The Urantia Book

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"The Urantia Book" is a replete work, incredibly consistent. It's four parts begin with the total or superuniverse, looks at the "local universe" or creation of Jesus, then goes to the history of Earth which it designates as "Urantia," and finishes with the most amazing, detailed and thrilling account of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The book appeals to readers from all faiths, discusses the major world religions, and develops a sense of cosmology and sense of belonging to a friendly universe greater than we are. I love this book because it has made God more clear to me, more certain. It diverges from Christianity in three doctrines: atonement, virgin birth and Adam & Eve as the first humans. The story and history of the Lucifer Rebellion are chilling. For me, the 3rd part of the book that discusses our planetary history was the authenticator. Things I can see in the world are discussed with The Urantia Book stating the causes. Like the Pharisees of old, many are threatened by new religious writings as if they would invalidate the old. The Urantia Book expands that which we have today gracefully and lovingly. For the spiritually hungry, it is a MUST READ. Read & expand.

The Urantia Book has been a part of my life for 18 years. I'm not associated with the Foundation, or study groups, or any cult that I know of. (I find it amusing that some think readers of The Urantia Book are cult driven since the book adamantly warns against this.) I'm an average wife and working American mother who found in this book a way to understand my existence in the universe and grow in my personal philosophies of God and His relationship with me. This book is a tool of intense study, and nothing more or less than what it is to the reader. It has changed my outlook on life and given me peace of mind in my daily tasks. Those who make it out to be anything other than what it proclaims either haven't read it in its entirety, or make a habit of disclaiming any religious work simply because it's easier to attack the work than examine one's own lack of faith. Truth is easy to pick apart by unbelievers, but anyone searching for it, or struggling to discover his or her place in existence, will find The Urantia Book to be a very emotionally satisfying, philosophically engaging, and awe inspiring read.

I'll keep this simple. If you are one who realizes that the "whole truth" doesn't exist in any book but that many books contain "the truth" then this book should intrigue you. It doesn't pull any punches. It is what it is. Some parts leave me scratching my head but most parts expand my religious comprehension. And that's ok with me. Plus, if you fear it's the work of a cult, it's not. It doesn't ask you to join anything or give your money to anybody or use certain "techniques" to attain nirvana or enlightenment. You're safe. If you do not fear having your established opinions challenged, this is a true adventure for you. If you are happy and satisfied with your religious dogma, stay away.

I purchased the softcover version about 5 months ago and have now read about two thirds of this enormous 2000 page work. This book is simply without parallel.

I remember thinking many years ago, 'Why do I have to wait until I die to find out the reasons for such and such...' Well I never did expect to get those questions answered in this life. But then, I hadn't read the Urantia book.

This book has managed to appear to assimilate the best from the world religions and philosophies to form an incredibly cohesive cosmic worldview. In fact, the way the entire book holds together in its self consistency, profundity, sublime morality, and sheer original brilliance has convinced me that it must in fact be a divine revelation, as it indeed purports itself to be. Indeed, after reading much of this book, the religions and philosophies of the world appear to be dilutions of the real thing.

Expect adequate answers to these questions, and more:

Who is God and what is He like? How does God 'interface' with our universe? How was the universe created, and why? How did biological life come into existence? Why is life progressing? What really is the detailed biologic and geologic history of earth? When did man appear, and what is his detailed history? What really makes man unique from other animals? How did the different races and cultures begin? What is involved in 'mind' and 'spirit'? How can God live in us? How does God communicate with us? What are the nature and kinds of celestial intelligences? What really happened in the rebellion of certain celestial intelligences? Why are there so many religions? Why does God allow suffering and injustice? Is there life on other planets? What is earth's ultimate destiny? What is our destiny after death? Who will survive? How does Jesus really fit into all of this? What is my ultimate purpose here? How can I be happy and fulfilled?

I have spent so much time pondering these questions on my own. As a Christian, I have become personally convinced of many truths (like 'Jesus is Lord'), but still there remained questions that I felt even the bible was not really clear on.

Well, now I can spend less time pondering and more time living out amazing truths that I could not have 'pondered into' in a thousand years. This book truly is a gift, whether one agrees that it was from superhuman sources or not.

If you have a friend who is spiritually minded with lots of questions, give them this book as a gift. Even if they don't believe it for what it says it is, they will come away with insights that would have taken a lifetime to learn.

Buddha's son once said after trying to comprehend his father's teaching of the freedom of salvation through faith, "Work out your own salvation." and be your own teacher, "It's not TRUTH until its YOUR TRUTH." The Urantia Book is not for everybody, just yet. It should be read as a personal, subjective document of immense importance for the sincere truth seeker. The continuity of content, harmony of values and beauty of insight profoundly impressed me. If you have discovered the Urantia Book, you must seriously consider that you are NOW ready for an expansion of your cosmic understandings, an enlargement of your spiritual values, and an acceptance of greater peace. DON'T RESIST. By its own admission, the Urantia Book does not have all the answers. Truth is always dependent on cultural context in time and space. However, if you are looking for relative answers to fill in the gaps of information in such topics as: "The life, times and teachings of Jesus", or the cultural connection between humans and angels, or the eternal connection between the human spirit and the eternal spirit, or maybe the physical connections of ETs and terrestials here on Urantia or in our local cosmic neighborhood. You will be pleased with the revealed information in the Urantia Book. How about possible answers to the "Crop Circle " phenomenon, or the mythology behind the "fall of man" or the apocalypse? You may derive answers from the Urantia Book. The Urantia Book states, "It's not so much what you learn or do here in this Earth life but rather that you have the experience. This is paramount." Regardless of our origin of race, cultural beliefs or family background, and no matter how much material wealth, health or happiness we achieve, the overwhelming message for me in the Urantia Book during these past 25 years has been: "Its not that you win or loose but HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME," or "It's not how many times you fall down BUT how many times you get ! up that matters in this life experience." The greatest realization for me from the Urantia Book was that we are all just starting out on our own eternal adventure of achieving ever expanding and increasing levels of: comprehending wisdom; experiencing universal truths; realizing greater cosmic insights; and living expanded spiritual values in a nearly endless progression of advancing lives. Perfection is our destiny, service is our goal, and Love is our reward. Happy journey, see you on the path. -Robert Linnell

About 18 yers ago I came across this book, just a short time before I had to undergo Heart Valve replacement. When my Doctor questioned my state of mind/anxiety the night before, I told him my only concern was having a stroke but that if I died on the operating table I wasn't worried because I knew where I was going and what was in front of me. He had the most profound look on his face and I could almost read his thoughts "maybe I should operate on this guy's head instead of his heart". Do I fear God? No - why should I fear pure Love, Understanding and Mercy? Am I afraid of going to Hell when I die? No, why should I fear someplace that doesn't exist? You've read about Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, etc and you think they're different names for the same entity but there're not - all different entities. Curious isn't it? It's pleasant to read about a Creator Son of God of the Michael Order who lived a mortal life here as Jesus of Nazareth (profoundly interesting the 'why' of it). In the middle of the book, just tucked away, is a description of the Star of Bethlehem which notes the birth of Jesus as August 21, 7BC. What the book states is that the 'star' was really the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on May 29th, September 29th and December 5th. Well, I asked a computer literate friend to check that out for me and look from Cairo, Egypt. Using mapping software called Mystars he checked.
His reply? "The conjunctions took place and are viewable at 0200 hours on May 29th, 1800 hours on September 29th and 1300 hours on December 5th. Quite Amazing!" This might cause people to wonder why such a verifiable fact would be just 'tossed in' a tome of 2097 pages. Part III was a significant 'validation' for me in that the book was put together in the 1934/35 time frame, originally published in 1955, and every day, in ways too numerous to mention, that 'old' information is being validated by modern day science. Of course you don't have to read it, but if you have a curious mind and are adept at using logic and reasoning, this book is a genuine Gold Mine.

I began reading the UB over 10 years ago for the purpose of saving my brother from, what I suspected was, a personality cult. Ya know....like David Koresh. Well, guess what? I learned the lesson of my own ignorance!!! Let me just speak to the folks who, out of abject fear, need to sling the "cult" word at the brilliance of this wonderful book. One reviewer used a phrase like "...members of the Foundation...", suggesting that favorable reviews came only from "members". NEWS FLASH: There are NO "members"!!! Nor are there any "personalities" standing in a pulpit anywhere "interpreting" the text of the UB for the hopelessly lost!!! THe Urantia Foundation merely works to keep the book in print...it is a publisher....and that's it. There are local Study Groups all over the U.S. and world made up of people who read and study the UB. They each make up their own study agendas and topics and discuss and exchange their own individual ideas about the text and the incredible meanings found on the UB pages. I've also read Martin Gardner's book attempting to debunk the UB. If you don't know this you should...Martin uses (of all things) Numerology as the basis for his attack on the UB!!! Ya gotta love the poor guy who uses the surface temp of the sun as his proof that the UB is fallacious!! This book identified sub-atomic particles long before they were discovered by science (called ultimatons). Read this book with the most skeptical mind you can muster and commit yourself to read the entire text and see what happens. If you worship the Bible you'll have trouble with it...if you worship God and love Jesus....you'll be thankful. And you'll appreciate the Bible even more!!! When you are done reading the UB, read a review or summary of the UB, written by any major Christian denomination for use by their "members". You'll be startled at the dishonesty and un-Christ-like nature of those reviews. The UB is NOT and attack on the Bible or any other religious work. Don't be afraid...just read and kiss fear good-bye forever. And remember...Jesus wasn't kiddin' when he used the metaphor "Father" to teach us about God. In every child is present the germ of the Father.... Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Light, to you all.

I have lived most of my life as a skeptic and thus was disdainful of anything to do with God or religion. In spite of my negative self, I had always felt a longing to understand myself and others, and the purpose of my existance. One day, a friend gave me a copy of The Urantia Book. He told me it was the most amazing book he had ever read. I looked it over and said, "This looks like some hokey book about religion". He said, "Just read it...it will change the way you look at life."

On my first attempt to read it, I found it to be arduous. It requires diligent effort to get through and understand. Unless you have absolute command of the English language, the use of a comprehensive dictionary will be necessary to assist you. Somewhat discouraged, I put it down and didn't try to read it again for several months. The next time I attempted it, I skipped directly to the last section, Part IV. I wanted to know, Who is this Jesus person that so many people profess to believe in and why is he so influential 2000 years later?

I was moved to joy and to tears by Part IV, The Life and Teachings of Jesus. Never before have I read anything so mesmerizing, so enthralling, so utterly beautiful. I felt as if I was shoulder-to-shoulder with the Master, walking beside him on the ancient dusty roads to that fateful day in Jerusalem. I found myself reading it for hours at a time. Talk about a page-turner! I could not put it down. After I read Part IV, I tried starting again at the beginning of the book. Although I still have to use a dictionary, the concepts seem easier to grasp this time around. And what exciting concepts they are...that mortal life is the just the first step of many in the grand eternal adventure!

I was sorrowed by the negative reviews from some of the readers, because this is the book that finally brought me understanding of the historical signficance and spiritual magnificence of Jesus Christ. I hope someday they will be able to discern the difference between opinion and truth.

I wrote this review to share as a personal experience in the hope that it will motivate even one person to purchase this book. It is my sincere desire for you to find the Keys to Eternity. I know something has changed in me because I catch myself thinking about the concepts presented in the Urantia Book. And I have developed one heck of a vocabulary in the process.

It is intimidating and difficult to comprehend at the beginning, but this book has to be the best book I have ever read.

I have been told all my life that believing in God is an act of "blind faith". I am an engineer and I can't work on Blind Faith. This book gave me the hard facts I was looking for to determine 1) that there really is a God, 2) why the universe was created, and 3) why am I on this planet and how can I enjoy this brief period of my spiritual life.

Although the writing style is difficult and dry, it compels me to believe what they say because it makes sense from an engineering perspective, it supports many of the beliefs that come from multiple religions (showing that organized religions were not all that bad) and I tend to believe that God is the ultimate engineer when it comes to creating our universe and that there is a clear and concise plan - described in this book.

What I learned is that God has strategically positionned a support system around us that is managed and operated by spiritual beings (who are not constrained to live in our earthly physical environment).

I also discovered why we are not supposed to communicate with this spiritual domain (although I did fior a long time with a wija board etc.). It all has to do with the rebellion of Satan and 1/3 of the angels in our local universe. To prevent chaos, communications have been prevented for 2,000 years, but I believe that will be reinstated in the near future - don't have specifics but I hope in my life time).

Then I finally realized that our purpose is not to patiently wait for the end of the world (or of our life) to have a reward in heaven. That would be a pathetic waste of this beautiful universe that God created for His pleasure and ours. Getting there is half the fun if you have a little help from your friends (spiritual that is). I stopped asking for help to achieve the earhly goals that I was setting and started looking for the activities that GOD would like to live WITH me. Now, every time something new happens, I turn upward and say "was that good for you too God?). I am sure that He/She is having as much fun living these experiences with me as a dad with his child's first bike ride.

What about the sciences section in the Urantia Book? Not much mention of it here among the reviewers. I find so much agreement in this area it boggles my mind, yet some reviewers say this book does not support science.

For instance, the 48 chromosomes or genes science does not agree with in the nucleus of the cell. Or is it because they fail to mention that there are 46 floating about in the nucleus, but there are two more `receptor sites' that are also stranded DNA on two sites of the walls of the cell as well?

Or our solar system that is supposed to be composed of the 11 planets? So now today we might have 11 which include the likes of Sedna and Quaoar?

Or the table of the elements in physics and chemistry? The book says there is a `segregation' between periods of elements that are based on the number seven. But there are if you study the table of elements in a subshell version, and you then might find these elements amount to about 35% of all the elements.

Or that the universe is not BigBang but is more like steady state? But recent studies into the area of light correlation implies very strongly the red shift is just correlation of universe energy in it's many forms, and results in the cosmic background radiation as well as a red shift of light as it traverses deep space.

Much on the Earth's beginnings and development is given in far more detail than you might get in a very advanced book on geology. Just try to prove this book is wrong in this area.

When you read this book, you really need to pay attention to exact meanings in every sentence, otherwise you may get a little lost. Is this why some people think this book is a joke? Just check your knowledge of facts about reality when you read this book. It may have been delivered in the thirties, but it's content is so up to date scientifically it tends to far outweigh new age.

Most people might not be that concerned about the general truths in science, but spend more time pursuing the more metaphysical, religious, and philosophical aspects of reality. Some of them will not be disappointed in this book if they have not read it yet.