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 Part III.  The History of Urantia

Please see the general introduction to these questions at the beginning of the questions for Part I.

 

How does Part III relate to Part II?  To Part IV?  Note how the last group of papers (perhaps from Paper 99?) culminate the preceding Parts.

 

Paper 57.  The Origin of Urantia

1.  Smile: What do you make of the fact that by the time the  permit arrived from the Uversa Council of Equilibrium, the team to organize material creation had already departed (652.1)?

2.  What is the import of the use of family terminology to talk about suns?

3.  How did our solar system originate?

4.  What will eventually happen to the moon?

5.  Why are geologists’ estimates of earth’s age too short?

6.  Why does atmospheric oxygen protect the earth against meteors?

7.  Note that our planet was accumulating matter long before it was placed on the physical registries of Nebadon (659-60). 

8.  How does the author’s way of presentation reinforce our confidence in the power of the mind to grasp causation (192a)?

9.  Note that organizational steps were taken to prepare for developments in the distant future (661.2).  Is there a principle of universe organization to be generalized here?

10.  How does the fact that earthquakes diminish in frequency and severity (662.2,4) affect discussions of theodicy (defending the thesis of a good Creator despite the suffering that natural events occasion)?

 

Paper 58.  Life Establishment on Urantia

1.  What does it mean that ours is a decimal planet?

2.  Why do the authors make so many claims that can be tested in observation?

3.  If there are 50,000 facts of physics and chemistry that “prove the presence of mind in the planning, creation, and maintenance of the material cosmos” (664.6), shouldn’t we—especially scientifically minded students of The Urantia Book–be far more active in seeking them out?  What facts portrayed in these papers show evidence of design?

4.  How did life originate on Urantia?  How many original life implantations occurred? Where were they, and why were these locations chosen?

5.  What should we make of the fact that the continental drift theory was only a minority view among our scientists at the time these papers were indited?

6.  Evolution moves by gradual transitions and sudden transitions (669#6).  Why is the Darwinian theory of evolution having a hard time explaining the sudden leaps?  How does the present theory of “punctuated equilibrium” try to explain the suddenlys?  If the traditional alternative to Darwinism has been a belief that God specially created each separate species, then what is to be inferred about the presence of design from the book’s theory of macromutation, in which systematic change occurred naturally?

7.  How does the theory of the evolution of mind given on 670.1 differ from the popular idea that mind “emerged” as a phenomenon of increasingly complex nervous systems?

8.  Only those species persist that attain cosmic unity (670.2).  If we generalize a principle from this observation, what implications for human living follow?

 

Paper 59.  The Marine Life Era

1.  Why is such detail given?

2.  Why does there appear to be an absence of sympathy in the narration of extinctions (e.g., 683.7)?

3.  How many times has the area in which you live been submerged?

4.  Consider the interweaving of geology and biology as sciences and how the their reality domains are intertwined.

5.  Note the aesthetic observations on “uninteresting lowlands, devoid of scenic beauty” (673.8) and on the clothing of “naked, unattractive landscape” with “luxuriant verdure” (678.3).  Can we say that the author shares aesthetic sensitivity in common with humans?   What is the aesthetic significance of the fact that so much of the planet is aesthetically dull?

 

Paper 60.  Urantia During the Early Land-Life Era

1.  Look for the evidences of aesthetic and other feeling in this narrative of fact.

2.  Consider the patient faithfulness of those who nurtured life. 

3.  In the light of this series of papers, comment on this quote from 2080.8: “The universe is not like the laws, mechanisms, and the uniformities which the scientist discovers, and which he comes to regard as science, but rather like the curious, thinking, choosing, creative, combining, and discriminating scientist who thus observes universe phenomena and classifies the mathematical facts inherent in the mechanistic phases of the material side of creation.”

 

Paper 61.  The Mammalian Era on Urantia

1.  What’s so special about the frog (cf. 705.8)?

2.  From what animal did the first mammal originate?

3.  Tell the survival advantages of mammals (693).

4.  What philosophy of living principle is indicated in the fact that, according to plan, humans first appeared in a “stimulating, invigorating, and difficult environment” (700.4)? 

5.  When did the Planetary Prince arrive?  For how long did the Prince’s staff function before the rebellion?  When did Adam and Eve come?

6.  Draw a time line from any two places you choose, and symbolize the appearance in time of the major steps in biologic evolution on your time line.  E.g., if you represent organic evolution as a movement from New York to San Franciso, where do reptiles first appear?  Mammals?  Humans?

 

Paper 62.  The Dawn Races of Early Man

1.  What were the emotions and social tendencies of the (prehuman) dawn mammals?  The mid-mammals? 

2.  Did the primates stand erect and walk on their hind legs?

3.  What were the emotions and decisions of the first two humans?  What quality of decision-making involves the spirit of wisdom (709.6)?

4.  The definition of will is “the power of choosing to worship and to ascend” (710.5).  What are the implications of this definition, and how does this definition differ from conventional notions of will?

 

Paper 63.  The First Human Family

1.  What inferences can you draw from the names of Andon–“the first Fatherlike creature to exhibit human perfection hunger” and Fonta—“the first Sonlike creature to exhibit human perfection hunger” (711.2)?

2.  What does 712.1-2 teach about moving from decision to full and final decision?

3.  Sometimes readers assert that because of the superhuman supervision of the planet, we won’t be permitted to do anything very bad to our planet.  What does 714.7 imply about that belief?

4.  “When closely associated, uncultured people irritate and offend each other.”  Do you find this statement a helpful reminder when you begin to feel irritated and offended?

5.  What would it take to assume leadership of a group of tribes?

 

Paper 64.  The Evolutionary Races of Color

1.  What religious emotions can grow out of feeling geographically helpless (718.1)?

2.  What are the differences between fear and a scientific response (720.4)?

3.  What concept of worship is implied at 725.7?

4.  Is there a lesson at 729.2 on how to develop heroism?  What project of yours deserves magnificent persistency and superb devotion?

5.  How can you synthesis your attitude regarding (a) the talk of superior and inferior and (b) the affirmation that all races have equal standing before the celestial powers?

6.  Read this paper imagining yourself in the position of a member of another race.  Imagine your feelings.  Discuss.

7.  The early great leaders (723-25) unified their peoples in the worship of God.  Why was worship such a powerful unifier?

8.  What distinguishes an enlightened reading material about race differentiation?  In what ways might we update the account in the light of contemporary research and ways of expression?  Can we honestly meditate on this material to the point that we can affirm that “all truth—material, philosophic, or spiritual—is both beautiful and good” (43.4)?  How do the teachings here rely on the context of the other Parts of the book?  And how is your understanding of the proclamation of spiritual equality affected by your reaction to the facts presented in Part III?

9.  Why is race differentiation part of the divine plan?  (726; cf. 564#4)

 

Paper 65.  The Overcontrol of Evolution

1.  What’s the point of saying “overcontrol” rather than “control”?

2.  What are the key elements, and who are the key players, in fostering evolution?

3.  How does the teaching here correlate with present-day science?

4.  How do you respond to the proposal for patience and cooperation at 736.6)?

5.  Summarize the teaching in sections 6 and 7 about how mind functions in evolution.

6.  How do sections 1-7 illustrate the truth of section 8?

7.  Consider reading this paper as a report to shareholders (stakeholders).

8.  Reflecting on your life and on current history . . . what physical improvements might make a new level of intellectual development possible?  What intellectual growth might make a new level of spiritual realization possible (740.2)?

 

Paper 66.  The Planetary Prince of Urantia

1.  Try reading this paper as a tragic drama, from the first page hints to the last paragraph’s report.

2.  If you discover a thread of pride in yourself, how do you deal with it?

3.  Study the project here: the situation, mission, the nature of the team members, the strategy, and the details.  What lessons can we derive about epochal revelation management?

4.  Compare the Father’s prayer (747.5) to the believer’s prayer (1620).

5.  What was the gospel proclaimed by the Prince’s staff (749.4)?

6.  Why was the college of revealed religion slow in functioning (747.3-4)?

7.  What are the moral commands of the Father’s Way (751)?  Why do most students of The Urantia Book seem to pay so little attention to the Book’s teachings and implications on morality?

8.  Study the Dalamatian educational methods, and consider their relation to present-day educational reforms.  How can we progress in fostering learning by doing (751)? 

7.  Why is it easy to engage in overteaching and overenlightenment?  What are the results (750.1)?

8.  Note the policy that worked well for nearly 300,000 years: “None of the Prince’s staff would present revelation to complicate evolution; they presented revelation only as the climax of their exhaustion of the forces of evolution” (747.4).  How can we see something like that policy at work in The Urantia Book itself?  What would it mean for us to practice such a policy?  What factors might persuade us to modify such a policy today?  Discuss the reasons for and against.  Are we ready to go through a full prayer process about the wisdom of our own methods of disseminating truth?

9.  The Prince’s staff gathered the “superior individuals,” trained and inspired them, and sent them back as “teachers and leaders” (743.9).  How does the first epochal revelation different from the third and fourth that launched a movement to tell everyone of a spiritual gospel?

10.  Why were activities in art and science associated in one council (748)?

11.  Why is work with the soil a blessing (752.0)?

12.  Note the vital importance of projects of every sort—material, intellectual, and spiritual—as they were designed for integrated cooperation.  Did the college of revealed religion become prideful about the importance of the spiritual (757.4)?  How can we do better to show equal support for those called to diverse projects?

 

Paper 67.  The Planetary Rebellion

1.  What are the consequences of betraying those who trust you closely (754.4)? 

2.  Explain the differences between evil, sin, and iniquity (754.5).  What are the consequences of sin (760#7; cf. 984#10)?

3.  What factors that enabled Van and Amadon to do so well (756#2). 

 

Paper 68.  The Dawn of Civilization

1.  This paper begins a series on civilization and government.  How do the introductory paragraphs on 763 indicate structure in Part III? 

2.  How does this paper’s discussion of primitive conditions illuminate our world today?  This is a question we can repeatedly ask, since our civilization is half-way between primitive and advanced, and since there is such unevenness between the differing levels of various groups on the planet today.

3.  What stands in the way of immediate realization of brotherhood on Urantia (763.4)?  How can we promote natural brotherly attraction?

4.  Is civilization today oriented more toward self-maintenance or self-gratification? What are the implications of the difference (764.5)?  What warning lurks in 764.1 and 765.2 (cf. 1302.3)?  How does today’s society compare with that at the time the papers were being indited? 

5.  Consider the basic emotions that contributed to human socialization, and explain how the religion of Jesus can make difference between those emotions leading toward peace instead of war (764-66; cf. 1572.8-73.1).

6.  What lessons can we learn today from the discussion of sex and family on 765.3-6?

7.  Consider the teachings and implications regarding abortion on 770 and other passages: 570.1; 631.1; 932.1; 940.2; 1130.7; 2073.10.

 

Paper 69.  Primitive Human Institutions

1.  How are the institutions of self-maintenance, self-perpetuation, and self-gratification interrelated and interdependent today (772#1)?

2.  Study the teachings of this paper on private property and capitalism for any economic or political lessons for today (cf. 805#5-#6).

3.  Why is the necessity for labor “man’s paramount blessing” (773.6)?  How can we manifest intolerance for idleness and compel able-bodied people to work (780.2)?

 

Paper 70.  The Evolution of Human Government

1.  If government is an evolutionary response to antagonism (783.2), what institutional changes would help us respond better to antagonism today?

2.  To what extent does 783.4 give a psychological and sociological explanation of violence in our society today?

3.  How does 785#3 help answer the challenge that war gives evidence that there is no God?

4.  How can we constructively respond to the perils of budding industry on Urantia (786)?

5.  How do sports fulfill the function of impressing youths with “the reality of life and its inevitable hardships” (791.3)?

6.  How do piety and mysticism separate priests socially (793.2)?

7.  How can gradual progress in the basic factors of civilization have immediate social results (793.10)?

8.  How do the teachings in 793#9 correct present day thinking about rights?

9.  Which of the problems listed on 798 seem serious today?

 

Paper 71.  Development of the State

1.  The first item on the agenda of an expanding civilization (804#4) is preservation of individual liberties.  Study the lists in 793#9, 797#12; 800#1; 800#2; 800#4; 800#7 and 800#8 to discover as much as possible what liberties the author may have in mind.

2.  What do we learn from this paper about our political responsibilities as citizens today?

3.  In what sense is it inadvisable to practice the golden rule universally today (804)?

4.  Why is national defense still needed (804-05)?

5.  Carefully explain the teachings on education (806#7).  What does philosophy become in an advanced civilization?  What regressive tendencies pervade education today?  Why should education be in the hands of scientists and philosophers?  Why must teachers be leaders?  Why do you need the lower levels of education before the higher ones?  What does this imply for our growth as students of these papers?

 

Paper 72.  Government on a Neighboring Planet

1.  Describe what it would be like to grow up and life a full life in the progressive civilization of this neighboring planet.

2.  Imagine debates between readers over whether we should adopt the provisions mentioned here, e.g., with regard to 818.4 on the death penalty.  What factors should condition the extent to which we adoption or adapt these ideas?  Are there hints in the way some of these facts are presented in the text?

3.  Discuss the implications of last paragraph (820.3) for our pursuit of world government.

 

Paper 73.  The Garden of Eden

1.  How did the preaching of Van and his associates evolve as the arrival of Adam and Eve drew nigh (822.6-8)?

2.  Why was it justifiable forcibly to evict a group of peninsula dwellers (823.3)?

3.  Why was there no animal  husbandry or slaughter in the Garden (824.1)?

4.  Why were only volunteer laborers accepted (824.4)?

5.  Imagine the discussions regarding Van’s faith as he proposed to train a second generation (824.5).

6.  In what sense were the leaves of the tree of life “for the healing of nations” (825.7)?

7.  Notice the definitions of the purpose of Eden at 823.6 and of Adam and Eve’s mission at 827.4.

8.  Discuss the potential pattern elements in a two-stage epochal revelation: an initial stage of preparation and mobilization, and then a stage of broad interaction with the planet (827.2).  Might there be such stages connected with the fifth epochal revelation? 

9.  What could we do to prepare for the advent of a Magisterial Son?

 

Paper 74.  Adam and Eve

1.  How can we participate in Michael’s rehabilitating mercy to Adam and Eve?  What factors mitigate their guilt? 

2.  What is the divine plan of progression (830.L-831.1)?  What are the implications for the fifth epochal revelation?

3.  What is the difference between the Edenic Sabbath of self-culture and the character-building (1583.1) that Jesus avoided?

4.  Note: despite the “fraternal and democratic” manner of Adam and Eve (832.1), they did not regard everyone as a candidate for visiting the new epochal revelation (835.L-836.1).  How could one best adapt such a standard to the fifth epochal revelation?  Would such an adaptation be advisable?

5.  Discuss the ethical implications of the Edenic doctrine of capital punishment (836b).

6.  Why was it wise for Moses not to recount events prior to Adam (837.7)?  How would he have known?

 

Paper 75.  The Default of Adam and Eve

1.  For what reasons is the story told in such detail?

2.  How did conditions force Adam and Eve to modify the characteristic Adamic gospel (839.4)?

3.  Is there a long endurance test that you face?  What results do you want to see in your lifetime (841.6)?  What short-cuts beckon (846.4)?  If you were farseeing, what would you anticipate as eventually occurring (840.2)?  What planetary factors will bring about the situation for which you long?  Does your patience need to deepen (1295.6)?

4.  Comment on the remark about “the tendency of woman to look upon immediate results rather than to plan more farsightedly for more remote effects” (840.7).  Is there a tendency deriving from the difference between the Creator Son and the Creative Mother Spirit as regards space and time (376#3)?  How can women and men best combine their strengths?

5.  What does it mean to combine good and evil (842)?  What would it mean in your project to do so?

6.  At what points does the narrative generalize beyond points specific to the story of Adam and Eve (824.6; 846.4)?  What do these generalizations imply for our handling of the fifth epochal revelation?

7.  What was the sophistry of Cano (842.8)?  How common is this sophistry today (whether implied or explicitly argued)?  What is the relative value of sincerity?

8.  What do you hear today of “the insidious propaganda of personal liberty and planetary freedom of action” (846.3)?

9.  Could the Garden dwellers have predicted the consequences of their disobedience?

10.  Your life is worse in some respects because of the default.  Can you enter wholeheartedly into the merciful rehabilitation of Eve and Adam as members of the four and twenty counselors on Jerusem (514)?

 

Paper 76.  The Second Garden

1.  Compare and contrast Kenan’s foreign missionary service (850.1) to that proposed on the neighboring planet (819L).

2.  What is required for us to identify with the attitudes expressed by the Melchizedeks and Michael to Adam and Eve (852.1; 852.3)?  Note the summary by Solonia (854.2).

3.  What does this paper teach about how to make the best of Plan B when Plan A goes awry?  Is there a Plan A for The Urantia Book?  In what ways might the revelators’ intentions for the book be spoiled?  What goals should we recover and pursue faithfully if we should find that we have gotten off track?

 

Paper 77.  The Midway Creatures

1.  What did “gradual” development mean with the production of primary Midwayers (744L)?

2.  How does the story of the Tower of Babel illustrate the dangers of division of purpose in a team project (1758.4, 1625L; Genesis 11.1-9)? 

3.  What functions were served by Vanites designating Ararat as their sacred mountain?

4.  How does the story of the uncooperative secondary Midwayers after the death of Adamson illustrate the consequences of becoming detached from the planetary government (863.2)?

5.  What sort of coordination of personalities and circumstances were needed to motivate the petition for this revelation?

6.  Midwayers converse with celestial visitors in order to achieve what goal analogous to our goal in studying the Papers?

7.  How can we best cooperate with the Midwayers?

8.  What, concretely, is involved in the “spiritual economy” of 855.4?

9.  Does the reading of this paper inspire you to the kind of enthusiastic determination for the divine plan that the loyal Midwayers manifest today?

 

Paper 78.  The Violet Race After the Days of Adam

1.  List the qualities of the Adamites and Andites.  Evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.  Do you think you have an above average proportion of violet inheritance?  Why?  What follows from your belief?

2.  If the Adamites held so faithfully to Adam’s mission, how can we interpret the repeated comment that Adam and Eve failed.  How much better could things have been if they had succeeded?

3.  Notice that the artificial Adamic culture deterioriated until it reached a natural evolutionary level (870.1).  Should readers of The Urantia Book realize that there culture as readers is, in a way, artificial?  Are there ways for us to evolve up to the level of culture presented in The Urantia Book?  Is there a need to work with evolutionary science, philosophy, and religion (and other aspects of culture) to cultivate authentic support for the high levels of the teachings in the book?  Is the culture of readers vulnerable without such labor?

4.  What kind of quiet spread of revelation is implied at 873.5?

5.  Discuss the implications for today: They were a united people because they had a uniform group religion” (876.3).

6.  How have ferments produced by the Garden culture resulted in 20^th century Urantian civilization?

 

Paper 79.  Andite Expansion in the Orient

1.  Imagine a group dedicated today to the appropriate dissemination of teaching on eugenics.  How would such a group go about their work?  What would be some of the wrong ways to pursue their goals?  (cf. 920)

2.  What would a greater Gautama do (883.0)?

3.  What are the cultural effects of progressive and unprogressive religion (883.1; 885.7-8)?

4.  What strengths and weaknesses of various racial groups are presented?  How can generalizations be helpful?  How can they be misinterpreted and misused?

5.  How can we best use Part IV if we are not to overemphasize the past (888.1; 43)?

6.  What would be the differences between wise and unwise attempts to help the potentials of various peoples move toward fruition?

 

Paper 80.  Andite Expansion in the Occident

1.  Think of different possible definitions of racism.  In what senses should we say that the teachings on race are not racist? 

2.  How are religious and ethical idealism, combined with popular opinion and demographic change, affecting the prospects for North American civilization as indicated on 899?

 

Paper 81.  Development of Modern Civilization

 1.  What can be said for the statement that soil toil is “the greatest of all blessings”?

 2.  Where on the planet would you say the climate is best for civilizational progress today?

 3.  Give an example of an error of philosophy and a superstition of religion that science has corrected (or will eventually correct).  Give an example of the frank, honest, and fearless search for true causes—and of the failure to do so (901.9; 907.5-7).

 4.  Give an example of the profitable utilization of leisure.  How do you use your leisure?

 5.  Explain: “Eventually evolution and culture become related as cause and effect” (905.7).

 6.  Gives examples: “Every human right is associated with a social duty” (906.4).

 7.  What regulation of the sex propensity ought to be regarded in our society today as a group right? (906.4)

 8.  How do we respond to dissenters and non-conformists?  How are we treated when we dissent and do not conform?

 9.  What kind of linguistic development has been needed (908.6)?

10.  How can you use language as a thinking tool?

11.  What are the ideals of the current generation (909.8)?

12.  What character trend is being predetermined by our homes, churches, and schools (909.8)?

13.  How would you estimate our  oral and spiritual momentum today (909.8)?

14.  Explain and illustrate: “The driving power of even the most material aspects of a cultural civilization is resident in the least material of society’s achievements” (909.9).

15.  How does spiritual idealism advance human culture (910.1)?

16.  Is it evident now that the coming goal of human existence is for quality of thinking (910.2)?

17.  How can religious idealism help inspire intelligent patriotism (910.9)?

18.  In your experience, how does teamwork occur (911.3)?  Is any mention made here of “followers”?  Why not?

19.  Social and economic change must be made slowly, while moral and spiritual adjustments may be made quickly.  Does this help explain why the first two epochal revelations were expected to spread gradually, while the third and fourth epochal revelations, being purely spiritual, were supposed to be spread quickly?  What are the implications for the spread of the Fifth Epochal Revelation?  Should we go boldly proclaiming the book like as gospel?

 

Paper 82.  The Evolution of Marriage

1.  For what reasons is free love held in low esteem (915.1)?  In what ways to the authors imply their approval of restrictive standards?

2.  Comment: “No human emotion or impulse, when unbridled and overindulged, can produce so much harm and sorrow as this powerful sex urge. Intelligent submission of this impulse to the regulations of society is the supreme test of the actuality of any civilization. Self-control, more and more self-control, is the ever-increasing demand of advancing mankind. Secrecy, insincerity, and hypocrisy may obscure sex problems, but they do not provide solutions, nor do they advance ethics.” (914.6).

3. How do the authors avoid a moralistic and extreme tone in discussing the problems of marriage?

 

Paper 83.  The Marriage Institution

1.  On the spectrum from panic to complacency, what attitude toward the contemporary state of marriage is promoted here (928.7; 929.1-2)?  How worried to the authors seem to be?  How is the situation today different from the time the paper was indited?

2.  How does the author combine compassion for unmarried people, while supporting high standards (927#6; cf. 383.2; 1229.1; 977.2; and 2070c)?

3.  What factors of realism are mentioned in this account of marriage, and what practical implications are proposed?

4.  What does it take to have a good marriage?

 

Paper 84.  Marriage and Family Life

1.  How can home building be “the center and essence of all educational effort” (931.1)?

1.  What qualities of God might seem patriarchal if misunderstood?  How should theology today avoid patriarchal implications?  (933.7)

2.  What does it mean that woman has “always” capitalized man’s stronger sex urge for her own interests (935.3)?

3.  To what extent does your experience confirm the characterization of male-female differences: 934.2,4 (cf. 935.3; 938.8,9; 932.5)?  What practical consequences follow?  Describe how you see the “viewpoints and life reactions” of the sexes (938.7).

4.  Consider the history of unfairness in the domination of women by men.  How could you explain to someone today that the real emancipation of woman was achieved by science and the modern factory (937.4)?  What are men’s and womens’ spheres of existence, and what rights do they properly have (938.1-4)?

5.  How has woman been the moral standard-bearer and the spiritual leader of mankind (938.8)?

6.  How should parents let their children experience the natural consequences of foolish conduct (941.1)?

7.  What is artificial and superficial education (941.4)?  How can we avoid it?

8.  Do you practice a family council (941L)?  Synthesize the teaching on family discipline: 941.1-4; 1401.4; 1417; 1604.5.

9.  What are acceptable ways of self-gratification (942L-43.1)?  Comment on how “all human institutions are so completely shot through with this pleasure pursuit” (942.3). What would it be like for these institutions to change?  What would it mean for us to seek less self-gratification in certain areas?

 

Paper 85.  The Origins of Worship

1.  The term “worship” sometimes seems to mean, when directed to things or beings other than God, excessive respect (cf. 57.7).  What are the gods in your life?  What is the common response to a millionaire?  A stunningly dressed, beautiful woman?  A person of great power?  A priest?  (cf. 948.8)

2.  Reread 402-03 and comment on how the adjutant of wisdom might work with the spirit of worship to direct the latter to the true God.

3.  What implications do you personally derive about drug use from 945.5-6, 1204.3, and 1209.5?

4.  Why should we not be cruel to animals  (946.7)?

5.  Many primitive religions recognize a sky father god.  What shall we make of this? (947.5)

 

Paper 86.  Early Evolution of Religion

1.  You are the governor of a state hearing an argument that to adopt a state lottery would bring in much needed revenues for the state’s schools.  How do you respond?  (950#1; 951#2)

2.  What’s the difference between the primitive experience of life as a gamble and the experience of life as an adventure (950L)?

3.  Explain how the reactions of existence come between acts and their consequences (951.5).

 

4.  Why are pain and suffering essential to progressive evolution (951.3)?

5.  Give an example about how self-interest tends to distort belief (951.6).

6.  What superstitions do we still indulge?

7.  How does knowledge of causes replace the fear of existence by the joy of living (952.0)?  How does fear prepare the mind for the bestowal of the Thought Adjuster (957.3)?  What is scientific action (952.1)?  Note the image of the mental life as involve a system of deduction (955.8).

8.  What data does The Urantia Book give that contributes to the debate on euthanasia (953.6)?

9.  Have you ever had a dream that seemed to be of spirit origin (954)?

 

Paper 87.  The Ghost Cults

1.  How should you deal with someone who worships ancestors (1475.3)?  With someone who is superstitious? (Cf. 1372.5; 1597#2; 1637.3-4; 1646#7; 1671.6; 1680#3; 1696.4; 1698.2-3; 1703#4; 1738.4; 1813.1; 1830.3-5; 1845.6-7; 1936.3)

2.  How should religious ceremonial keep pace with The Urantia Book (962.3)?

3.  How do we see the belief in signs persisting today?

4.  What of value in Christianity has been destroyed in this scientific age (965.8)?

5.  Design an improved cult (966#7).  How will a better cult will evolve, if it cannot be constructed?  (Cf. 1360.2; 1362; 1378.2; 1386.3; 1390-01; 1391-12; 1399L; 1404.5-6; 1494.7; 1496; 1568; 1880.4; 1963;4. 2043a; 2050; 1800#1.  1596#1; 1620; 1624.2, 6; 1684#8; 1709#2; 1938#3; 1941#5).

 

Paper 88.  Fetishes, Charms, and Magic

1.  If Moses was too wise to attempt suddenly to displace the olden fetishes, and “sacred books” function as fetishes today, what does that imply for how enlightened teachers of religion should learn to make use of such existing books (969)?

2.  In what ways might The Urantia Book be treated as a fetish?

3.  Compare and contrast science and magic (924.4).  Why are superstition and magic rising in popularity today? 

4.  What is implied about “titles and degrees” at 972.0?

 

Paper 89.  Sin, Sacrifice, and Atonement

1.  Create a table of primitive tendencies and contrasting advanced practices and meditate on the differences.

2.  What primitive practices described in this paper are perpetuated in modern worship?

3.  What do people hope to attain by sacrifice?

4.  What teachings help us avoid extremes (977; 383)?

5.  What is the proper definition of sin (984#10)?

6.  What are the degrees of sin?

7.  What is confession, and why is it essential to religious growth?

8.  What is the proper response to the realization of sin (984.7, 985.1)?

 

Paper 90.  Shamanism—Medicine Men and Priests

1.  What forms of shamanism do we see today (986.2-3)?

2.  Consider.  “Religion eventually achieves the profoundly simple realization of an all-powerful love, the love which sweeps irresistibly through the human soul when awakened to the conception of the limitless affection of the Universal Father for the sons of the universe.” (986.3).  Have you achieved that realization?  If so, how can you help others realize it?  If not, how can you progress toward it?

3.  What is implied about talking about the weather (988.2)?

4.  What do we learn at 990.5 about how evolution works?  Since revelation may fail, should we take greater care to harmonize zeal for revelation with evolutionary wisdom?

5.  What is the progressive attitude toward scientific examination and publicity (992.1)?  Does this mean that we should not respect legitimate secrets (see the references associated with page 207)?

6.  Why do the authors generally use the term “theology” with negative connotations (993)?

 

Paper 91.  The Evolution of Prayer

1.  How can you tap the subconscious reserves of human power through prayer (997.4; 999.7)?

2.  Comment on the double capacity of every person in prayer (1000.1).

3.  If prayer is a spontaneous outburst of God-consciousness (1002.3), how can one organize group prayer (998.5)?

4.  How is prayer answered (1002.3)?

5.  What is the importance of words in prayer (1002.4)?

6.  What should we pray for (1002.5)?

4.  Comment on the seven conditions of effective prayer (1002#9). For an expanded discussion, probing the soul simplicity of prayer and offering additional questions on these laws of prevailing petitions, see my document on prayer. 

5.  Is there a way to adapt these seven laws in praying for someone else?

 

Paper 92.  The Later Evolution of Religion

1.  Study the structure of the sections.

2.  What might be the unactualized potentials of the adjutants of worship and wisdom and of the Holy Spirit (1003.2-4; 1008.2; 1012.7)?

3.  What do we learn here of the role of epochal revelation ( 1006.2)

4.  Synthesize the lessons on epochal revelation management from 1004.8; 1006.2; 1006.7; 1007.1; 1011.7-1012.1; 1013.5.  How can we avoid the foolishness of attempting “the too sudden acceleration of religious growth” (1004L)?  If the mission of revelation is “to sort and censor,” to “exalt and upstep” the religions of evolution, why must it not get too far ahead of those traditions (1007.1)?  How do you discern the receptivity of a particular individual or group (1007.1)?

5.  As an antidote to unsocialized ambition (557#17), read 317.1-3 along with 1008#5.

6.  How can Urantia Book readers not take their revealed truth as The Truth (1012.5)? Do they, too, need to study and assimilate the truths contained in every other faith?

7.  Augment your consecration intensity (1013.1; 1509.1; 1206.3; 1065.4; 2088.1-4).

8.  What is the pinnacle of the evolution of ethics, morality, and religion (1012.6)?

 

Paper 93.  Machiventa Melchizedek

1.  What was Melchizedek’s mission?  How did he introduce himself?  How did he present God? (1015)

2.  Explain the symbol of the three concentric circles (1016.5).

3.  To whom did Melchizedek give advanced teachings (1016.6)?  Does the generalization at 1016L carry implications for our presentation of truth today?

4.  What was Melchizedek’s basic gospel (1017?

5.  Would you join the Melchizedek church if you had to “tell the good news” to all men (1017.6)?

6.  Would our actions be more patient and wise if we truly grasped the message of salvation by faith?

7.  Compare and contrast the commands of the Salem religion (1017) with those of the Prince’s staff (751) and those of Moses (1599).

8.  In what way, if at all, does the promise made to Abraham apply today?  “God agrees to do everything; man only agrees to believe God’s promises and follow his instructions” (1020L).  Why do we so resist the idea of obeying? 

9.  Correlate the story of Abraham with the account in Genesis.

10.  What generalizations are suggested about epochal revelations from the comparison of Melchizedek and Jesus (1018.4)?  Does the exclusively spiritual character of their mission distinguish their type of epochal revelation from earlier and later epochal revelations?  If there are different types of epochal revelation, some exclusively spiritual and some not, what practical consequences follow?  How does the spread of a spiritual gospel differ from the spread of a cultural-and-spiritual revelation?

 

Paper 94.  The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient

1.  What are the sources of “enthusiastic and aggressive” evangelism for our times? Why is such evangelism so unpopular among many readers?

2.  Note “the weakening of Vedism through the rejection of higher truth” (1028L). What is the risk to a religion of presenting higher truth to it in a clumsy way?

3.  Explain the “repercussional synthesis of all time-space actions in the Deity presence of the Supreme” (1030.6).

4.  Consider the usefulness of the remark that “what may be finite-illusory on the absolute level may be absolutely real on the finite level” (1031.1).  When is it helpful to emphasize the first part of the teaching here?  When is it helpful to emphasize the second?  Need there be conflict between them?

5.  Why does the author describe the essential dual concept of religion (1030.2) and the Jesusonian gospel (1038.7) as he does?  Discuss the import of including “ever-ascending citizenship in the eternal universe” as an essential theme in the gospel.

6.  Why is it fatal to fail to posit a surviving morontial counterpart of mortal personality (1031.1)?

7. To what extent can India’s need for the Jesusonian gospel be filled without The Urantia Book?

8.  Present a summary of the teachings of The Urantia Book on Buddhism?  (cf. 1035-1041; 773.6; 1446#3; 1466.4-1467.2).

9.  How could Asoka train and send out 17,000 missionaries in 25 years (1037.5)?

10.  How does one achieve identification with cosmic reality (1039.6; 2094.2)?

 

Paper 95.  The Melchizedek Teachings in the Levant

1.  What lessons may be derived from the downfall of the Salem missionaries in Mesopotamia?

2.  What lessons may be derived from Ikhnaton’s failure (1047#5)?

3.  What has been the strength of Islam (1051L; cf. 1076.2)?  What would it take for the religion of Jesus to be presented with comparable strength?

 

Paper 96.  Yahweh—God of the Hebrews

1.  What is the meaning of monotheism? (1052.1; 21.1; 95.8; 101.1; 380.4; 524.2; 640.4-5)

2.  What were the factors of Moses’ success in contrast with Ikhnaton (1055-59)?

3.  What wise compromises are called for in the situation in which you find yourself today?

4.  Since Jesus reviewed the scriptures with the apostles (as well as teaching them the new gospel of the kingdom), is it wise for readers of The Urantia Book who aspire to be teachers to review the scriptures, too (1535.6)?

 

Paper 97.  Evolution of the God Concept Among the Hebrews

1.  Note that some of the material quoted from the Hebrew Bible attributed to Samuel is attributed within the Bible not to Samuel but to someone else.

2.  Sample the Biblical accounts of the prophets mentioned in this paper.

3.  What qualities do you observe in the Hebrew prophets?  How can we cultivate similar qualities?  What can we do if we lack them?  To what extent will the Spirit of Truth make up the difference (2064.3-4)?

3.  Discuss the separation of religion from politics, sociology, and economics (1075.5).

 

Paper 98.  The Melchizedek Teachings in the Occident

1.  Machiventa “forbade the organization of exclusive congregations for worship” (1077.5)  What does that mean?  Why did he do so?

2.  How do you assess the balance between intellectual and spiritual growth (1078.5; 1121.4)?  Explain with reference to 1078#4.

3.  If “philosophy is to religion as conception is to action,” how do you classify discussion about religion?

4.  How can Greek philosophy with its great intellectual advances (1078.7) contaminate the gospel (1081.4)?  Are we in a different situation today (43.3)—i.e., is philosophy now a part of the message which is necessary in order to reach secular humanity today?

 

Paper 99.  The Social Problems of Religion

1.  “Religion achieves its highest social ministry when it has least connection with the secular institutions of society” (1086.1).  But “the complete secularization of science, education, industry, and society can lead only to disaster” (2082.6).  Does either quote imply that there should or should not be, e.g., any vague references to Deity by political leaders or prayer in public schools?

2.  “True religion does oppose violence as a means of social evolution (1086.1; 1088.1), but “Jesus did not look with approval upon the refusal to employ force to protect the majority of any human group against the unfair and enslaving practices of unjust minorities who may be able to entrench themselves behind political, financial, or ecclesiastical power” (1891.2); and an advanced society must “maintain that military preparedness which renders it secure from all attack . . . .” (804.6)  How do these teachings fit together?

3.  Give examples of how religion can “keep pace with all these advances in civilization by making clear-cut and vigorous restatements of its moral mandates and spiritual precepts” without becoming “organically involved with the secular work of social reconstruction and economic organization” (1087.3; 1579#8).

4.  Does the paradox of the institutional church imply that it is impossible for growth to occur (1087.5)?  Must the vicious circle be broken from an independent movement (1866.4; 2086.2)?

5.  What are the implications for epochal revelation management of 1090.5-6?

6.  What ideals can unify a study group (1091.7)?

7.  Why can’t man decide temporal issues wisely “unless he meditates on the sovereignty of God and reckons with the realities of divine meanings and spiritual values” (1093.2)?

8.  How does science sober us to help prevent fanatical reactions (1093.3)?

 

Paper 100.  Religion in Human Experience

1.  Discuss the theme of humility in this paper (1094L; 1095.5; 1101.0; 1100.6).  How does this theme balance the dominant, dynamic, and invigorating message of the paper (1094.1; 1095.1; 1095.6; 1096.6; 1100.6; 1102.1; 1102L)?

2.  How do physical health, inherited temperament, and social environment affect religious experience (1095.1)?

3.  What do you learn about love from this paper (including 1097L; 1098.1-3; 1100L; 1102.5,6,8)?

4.  What are “the selfish qualities of love” (1096.1)?

5.  “The only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal” (1096.3).  What difference would it make to live that way?

6.  Explain the difference between that which is value (e.g., beauty or goodness) and that which has value (something beautiful or good) (1096.L). 

7.  Who are the snarling cavemen in your life (1098.2)?  What are they protecting?

8.  How can we discover others’ motivation (1098.1-3)? 

9.  Suppose that someone proposes to lead you into a spiritual experience by lighting a candle and inviting you to focus on it, and playing indefinite music with little melody or rhythm.  Would such an experience invite the critique implied in the discussion here of mysticism?  Discuss pros and cons.  How is mysticism characterized in this paper (cf. 1000#7)?

10.  1101.0 is especially important for those engaged in spreading the gospel, since people today are so ready to take offense at rude evangelism.  Think of a time you were tempted by religious enthusiasm to betray commonplace social obligations (1101.0).  What is the role of such obligations in the divine plan?

11.  What kind of excellence marks revealed religion in addition to its genuineness (1101.3)?

12.  We can each “develop a strong and unified personality along the perfected lines of the Jesus personality” (1101.5; 1673.3-4).  What are your strengths?  Using section 7 as a guide, figure out what qualities best balance these strengths or what excesses to avoid.

 

Paper 101.  The Real Nature of Religion

1.  What are the relations between thinking and feeling in the religious life (1104L; 1105.0)?

2.  Often science, philosophy, and religion are presented as an ascending series of three.  In section 2 (1105-1107) a fourth factor, revelation, is added, and the ascending series theme is set aside.  (Even truth and goodness are mentioned without beauty [1107.4]!)  Explain.

3.  If the authors portray a philosophic harmony of religion and science, and science changes, to what extent will the philosophic harmony have to be re-created (1106.0)?

4.  What positive senses of “theology” emerge in this section (1106.0; 1107.7)?

5.  Study the sequence of intuition, reason, and wisdom at (1108.1) and learn everything you can.  This may be a pattern for other kinds of thinking, too.

6.  How does the author avoid encouraging self-pity even while sympathetically noting “the crushing overload of the complex and partial civilizations of modern times” (1108.12)?

7.  What are the limitations and functions of revelation according to section 7?

8.  What assumptions does philosophy need to make (1110#5)?

9.  Carefully explain the sequence of steps in the ideal progress of a career (1112.3).

10.  Why does realization of sonship provide salvation from material fetters (1112.5)?

11.  What is intellectual bondage?  Might there be different kinds of intellectual bondage?  How does truth liberate?

12.  What is the difference between service-discovery and ministry-revelation (1112L)?

13.  What is salvation from self (1113.2)?

14.  What factors affect one’s personal philosophy of religion (1113.7)?  If you are working with a group or an individual, how important would it be to be aware of these factors?

15.  How might the tendency to imitate associates (1113L) affect you?

16.  What qualities are needed for philosophic thinking (1113L)?  Why does philosophy take moral courage (1114.)?  What are the levels of religious philosophy?  Where are you?

17.  What are the differences between faith and belief?  Does a person of faith hold intellectual beliefs?

18.  What are the relations between morality and religion (1115#9)?

19.  Try to explain the meanings of the phrase “ideational continuity, the unceasing flow of conceptual potentiality from pre-existenc conceptions” (1116.4).  One idea leads to another.  Is this it?

20.  Memorize, meditate on, and explain as much as you can, the last paragraph of p. 1117.

 

Paper 102.  The Foundations of Religious Faith

1.  Usually we are told to grasp truth (first), be sensitive to beauty, and then go on to the adventures of goodness.  How can a commitment to goodness (the Father’s will) condition our ability to grasp of truth (1118.3; cf. 1116L)?

2.  Study 1120.0 for the factors of beauty in living that characterize religion (cf. 1121L).

3.  Why does religion act (1121.1-2)?

4.  How do you know if the intellectual factors in your religion are overdeveloped (1121.3)?

5.  What are tempting topics for religious speculation (1121.4)?

6.  List the functions of science, the functions of philosophy, those of religion, and those of revelation given on 1122.  How much of these teachings can you verify for yourself?

7.  How can you let the mind of Jesus be in you (1123.1; 553.7)?

8.  Consider the relation between experience and questioning.  In what areas are you active in experience?  What questions would help you sharpen your discovery in those areas?

9.  Why is worship more important than prayer?  Why may prayer be easier than worship?

10.  How good can you be if you are not religious (1126.4)?

11.  How does this paper develop its account of the basis of religious certainty?

 

Paper 103.  The Reality of Religious Experience

1.  What is it that makes for similarity and difference in the religious philosophies of different individuals (1129L-1130.1)?

2.  What is the danger from not being exposed to a vast number of religious experiences different from your own (1130.2)?

3.  What meanings do you associate with being “born of the spirit” (1130L)?

4.  What is the difference between a religious gathering and a social occasion (1133.1)?

5.  Describe the gap between our ideals and our ability to live up to them (1133.2).

6.  Gather the aspects of the concept of theology presented in this paper (1129.7,8; 1130.3-4; 1132.4; 1135.3-4; 1141.4).  Compare and contrast theology and philosophy.

7.  Explain what it is to view the universe from the outside and from the inside (1135.4-7).

8.  What might be meant by “the elliptical symmetry of reality” and “the essential curvature of all relation concepts” (1137.4)?

9.  Explain the lesson on dogmatism (1138.5; 1127.1).

10.  What distinction between reason and logic emerges on 1138-39?

11.  What assumptions are basic to science, philosophy, and religion (1139.3; 1141.6)? Why must they be assumed?

12.  Explain the sequence: “Through truth man attains beauty and by spiritual love ascends to goodness” (1142.1).

13.  Why is there so much about philosophy in a paper on the reality of religious experience?

 

Paper 104.  Growth of the Trinity Concept

1.  How is a trinity different from a triad (1143-45)?

2.  Why does monotheism arise (1145.2)?  How, then, does the concept of a Trinity become necessary (1145.3)?  Why do philosophical and cosmological reason demand recognition of other triune associations of the First Source and Center (1146.2, 6)?

3.  How do the Trinity and the triunities help us grasp the interrelationship of love and law (1145.4; 1148.6-1149.0; 1122.5)?

4.  Learn to enjoy reading about the triunities for whatever you can understand on the present reading.  The next time you come back, having worked again, perhaps, on the Foreword and other challenging portions, you will be able to enjoy more.  Savor what you can, for example, the poetic description of Paradise in the discussion of the fourth triunity.

 

Paper 105.  Deity and Reality

1.  Observe that the authors numerous times warn us about the distortion involved in presenting us with the concept of the I AM (1152.3,5), but never give such a warning about the Father concept of God.  Philosophers would typically feel more distortion in the Father concept than in the philosophic concept of the I AM.  What does this tell us about the relative reliability of our philosophic ability and our capacity to receive religious revelation?

2.  What must be a finite creature’s premier philosophic postulate (1152L; 21.1)?

3.  Explain why our experiential worshipful concept of the Universal Father must always be less than your philosophic postulate of the infinity of the First Source and Center, the I AM” (1153.3; 59.4).

4.  What is the relationship between the I AM and the Universal Father?  (1152.6; 5.7)

5.  Can you vaguely envision “the self-differentiation of The Infinite One from The Infinitude” a dual relationship expanded by . . . the eternal continuum of The Infinity, the I AM “ (1154.1)?

6.  After the Foreword and the first ten papers of Part I, what is new in section 3, “The Seven Absolutes of Infinity”?

7.  After referring to Lao Tzu’s insight (cf. 1033.6) the author speaks of the three great classes of primordial relationships (1157#4).  What are they?

8.  1158.5 offers one of those inspiring gems for living that grace each paper.  Can you relate it to the main topics of this series of papers (104-106)?

 

Paper 106.  Universe Levels of Reality

1.  The opening paragraph of the paper tells us that the more we learn of these advanced themes, the more it will enhance our “terrestrial orientation, cosmic insight, and spiritual directionization” (1162.1).  To what extent can you verify this claim?

2.  Study the seven limitations on the concepts presented here (1163).  We are told that we “cannot grasp even a partial eternity viewpoint.”  When have you felt or thought that you did grasp a partial eternity viewpoint, and how does this paper stimulate you to reinterpret such a moment?  (Is there a precise contradiction with other, relevant passages?  See 27.3; 92.5; 364#5; 1728L.  For corroboration, see 1269L.)

3.  This paper teaches that big things are underway that take a long time, and that our role is to cooperate in the quest for conceivable destiny through seeking perfection in the values of the Supreme.  Contemplate and comment on our kinship with the Supreme in the pattern at 1164.4: “Physical evolution around a spirit nucleus and eventual dominance of the spirit nucleus over the encircling and whirling domains of physical evolution.”  What does this imply for daily life?

4.  Can you think through some of the steps by which gravity links us to Paradise (1166.3)?

5.  What expectations for our study are implied in the remark at 1168.5 and 1174.6?

6.  How are these two teachings consistent?  (1) Our mind “will always be staggered” (1169.4; 339.1) by the unrevealed infinity of the Father-I AM.  (2) “Do not allow the magnitude of the infinity, the immensity of the eternity, and the grandeur and glory of the matchless character of God to overawe, stagger, or discourage you (130.1)

7.  What is the highest level to which we could conceivably attain (1173.1)?

8.  Contemplate the two paragraphs that conclude the paper (1174.7-1175.1). Consider memorizing them.  Share with others the meanings and values suggested by these lines.  Consider how these paragraphs serve as a culminating conclusion.

 

Paper 107.  Origin and Nature of Thought Adjusters

1.  Can you tell if someone is unconsciously following the leading of the Adjuster (1176.4)?

2.  Explicate the first two divine injunctions given to beings of high spiritual orders (1179.7-8).  How do they apply on the human level?

3.  What kind of reading does it take to take in 1181.4 in the way the author intends?

4.  How can we mitigate the loneliness of the Adjuster (1182.5)?

5.  What does 1183.6 teach about decision and the partnership with the Adjuster?

6.  The image of a spirit nucleus has suggested to some minds that the eternal spirit self does not act.  Collect the verbs in the Adjuster papers that describe Adjuster activity.  See how diversely active they are!

 

Paper 108.  Mission and Ministry of Thought Adjusters

1.  What effect does it have on you to read the qualifications of the candidate for indwelling (1186.3-5)?

2.  If, through the Adjuster, “God and man are directly related” (1187.3), why study a book like this?

3.  What sorts of “personal planetary crises” can you imagine (1187.7)?  What can you imagine being called upon to do?

4.  Why does a crisis have such great potential for spiritual progress (1188.1)?

5.  Are you “dominated by the love of [your] fellows and consecrated to unselfish ministry to [your] brethren in the flesh” (1188.0)?  Let’s go.  Let’s decide or re-decide now.

6.  What does it feel like to be known by the number of your Adjuster (1188.5)?

7.  What is one important function of life’s difficulties (1192.0)?

8.  What does the Adjuster have to do with our “transient and ever-changing emotions of joy and sorrow” (1192.1)?

9.  Explain as clearly as you can the metaphor of how we cooperate with the Adjuster in “changing [our] feelings of fear to convictions of love and confidence” (1192.3).

10.  How have we made our Adjusters miserable lately (1193.1)? 

11.  Is the soul formed only from the Adjuster’s “exquisite spirit-recreations” (1193.4; 535.1)?  How then could a soul ever “faithfully portray the harvest of [your] temporal decisions” or stand in need of healing (1216.6; 1237.1; 1328.2)?

12.  Explain your understanding of the “symbols and other methods of indirection” that the Adjuster uses to communicate, in contrast to direct communication (1193.6).

13.  Have you ever been able to use the concluding paragraph or similar thoughts to cheer and encourage you (1194.1)?

 

Paper 109.  Relation of Adjusters to Universe Creatures

1.  In what sense are the Adjuster and the mortal subject equal partners in forming the soul (1196.1)?

2.  To speak of “the supreme decision” as “a solemn and sincere betrothal with the Adjuster” (1196.6; 1242.0; 66.4) is in tension with 929.6.  Interpret the point of each passage.

3.  Why are self-mastery and character achievement requirements for spirituality (1197.4)?

4.  By what means can you promote the “liberated but controlled channels of creative imagination” (1199.2)?  If many current approaches attempt liberation without control, how can they be modified or transformed?  (141.3; 1219#4)

5.  Why do many people fail in the evolutionary struggle (1199.5)?  What compromises must you make?  Why should you be ready and willing as a truth-bringer to spend time strengthening the faith of those who already believe?

 

Paper 110.  Relation of Adjusters to Individual Mortals

1.  What physical and mental poisons (1204.3) are most common in your environment?

2.  How can we unite with the Adjuster in a project (1205.3)?

3.  How do we resist the Adjuster (1205.6)?

4.  How can we consciously augment harmony with the Adjuster (1206.5-8)?  Why does the sequence of activities mentioned in the first heading prepare you ideally for the second?  What is implied in the phrase “intelligent and wise affection”?  What do you believe might be your specific obligations to the Supreme Being?  How can you increase your joy (1206.8) and light-heartedness (1206.2) in the game (1205.5) the Adjuster is playing?

5.  Do we recognize ourselves in the blunt description of Urantia mortals at 1207.5? What are we going to do about our lack of courageous decisions and consecrated cooperation that renders us so vulnerable to control by material factors?  How can your best present commitments be upstepped to a level that will enable the Adjuster to liberate you more fully?

6.  We are bluntly told: “You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster” (1207.2-4; 1207#5).  Do you really accept that?  How can use what is of value in what comes into the mind (1208.4-5; 1002.3)?

7.  If growth is not composed part by part (1209.3), then merely adding physical cultivation to mental cultivation to attempted spiritual self-cultivation does not add up to growth.  How then shall we approach these distinguishable activities in such a way as to facilitate the growth of the whole?

8.  What are the signs of overintellectual development?  Overspiritual development? (1209.4)

9.  In what various ways could you encourage someone to accept and practice the teaching about mental poise, clean habits, and balanced living (1209.4)?

10.  Give an example of a decision that might seem to be irrelevant to your spiritual progress, and then indicate how it might actually impede or facilitate the Adjuster’s work (1210.1).

11.  In what various ways might you repeat a decision (1210.1)?

12.  When a crisis comes, a great decision has a superb potential to advance your spiritual growth (1210.1).  What do people usually do in a crisis?

13.  What kinds of mental discipline might help the mind align with the Adjuster (1213.1)?

14.  Suppose you are involved in a difficult task.  How can you make use of the admonition at 1213.5, since you may be unsure whether this task has been selected by the Adjuster?

 

Paper 111.  The Adjuster and the Soul

1.  Why is the mind so important (1216#1)?  What are the implications of this metaphor? “The mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain” (1217.4).

2.  Are you conscious of your soul?

3.  Are you prepared to delegate any decisions to your soul (1219.1)?

4.  What does it mean to shift your seat of identity from the mind to the soul (1219.1; 1229.7; 1233.0)?  What does it feel like to try the shift while walking through a shopping area?

5.  Does 1219.5 give a major clue to recognizing the soul?  If the soul feels values, then whenever we feel supreme truth, beauty, or goodness, it is the soul that is engaged.  Right?  Any pitfalls in this reasoning?

6.   How could the teachings on creativity in 1219#4 enhance your own work, study, and play?

7.  Explain the surprising seeming understatement: “The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God” (1221.2).

8.  Reflect on the teaching on surrender (1221.6) to illumine the prayer process at 1002#9.

9.  What is the paradox of the human being, and how does each side of the paradox show the possibility for a one-sided philosophy (1221.8)?

10.  Discuss the differences between pride (1122.1; 1123.1-2) and superb self-respect (1582.1; 1651.0).

11.  Give an example of seeing facts and divine love together (1222.5).

12.  Illustrate how uncertainty and security are combined (1123.3).

13.  Try cooperating with the Adjuster as suggested in 1223#7.  What results do you observe?  Do you have to be able to distinctively identify the Adjuster’s input in order to be satisfied with the experience?

14.  What handicaps does your Adjuster find in you?  What would be the divine attitude toward those handicaps?

 

Paper 112. Personality Survival

1.  How does the concept of personality presented here differ from other concepts in use?

2.  Give examples of personality length, depth, and breadth (1126#1).

3.  If insight is defined as “unchallengeable consciousness of cosmic reality” (1226L), and philosophers can challenge anything, in some sense, how can someone experience insight?

4.  What difference does it make in your concept of life to be told that life takes place between the organism and the environment (1227.3-5; 1229.7)?

5.  How is attitude defined?  Why is attitude so important (291.3; 556#5; 1438.1)?

6.  Explain the differences between a relationship and a system (1227.7-9).  Give examples from the social realm. 

7.  If “love connotes mutual regard of whole personalities,” can you love yourself?  (1228.2; 1739.6)

8.  The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) influenced modern ethics with his teaching of respect for each person as an end in him or herself.  How does 1228.3 relate?

9.  Take the full time needed to study and explain the sequence of levels in the pursuit of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience at 1228.6-7.  In what sense does matter disappear if physics produces an equation dealing with micro-processes?  Compare and contrast philosophy and prayer as preparations for worship (1616#7).  If philosophy reflects on science, try religious thought as a reflection on such philosophy.  (1281.5)

10.  What are the implications for unified living (e.g., the ethics of sex) in the portrait of the many dimensions of the self at 1229.1?

11.  The growing personality manifests “the evolution of dominance” (1229.2).  What prevents growth from leading to power struggles?

12.  What is required for a mortal to survive?  Is there a consistent answer throughout the book on this question?

13.  We go through “a relatively short and intensive testing” on this world (1237L).  What is being tested and how?

14.  We formulate survival decisions here, confirm them in the mansion worlds, and make them as we fuse (1238.1).  What are the advantages and limits of the following analogy: in falling seriously in love a couple may formulate their decision to marry; in courting they confirm it; in marriage they make the decision.

 

Paper 113.  Seraphic Guardians of Destiny

1.  How can we enhance our relationships with the seraphic guardians?  (1243.2)

2.  How could seraphim affect our social, ethical, and moral environment (1245.1, 4, 7; 1246.3)?

3.  How are seraphim able to work in perfect accord with the Thought Adjusters (1245.5) if they are not high, descending beings?

 

Paper 114.  Seraphic Planetary Government

1.  How can the resident governor general function as the co-ordinator of beings who are in many ways his or her superiors? (1252#3)

2.  Does 1253.3 imply that we, when Jerusem citizens, can speak for the System Sovereign?

3.  Give examples of planetary crises.

4.  How does the Spirit of Truth make quarantine of little import to individual mortals?

5.  How could the list of the twelve for of the master seraphim of planetary supervision (1254#6) be used to help people in choosing a direction for their career?

6.  Explain the relationship of the angels of the churches and the angels of progress (1255.5-6).

7.  Are you willing to “serve without human recognition and rewards”?  Are you wholeheartedly dedicated to a fine cause? (1257.5)

 

Paper 115.  The Supreme Being

1.  Explain how the opening paragraph of this paper (and other passages) begin to clarify the confusion in the following popular twentieth-century notion: Because of the high standards associated with the father, fatherly love was regarded as being conditional and motherly love as “unconditional.”

2.  What are the limits of our concept frame, and why can’t we do without one?  What does it mean that we can envision higher frames?  (1260#1) If the Father concept of God is only the highest human concept, what are we to make of the fact that in other constellations God is called the Father of Universes or the Father of Lights (23.2).

3.  Some Buddhist thought conceives of the ultimate as beyond the actual and the potential.  Can you imagine yourself in dialogue, portraying God as being beyond actuality (1261#2)?

4.  Note that mind must break the unity of reality in order to operate (1261.6).  To go beyond such dualities is the theme of some superficial and emotional appeals.  What is the difference between such appeals and the concept here?

5.  Infinity is not only UNITY but also DIVERSITY (1262.1).  What practical implications might that thought have for enjoying life now (as partly unrelated to the debates, sophistries, and legitimate concerns presently discussed under the heading of “diversity”)?

6.  Beyond the Supreme, our concepts of reality are increasingly projections.  In what way do these authors agree with and disagree with those who say the God concept is merely a human projection?

7.  What would it mean for you to conceive of yourself and your neighbor in terms of “man the actual, man the potential, and man the eternal”?

8.  What are the basic dynamics of the Supreme Being as presented in this paper?  What are their implications for human life?  God the Supreme is a “focalizer, summarizer, and encompasser of evolutionary experience” (1266L).  Try to articulate the meanings of such terms.

9.  What are the distinctions between connecting, integrating, and unifying (1267.2)?

 

Paper 116.  The Almighty Supreme

1.  Does there seem to be a difference of opinion between paragraph 1268.2 and 1222.2, which says “The finite world was made by an infinite Creator–it is the handiwork of his divine Sons–and therefore it must be good”?

2.  Key passages express the essential activity of evolution so that it can be interpreted on a cosmic or personal level: 1274.5; 1275.1.  Explain these passages as carefully as you can.  Can you be inspired for humble tasks by such descriptions?  What energies and materials can you master to help out the Almighty Supreme?  Why should not personal grooming and cleaning your work or living area count?  (2080.1)

3.  Most cosmology today (after Plato and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose cosmology appeared in The Phenomenon of Man , written in the 1930s but not published until 1955) sees the universe in terms of physics rather than as a living organism.  How can we begin to teach a post-physics-centered cosmology?

 

Paper 117.  God the Supreme

1.  Note how recent passages have expanded the concept of the will of God (1278.1; 1190.3; 1174L; 1221.2).  How does each of these passages enhance the interpretation of the others?

2.  Reflect on the tastes of the Supreme we can experience in this life: the beauty of physical  harmony . . . the sweetness of true success . . . . (1278.5; 1279.5).  Go back to some of these experiences and reflect again on their import.

3.  Have you ever actually tried to reveal to someone else the love of the Father that Jesus’ revealed?  Why not give it a(nother) try?

4.  Think of the ways people speak of power today.  What view of power does this paper suggest?  (1280.1)

5.  Here’s another teaching on the leverage of decisions (1282.1).  What qualities are highlighted?  How are we supposed to read this book—with our minds or with our lives?

6.  How do the teachings in 1283#4 reveal the significance of evangelism?

7.  When have you felt assured of being truly on the right path? (1286.7)

8.  What does it take to have experience and decision in the full sense of 1287.4?

9.  What concept of the motherhood of God is given in 1287#6?

10.  Do you honestly experience love as described in 1289.3?

11.  In what ways does this paper reveal the importance of loving teamwork?

12.  Study the variation on the theme of truth, beauty, and goodness in the closing paragraph of the paper, 1293.1.  Why is it possible for so many variations each to be so meaningful and instructive?  What chaos do you face?  What are the potentials for beauty in your project(s)?  Are you exhausted and annoyed at the constant demands implicit in so many of these questions?  How are the authors able to get their points across without precipitating the same resistance?  How could Jesus ask better questions?  How will you ask better questions?

 

Paper 118.  Supreme and Ultimate—Time and Space

1.  Give examples of “personality-satisfying moments of transient goal attainment” (1294b).

2.  Do we honestly believe and find that “It is helpful to man’s cosmic orientation to attain all possible comprehension of Deity’s relation to the cosmos” (1295.1)? 

3.  Give examples of viewing experience in terms of different time-units (1295#1).

4.  In the light of the definition of concept at 1297.5 uniting truth and fact, discuss the significance of portraying the gospel as (1) “the dual concept of the truth of the fatherhood of God and the correlated fact of the brotherhood of man (1859.11) and (2) “the fact of the fatherhood of God, coupled with the resultant truth of the sonship-brotherhood of men” (2059.4).

5.  How can there be a partnership between a finite creature and an omnipotent, omniscient God (1299#5)?

6.  Why is pantheism (and the associated doctrine of omnificence) a colossal error (1299#6), and how do the authors describe infinite reality without implying pantheism?

7.  How can you harmonize 1301L with 261L?

8.  Summarize the teaching on how providence works (1304.10).  Most people would like to be increasingly the beneficiaries of providence.  What should they do?

9.  What if civilization slides into the dark ages of an interregnum (1302.3)?  What lessons will we be ready to learn?  Is material achievement outrunning worship-wisdom?  How can we bring a “swift augmentation of experiential wisdom”?  Our instinctive answer may be, “Get The Urantia Book out there.”  Is that really the point here?  What else might be involved?  Should “we” be doing more?  How can we get more experiential wisdom ourselves (1287.4)?  Can you get experiential wisdom out of a book? (556#12)  How could you prepare yourself to function in a possible breakdown of civilization?  Could you really avoid panic?  Are we sliding in the wrong direction now?  What are the most powerful progressive forces, individuals, and groups today?

10.  Are we ready to supremacize “the force and constancy” of our decisions for the Father’s will (1303.1)?

11.  What is the meaning of affliction (1305.4)?  What helps us understand that things work out in the end for our good? (1306)

 

Paper 119.  The Bestowals of Christ Michael

1.  Do you recognize the Jesus personality in quotations from all levels?

2.  Have humbling experience enabled you to become more “wise, sympathetic, just, and understanding” 1308.4)?

3.  What are the qualities of the “chief of Melchizedeks”?  (1310.2)

4.  Could mercy be more generous than Michael’s offer to Lutentia (1311.4)?

5.  In what points do we find beings to be “tried and tested” (1313.2)?

6.  What implications might it have for us that our planet is “the sentimental shrine of all Nebadon’ (1319.1)? [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]