What Are Urantia Beliefs?

by: Duane Johnson

Any attempt to state Urantia beliefs is problematic.

When I began reading The Urantia Book in the 1970s, I discovered many readers would gather in study groups to read together. In the first study group I attended, at least one person had grown up in an atheist household. Another person was Jewish and had lived for a time in Israel. In a group I now attend, one person is from a Muslim background, and his wife is Baha’i. I, on the other hand, grew up attending Presbyterian and Lutheran churches.

I’ve learned that our diverse religious backgrounds color our perceptions of the book’s teachings. Disagreements are inevitable.

Some of us wholeheartedly embrace everything the book teaches. Some express doubts or simply don’t accept many of the unique ideas the text presents.

We are students, not experts, of the book. Do not consider anything I say here as the absolute truth according to The Urantia Book. Nothing can replace reading the book yourself.

Despite this, the community of believers in the book’s teachings have developed a general consensus around certain key concepts. The authors of the book present these notable concepts with what impresses us as having an aura of religious authority. I will refer to these as Urantia beliefs.

Urantia Belief: The Book Is Revelation

The Urantia Book tells us its purpose is to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception by presenting enlarged concepts and advanced truth. It tells us such advanced truth is always a revelation. We believe these truths make the book one of the most significant spiritual revelations humankind has ever received.

Urantia Belief: God, Source of All

First and foremost, The Urantia Book is about God, the source of reality and the source of love. The book uses science, religion and philosophy to describe, in tantalizing detail, the complexity of God and the reality he has created.

Urantia Belief: God Delegates Power and Authority

God the Universal Father does not do everything.

The Urantia Book portrays an eternal trinity composed of a Universal Father, Eternal Son, and Infinite Spirit, similar (though not identical) to Christianity’s model. Each of these eternal persons are creators. Each has specific functions that they perform; each creates other beings that are necessary to create a fully functioning universe.

Urantia Belief: The Spirit Within

It’s not a metaphor.

The Urantia Book devotes five of its 196 papers to describing the fragments of God the Father that indwell every normal human mind. We learn about their nature, their mission, what they do, and their relation to each of us. We also learn about their relation to our souls.

At various times, the authors of these papers call them Thought Adjusters, Mystery Monitors, Father fragments, or Thought Changers. Whatever you call them, they are God within us. They can be our spiritual guides, if we are willing and able to perceive and follow them. Our Adjuster works with us to nourish and develop our souls. They gain experience by living in us. Your experience becomes their experience.

Each Thought Adjuster has its own identity, but they do not have personality. They aspire to gain personality by fusing with the person whose mind they indwell. Fusion almost never happens in our life in the flesh, but when it happens, your eternal future is secure. Will you fuse with your fragment of God? That is your choice to make. You have free will.

Urantia Belief: Religion Is Personal

The presence of a unique fragment of God the Father living within each of us means religion is personal. The Urantia Book tells us Jesus taught a personal religion. Developing our own inner spiritual relationship with God was paramount to Jesus. How we live our lives reflects the quality of our inner, spiritual relationship with God.

Spiritual growth flows from this deeply personal relationship through a two-step process. First we engage in the whole-hearted, free-will effort to perceive our Adjuster’s guidance. Then, we act upon these whispers from heaven.

Institutional religion is at its best when it encourages and supports this personal relationship with God as our Father. Institutions inhibit this relationship when they insist on their own doctrines or identify themselves with our nation or culture.

Urantia Belief: Universe–School of Hard Knocks

Fusing with your Adjuster and being assured of eternal life doesn’t mean you are suddenly perfect. You have ahead of you a long, arduous journey toward God, toward the center of all things. You work on yourself, step by step, all the way.

The book tells us the universe is a school. It is a training ground that teaches us about God, his Universe and our relationships with him and with each other. We may spend time in classrooms, but our “schooling” is primarily practical, on-the-job training. We learn how to work with and serve each other by working with and serving each other. Through this process we become more loving and more aligned with God.

It will not be easy or without struggle and suffering. Sometimes we will succeed and feel exhilaration; sometimes we will fail and experience disappointment. The offer of eternal life is a gift, but perfection is something we earn. As we align ourselves more with God, we are able to find God.

Final Words About Urantia Beliefs

Much more could be said about beliefs held by the community of believers in the teachings of The Urantia Book.

If you were to attend a study group, you would hear frequent and robust differences of opinions about the text’s meaning that would stimulate and stretch you. Fun stuff–and it keeps me coming back. Should you ever attend a study group and disagree with any of the “beliefs” stated above, don’t be surprised if someone agrees with you. In any event, you will still be offered a cookie or muffin at the end of the meeting and be invited back. And the invitation will be genuine. We are all seeking truth.

And enlarged concepts and advanced truth are what those who wrote The Urantia Book present.

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