I am Catholic, Discovering The Urantia Book for the First Time. What do I do now?
Q: I
have been raised to believe in the Catholic
Christian
Teaching. To top it all, I am currently serving
the Sunday School
Ministry in my parish. After contemplating about
the truth for many
years, I stumbled upon the Urantia Book. I have
never read a book like
this and I am glad to have found it. It is a book
of life changing
truth! What do I do now?
A: I
am so happy for you that you have found The
Urantia Book...it truly
is "a
book of life-changing truth."
I think it is no accident that you
were led to our site, and I hope you come back
again and again for
inspiration.
You might be interested to know
that there are many, many Catholics -
practicing, and non-practicing - who have embraced
the teachings of
this amazing revelation. And that is because it
helps us to put our
faith into perspective - helps us to see where the
Church went wrong
(due to
centuries of institutionalization), and how easy
it can be to keep our
faith, and increase our connection with Jesus and
our heavenly Father,
even while remaining a member of the Church, if
that is what we desire.
It is wonderful that you are in a position of
serving in the Sunday
School ministry, for it puts you in a unique
position of
becoming the "leaven" for others.
The Catholic Church is a
religion of authority, like all other
institutionalized
faiths. Over the centuries, it has grown into a
very rigid and exacting
system of belief, rules, and regulations that
seems to have
stagnated...this is why people feel so disaffected
and leave it, in my
opinion. I do
see that there are attempts being made to attract
new believers in some
individual churches, but
until that rigid authority is softened, and the
personal religious
experience of the individual is honored and
encouraged, progress will
be limited.
Many people long for "true
religion" - the religion of the
Spirit, wherein they feel free to pursue their own
inner spiritual
experience with God, even if it goes against the
"rules." The
truth cannot be imprisoned in rules and
regulations - and as we learn
in The Urantia Book, believers must be free to
follow the truth
wherever it leads. This is the function of Jesus'
Spirit of Truth - to
help us discern the truth. I have great hope for
the Church, but change
will not come quickly, I am afraid...
Here's my vision for the Church:
(103:5.12)
When a member of a social
religious group has complied with
the requirements of such a group, he should be
encouraged to enjoy
religious liberty in the full expression of his
own personal
interpretation of the truths of religious belief
and the facts of
religious experience. The security of a religious
group depends on
spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity. A
religious group
should be able to enjoy the liberty of
freethinking without having to
become “freethinkers.” There is great hope for any
church that worships the living God, validates the
brotherhood of man,
and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its
members.
What can you do?
First and foremost: keep
reading The Urantia Book!
Especially the Life and Teachings of Jesus. If you
have not done so
already,
subscribe to our free Q
uote
of the Day
service. You'll receive a daily passage of Urantia
Book truth right to
your inbox. These little passages can help you
deliver small doses to
truth to those who are seeking. It is easy to
subscribe and
unsubscribe (look under the picture).
And, if you are happy with the
fellowship and community of
your church, I would advise you to stay with it.
There is great value
in the social aspects of any religious group. You
do not have to make
dramatic pronouncements, or openly challenge the
authority of the
Church, but
instead, work with individual truth-seekers in
your midst, feeding the
truths you discover to them in small doses...the
Spirit of Truth is in
them too, and Jesus will do his part to work with
any sincere
seeker.
Read this section carefully:
"Instruction
for Teachers and Believers"
It is great advice from Jesus on how we should
approach those
who are
seeking for truth...
And, if you are in contact with
young people in your ministry, you
might get some inspiration from some of these
articles on our site:
Parenting
and Family Life.
There are gentle exercises and activities there
that can be used with young folks to help them
gain a fuller experience of spirituali
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