A:

Thanks so much for this question…I think we all wonder about our planet and its fate sometimes. Many people believe in a possible “end of the world.” Is that a valid concern?

To begin with, here’s a comforting passage from The Urantia Book that assures us that we are not alone:

Your planet is a member of an enormous cosmos; you belong to a well-nigh infinite family of worlds, but your sphere is just as precisely administered and just as lovingly fostered as if it were the only inhabited world in all existence.(15:14.9)

Sometimes, we hear about “the rapture,” a time spoken of in the Bible when the world will end, and those who are in the Lord will be taken to heaven. While The Urantia Book does not really address this idea specifically, the following passage tells us that, even if a time comes when this world of ours becomes uninhabitable, the human race WILL survive, even if the planet may not:

If some physical catastrophe should doom the planetary residence of an evolving race, the Melchizedeks and the Life Carriers would install the technique of dematerialization for all survivors, and by seraphic transport these beings would be carried away to the new world prepared for their continuing existence. The evolution of a human race, once initiated on a world of space, must proceed quite independently of the physical survival of that planet… (51:2.3)

We have a great advantage in the overall scheme of things: one of our advantages is that our planet has been the recipient of the greatest bestowal of spiritual truth in our universe, the bestowal of Christ Michael of Nebadon. Jesus CHOSE this planet among all the other inhabited worlds that he could have chosen, simply because it is so filled with darkness, so seared by sin and disordered through rebellion, that the contrast of the goodness accrued as a result of his being here was greatest of all. There’s a good reason that our planet is called “the senimental shrine of all Nebadon…”

Understanding more about the bestowal Sons, you discern why so much interest attaches to Urantia in the history of Nebadon. Your small and insignificant planet is of local universe concern simply because it is the mortal home world of Jesus of Nazareth. It was the scene of the final and triumphant bestowal of your Creator Son, the arena in which Michael won the supreme personal sovereignty of the universe of Nebadon. ~ The Urantia Book, (20:5.5)

And we also have the distinct advantage of still having the Spirit of Michael present to help each of us navigate through this challenging world. Michael has not really left us and this is a reason for hope:

The pouring out of the Spirit of Truth provides the spiritual foundation for the realization of great achievements in the interests of the human race of the bestowal world. Urantia is therefore far better prepared for the more immediate realization of a planetary government with its laws, mechanisms, symbols, conventions, and language–all of which could contribute so mightily to the establishment of world-wide peace under law and could lead to the sometime dawning of a real age of spiritual striving; and such an age is the planetary threshold to the utopian ages of light and life. (72:12.5)

And with the advent of The Urantia Book into our world and our civilizations, we have a real advantage at having the true life and teachings of Jesus available to the world. It may take some time as these truths percolate through our civilizations, but the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it constitute the most important knowledge that can be grasped by the individual. We are promised:

A new and fuller revelation of the religion of Jesus is destined to conquer an empire of materialistic secularism and to overthrow a world sway of mechanistic naturalism. Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment. (195:9.2)

And this is where we find ourselves. We may even now be cascading over that brink. But if we look around us with our spiritized vision, we also can see evidences of “social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.”

And Jesus is a big part of that spiritual enlightenment. Even after 2000 years, Jesus remains the most important individual ever to have lived on our world. In our 21^st century times, information regarding Jesus is one of the most sought-after quests on the internet, and elsewhere. Countless books, and articles are written about Jesus yearly, and his story is told every single day, somewhere in this world.

The life and teachings of Jesus as related in The Urantia Book is the single most important knowledge that can be spread to this world; the saving message and the good news of our parent/child relationship with God, the fact of our cosmic citizenship and the comforting ideas that spring from the knowledge that we are all brothers and sisters under that Fatherhood of God are ideas that can save our world – that can save us from ourselves.

Will the human race survive? Yes it will – either here, or on another planet. Will this world survive? That is pretty much up to us. We have the tools to turn the tide to that of goodness; we have the life of Jesus that can act as a guide to each and every individual; and we have a whole new way to relate to God, as revealed through the merciful bestowal of Jesus here. But, no one of us has a crystal ball that can foretell the future. The future is created in the here-and-now reality, in the life of every individual, and that reality will – collectively – ultimately determine our fate as a planet.

Nonetheless, it is important to know that, no matter what fate may befall our world, or the human race as a whole, in the future, the fate of the individual is always safe and secure, as long as that individual remains in relationship with God, has faith in God, and walks in his ways. Faith is the key, and sincerity of heart is the method.

…and here’s a final world of comfort for those who worry and wonder about our fate:

Your isolated world is not forgotten in the counsels of the universe. Urantia is not a cosmic orphan stigmatized by sin and shut away from divine watchcare by rebellion. From Uversa to Salvington and on down to Jerusem, even in Havona and on Paradise, they all know we are here; and you mortals now dwelling on Urantia are just as lovingly cherished and just as faithfully watched over as if the sphere had never been betrayed by a faithless Planetary Prince, even more so. It is eternally true, “the Father himself loves you.” (114:7.1)