Q: How about the Ark of the Covenant that God gave to Moses in the Bible? Are we ordered by God to do in the present days just like Ethiopian Orthodox Chrstians do?

A: Thanks for this question to us here at Truthbook.com. We are a website dedicated to the teachings of The Urantia Book, a modern-day revelation of God to mankind. Perhaps you have read some of it…? I hope you have visited our site and realize that we promote the Life and Teachings of Jesus as presented in The Urantia Book. We desire to connect with any and all searching Christians, such as yourself. We love Jesus as you do, we worship him, as well as the living God, Spirit Father to us all.

The Urantia Book does not mention the Ark of the Covenant; however, it does acknowledge Moses as one of the world’s greatest spiritual teachers and leaders. By following the links I am giving you, you can read about “The Matchless Moses” , the Ten Commandments, and The Teachings of Moses

I was not familiar with the teachings and beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, so I looked it up on Google and found this interesting website.

I am assuming that you count yourself among those who enjoy the fellowship and community of the Ethiopian Christian Church. This appears to be a fine church to satisfy your desires for spiritual connection. I would not suggest that you do any different if you feel happy with your church. It appears that we believe much the same about Jesus’ human and divine natures being one, and wrapped up in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. However, I am going to try and answer your question about God, and what he wants from us with what I know best—the Teachings of Jesus, as revealed in The Urantia Book.

While students and believers in The Urantia Book do not rely on the Scriptures as much as established religions do, we do respect and revere its truest teachings, as Jesus did.

The Old Testament in the Bible is an amazing document, full of history and full of clues as to the growth of the concept of God from its earliest writings to the last chapters.

But, I’ll let Jesus tell the story, as he did here, to his apostles. Please follow the link. He speaks of the Ten Commandments here:

“And then, amidst the thunders and lightnings of Sinai, Moses gave them the new Ten Commandments, which you will all allow are more worthy utterances to accompany the enlarging Yahweh concepts of Deity. And did you never take notice of these commandments as twice recorded in the Scriptures, that in the first case deliverance from Egypt is assigned as the reason for Sabbath keeping, while in a later record the advancing religious beliefs of our forefathers demanded that this be changed to the recognition of the fact of creation as the reason for Sabbath observance?

“And then will you remember that once again—in the greater spiritual enlightenment of Isaiah’s day—these ten negative commandments were changed into the great and positive law of love, the injunction to love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself. And it is this supreme law of love for God and for man that I also declare to you as constituting the whole duty of man.”(142:3.2)

I hope you were able to read this entire passage, for it answers your question far better than I could have done. What Jesus is saying is that, if one reads the Scriptures carefully, one can see the way that succeeding generations of Biblical writers improved and expanded their understanding of God—from the angry God of the early Hebrews (and the times of Moses) to the loving God proclaimed by Isaiah. And then Jesus, in his mission to mankind, gave us an even more advanced and more accurate picture of God as the loving heavenly Father—his Father and our Father.

As Jesus says: “…in the greater spiritual enlightenment of Isaiah’s day—these ten negative commandments were changed into the great and positive law of love, the injunction to love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself. And it is this supreme law of love for God and for man that I also declare to you as constituting the whole duty of man.”

And so, the answer to your question is in that last sentence. Jesus came to raise mankind to a higher level—that of faith sons of God—children with the promise of universe citizenship and a divine destiny. God does not “order” us to love him or to keep commandments (although keeping the commandments is certainly worthy)—he invites us to seek and find him within our own minds—to love him because we can KNOW him as a perfectly lovable personality through personal spiritual experience with him.

I hope that this reply has been helpful to you. If you follow the links I have given you, you’ll be able to find out a lot more that can help you in your spiritual walk with God on this planet called “Urantia.”