You wrote: “Read the UB. No mention of the reality of hell that awaits non believers. why? thousands of testimonies state otherwise.”

Thanks so much for writing with your question about hell. You say: “Read the UB.” I guess that can mean that you are reading the book, or that you have already read it. In any event, I’d like to help you come to peace with this idea of hell, which is a concept that is not taught as a reality in The Urantia Book.

In its pages, especially in the papers about God in Part I, do you remember reading the magnificent and sweeping concept of God, the Universal Father? In Part I, we are introduced to a personal God of love whose only response to his creation IS love. We learn that God loves not LIKE a Father but AS a Father. And once we understand this concept, it is impossible to reconcile the idea of eternal damnation with such a divine being of perfect Fatherly affection.

If you happen to be a parent, it may be easy to imagine what you would do in God’s place, if one of your own children were a non-believer. Would you ever condemn a child of yours to eternal torment for ANY reason? If a mere mortal parent cannot imagine doing that to one of their children, then we certainly cannot expect that God can love us any less than that. The Urantia Book upsteps mankind’s concept of God from the vengeful, jealous God of the Old Testament to that of a divine Deity who loves all of his children with a tolerant and forgiving parental love.

There are consequences for making a final decision to reject eternal life and the divine ascension plan that God has in place for us, but it has nothing to do with eternal suffering as a punishment; perhaps you’ll recall the part that explains that it has rather to do with a complete cessation of existence of that personality – like a candle being extinguished. It is as if the person never existed at all. But there’s no punitive suffering involved. That would just be mean, and completely uncharacteristic of a loving God.

You mention “thousands of testimonies” about hell, but I’m not sure what you mean. Maybe you just mean that thousands of people believe in hell; I know that many people do believe in such a terrible place, but once a person gets to know God in a personal way as a loving Father, all such fears about him eventually fade and disappear – replaced by personal experience of his generous and loving nature.

The teachings of The Urantia Book do explain some things about the development of the concept of hell throughout our evolutionary development; I did a search for it in The Urantia Book, and found six references. If you wonder what the book says about hell, you can try it yourself, by looking at the top right of any www.TruthBook.com page and typing in the word hell where it says “Search The Urantia Book only.” Maybe reading about how the concept developed among our ancestors will help you gain a different view of it.

And lastly, it’s good to remember that Jesus, the incarnated Son of God, said more than once that: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus dd not teach a hell doctrine, nor did he instill fear of God into his followers. His life was a testament to, and a demonstration of, the loving, forgiving nature of God the Father – his Father, and ours.

Thanks so much for writing; I hope that this reply has been helpful.