Revelation (The Urantia Book)

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The writers of The Urantia Book list the presentation as being the fifth revelation of "epochal significance" in the history of humankind. While the phrase "Fifth Epochal Revelation" does not appear literally verbatim in the book, it is sometimes used to refer to the book.

1 The nature of revelation
2 Five revelations
3 Epochal revelation
4 Evolution of truth versus revelation
5 Footnotes
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] The nature of revelation

There is a vast body of essential spiritual knowledge and truth indespensable to spiritual functioning that cannot be consciously be received: to do so would jeopardize the reception of this knowledge. Faith and revelation are therefore used to allow us to progress rapidly and safely in spiritual development.^[1] Spiritual truth is always a revelation: self-revelation when it is presented by the indwelling Spirit of God (Thought Adjuster) in conjunction with human effort; epochal revelation when it is presented by the function of some other celestial agency, group, or personality(s). Human wisdom must evolve on its own through life experience and in conjunction with spiritual influences. ^[2] Revelation is a technique whereby ages upon ages of time are saved in the necessary work of sorting and sifting the errors of evolution from the truths of spirit acquirement. Science deals with facts; religion is concerned with values. Through enlightened philosophy the mind endeavors to unite the meanings of both facts and values, thereby arriving at an improved concept of reality.^[3] Revelation is an aid to developing a proper understanding of reality: that humans are spiritually related to God as a Father.

[edit] Five revelations

In historical order, the five epochal revelations listed by The Urantia Book are:

"The Dalamatian Teachings"
"The Edenic Teachings"
"Melchizedek of Salem"
"Jesus of Nazareth"
The Urantia Book

First revelation (see main article The Planetary Prince)

The first revelation leading to the comprehension of the Paradise Trinity was made on this planet by a "Planetary Prince" about 500,000 years ago. The "Planetary Prince" was a spirit being whose mission was to instruct the human race to advance the living status of the primitive human races on earth at the time. He and his staff set up a headquarters and schools in Mesopotamia amidst primitive human beings to teach the tribes improved ways of living in areas as food production, health, trade, tribal and race relations, and religion. The first presentaton of the Trinity concept was lost to the world in the unsettled times following a planetary rebellion.

Second revelation (see main article Adam and Eve)

The second presentation of the Trinity was made by Adam and Eve, who are an order of being whose mission is to come to a planet and further develop the human races, and to expand the work of the preceeding Planetary Prince. In the case of Urantia, the Adam and Eve who came had to face the results of a planetary rebellion, and many of their plans to upgrade the planet could not be carried out. It is from the visitation of the Adam and Eve on our planet that the creation legend came from in Genesis of the Bible. ^[4]

Third revelation (see main article Malchizedek mission)

The third presentation of the Trinity was made by Melchizedek (the "King of Salem" in the book of Genesis in the Bible), about 4000 years ago. Melchizedeks are portrayed in the Urantia Book as an order of created being; they fulfill a wide variety of purposes in the universe organization, and Melchizedek of Salem came to re-present spiritual truths that had been previously presented by the Planetary Prince and Adam and Eve. He set up a spiritual school in Palestine, and this is the source of the stories of Abraham and the King of Salem in the Bible.

Fourth revelation (main article Jesus in the Urantia Book)

The fourth presentation of the Trinity was during the life of Jesus, when he also presented the concept of God as the Spiritual Father of the human race.

Fifth revelation

The expansion truth through the papers of the Urantia Book is said to be the fifth "epochal" revelation of God to the planet, which includes the Trinity concept as well as other ideas.

[edit] Epochal revelation

In The Urantia Book, epochal revelations are presentations of truth presented by celestial sources ordained by high spirit beings in various forms and at different times in the long evolutionary histories of the peoples of inhabited worlds like those on earth. These epochal revelations are not to be confused with John's "Revelation" as it is found in The Holy Bible, or other similar "Holy Revelations" as found in other relgious books.

The Urantia Book says of epochal revelations:

P.1110 - §4 "... Revelation is a technique whereby ages upon ages of time are saved in the necessary work of sorting and sifting the errors of evolution from the truths of spirit acquirement. ..."

Evolutionary religions tend to lose truth-value over long periods of time. The Urantia Book indicates that epochal revelations are "truth revealed", teachings of truth that would have taken ages for mankind to discover on his own. Therefore revelations that have epochal significance are monumental, stupendous undertakings with far reaching implications and consequences.

The four previous "epochal revelations" on our planet were given in the forms of actual high personalities. Two, Melchizedek and Jesus, were manifested in human form. They taught the people directly in order to impart their revelatory information. The other two were given as well-coordinated teams. They were given specific job duties and they worked in conjunction with the established planetary and universe government to impart their teachings to the people of those days.

The papers that constitute The Urantia Book are unique because they are the first of this type of epochal revelation. They are the only teaching that have been given on paper in the form of a non-living thing; a book.

[edit] Evolution of truth versus revelation

The amount of "truth" that human beings discover, learn and understand is generally earned by the slow process of evolutionary experience. One generation builds upon another. It is explained in The Urantia Book that revelation is a gift from God, or any of his ordained and assigned celestial personalities, "a technique whereby ages upon ages of time are saved in the necessary work of sorting and sifting the errors of evolution".

From Paper 101:

"Truth is always a revelation: autorevelation when it emerges as a result of the work of the indwelling Adjuster; epochal revelation when it is presented by the function of some other celestial agency, group, or personality."

As humans collectively continue to attain more knowledge and wisdom, they will, from time to time, also eventually reach apexes where the potential for stagnation or regression is high. When crucial truths and facts are absent from science, philosophy, and religion, and when the quest for truth has become static and unspiritualized in its thinking, the elements of evil and iniquity become more manifest. At these times, celestial authorities may take action to safeguard existing truth and to impart new truths to mortal beings.

Paper 130 - "On the way to Rome":

"Knowledge is the sphere of the material or fact-discerning mind. Truth is the domain of the spiritually endowed intellect that is conscious of knowing God. Knowledge is demonstrable; truth is experienced. Knowledge is a possession of the mind; truth an experience of the soul, the progressing self. Knowledge is a function of the nonspiritual level; truth is a phase of the mind-spirit level of the universes. The eye of the material mind perceives a world of factual knowledge; the eye of the spiritualized intellect discerns a world of true values. These two views, synchronized and harmonized, reveal the world of reality, wherein wisdom interprets the phenomena of the universe in terms of progressive personal experience."

"The Urantia Book"101:9.1: Revelation unfailingly enlarges the ethical horizon of evolved religion while it simultaneously and unfailingly expands the moral obligations of all prior revelations.