Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Paper 5

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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PART I - THE CENTRAL AND SUPERUNIVERSES

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PAPER 5 - GOD'S RELATION TO THE INDIVIDUAL

God's Relation to the Individual




1. The Approach to God




2. The Presence of God




3. True Worship




4. God in Religion




5. The Consciousness of God




6. The God of Personality




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Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Paper 4

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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PART I - THE CENTRAL AND SUPERUNIVERSES

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PAPER 4 - GOD'S RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE

God's Relation to the Universe




1. The Universe Attitude of the Father




2. God and Nature




3. God's Unchanging Character




4. The Realization of God




5. Erroneous Ideas of God




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Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Paper 3

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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PART I - THE CENTRAL AND SUPERUNIVERSES

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PAPER 3 - THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

The Attributes of God




1. God's Everywhereness




2. God's Infinite Power




3. God's Universal Knowledge




4. God's Limitlessness




5. The Father's Supreme Rule




6. The Father's Primacy




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Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Paper 2

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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PART I - THE CENTRAL AND SUPERUNIVERSES

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PAPER 2 - THE NATURE OF GOD

The Nature of God




1. The Infinity of God




2. The Father's Eternal Perfection




3. Justice and Righteousness




4. The Divine Mercy




5. The Love of God




6. The Goodness of God




7. Divine Truth and Beauty




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Why "Churchification" is Not the Answer

Just as certainly as men share their religious beliefs, they create a religious group of some sort which eventually creates common goals. Someday religionists will get together and actually effect co-operation on the basis of unity of ideals and purposes rather than attempting to do so on the basis of psychological opinions and theological beliefs. Goals rather than creeds should unify religionists. Since true religion is a matter of personal spiritual experience, it is inevitable that each individual religionist must have his own and personal interpretation of the realization of that spiritual experience. Let the term "faith" stand for the individual’s relation to God rather than for the creedal formulation of what some group of mortals have been able to agree upon as a common religious attitude. “Have you faith? Then have it to yourself.”

The Urantia Book 99:5.7

It is the turning away from these UB ideals in recent years by "certain" UB organizations (i.e. pushing for scheduled and LED group prayer and religious ritual at UB events, overemphasis on Christian-style dogma--moralizing and patronizing about the behavior of others, inflexibility and "gentle blindness" ((my term)) of leaders who believe they are self-appointed pipelines for the FER--along with their unwillingness to listen to and implement the issues brought up by the greater, general and ((Thankfully, so-far)) religiously UNorganized UB readership, and - though this sounds strange perhaps to traditional religionists out there - over-emphasis ABOUT Jesus), that may jeopardize all that we have worked for since 1955.

Some UB groups are LOSING membership, turning off non-Christians, repelling the youth and giving the impression that the UB is a "sacred text," "Word of God (which it ISN'T!)," or "God's Bible" that can replace the Judeo-Christian Bible; one that a church should be based around. In my opinion (and it is ONLY my opinion) "churchification" of the UB movement is the single most destructive thing that we could possibly attempt to institute.

I know how ironic this may sound to some, but, the Effectiveness of the FER and its textbook (the UB) on our world is proportional to how SECULAR our UB groups remain and appear to potential readers. If they are destined to read the UB, then they will naturally work with us to "effect co-operation on the basis of unity of ideals and purposes rather than" set group requirements. And a new kind of *world-wide* religion (being a literal "institution," with full Authority and experiential theo-social maturity) will eventually become realistically possible. Rushing such a plan will delay this goal, and may discredit the UB for many years to come.

In my mind there are only three kinds of valid religion: (1) Personal Religion - The soul growth obtained through daily experience; by getting to know the Father from within one's own soul (the INDIVIDUAL choosing the Will of the Father), and therefore becoming like Him. (2) Social Religion - The UNorganized and spontaneous religious experience of groups of SIMILAR thinking faith-brothers and sisters--devoid of group religious policies (rules, creeds and dogma and desires for unrealistic spiritual uniformity); a social experience that codifies the importance of number 1 (personal religion), over all group goals. (3) Planetary Religion - The only valid form of "institutional" religion, and one that will encompasses the ENTIRE planet--and, by the time that is possible, we will Truly know how to get it right. Anything short of these three, WILL ALWAYS FAIL.

Adherence to a human system of "psychological OPINIONS," "theological beliefs," and group "creeds," stultifies and makes static, the Truths that would be most useful to our world and ourselves as individual souls (if they would only be kept dynamic and pliable). Resigning one's self (and soul) to a system of group parameters, limiting what one can believe in one's own heart and mind, precludes the ability to keep that mind open to the growth of concepts BEYOND the group. Groups - ALL groups - are not in the least bit interested in the growth of the individual and her/his personal adaptations to the outer and inner worlds she/he functions in--despite their platitudes and propaganda that may say otherwise. They have ONE mission: Maintenance of the GROUP. This may not be a bad thing for bowling leagues, but it's a disaster for organized religions.

Only I can save MY soul. No minister or priest (or self-appointed UB religious leader--even if they truly believe they are promoting the "spirit of religion") will stand beside me at the time of my death and subsequent Judgement. I must face that moment ALONE, and I would be wiser to have spent my time here on Urantia doing the *inner* work of personal spiritual enlightenment in the sanctuary of my own soul, through direct experience with my Father (Our Father), than to attempt such a thing in the midst of a group of people (though well-meaning and even highly loving) who may have innocently (or not) stumbled upon the error of disallowing the integration of some of my own spiritual discoveries into THEIR conception of what MY "faith" should be...just for the upkeep and harmony of the concreted belief system of the GROUP.

And so I say: LOVE to all here. Though somewhat impersonal, an online forum of this kind has a much greater potential to attract new readers, satisfy the desire to socialize our personal religions and reach large numbers of other interested folks. If we were to have THIS kind of group, in person, without the trappings of a church-like agenda, our UB events and conferences would fill to over-flowing with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and all other people of God...as well as Christians.

And YOUNG people (16-35 y.o.) - having been turned off by the meaningless (though comfortably accepted) rituals of the conventional and traditional churches which they were often *forced* to attend (but - through Inner Leading - might have chosen to walk away from these so-called "houses of God," all the while, filled with guilt, shame and hatred for themselves for not being able to live "up" to the unrealistic and inflexible creeds therein) would then swell the ranks of our readership. They would joyfully take the reigns of the movement, as the (hopefully) loosened and freeing, current UB leadership is passed from our older generations to them; lighting a Divine fire, fueled and led by the oxygen of the Power of the God Sparks in their minds, that would then sweep across the world. If you think WE (as generally older folks) are doing well with social media channels and digital communication, wait til you see a group of "Millenials" take over. In ONE generation THEY could make the UB a world-wide, household Word. But they ave to love it and not fear it. Or, they will reject it.

Let's not loot their future. Let's not turn them off when we (and the whole world) needs them most. Let's give them the guilt-free Tools to save the planet, end the cultures of greed, materialism, intolerance, racism, sexism, militarism, political polarity and general selfishness. We can fix what we are doing in this UB movement, but it must be conscious, deliberate, intelligent and wise.

In my opinion (again) we MUST step back and outside of our re-inforced bubble, and TRULY observe what we are doing here. Throw away expectations and fantasies about having UB churches on every street corner. As great and dearly loved as the UB is to me, I KNOW now that IT is not the Epochal Revelation that will achieve the kind of acceptance necessary for religious organization. I KNOW in my heart that it IS, however, the textbook which is training a Religious and Cosmological Caste of heaven-educated individuals, who will prepare the world for the coming of the Sixth Epochal Revelation (or possibly the completion of this FER)--a Paradise Son. And HE will initiate the forces needed to bring about the eventual organization of the world under Michael and our Father. No one has to subscribe to this belief, but it would not hurt to consider it, if even hypothetically.

Epochal Revelation is about putting the peoples of Urantia in direct personal contact - while in the flesh -with incarnated Sons (and Daughters). The "Book" of Urantia is a stepping stone to the fulfillment of exactly this. We are out of sequence. The point being, that the incarnation of a new Paradise Son coming before an organized religion can form around the concepts of the UB, is mathematically much more probable, than not.

I implore my wonderful sisters and brothers HERE, NOW, to abandon "churchification," for the sake of a future in which it will eventually happen anyway, but organically; with out pushing and shoving the UB or the agenda of organized religious groups who read it, down people's throats. Why are we currently so impatient for organizing a religion that we ourselves are just now barely beginning to understand? We must *Master* it first (in every meaning of that word). We need further Instruction and more self-enlightenment. What we should be is THRILLED at the prospect of receiving a New Advent that will fill in that Instruction. My heart of hearts tells me this Event will very shortly come to pass. And I thank my Daddy that I was born among the most fortunate of Urantian generations.

Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Paper 1

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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PART I - THE CENTRAL AND SUPERUNIVERSES

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PAPER 1 - THE UNIVERSAL FATHER

The Universal Father




1. The Father's Name




2. The Reality of God




3. God is a Universal Spirit




4. The Mystery of God




5. Personality of the Universal Father




6. Personality in the Universe




7. Spiritual Value of the Personality Concept




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Urantia Book Audio Podcast (Merritt Horn) - Foreword

For the next 50 weeks or so, I will be posting four Urantia Book papers per week (read by Merritt Horn), as a podcast. Please feel free to download each paper as they are posted so you might keep a folder of audio for yourself (links at the bottom of each post). Thank you to the Urantia Book Fellowship for the use of these audio mp3 files. Enjoy!

THE URANTIA BOOK

Audio with Merritt Horn

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FOREWORD

Introduction




1. Deity and Divinity




2. God




3. The First Source and Center




4. Universe Reality




5. Personality Realities




6. Energy and Pattern




7. The Supreme Being




8. God the Sevenfold




9. God the Ultimate




10. God the Absolute




11. The Three Absolutes




12. The Trinities




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Love to All,

Alex

Freedom from Religious Addiction

Brom The Herald


All these things we call "religions" are just ideologies of one sort or another. Human beings want other people to make up their world views for them. It is a kind of laziness. It is a bit understandable though.

We are moved in this direction the moment we begin to understand our parents, then teachers, preachers, politicians, scientists, employers... on and on... and we paddle from island to island, through out life this way. It is something that none of us escape. Because, to escape this thing that EVERYONE else does, you have to separate yourself from all other people. And who wants to do that? Then you live in a cave up on the mountain and have to run away every time some hiker runs across you in the woods gathering firewood.

But, it seems to me, at the very least, what we can do is gather the ideas around us that make sense and don't seem to contradict too badly with each other, no matter what their sources are, and build our own individual island, connected by relationship-bridges to all the other folks around us doing the same thing. If enough of us did this, an archipelago of freethinking would arise in the world. I'm NOT talking about a bunch of "freethinkers." I'm talking about a world of free thinking. We could then be a TRUE "religious group," as in the following (my bold)...

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.

At this point, there is no church on earth that dares such a thing. Why? Because it could not sustain itself as a "group" as we understand such a term. There is only ONE valid "group" that will EVER be a church with such high ideals: The Church of Humanity as a Whole. But this will require a lot of other unifications and federations first--mostly in the geopolitical realm.

People throwing themselves at curtains, whether iron or silk, need to have those barriers removed before they can know that other folks are even out there and want to be their brothers and sisters. Trying to say that a church will bring political peace is a noble fantasy, but it is just that, a fantasy, because of these political and social - all ideological - barriers. There will be a Planetary Government long BEFORE there is a planetary religious group. However by adhering to the principle of thinking for yourself, you become an example of lucidity to the folks around you. Your righteousness is no longer born of slogans and catch-phrases, cults and party lines, relics and crying statues... You are cognitively liberated and thence able to become spiritually fragrant.

It took me so long to realize how silly it is that people sit around scratching their heads wondering which prescribed set of ideas they are going to follow all their lives. Which guru, reshi, imam, minister, saint, monk has THE answer? And social systems (at least in the West) are set up to scorn the people who leave their ideological group and over-flatter those who join it--not for the sake of the individual member, but for the sake of the GROUP.

We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to feel like part of a community. In my opinion this is the deep-rooted soul-need to be part of all humanity together. Unfortunately we live at a time in history where, to fulfill this need incompletely but the best we can, we join ideological interest groups, including institutionalized religions. People can addict to the Urantia Book too.

When I first joined UBRON, there were folks here (now a little more silent) who didn't read ANYTHING but the UB. I would talk about a scientific discovery and the response would be UB quotes. I'd ask if they would read the science article and they would refuse, saying "Why? The UB gives me all I need to know." Well, this is just the signature of an immature and complacent mind. Go to a Bible forum, same thing. Although - and let's be very clear about this: the UB is NOT a religious text or sacred text and its concepts are not given for building a church around. Part IV, could come dangerously close, but for cryin out loud, if you're dogmatizing the fact that at first Andon thought only bird's nests could tinder fires - that that should be preached and codified for all ages as a religious lesson of some sort - you better check your medicine labels.

And humans are especially bad at poking their heads outside the "box" (or "boxes") once they been shoe-horned into it, because we addict to so many other things too. Other animals addict to some substances, but besides substances, humans addict to relationships, to schedules and routines even thrill, itself. There is little difference between the broken heart of unrequited love and heroin withdrawal (both lead to stomach aches, sleeplessness, vomiting, obsessive ideas, inability to do everyday activities, thoughts of suicide, etc). For some people, the abandonment of their childhood "faith group" can be just as terrible--sometimes worse.

Each bumper sticker-ideology that we paste on ourselves, precludes the discoveries found in any, so-called, "opposing" ideology. That is, unless you are willing to rip that sticker off, which always leaves a bit of itself behind, and find other ones to cover up those unresolved residues, you only get 50% of the info out there. I don't know about you all, but that is not good enough for me. I want to know it ALL (or as much as possible). My greatest handicap as a human on this planet - I mean ALL of us - is completely set in place, screwed into the concrete floor, by ideological decisions. Each one is a link in the chains that enslave and limit me, DISTRACT ME toward the mind and ideas (addiction, habituation and habits) of MAN.

All the while, I actually want and need to be looking for the mind of GOD: Lordee, I'm so confused!, am I a Buddhist, Islamist, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Humanist, Atheist, Agnostic, Liberal, Conservative, Republican, Democrat, Jungian, Freudian, Emersonian, Jeffersonian, Jesusonian, Green Peace Activist, Red Army Communist, Orange Shirt Rebel, Leftist, Fascist, Socialist, Capitalist, Anarchist, Meat Lover, Vegetarian, Vegan, Thrill-seeker, Intellectual, Pacifist, Hawk, Realist, Cubist, Technologist, Naturalist... no, No, NO! I've taken something from each of these. But I consciously try not to put: ic, ist, ian, ive, at, al on myself. And only now halfway through a typical earth lifetime, do I realize that *I* AM my own ideology and my own church. I'd spent so long searching for what everyone else was, that I didn't get to know myself.

I still get railroaded into circumstances where I have to pull out the tattered
portfolio, the socially acceptable resume, the piece of paper, set of terms, that tells the conventional world of strangers what I am (WAS)...as if these labels still stand for me as a person. I simply don't have the energy to put new acquaintances to sleep with all the things I've said to you above - to my family, so I'm just "Alex, the writer," or "Alex, the musician" etc... If the world were a little more evolved, and if I were more transparent about who I am as a person in my everyday life, I could simply say: "I AM Alex." And the person would nod in complete understanding, then introduce themself in that same way.

But there will come a day when we will be seen by our souls; when we will wear them on the "outside" and be unashamed. A clothing made out of morontia-soul can resist the adhering to bumper-sticker conventionality. It can deflect the lesser lights of ideology and absorb from the "inside" the intense Light of the Will of God, and then focus and project out that Luminosity into the world around it. That is the purpose of the soul. We are told by the UB that the soul is embryonic. Well, that may be true now in our primitive state. But, the people of the future will not learn FROM each other, they will learn WITH each other, by each other. They will be walking-souls, long before their bodies pass away. We simply CAN NOT imagine such a world, even though the earth, Urantia, will someday BE such a world.

These baby steps; these tiny shards of light now breaking through the egg-shell
perceptions of our current world-views and assumptions; the words you are reading right this second; the feeling of understanding for what I'm saying, within your own hearts, IS the proof that we are about to take the next step. I am optimistic. I think even the most buried sticks in the mud, the most chained-to-convention, the most backward-looking, "everything is just fine the way it is," "don't rock the boat," "grow slow," "be safe," "you can't change it any way right now," "transformation is a nice ideal, but things are too complicated," and worst of ALL OTHERS: "Don't try"...folks WILL see this light. We are never really good at getting asses off our couches, turning of the TV, walking outside, peering INSIDE and saying: "It IS time to change" until our backs are up against the wall. It is a primate trait.

It has been said (I paraphrase) that "Man is not a machine, but given every opportunity, he will ACT like a machine." Admitting it to one's self is the first step. And once that goal has been achieved, no preacher, teacher, apostle, disciple, barker or bard will ever feel the need to tell others about the potential of this kind of freedom for the soul, like YOU a person who has liberated their ghost from the machine. Smashing the static, ruinous addiction to worldly habits, barrier-building religions that make people hate themselves and stultifying conventions, represents the very meaning of HUMAN RIGHTS.

So, remember to try to wear your soul on the outside. And I will do the same.